<p>I’m a little surprised at everyone playing up how great the relationships are between automakers and Auburn/Clemson/Alabama without mentioning the fact that the same is true of places like Michigan and Illinois. I think in the interest of fairness, that needs to be mentioned.</p>
<p>At any rate, one thing I would like to throw into this discussion is that a student should never make their undergraduate college decision under the assumption that they will just go somewhere better for graduate school. The primary problem with this approach is that it assumes that the student will both be interested in and qualified for graduate school after 4+ years of a grueling engineering program. This is far from a given. There is a decent chance that after that much time, the student will just want to get out there and start earning a salary or that their GPA wouldn’t support direct admission to a graduate program, so don’t base the choice of undergraduate program on the assumption of “making up for it’s reputation” with a more prestigious graduate program.</p>
<p>Instead, take a look at the employers that typically attend the career fairs at the various schools of interest. That should be able to give you a decent idea of how the school is viewed in industry, and if you see that even Directional State University has the types of employers that interest your son, then the odds are that the program there will be sufficient to get your son into a job he likes regardless of what the reputation of the program is nationally (or internationally). On the other hand, if he is trying to get a job at a place like Google, then the list of relevant schools is going to be much smaller.</p>
<p>@boneh3ad, you make a very good point. A lot can change in four years. Is there a link I should look for on a college’s website to find employers who typically attend career fairs at that school? Or would I start with the company, i.e. Google and search their site for colleges from which they typically recruit? You’ve really got me thinking. Thanks!</p>
<p>You can take either approach. Also try Googling “[school name] engineering career fair” to see who shows up at te career fairs. Many (though not all) schools have that information publicly available. Larger schools typically have fairs for only engineers while smaller ones are more likely to have it integrated with a larger, campus-wide fair.</p>
<p>Have you considered Georgia Tech? Ranks high regarding ROI. </p>
<p>FWIW, UCF isn’t at the level of the other universities you mentioned, but it’s close, and offers great scholarships (NMF, Provost, Pegaus Gold, Silver, and Bronze). </p>
<p>Page 4 (of the engineering survey), for example, list where the recent grads are going for grad school.</p>
<p>Page 5 gives the approximate starting gross annual salary in “your” first job after graduation.</p>
<p>As you research each school, you’ll see that they don’t use a standard format (and may survey the students at different times, such as before graduation, or 6 months after graduation). Below is the link to Florida’s. </p>
<p>Starting salary is not generally a good way to go about this, though, since it is doesn’t control for the major effect that geography has on salary.</p>
<p>Clearly I wouldn’t based my choice in college solely on survey data (with all the issues such surveys can have), but it is one data element, out of many, that can be considered. </p>
<p>My message was more meant for the OP. I think people hanging around here a while are well aware of the pitfalls of such surveys. High schoolers, not so much.</p>
<p>@3boystogo, yes. We toured Georgia Tech, and he didn’t like it. He wants more of a college town and his reaction to the tour was “This school looks like where fun goes to die!” LOL So, I guess that one’s out. @Gator88NE, thanks for the homework. I agree. There are so many factors when it comes to choosing a school. I was praying when we toured that there would be one school where he said, “This is it! I like this one best!” But, he hasn’t really had that epiphany…with the exception of Michigan where he never stopped smiling. @boneh3ad, thank you for helping us keep things in perspective. I have learned recently that there are a ton of adults and students who see something in print and view it as gospel truth from that point forward. I have learned a lot from each person’s posts so far and am adding each piece of information to our college search. Trying hard not to overthink it, though. </p>
<p>Rankings are highly flawed and are not a very good gauge of what an undergraduate’s experience will be like. It is very possibly to go to an extremely prestigious institution and receive a substantial amount of instruction from graduate students who are forced to teach as part of their fellowship agreement that speak poor English. I can’t stress this highly enough. Rankings are based almost exclusively on reputation and reputations are made by the graduate research being generated at the institution. It’s very important to dig deeper into what a student really wants their college experience to be like, both academically and just as importantly, non-academically.</p>
<p>As a side note, as great a school as Michigan is, it’s hard for a Floridian to really understand what day after day after day of sub-freezing weather will be like. </p>
<p>Good point about the weather. We visited in November last year and attended the UM vs Nebraska game. The leaves were changing and it was in the 50’s. I was FREEZING, but our son was in awe of the entire experience. I did realize that he had never seen the leaves change live and in person, and he doesn’t mind 50 degree weather. If he gets accepted, we will surely attend an Accepted Students Weekend in January or February, and I’ll have to pack more than my flip flops! LOL</p>
<p>I think Michigan would be a great choice in many ways. 50 and leaves changing and 20 are worlds apart though. He’ll likely adapt, but remember, he saw it when it was idyllic. </p>
<p>We have a good friend at Carleton in MN. It’s a great school, but after a while he remarked, “What was I thinking going to college in Minnesota!” It gets a lot colder here in OR than it does in FL.</p>
<p>Not talking down Michigan at all. Just be warned, it will be colder than he can possibly imagine.</p>
<p>Your son sounds like a neat kid. How nice that he has some good scholarship options too! It’s great that you are doingthorough research and creating a varied list. But certainly keep the financial favorite on the list </p>
<p>“he said he’d never seen an engineering candidate with 35’s in math and reading on the ACT who loved community theatre. I guess that makes him unique.” - That can be true in the small pond of one community. But as a diligent college researcher mom for DS (talented musician, 35 ACT, high GPA), I learned that it’s not so unusual in the national “big pond” of applicants. </p>
<p>Example memories related to engineering and music (not theater):
Our tour guide at Case said Engineering / Music was most common double major (note - not as easy elsewhere)
There are other engineering students that like to compose music for fun, not just my son… who knew?
MIT has a surprising number of musically inclined applicants. There was an optional music supplement, and the instructions covered how to submit two.</p>
<p>Thanks, Colorado_mom, your son sounds like my best friend’s boy. He is thinking of majoring in Jazz Piano with a minor in engineering. I think you hit our struggle on the head with the “big pond” analogy. I have shown our boy several stats in the Chance Me? thread and he is overwhelmed by the highly qualified applicants from around the globe. I’m wondering if you think his rural (he works on a farm), public school upbringing with those scores will be an advantage since he looks different from the prep school kiddos he met while at Duke summer camp? He was envious of their academic advantages, and had the opportunity to attend a prep school for high school, but passed it up to go to school in our town. They were neat kids as well, certainly not starting a prep school vs. public school debate…every child is valued and a blessing…Any information you can give me on that note would be appreciated as well. Thank you kindly for your honest responses. And, yes, boneh3ad, the leaves changing was spectacular! eyemgh, I can not even fathom 20 degrees for an extended period of time. I love me some hot summers! ;)</p>
<p>My son is an avid skier. He skies three times a week and has raced for many years. He put a big priority on skiing when he developed his list. He’d narrowed to two schools where he could ski, one where he could race and a third where skiing was out of the picture. Then the Oregon winter broke and the sun popped out and he came to an important understanding. He said the sun is so important to my happiness that I’m going to Cal Poly. </p>
<p>Here’s the reality of the competition at the highly ranked schools. We were at Brown and the admissions director said they had 35000 applicants for 2500 spots. Of the applicants, she said 29000 were FULLY qualified to matriculate!</p>
<p>My son took a different approach. He de-emphasized USNWR rankings and focussed on two specific academic qualities, schools that are known for quality UNDERGRADUATE education and schools that begin engineering with a declared major and in a meaningful way during freshman year. He also looked at schools that had outdoor activities near by. He then looked for schools where his academic record wouldn’t just get him in, but where he’d have a good shot at merit aid. We, like you, aren’t eligible for needs based assistance. Needless to say, his list was very different than one driven by rankings. What he ended up with though was eight schools where he would have been happy at any of them, but one (see below). He got into all of them and got substantial merit from all of them.</p>
<p>He has similar test and grade stats, 7APs, all 4s and 5s, captain of the state runner up soccer team, conservatory quality classical guitarist. He applied to one lottery school, Stanford, more out of curiosity than a desire to go there, and didn’t get in. Fortunately it wasn’t his top choice.</p>
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