<p>Hi! My son has been accepted at the above colleges. Aerospace engineering for all except UVA (he applied early action and applied for physics and Purdue which is first year engineering). We are beginning the admitted student visiting process and would appreciate guidance about the schools, what to look for, what questions to ask etc. He is a great student but not one to call attention to himself and I worry that some of the larger programs will not foster a sense of community or he may “get lost in the crowd” therefore I guess I am wondering if anyone has some experience with these programs. He attends a small school now of with a senior class of approximately 125. He also was awarded a Army ROTC scholarship and I am concerned that engineering and ROTC may be a bit much to handle. (I’m sure lots of students to handle the rigor of both very well and would be grateful to hear any input.) We have not yet visited any of the schools as finances are an issue and wanted to wait until he knew where he was admitted prior to visiting/ also waited to hear outcome of ROTC scholarship. Thanks.</p>
<p>Check into the Honors College at Purdue. It’s a fairly new program and looks to be quite helpful to the kids. You also get to live in the brand new dorm 
It may give you that sense of a small college/tight community that you desire. My son and I really liked Purdue–classic Midwest state school, with nice people and a safe environment. The food is outstanding too. My son had Purdue far above UIUC on his list.</p>
<p>You might be better off asking on specific boards, and even then it can be difficult to get a satisfactory answer.
I would certainly visit the schools this spring as well and talk with current students. I would set up appointments to meet with specific professors and students in engineering and ROTC ahead of time.</p>
<p>In general, though, for a student considering a major with a high attrition rate (just about all engineering programs), I would want to know - </p>
<p>What, exactly, is the attrition rate for these programs and for required classes? Is it easy to change majors, and is your son attracted to any of the other majors offered by the school? Many students who are unsure begin with engineering since they perceive that it is easier to change out of engineering than into it without adding on an extra semester or year. Others discover that their interests and/or talents lie elsewhere.</p>
<p>What is the typical background of students entering the classes? How does this compare to your son’s background? Some schools have a variety of class options for students, depending on how they have scored on AP or IB exams or a school’s own placement exams. Bummer if a crucial intro class is geared towards students who have already learned most of the material in high school, especially if the class is graded on a harsh curve. </p>
<p>Should your son develop an interest in research, will it be difficult to find opportunities prior to embarking on his senior design project? </p>
<p>At some schools, it is not unusual to find some students who are coasting through intro classes (at least compared to classmates) after having taken every class in the pre-med sequence with the possible exception of organic chemistry at an AP, IB, or DE level. If most students enter with this background, competition will often be much greater if the class is curved. Other schools have more than one level of basic classes such as physics, comp sci, gen chem, and classes in the calc sequence.</p>
<p>Are there resources for struggling students, such as school sponsored study groups, tutors (either students who have done well in the class or graduates hired specifically to tutor students) ? Specialized advisers? Note takers for all the intro classes? How easy is it to access these resources?</p>
<p>I would also ask to meet ROTC upper-classmen who are majoring in engineering and find out what you can about their backgrounds and experiences. (Ideally, you might also interview students who have dropped out of engineering and/or ROTC, but these might be harder to locate.)</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestions. Parent 1337, is your son currently at Purdue? How does he like it; is he in honors? I don’t know about honors, thus far we have not heard so perhaps he was not selected? What went into your opinion that Purdue was way above UICU?; so curious to get your impressions. frazzled2thecore: I will look into all of these areas. I have wondered about the issue of other students perhaps being more prepared. My son is currently in pre-calc and doing well but will not have had calculus prior to starting college. Also, he had few APs as the students have to apply to take APs at his school and class size is limited to one section of just a few kids. He has had AP Bio, APUSH, APWH, and how taking AP Econ and AP Lit. So your point is well taken, he may be at a disadvantage regarding previous course work…so I will definitely look into levels of math, chem and physics courses available as well as tutoring and study groups. I was thinking perhaps Notre Dame being a smaller school might be a good option. Also, point well taken, what if he decides not to continue in engineering (although that is his passion now) Notre Dame seems to me to have a better “overall” reputation than the other schools…let me know if you agree or not. </p>
<p>My son is at UIUC, studying computer engineering. Well, he is taking a gap year after his junior year, working as an intern at a start-up in Taiwan. We are in-state, and he chose from Purdue, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio State, Minn, so the in-state option had always been his first choice. I don’t know if my son’s experiences relate as much to UIUC as to my son’s own personality. But, for what it is worth, opportunities for extra curricular activities have been great, great study abroad opportunities, good mix of friends, VERY HARD WORK in upper level engineering classes, but no relationship at all with advisor. Other parents say their kids have a relationship with their advisor, but my son and his advisor never hit it off. </p>
<p>The first year is such a “make or break” year, and they have instituted a stronger first year program at UIUC since my son’s freshman year. </p>
<p>He had a core of 4 or 5 guys that he did class work with (i.e., study group), and he found them during sophomore year. They cooked together a lot, and visited each other this past summer at their internships. They are all graduating in May and already have wonderful jobs lined up. Unfortunately, they will all be gone when he gets back for his senior year. </p>
<p>I googled UIUC student enrollment stats (which I did before he started, just to get an idea of how big each major is) Full disclosure, I graduated in a major with 2 kids in my major in my year, so I thought the size of the program was important.
615 BS 4048 Aerospace Engineering 41 100 93 166
933 BS 0109 Computer Engineering 76 175 217 298
The first column is freshman, second sophomores, etc, so Aerospace is big, on the scale of computer engineering. I guess these enrollment stats are available for all the schools. </p>
<p>Overall, we are happy with his experience and the cost.</p>
<p>A ton of ROTC scholarship students major in engineering. In fact, both the Navy and Air Force ROTC programs give over 80% of their scholarships to engineering majors. That should not be a problem. Nor should it be a problem to change majors if he decides that engineering is not for him; especially if he changes before starting his sophomore year.</p>
<p>I am wondering, is your son’s ROTC scholarship good at any ROTC college, or just the one’s listed above?</p>
<p>UVa has a very active message board on CC, with many students, parents and alum participating. I’d copy your questions over there.</p>