I did.
One more thing - it’s great you know the major you want but between now and a year from now you may change. Mine had 4 majors his last two years of hs with MechE the 4th. Not sure it was his favorite - atmospheric science likely was (it was his third choice in chronology) but he pivoted to MechE. One thing that would be wise if you have time next summer is to try and get an engineering experience. My son went to Purdue STEP. It’s a competitive entry - he was rejected but got in after submitting a higher test score. Rose Hulman has Operation Catapult. There may be some types of programs near you but those are two I often read about.
It’s a good way to help validate your interest.
Excited to see your list next summer.
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I was thinking about doing some engineering job shadowing program, but kinda forgot about that. I’m gonna be on my schools ftc team this year, and I’ll try to find some other opportunities to enrich myself in engineering. My guidance counselor should know. Thanks
This suggests that your title question “Is it really that hard to get into engineering?” may really be “Is it really that hard to get into a well known prestigious college with engineering?”. The answer to the former question is “no” (e.g. PVAMU full ride), while the answer to the latter question is could be “yes” depending on your idea of what has prestige and is well known.
That said, if you can afford it, Arizona State is automatic admission to the school and engineering majors with a 3.0 HS GPA (unweighted) and specified subject requirements fulfilled. It also has a scholarship estimator. Basically, it is either a safety (if affordable) or out of reach (if not affordable).
Perhaps you can show your parents the net prices of Arizona State, Iowa State, WVU, etc. and ask them if they are affordable. If they say “yes”, then great news. If they say “no” or refuse to answer, then look for something less expensive.
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I have been considering arizona state but there’s cheaper schools with that guaranteed admission, and I also don’t know if I am gonna want to live in arizona with how hot it is. It probably isn’t somewhere I would want to live forever, which is the same thing for most the other schools I have considered.
Where you go to school needn’t be where you end up. Jobs hire from all over and with so much hiring done on the internet today, you can, and will, end up anywhere.
I’ve realized that, I just get worried that if I were to study in or nearby a major city, I would end up having to work in that city whether I want to or not. That might not be the case, maybe it’s just easier.
You’re entering 11th grade. Honestly, focus on the year so you have options and don’t worry about 6 years from now.
I think your thought is a bit misguided - my kid’s offers were all over - from Iowa to Massachusetts to - in his case multiple cities - he’s been in Utah, Arizona, now California - with one more to come - from the Southeast.
Kids go everywhere from everywhere…yes, some will place locally but those kids that take those jobs choose to go there.
You don’t even know what the economy will be like then - this year, it’s been tough on kids.
Again, it might be best for you to step away - you’ve got great intel for the next year - but come back with formal stats, and your desires. If you only want to be in the NE, we’ll find a way to help you make it work…as an example.
You are absolutely right to start looking at schools and their admission requirements by your junior year. It will help you clarify your course schedule goals, plan for standardized testing , etc. Do you have any things you don’t want (size, location, etc)? Reading the ABET website is a good starting point.
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@jordani268 - I meant to add that junior year is a great time to visit some colleges. It will
Give you an idea of if you like urban, rural. Big, small, etc. all very helpful info for your decision making.
And fwiw, yes many students are recruited for jobs in the state where you attend school so that is a consideration. Both of my kids are engineers. Older s’s internships were in the state where he attended college and younger s’s first job was in the city where he attended school (local office of a national company). So you are wise to consider these variables.
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As of right now I know I don’t really want to go to a small school, a school with a terrible social life, and a school that’s very far away. Clarkson University comes to mind, it seems like a good engineering school but it’s too small, too far away (for a school in a rural area) and I doubt it’s fun at all. I will check ABET’s site
Clarkson is definitely in a small town in a rural area, and in fact the closest major city is Ottawa, followed by Montreal. There are three other colleges in the immediate area, however, so Potsdam is definitely a college town (albeit small).
And in general, I am not sure why you think it would not be fun. Just for a little data, Clarkson gets a B rating from N–he for Student Life, B+ for Party Scene. Students in colleges like this make their own fun, and that includes all sorts of festival-type events, a really popular hockey program (men and women), outdoor recreation, Greek life, and so on.
Of course I am not saying you have to apply to Clarkson. But I do think it is helpful to understand colleges like this can be very fun in their own ways, and indeed strike a great work/play balance for a lot of their students.
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My idea of fun is to find a group of people to do stuff with. I feel like a small private school in that part of the country won’t really have that, which is why I want to look for as big of a school as possible. If I’m going to a school with more than 10k people, I think I’d be destined to meet some people to have fun with.
So they’re all loners ?
It’s ok to have a size preference and if you don’t want small, you won’t apply small - but I assure you there are groups of kids to have fun with. Some experience the opposite - too many kids, hard to make friend groups.
Even small colleges footprint wise are often bigger than a large hs so def go visit a variety this year - locally - to get a feel for different environments.
That said though there are options for you of all shapes and sizes next year.
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I’ve had kids at colleges with populations ranging from 7000 - 37,000, trust me all had fun and met great friends.
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So for this purpose I am a fan of looking at what are sometimes known as Dunbar’s numbers/circles. The basic idea is there is a lot of social science research that suggests humans tend to have a certain number of people, give or take, in various degrees of friendship. So, most people have around 5 really close friends, 15 or so better friends, 50 good friends, and maybe 150 friends generally (this is all inclusive). They might then have 500 acquaintances, 1500 people who they at least know their names, and 5000 or so people where they might recognize faces.
I find it interesting to think about how this applies to small colleges, and might indeed help explain why many seem to cluster into certain size ranges. With a college the size of Clarkson, during a given year you might get to know at least most of the faces, but not all of the names. Many of the people in your dorm, class year, courses, and major can end up acquaintances, but definitely not all friends. Understanding you may still have some friends at home and such, maybe 15% or so of your class year can end up friends by the time you are graduating, 5% good friends, just a small percentage better or close friends.
OK, so despite not being too big by college standards, and the sort of size where you will at least feel somewhat familiar with most people, there will still be plenty of social choice when it comes to your actual friend circles. So, people who share the same sense of fun will tend to find each other and spend more time together. And as long as you are capable of being such friends with just a relatively small percentage of your class year, it should not be hard to do that at a college the size of Clarkson.
If I’m going to a school with more than 10k people, I think I’d be destined to meet some people to have fun with.
So given this analysis, that size school is largely just going to increase the number of students who are complete strangers to you. Like you will see people on campus regularly who you do not recognize at all.
And some people do really like meeting new people all the time, so that is maybe something for them to consider. But for the purposes you mentioned–making a group of friends to do stuff with–that is usually going to be much larger than really necessary.
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Clarkson has less than a thousand more undergrads than my hs lol.
I get what your saying, when I say I prefer a big school I mean I want to get to know as many different people as I can with different backgrounds, as I don’t really feel like that’s easy in my highschool since so many people grew up around each other.
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I am very ignorant about much related to gaming. I could make statements about how gaming is bad for kids’ intellectual development, or bad for their social development, or how it makes people more violent, or, or, or. Those statements might be true in particular instances, but someone more knowledgeable about gaming might be able to speak to how there are various games that help build neural networks or that have cooperative play and the talking over the connection with peers builds skills, etc. Just because I have generalized impressions about gaming based on things I’ve heard doesn’t necessarily make those impressions accurate.
Some of your comments, @jordani268, are coming from a place of ignorance. I don’t mean ignorance in a bad way; I just mean that you have a lack of knowledge. I don’t know where in New Jersey you live, but here is a range of mostly residential colleges that you may want to visit. Lafayette College is just over the border from NJ, but I think would make a great school to visit because it’s on the smaller side but has the engineering you’re currently interested in and a lot of other options, but it would let you see what life is like at a smaller school. There aren’t many rural options around New Jersey, but it at least gives you a sense of scale of what actually appeals when you’re on-campus.
And the point of these visits wouldn’t necessarily be to see if THIS PARTICULAR SCHOOL is right for you, but what are the things you like and dislike about the visit? Too many people? Too few? Too spread out? Too compact? Too far to walk to anything off-campus? Nicely incorporated within the town? A great bubble with everything you could possibly need? Huge lecture halls? Small classes? Etc, etc, etc.
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Drew: About 1500 undergrads, suburban
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Lafayette College: About 2700 undergrads, suburban, less than 1 mile from the NJ border. ABET-accredited for chemical, civil, electrical & computer, and mechanical engineering as well as CS.
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Rider: About 3200 undergrads, suburban
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Monmouth: About 3800 undergrads, suburban; ABET-accredited for CS and software engineering
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Stevens Institute of Technology: About 4100 undergrads, urban campus, tech focus. ABET-accredited for biomedical, chemical, civil, computer, electrical, environmental, industrial & systems, mechanical, and software engineering as well as CS, general engineering and engineering management.
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Princeton: 5600 undergrads, suburban, ABET-accredited for aerospace chemical, civil, electrical, and mechanical engineering.
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Seton Hall: About 6k undergrads Suburban
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The College of New Jersey: About 7k undergrads, suburban; ABET-accredited for biomedical, civil, computer, electrical, and mechanical engineering as well as CS and engineering science
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Stockton: About 8100 undergrads, suburban
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Rowan: About 15k undergrads; ABET-accredited for biomedical, chemical, civil, electrical and computer, and mechanical engineering as well as CS and MIS.
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Rutgers-New Brunswick: About 36k undergrads, suburban
Sure, but you just explained why your HS experience is not really predictive of a college experience at a place like Clarkson.
Almost no one at Clarkson will have grown up actually nearby. According to them, they have students from 42 states and 61 countries. Apparently around 69% are from New York, but that is going to be similar to public universities. Like Rutgers is about 82% NJ. And New York is a large and diverse state. And again, you really can’t get to know nearly everyone at Clarkson even if you try–it is too many people for that, you will only really get to know some fraction.
In the end I definitely don’t want to make it sound like I think you have to apply to Clarkson specifically. I just think you might benefit from reflecting on some of the assumptions you are making. These colleges are not in fact full of people who grew up together, most of them come in as complete strangers to each other, from a variety of different backgrounds and locations.
This is a really good suggestion. Like there is only so far we are going to get trading abstract numbers on the Internet. I think some actual experience with different sorts of schools will be very instructive.
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