These are schools which my D got accepted.
She is waiting on her reach schools now but I’d like your input on the general desirability of the ones that accepted her.
They gave varying amounts of merit. Take the affordability aspect out for now.
She is planning to major in Engineering, not sure on her concentration, may be an outside chance that she switches to something else, but will be in the Math / Physics area if she does.
Thanks!
Miami-Ohio
Temple U
U Alabama
U Maryland - Baltimore County
U PIttsburgh
Villanova
No, not yet. She thinks she knows what she doesn’t - not aero, not industrial, not civil. Not sure on her thoughts on mechanical. She says freshman year is when she’ll decide, after more exposure.
Search “change major engineering” at each school to find out how difficult it is to change into a different engineering major, in terms of GPA requirements and the like.
Also, compare curricula of the various engineering majors of interest at each school to see how common the frosh curricula are. The more common they are, the less chance of being “behind” if she changes major. However, this likely means fewer major-specific courses in frosh year, so there may be less opportunity to sample the various subjects to help her decide.
If the school offers a frosh seminar on what various kinds of engineers do, that can be helpful to help her decide.
Starting as an engineering major and then switching to math or physics should not generally be a problem, since the frosh engineering curricula includes the frosh math and physics courses. However, a few schools may have different versions of math or physics for engineering majors versus math or physics majors; if she attends such a school, she may have to choose the math or physics major versions to keep those major options open.
I think several of these have good quality programs. As an engineer for many years, I have never worked with or heard of anyone coming from Miami-Ohio - and I work with a lot of Midwestern engineers. Maybe it’s a hidden gem that I haven’t been aware of. It sounds like a really nice school in general, But, I am in the dark as far as the engineering program goes. My sense is Pitt and Villanova are pretty similar in quality. Each has their strengths. I believe Pitt’s Biomedical Engineering is excellent - that’s why I asked the question. I can’t comment on the other schools.
I would look at the Career centers and placement, grad school placement, and also if there are any issues actually declaring your major (are there limits on enrollment?).
Also, I applied to Carnegie Mellon, and they pointed out that they work very closely with Pitt, and that students at each institution can cross-register if the classes that they want aren’t available at their university.
So if there’s a CMU course that she wants to take that isn’t available at Pitt, she can just walk over and take it (and pay Pitt tuition, I believe). That’s definitely a nice perk. I forget the name of the program, but I think that there may be other schools in it.
Quick Clutch Edit: It’s through the Pittsburgh Council on Higher Education. There are 8 other universities (not including CMU and Pitt), so 10 total.
Engineering options at Miami-Ohio are extremely limited. Not a good choice for someone that wants to see a variety of options before choosing a type of engineering.
Surprising that there aren’t more Villanova fans here–I’m not one myself but it’s ranked by USNWR as #1 Northeast regional school and has some diehard supporters on these boards.