<p>I know WPI has a lot of techy majors, but it REALLY didn’t feel nearly as geek as most tech schools that I’ve visited and I’ve been to a lot. Lafayette and Lehigh are great colleges for engineering but again, they are also for B+ students and they both have a pretty big Greek scene, especially Lehigh. I live very close to both of them. Maybe Greek is okay though. Privates at least will be more okay with lopsided scores, especially if they are lopsided on the math side for an engineering major.</p>
<p>RVM, Just because the search is over, we are not giving you permission to be on here any less…The next crew will surely need your guidance…
Though Linymom is a great first runner up, and must be willing to assume the role of Beauty queen in the event you can’t fulfill your crown…</p>
<p>Champs, I know this is a lot farther away than you were looking but I thought I would throw it out there since it meets many of your criteria. Trinity University in San Antonio, TX. The student body is under 5000, it is a university with a full offering of majors and has an engineering major that is well ranked. I believe the 28 SAT puts your son comfotably within the range of admission for the student body. Don’t let the name concern you too much the school has religious roots but is no longer a religiously based school. I’m really stretching my memory here but I believe it was Lutheran. I don’t know about their Hillel or activity of the Jewish population but I do know that they offer Jewish studies classes. Friends have told me that their kids who went there had Jewish friends. It is a lovely closed campus in the city of San Antonio. It offers greek life but I believe the population is split between those joining and those not. I explored it for my older S as a safety, my younger son who would have been a good candidate was not interested. Actually for both my kids it is too close to home. It is a really nice school!</p>
<p>Champs,</p>
<p>If your son is a B student, doesn’t want a tech school, and would like to have the possibility to change his major, a LAC school may be his best bet. Ohio Wesleyan University and College of Wooster (OH) both have 3/2 Engineering programs with great schools like Case Western, CalTech, RPI, and WUSTL. They claim that the 3/2 graduates are considered a more liberally educated engineer.</p>
<p>Very cute, Socaldad! :)</p>
<p>This thread is VERY addicting. Champs: did you look back at my previous post #12884? Hopefully some of those schools could work?</p>
<p>Hi ya Chardo! Does Towson have an engineering program? I thought I had looked there for my S2, but didn’t remember an engineering program there…</p>
<p>Btw: I am a new englander, born & bred and I’m a Yankees and Pats fan, go figure! :)</p>
<p>My bad. Towson does not have engineering. The list gets smaller…</p>
<p>UVM for engineering “B” student as a mid size along with UDel…</p>
<p>Just adding my two cents here…</p>
<p>RVM…sending you an email I received this morning…</p>
<p>Rowan - public U in NJ, has engineering, about 10000 students, but tends to have smaller classes than the big flagships, is really for B students. I don’t know what the Jewish population is, but given that it is in NJ, I’m sure it is reasonable.</p>
<p>Just saw a thread on College Search & Selection of someone choosing between Lafayette and Rowan for engineering, with a big money difference between the two.</p>
<p>^ that big money difference was due to a full ride at Rowan.</p>
<p>Again I’m shocked by the responses! Thanks so much to everyone. This is amazing. I guess my son and I have to accept that he will not be attending a smallish school. Maybe it was wishful thinking, other than a reach, (as Chardo basically mentioned).<br>
chocchipcookie - yes, I checked your list and thank you. My son’s guidance counselor suggested Hartford, UVM and UConn too, so I guess we’ll check these out.<br>
Anyone know anything about the Jewish population at Western New England?
I appreciate the idea of Trinity Univ, though I have to give it a lot of thought, as I was hoping he wouldn’t be so far away, but definitely sounds like what we’re looking for - why are there no schools like this on the east coast?
rockvillemom - Lafayette and Lehigh would be great if only he could get in! Both of these schools have wonderful reputations - from friends’ kids I’m hearing Lehigh is a huge party school/huge Greek life. But regardless, my goal is to remain realistic about my son!
One more comment - it’s fun to read the “social” comments … sounds like a group of friends!</p>
<p>^^^As C43 so eloquently stated a few thousand posts ago:</p>
<p>You guys are the greatest group of people I’ve never met! :D</p>
<p>champs, There is Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ right across the Hudson River from Manhattan. It has a pretty good engineering program. We got a letter from them yesterday.</p>
<p>oh my! I heard my ears ringing … thank you ccc!
welcome champs2004. I’ll add my voice to the chorus of mid-size schools, especially if your son has ruled out 3-2 programs at the smaller ones. Also, a thumbs-up to Stevens.</p>
<p>Wanted to share an article on UMBC from yesterday’s Washington Post - since we have mentioned this school a few times:</p>
<p>[Quiet</a> revolution in teaching science is earning UMBC extra credit - The Washington Post](<a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/quiet-revolution-in-teaching-science-is-earning-umbc-extra-credit/2012/03/08/gIQArmoYQS_story.html]Quiet”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/quiet-revolution-in-teaching-science-is-earning-umbc-extra-credit/2012/03/08/gIQArmoYQS_story.html)</p>
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<p>Thanks for sharing the article, RVM. As I’ve mentioned here before, I know several students who are thriving at UMBC. It’s a great choice for nice, serious students who don’t want a rah-rah party atmosphere. My friend’s son was a B+ student in HS. He has a very generous computer science scholarship and will spend his second summer interning at Google this year. </p>
<p>Welcome Champ. When we started looking at schools for my D’s, we originally focused on the 5,000-7,000 undergrad size, but they both ended up at larger schools. They like the abundance of choices and opportunities at their schools. I’ve observed that smaller programs and housing set-ups can make a large school feel much smaller. For example, my D2 is at BU. She is in the College of Communication which has 400 freshmen, and lives on a tight-knit floor with 40 other freshmen. Half of her classes have been small seminars, and she has also found that professors and TAs are quite accessible.</p>
<p>I’ve got to look at UMBC again…</p>
<p>My older D is living in MD now, and starting to explore grad school. She has contact with a number of profs, including JH, UMCP and some of the DC schools. I sent her a link to UMBC - it actually has a master’s in the field she is considering. So thank you for the info! That article mentioned wonderful support for UGs in the sciences. I’d like to think of my D1 as a one of the grad students who provides that kind of support. She was a University Tutor in sciences as an UG and enjoyed teaching, may become a prof someday.</p>
<p>Both of my kids wanted about 5,000 students, and they went to schools that size. Older D went to Tufts (she was an A student) and younger D is at Adelphi, on Long Island (doing a Theatre BFA). Both couldn’t see themselves at small LACs, and I can understand that, but on the other hand I totally agree that they only know a certain group of people and probably wouldn’t notice if their school had 1,000, 5,000 or 20,000 in the long run. You do get pretty focused on the people in your major, or in your living community. My UG had about 3000 (plus 15000 grad students) and I only knew a couple of hundred max the whole time I was there. But it’s hard to explain this to kids in advance.</p>
<p>@champs, BU has a great biomedical engineering program that is ranked in the top 10 in the country. My son expressed some interest in the field so I looked them up. At BU, I found one professor of biomedical engineering, who did his PhD with Openheim at MIT, who also has a perfect score with his students on rate my professor. I am just saying, there are other factors which can be important, when selecting a college than size. This I think is especially important when considering a difficult field of study such as engineering.</p>
<p>perazziman, I think you are bringing up an excellent point about priorities. There’s a delicate balance when going through the college search with kids. On the one hand, you want them to take the lead and figure out what’s really important, but on the other you know that they may be choosing their priorities without all the information. </p>
<p>I think that potential majors should be the #1 priority and agree with EmmyBet that size doesn’t matter as much once the kids find their people, but that’s hard to wrap your head around when you are doing the college tours and feeling the different vibes. </p>
<p>My youngest son, the one now a college freshman, was all about his major and even that evolved the more visits we did. We visited over a dozen colleges and we found that if he didn’t meet with someone in his potential program, then he wouldn’t feel that he could make a informed opinion on the college. </p>
<p>A good summer program (sorry for repeating myself) to help the techy sort of kids think more about majors is offered at RIT for rising HS seniors. [RIT</a> College & Careers Homepage](<a href=“http://www.rit.edu/emcs/admissions/careers/]RIT”>http://www.rit.edu/emcs/admissions/careers/) There are concurrent workshops for the parents too.</p>