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.