Eagle

it's been awhile- been busy with school- biology IA projects/ data collection etc...i'm really tired of school right now- everyone feels the same that i can see..i remember alexandre saying that it took him 1 year to get use to u of m..sounded like that was true for you too..That really bothers me...i know you really looked into the school for the best fit (considering value etc). Would you say many of the freshmen have a hard time easing into U of M...or is it just the type of courses we take that really are hard and create "self-doubt" to those who were top of the game in hs. You freaked me out when you talked about calculus 1 and 2..and i believe i have a good foundation from the IB math class i'm taking. (But i have thought about taking the advanced credit or the community college thing...) what is the name of the book that is used in claculus 1 and 2? Has you paper been published yet- your research project?? what other tidbits can you lets us know about. what do you know about south quad? i hear most of the engineers live on the hill...

PLANTREE

Jeffl,
My son is a high school junior and has been informed that he will get the RPI medal. He is considering RPI & Cornell in NY; Brown, Tufts & Olin in New England; CMU & Bucknell in PA; Case, UMich, UIUC, Purdue & Rose-Hullman in the midwest; U Md, JHU, Duke, VA Tech, Vandy & Tulane in the South. We have visited both NY schools and he liked both (he eliminated Syracuse and Union).

STATS:
NJ Resident
680V 700M (November SAT I),
Just took new SAT (Preliminary Kaplan Scores have been
730V 800M 670W
3.7 GPA, Some Honors and AP's, but not full load.
No AP or SAT II exams yet.
Last Summer took intro to Engineering at U Md. - "A-"
Fell in love with Engineering
Works 30 hours/wk
A few honors and various clubs.
Not much to note other than VP of Computer Club

Please give suggestions as to where you think he should apply. Especially where he should visit this Spring break. He is more inclined to go with a mid-sized school. The Midwest U's are very large and R-H, Bucknell and Olin may be too small. That is what he didn't like about Union. Any comments or suggestions on any of the above schools would be appreciated. I know there are a few Reaches and Big Reaches in the list. Of particular interest are your comments on Vandy, Case and RPI, since they are at the top of his list right now, especially with the merit aid they give. You decided against each for the prestige and quality of UM. Approach the search from the poit of view as $ and size is a main concern. Thanks for any help

Eagle

congratulations PLANTREE on S's RPI medalist status. i am a RPI medalist from my school and recent admit. I think i will be going to um due to the quality of engineering program. but it's hard to turn down merit money.

jeffl

there are a few schools that I can suggest, schools that I overlooked when I was applying. Rice University, their engineering program is not ranked very high, but the education quality is superb. This is one of the only schools in the country where u don't see a lot of recruiting efforts. One thing I like to tell people who are applying to colleges with an intend to major in engineering is to NOT look at the USnews rankings too carefully. As long as your school is in the top 50 in engineering overall, it has decent departments. SAT IIs are very important for engineering majors, and don't overlook the essays. at the top schools, if u have a 3.8, 1400 sat and a very good essay, it is often better than a 4.0 1500 with a bad essay. I would urge him to not try to be too creative, this is the mistake I made when I was applying to colleges. Just stick to something that shows his passion for learning and a person who knows what he wants to do in life.the key word is SHOW, NOT tell. okay getting back to the schools, I would recommend applying to some ivy caliber schools like cornell, duke, and northwestern. These schools are all very strong in engineering, some departments like rice's are small, this contributes to their low rank in engineering. schools like vandy, umich, uiuc, case, they will accept him most likely. i'm not a big fan of liberal arts schools, i think mid-sized universities are better.

PLANTREE

Thanks for mentioning Rice, we will have to look at it further. Ranked 20, same as Duke and RPI. My son is very intrigued by Tulane. They would be a safety, but there ranking will probably go up in the next few years with Dave Filo's infusion and notariety. They also have a lot of merit aid programs. I am reading a lot of comments, including yours that a top 50 program will give him the opportunity to get a great education. Obviously, as the old adage states, you only get out what you put in. Therefore, if he performs at any of these schools he can go to most any graduate engineering program, i.e MIT Caltech, UM, etc. to gain the status he wants.