Match DD junior Aspiring architect/civil engineer [MD resident, 3.75 GPA, top 25% rank, 31 ACT, <$50k]

[Oajeadeg1]

Demographics
US citizen
Based in the DMV
IB prep school-all girls
Black/female

Intended Major(s)
Civil Engineering but wants a course that leans some what into architecture or allow her to double manor
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

• Unweighted HS GPA: 3.75
• Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): no weighting at school
• College GPA (for transfers):
• Class Rank: top 25%
• ACT/SAT Scores: ACT 31

Coursework
IB curriculum but doing a double science (Biology and Physics) and SL Math

Awards
Honor roll all through 9th, 10th and 11th
Most improved runner
Extracurriculars
Dorm Prefect 11th year(usually reserved for seniors), Captain of Cross Country team, Head of Dorm, President of the Short Film club.
Participated in John Hopkins Engineering Innovation program(earned college credit)
SEAP apprentice at the US Naval Academy
Mentor for a youth STEM camp
Habitat for Humanity volunteer

Cost Constraint/Budget

50k max

• Would love some Match suggestions
  She doesnt want to be on an urban campus but would appreciate being in close commutable proximity to a city. She is probably equally left and right brained so a school that has a rich art culture would be ideal. Would prefer for her not to go to any of the Maryland state schools.

[ucbalumnus]

Resident of DC, MD, or VA? This affects which schools are more or less likely to be affordable.

Also, civil engineering and architecture are very different undergraduate paths, so the student realistically has to decide very early in college at the latest (but often must decide when applying to colleges where it is necessary to apply to a specific major).

Note that the first professional degree in architecture is a 5-year BArch, while another path is a 4-year BA/BS in architecture followed by an MArch (3 years after any BA/BS, but often less after a BA/BS in architecture).

You can look up ABET-accredited civil engineering programs at https://www.abet.org/ , and you can look up NAAB-accredited BArch and MArch programs at Accredited Programs -

[aquapt]

Has she considered Architectural Engineering? That’s where the Venn diagram overlap is, between CivE and Architecture, and it might appeal to her.

That said, a lot of ArchE schools are either reachy for her stats (e.g. Purdue) or too expensive (e.g. CU Boulder) or too urban (e.g. Drexel, U of Cincinnati).

Is she eligible for need-based aid, to get to your budget?

How would she feel about an HCBU? NC A&T is the top producer of Black engineers. OOS sticker price is under 40K/year. They do have arts and humanities majors, and they also have a cross-registration agreement with six other colleges in the area (including Elon, Guilford, and UNC Greensboro). Bachelor of Science in Architectural Engineering (They also have CivE, and Landscape Architecture, but not Architecture.) The campus is categorized as “urban,” but Greensboro has more of a dense-suburban feel.

I guess I don’t know that Purdue and Virginia Tech would be out of reach, if her school is known for particular rigor and competitiveness. They’d be reaches, though. Both have both ArchE and CivE, and both would be in budget. More rural/remote than she wants, but fantastic schools with lots going on on campus.

How far from home is she willing to go? There are some nice midwestern options, like U of Nebraska Lincoln, Kansas State, and Missouri S&T. They’re a bit diversity-challenged, but otherwise great quality of life and strong programs.

In the beyond-NC south, 'Bama could be worth a look Architectural Engineering, BS | University of Alabama The CivE/ArchE/ConstructionEng department has a range of majors and minors that would give her a lot of flexibility. U of Miami could be great if she’d be eligible for need-based aid. They also have merit aid, including some scholarships earmarked for students of color. https://cae.coe.miami.edu/ And strong arts. The campus is suburban, but close to the city.

She could potentially get enough merit at UDelaware to meet your budget. They have CivE, Construction Engineering, and Landscape Architecture, but not Architecture or ArchE. Nice suburban campus with good urban access.

Does she have thoughts about ArchE as a possibility? It’s pretty hard to combine CivE and Architecture in any other way. @MaineLonghorn is an architectural engineer and a good resource on this subject.

[MaineLonghorn]

I agree, Arch E would be a great option. You focus on the engineering of buildings. You don’t have to take classes in CE such as highway design or wastewater treatment. I had to take two semesters of architectural design to get a feel for what architects do. I discovered I’m terrible at it! I also had to take a class where we put together a whole set of construction documents for a small office building. Site plans, plus architectural, electrical, plumbing, and HVAC. That was challenging!

Just make sure the program is ABET accredited.

This major is not well known but it’s been around a long time. My dad majored in it in the late ‘50s. He was head of the Arch E department at UT Austin for many years. He’s the reason my future husband came to UT for grad school. That’s how we met. My husband and I have had a structural engineering firm for 25 years.

[Parentof2014grad]

Another suggestion to consider architectural engineering. My D did her bachelor’s in architectural engineering and her masters in structural engineering. She works on existing buildings doing repair design and loves it. She’s worked on several interesting historic buildings.

Architectural engineering focuses on building systems and covers elements of civil, mechanical, electrical engineering, and a bit of architecture. People do different things after graduation. She did an internship in electrical and one in building enclosures, I believe, before adding the structural master‘s. She got her civil engineering PE license and also has her SE. There is an architectural engineering PE exam also, but she didn’t pursue that. She knows people who have the archE PE.

My kid attended Illinois Institute of Technology, which is probably too urban for your daughter, but they offer some great competitive scholarships, which cover up to five years for a co-terminal master’s. And there’s something to be said for studying buildings in an area with a lot of them.

[Oajeadeg1]

Thanks for the suggestions of looking into ArchE, not sure she had considered it. I will chat with her about it. For a number of reasons we dont want an HBCU. We live in Maryland and her school is known for its rigor especially since it is IB. Happy to travel as far as Texas. We are considering UT Austin. Purdue is also on the list. VA tech is a bit too rural for us. We also like GA Tech

[ucbalumnus]

@Oajeadeg1

Happy to travel as far as Texas. We are considering UT Austin.

List price for non-Texas residents studying engineering is $66k, according to Cost & Tuition Rates - Texas One Stop - University of Texas at Austin . The net price calculator shows no need-based financial aid for non-Texas residents: Net Price Calculator - University of Texas at Austin .

Even just admission should be considered a reach for students outside the top 6% in Texas whose automatic admission consumes about 3/4 of the space (and top 25% rank will be very uncompetitive there in non-automatic admission). The engineering division is additionally uncompetitive. But more than admission is needed; a significant merit scholarship is needed to bring the price under your $50k limit.

[ucbalumnus]

@Oajeadeg1

Thanks for the suggestions of looking into ArchE, not sure she had considered it.

Here is a list of US schools with ABET accredited architectural engineering:

The University of Alabama
The University of Arizona
California Polytechnic State University
University of Cincinnati
University of Colorado Boulder
University of Detroit Mercy
Drexel University
Illinois Institute of Technology
Kansas State University
The University of Kansas
Lawrence Technological University
University of Miami
Milwaukee School of Engineering
Missouri University of Science and Technology
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University
Oklahoma State University
University of Oklahoma
Pennsylvania State University
Tennessee State University
Texas A&M University - Kingsville
Texas A&M University
The University of Texas at Arlington
University of Texas at Austin
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
University of Wyoming

You can make a first pass screening of the list by running the net price calculator on each school’s web site and checking for scholarships from that school to see if it is likely to be affordable.

[Oajeadeg1]

Super helpful! Thank you!

[CALMom221]

I would take a look at Tulane - strong architecture and they are known for curricular flexibility/ interdisciplinary crossover and double majors and it is a traditional campus in a city with unique access to 300 year old architecture…

[AustenNut]

Georgia Tech has joined the list of colleges that are a reach for almost anyone who’s from out-of-state.

But I would take a good look at U. of Cincinnati. It’s ABET-accredited in a number of fields, including architectural engineering. Should she decide that she really prefers to be an architect, it also has a NAAB-accredited program. It’s in a city, but it’s not urban like GW/BU/NYU, has athletic/school spirit if that’s important to her, and it’s also a school that puts a big focus on co-ops, letting kids get a lot of real-world experience that helps them get jobs in the end. Additionally, most Ohio publics will freeze tuition for 4-years for each incoming class so you don’t to worry about the price increases.

Also, I didn’t write a ton for most of these but they all offer NAAB-accredited architecture programs and ABET-accredited civil engineering.

• Iowa State has a super strong engineering program and is about a 35m drive from Des Moines. About 25k undergrads here.

• U. of Kansas is in Lawrence which is often considered one of the top college towns in the country, and it’s about 40 minutes from Kansas City (KS/MO). About 19k undergrads here.

• Roger Williams (RI): If she’s looking for something closer to home, this is another possibility. This is a mid-sized school, with about 4100 undergrads.

• New Jersey Institute of Technology: About 9k undergrads just outside of New York City, but I don’t know how rich the art culture on-campus is.

• U. at Buffalo (NY): I believe that Maryland is one of the states that New York will meet the tuition price for (for College Park), so this is likely to be another affordable option.

• If your D is interested in Texas, she might want to look at U. of Houston. It’s not as competitive to get into as UT-Austin, and your D has a good chance of getting a very affordable price here as students who get around a $1500/year merit scholarship are then eligible (though not guaranteed) to also get in-state tuition on top of that.

• U. of Kentucky: About 23k undergrads

Some other schools she may want to check out include U. of Nebraska-Lincoln, Louisiana State, and U. of Arkansas as they all have access to nice-sized cities (and/or are located in them) but don’t have a super urban feel, either.

[momsearcheng]

You know that GaTech has priority to GA residents, so admission will be very challenging.