Oh for sure. I think she meant the lack of humanity majors. 
@Goboise
There is a long standing attitude in the culture of āengineeringā schools which faculty at WPI called the āboot campā approach to education when I was there. The educational program they were designing at the time, with a sizable NSF grant, was largely directed toward projects and the āgroup thinkingā aspect of engineering design work. It seemed that the old āboot campā approach bred more of a competitive than a cooperative attitude. WPI has spent a lot of time and design effort developing team collaboration. This is an ongoing process which has not stopped for fifty years. They even have an on-going summer institute to share this work with other universities and colleges around the world.
Another important focal point in the WPI program involves interdisciplinary thinking in a project setting. We call this the IQP which integrates a special project with the social sciences and is often off campus at one of over 45 sites around the world. Participation costs for this off campus study is covered by an automatic $5,000 credit for all students.
Students study three courses per seven weeks for the equivalent of 9 semester hours. This translates to 18 semester hours in the humanities organized usually around a theme. Although a STEM University they have a very impressive full symphony orchestra and most take their humanities seriously. In addition the IQP integrates social science coursework to prepare for the project design. Team members will usually be from different majors. They want students to develop an open recognition that the application of knowledge is interdisciplinary.
The third project activity focuses in small team projects in their major.
Music is taken very seriously in this relatively small STEM University. They have a full symphony Orchestra and no music majors. This means to STEM students get to play. Many minor in music and they have a performance minor. Hear https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITEMXrp-wls
WPI '67
Thank you all for your wonderful input. I didnāt go to university so this process is a learning curve. Grateful to have this forum to dig through and all the helpful contributions!
Sheās likely going to apply to our in-state schools- thereās not a big selection here in Idaho. But theyāll make good safety schools.
Others sheās considering are Mines, Montana Tech, New Mexico Tech (high desert just like home), LeTourneau, and University of Tulsa. Rice, Harvey Mudd, CalTech would be good reach options to consider, I think. Sheās also going to take a closer look at CalPoly. The student body isnāt shockingly larger than Boise State, although BSU has a smaller feel being somewhat of a commuter school.
Iāve put WPI in front of her, too. The project-based program sounds wonderful.
Iād really love to stretch her some on the student body size. That would sure open up some better scholarship possibilities.
Thanks again!
Which Mines? SD, CO, or both?
Colorado. But, SD wasnāt on the radar. Not too far from home, so we should poke around. Thanks!
It sounds like you guys are asking great questions and doing very good research. We have family in Idaho and are there often.
Yes, check out WPI. We got to know lots and lots of schools and that really was the family favorite. Like I said it often offers merit aid, and a high-stat, well-qualified female applicant from Idaho is probably a great candidate for that aid. I obviously donāt know for sure, and it would be best to run the Net Price Calculator (NPC) for the school (and others you are considering), but Iād really guess she would not be asked to pay the āsticker price.ā Visit if you can; it is far away. But you can make it a nice family trip, if possible financially and time wise. Itās near Boston to the east and the Berkshires to the west. Cape Cod also. A very nice area in late spring and summer.
Are you familiar with the Western Undergraduate Exchange? It offers reduced OOS tuition at something like 160 schools in 16 western states, including Idaho. Some certainly are good for mechanical engineering. Iām not expert on WUE, at all, but I believe that some schools, at least, reserve a certain number of spots in incoming classes. Once they are filled, thatās it, so applying early is really important.
Iām less familiar with Mines and Tulsa, but have researched and been to both, and they definitely also seem like great choices, given your parameters. The others as well, and you are correct to look at that group as reaches. I always think itās important to understand that they are reaches not because your daughter is not very well qualified, it looks like she is, but because so many more very well qualified students apply than can be accommodated.
My daughter had similar desires for a small, collaborative engineering problem and not a party school. She is at Olin College of Engineering, which is tiny, but perfect on all those counts ā a truly unique and amazing place. We also loved WPI and Harvey Mudd and seriously considered Case Western, and Rose Hulman.
Collaborative and non competitive, Univ of Rochester is one. A big draw for my son. One of the benefits of UR is that many of the engineering students are equally interested in the other side of their brain such a music (Eastman) or the arts. With the open curriculum, you donāt have the typical required history/lang etc courses. It is easy to double major.
Yes, WUE is on the radar. Thank you for posting that link. I wasnāt aware of a searchable db of WUE schools by major. Thatās helpful!
If you look at the 50 Most Underrated Colleges thread on this forum, WPI is #6, reflecting how well students do after graduation.
I checked, WPI is not #6, it is like #17. Here is the link. There are other engineering schools on it to consider like Drexel, RIT and Stevens.
- Missouri University of Science & Technology
WPI was #17 last year and #6 this year.
https://www.businessinsider.in/the-50-most-underrated-colleges-in-america/articleshow/67855409.cms
I also note Miami of Ohio, Case Western, and San Jose State (#2) on the list. All have engineering, as do others. Like all such rankings, take them with a grain of salt, parameters and small changes in data can have an impact.
San Jose State has a huge advantage in Silicon Valley! Just as an FYI, hereās the merit aid grid for Miami of Ohio, which is larger than your D is looking at, but we certainly found this something to think about,
Since you are in Idaho, I might look at both U of Utah, and U of Colorado Engineering, as well as Colorado School of Mines. Girls do fine at Mines but it is still 65% boys. Mines feels like a private school, as its 5000 undergrads and a few thousand masters and PhD students. All Mines graduates get job offers. Offers were focused on jobs in Texas, California and Colorado petroleum firms, and mining firms, but the mechanical engineers also get offers in aerospace, which is hiring like crazy in Colorado and Los Angeles. U of Colorado is reasonably supportive for girls, and engineering is smaller than you might think there, and hard to get in, direct admit engineering, but collaborative. CU engineering offers pre-engineering for students without BC Calculus and a strong physics background in high school. Mechanical engineering in particular is very strong at U of Colorado and Mines. Mines students tend to go for aerospace jobs, Ball Aerospace in Broomfield, Lockheed Martin in Littleton, CO and Harris in Colorado Springs. Mines and U of Colorado also place a lot of students on the west coast.
I also second Case Western. At Case, Mechanical and aerospace engineering are one department and NASA Glenn is the research lab on the train between Cleveland International Airport and Case Western. The top Case students get into MIT for grad school in aerospace and mechanical engineering, if thats a consideration. Case is more the overall size, at about 4000 plus PhD, MBA and law students. Its an overall strong university with a core reading and writing program, so important for engineers today.