<p>Tbosmom - I don’t know much about prep schools, except what I read on CC threads. I assume they are a minority compared to the high stats kids at public schools with strong AP/IB programs… but not sure. (DS went to our district magnet IB hs. He had a pal a lot like your son, with some state honors too. He got accepted at some tippy top schools, not others). </p>
<p>If your son was taking the toughest classes available, he probably won’t be penalized. The rural background could give him interesting essay topics, change of pace from some others. In your shoes, I’d be looking at all options… trying to hone in on the best combo of fit and finances. </p>
<p>There are many terrific engineering programs, not just the few at the top of the rankings. To me it seems more so in engineering than other majors, but I’m an engi-nerd myself and I don’t know as much about other majors. </p>
<p>Good to know. Thanks so much. It’s so valuable to hear words of advice and encouragement from those who have been there! eyemgh, we considered Colorado State as they seemed to have a nice engineering program, but our son loves tennis and they don’t even have a club team at Colorado State. Sorry for my ignorance, what is RPI and WPI? Thanks! Colorado_mom, sounds like you known a ton of great engineering programs. Are there some specific ones you would recommend? He’s looking to play club tennis, would like a school with a decent football team, is fairly sure he’d like to join a social frat, and most importantly would like a school with a wide variety of engineering majors since he loves math and science but isn’t set on a specific major at this time. Thanks!</p>
<p>RPI = Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
WPI = Worcester Polytechnic Institute</p>
<p>Both are long established small tech schools that are undergraduatecentric, start engineering early, and have lots of humanities and social sciences options.</p>
<p>WPI in particular has lots of innovative qualities and is frequently cited when referencing schools that are models for how engineering should be done in the future. It is very project oriented, has very short terms (7 weeks), real travel abroad for engineers and a great school spirit.</p>
<p>Tbosmom, S1 will be starting this fall at OU. We had many of the same questions. I see people mentioning automotive, but I didn’t see anything from you (I skimmed some) about what sort of engineering he is considering. OU and Auburn were both schools to which he applied. The money at OU was much better. 'Bama is on par with OU, but my kid liked OU’s campus and interest in him better than at 'Bama. </p>
<p>We came to the conclusion that the undergrad school means little as long as it is ABET and is not ‘unknown’. S1 is seriously considering the PhD. OU’s program will pay for up to 5 years and can include the MS as well. Given their generous treatment of AP, he is starting with 54 credits before he even steps on campus.</p>
<p>There is a lot of money available to smart STEM kids as long as you don’t want to go to the Ivy type schools. Michigan and Illinois have great programs, but the money is a competitive option and for my kid it was not worth the hassle. Maybe yours likes to write essays for a shot, mine wanted the bird in hand with the NMF deal.</p>
<p>Just for fun, look up Rose Hulman Institute of Technology, Harvey Mudd, and Olin College of Engineering… They are all well respected institutions that do it “differently.”</p>
<p>Torveaux, Thank you so much. Our son really doesn’t know much about what type of engineering. I will have him look into OU as well. Thanks for the tip! eyemgh, I just looked up WPI, and RPI and learned a ton! They look very interesting. I will have him look up those three as well. </p>
<p>Ha Ha on Oklahoma! I’m from Texas and we always made fun of Oklahoma, kind of like living in Georgia now we make fun of Alabama. But guess where my kid is “Auburn” on scholarship and one of my nieces is at Oklahoma on scholarship, another niece at the University of Alabama and another niece just graduated top honors from Univ of Texas. All great schools! Regarding all those AP/IB/SAT credits - my son also came in as a second semester sophomore, however, not all those credits are usable in your engineering degree -12 credits for foreign language and biology were not applicable to his degree…they are on his record but they don’t knock down his required courses.</p>
<p>Many of the schools listed above (WPI, RPI, Rose Hulman, Mudd, Olin) , offer a great engineering education. But I consider them “STEM” (Science, Tech, Enginering, Math) schools. OP’s son should look at that kind of school and also more diverse places that would offer more theater options. </p>
<p>Hmm… how about Northeastern in Boston? It has excellent merit scholarships and a great co-op program (with ability to live on campus during co-op sessions and still do campus activities). No football, but lots of hockey enthusiasm. Over the past years NEU has steadily climbed in rankings. </p>
<p>The biggest thing is, just like music, at the power programs, entry can be very competitive, so he’d be fighting for spots in two programs. What seems to work best for students like yours is to find a school with a developed theater program so he can keep doing it for fun, but not one like northwestern where they might only allow theater majors to participate.</p>
<p>^ those are pretty good schools. IIRC, they are pretty pricey though without a lot of merit aid.</p>
<p>Oklahoma, Alabama and Auburn. All have great merit aid, great football and while I haven’t looked it up, I would be shocked if they did not have lots of options for tennis. All have solid Greek systems if he is interested in a fraternity (please don’t use the short version, we generally consider it rude).</p>
<p>In our case, Engineering is starting right away because unlike some of the elite schools, OU (and I believe 'Bama and Auburn as well) grant quite a bit of credit for AP courses.</p>
<p>Agreed on the cost, but they all tend to offer good merit. My son was offered 80-100k from the ones he applied to. They all see each other as equivalents too, so if merit is great at one, but not the other, you can ask for a reassessment of your award. I mainly added them to the discussion just to help the OP expand her search horizon beyond the USNWR realm. You can’t beat the southern state schools for price if you’re a strong candidate, but then you’re in the South. :)) </p>
<p>As long as I get to throw names out, Lehigh was one my son looked at too. Great engineering, wonderful school spirit, theater dept, old football rivalry with Lafayette and a greek system.</p>
<p>This isn’t always a positive. Generally, those schools have a good reason for being stingy with AP credit. Since the quality of AP instruction varies so widely, a given student may actually be prepared to skip a certain class while other students with the same score may not. Accepting lots of AP credit can be risky from the student’s perspective.</p>
<p>Public schools appear to be more generous with credit units for AP scores than private schools – probably because they want students to graduate as quickly as possible to reduce the amount of in-state tuition subsidy used on any given student (unlike private schools, who will gladly have students pay tuition for extra semesters).</p>
<p>But subject credit and placement may be much more limited than credit units, since many AP tests are not applicable to engineering major requirements. Some may be applicable in limited amounts to H/SS breadth if the school allows that. The “excess” credit units that do not count for any subject credit may raise class standing for registration purposes, even if they are otherwise useless.</p>
<p>A student who is allowed to skip a course with an AP score can try the college’s old final exams of the course that may be skipped in order to check his/her knowledge of that course from the college’s point of view.</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus
I believe the poster was implying that the mentioned schools are generous with applying AP credits to actual required courses. If that is not the case then I retract my statement because it hardly matters if a student skips a few H/SS credits or just gets a few “empty” credits for class standing purpose.</p>
<p>My main point is that incoming students should consider the credit they claim carefully in subjects like calculus and physics, as getting a 5 on the AP exam hardly proves you understand the material and a college/engineering level given that they are still standardized tests and the quality of AP instruction varies so greatly.</p>
<p>That is why I suggest that such students try the college’s old final exams for the courses that may be skipped. Otherwise, making the decision to skip or not skip is mostly guesswork.</p>
<p>Such great advice! I so appreciate each perspective that has been shared and yes, Gator88NE, I have a ton of homework as a result! I requested information from Oklahoma since we have been following their football team here since they hired Bobby Stoops(Not that it is an intellectual reason, but when trying to convince a 17 year old boy to step out of his comfort zone and look at something new, the fact that he likes their coach is a good reason. :)) Not sure I’ve ever been to Oklahoma, so I’m sure that would be an adventure. My dad graduated from Miami of Ohio and was recruited to play football at Northwestern, so that’s always been a school we’ve admired, but never really investigated. I guess it will be a source of Saturday homework for me as well. Truly, this is my first time through this process, and I seems a bit daunting at times. In our small town, we get a lot of “why are you even looking out of state?” or, upon mentioning engineering, “why does he need to go to college to learn to drive a train?” True story! As we say here, we “bless their sweet hearts” and research on. It’s a pleasure to hear from each of you!</p>