Match me: Bay Area student looking for colleges with good ranking/culture/location/academic environment! [3.91 GPA (3.86/4.14/4.29 for UC), 1550 SAT, environmental engineering]

You could, in theory, go anywhere - so you do need to talk to your folks about budget now - and not later.

Because BU will be near $400K. Are they willing to spend that when you could go to school for $20K ($80K over four years) and likely have a similar outcome? This is the discussion to have now - what can they pay. Ranking for engineering - heavily overrated short of a few top schools - kids from schools of all stripes work side by side, hired into the same jobs (see ABET below).

You will likely find more opportunity at larger schools - they have so many kids of various interests. And don’t necessarily eliminate schools because of where they are. An Alabama, for example, has more than 1K kids from California and 1500 from Illiniois. They are 60% out of state. I mention because that’s a $20K a year school given your stats. Many schools will discount you heavily given your accomplishments.

As for sewing, I did a google search of college sewing clubs - and I see U Denver, U Arizona, Vanderbilt and I’m sure there is more. You might even do a minor in fashion design - but that might be something to look at. With each school of interest, check out their clubs and see if any work for you.

Here are the ABET accredited environmental engineering schools. For some jobs, I don’t know about environmental, you need to have attended an ABET school to apply.

Good luck.

School Name City State
The University of Alabama Tuscaloosa Alabama
Northern Arizona University Flagstaff Arizona
Arizona State University Tempe Arizona
The University of Arizona Tucson Arizona
Cal Poly Humboldt Arcata California
University of California, Davis Davis California
University of California, Irvine Irvine California
University of Southern California Los Angeles California
University of California, Merced Merced California
University of California, Riverside Riverside California
San Diego State University San Diego California
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo California
University of Colorado Boulder Boulder Colorado
Colorado State University Fort Collins Colorado
Colorado School of Mines Golden Colorado
University of Connecticut Storrs Connecticut
University of Delaware Newark Delaware
Florida Atlantic University Boca Raton Florida
University of Miami Coral Gables Florida
Florida Gulf Coast University Fort Myers Florida
University of Florida Gainesville Florida
Florida International University Miami Florida
University of Central Florida Orlando Florida
University of Georgia Athens Georgia
Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta Georgia
Kennesaw State University Kennesaw Georgia
Northwestern University Evanston Illinois
University of Notre Dame Notre Dame Indiana
Purdue University at West Lafayette West Lafayette Indiana
The University of Iowa Iowa City Iowa
Louisiana State University and A&M College Baton Rouge Louisiana
The Johns Hopkins University Baltimore Maryland
Northeastern University Boston Massachusetts
Tufts University Medford Massachusetts
Worcester Polytechnic Institute Worcester Massachusetts
University of Michigan Ann Arbor Michigan
Michigan State University East Lansing Michigan
Michigan Technological University Houghton Michigan
University of Minnesota - Twin Cities Minneapolis Minnesota
St. Cloud State University St. Cloud Minnesota
Missouri University of Science and Technology Rolla Missouri
Montana State University - Bozeman Bozeman Montana
Montana Technological University Butte Montana
University of Nevada, Reno Reno Nevada
University of New Hampshire Manchester New Hampshire
Stevens Institute of Technology Hoboken New Jersey
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey New Brunswick New Jersey
New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology Socorro New Mexico
State University of New York at Albany Albany New York
University at Buffalo, The State University of New York Buffalo New York
Cornell University Ithaca New York
Columbia University in the City of New York New York New York
City University of New York, City College New York New York
Clarkson University Potsdam New York
Manhattan College Riverdale New York
State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry Syracuse New York
Syracuse University Syracuse New York
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Troy New York
United States Military Academy West Point New York
Duke University Durham North Carolina
North Carolina State University at Raleigh Raleigh North Carolina
University of Cincinnati Cincinnati Ohio
The Ohio State University Columbus Ohio
The University of Toledo Toledo Ohio
Central State University Wilberforce Ohio
University of Oklahoma Norman Oklahoma
Oregon State University Corvallis Oregon
Portland State University Portland Oregon
Lehigh University Bethlehem Pennsylvania
Gannon University Erie Pennsylvania
Bucknell University Lewisburg Pennsylvania
Saint Francis University Loretto Pennsylvania
Drexel University Philadelphia Pennsylvania
Temple University Philadelphia Pennsylvania
University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania State University University Park Pennsylvania
Wilkes University Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania
Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico San Juan Puerto Rico
Brown University Providence Rhode Island
Clemson University Clemson South Carolina
Benedict College Columbia South Carolina
University of Texas at Austin Austin Texas
West Texas A&M University Canyon Texas
Texas A&M University College Station Texas
Southern Methodist University Dallas Texas
Texas A&M University - Kingsville Kingsville Texas
Texas Tech University Lubbock Texas
Tarleton State University Stephenville Texas
Utah State University Logan Utah
University of Vermont Burlington Vermont
University of Washington Seattle Washington
University of Wisconsin - Platteville Platteville Wisconsin