Researching Universities that have Engineering & Men’s Club Rowing

My DS class 2020 is starting his college list and wants to consider universities that offer engineering (he is leaning toward Civil Engineering) and a competitive men’s rowing club. He loves working out and really enjoys the comraderie and competition he has found in rowing. He is a heavyweight rower.

Our MAX budget is $45,000 per year COA. We don’t qualify for financial aid.

Any suggestions? He has Purdue on his list.

ACT will likely be in the 30-32 range (30 on his first attempt).

Grades are OK with many AP classes. He attends a large, competitive high school.

I appreciate the help.

UVA, Michigan , Notre Dame, Bucknell, Minnesota, Michigan State, UCLA,Purdue, Texas, Florida.

Sorry Op, but the list above, while accurate, is directionally off for your son in terms of “reasonable” reaches.

If his grades are ok which I take to be in the 3.5 range with a 31 act.

If any of the state schools listed are your home state they move up a rung.

If he wasn’t applying to engineering, many more would be possibilities. It’s just a really hard major for admissions.

For this list, in order:

No, no, no. Maybe. Maybe…maybe. no. Maybe. No. No.

Academically. You’ll have to se if there’s club rowing. If not he can always start one. It’s popular.

Safeties. Home state or top state directional.

Meaning :
—If Texas resident Texas A and M vs UT.
—If Michigan it would be MSU vs UM.
—Cal would a CSU or UC Merced vs UCLA or Cal.

If it were a state with a flagship university that isn’t as selective as the three mentioned, that’s where I would start.

I’ll leave it to the engineering whiz’s on cc to help with a good list.

Good luck. He sounds like a hardworking student. And you’ll have so many great options if you make the right list.

@prezbucky can help you formally with a list based on much more info than you can post to a CC thread.

Agree.Many are reaches, depending on what the actual GPA ends up being and how the final scores end up. Also, cost may put some out of reach.

I would look at the Milwaukee School of Engineering. With a 30 ACT and 3.5 GPA, I got a net price of 40k. They have rowing.

State of residency?

Unweighted GPA and (particularly if Texas) class rank?

Thanks. We are in Texas. Admission to UT Austin for Engineering is not happening. TX A&M is on his list but he might consider the Architecture School there. I think Purdue is a possibility based on prior acceptances from his school, but it is pretty pricey OOS.

UT Dallas is good for engineering but doesn’t have a Civil Engineering degree. Texas Tech and Arkansas fit the bill as far as academics and budget but don’t have rowing.

He is hoping to find a few options that have competitive club rowing. We are investiging ASU, Central Florida, Colorado State and Kansas. It looks like he could qualify for large merit awards at those schools via NHRP scholarships. My son might just need to contact the clubs directly and ask for information.

His GPA is in the mid 90s because of all the weighted classes.

Milwaukee School of Engineering isn’t on my radar. Thanks. I’ll check it out.

His high school does not rank. It is extremely competitive.

WPI in Massachusetts

Bama has a club crew team.

My son entered 2013. Completed research freshman year and rowed both semesters.

My son loved rowing, but his height would never have been competitive at research universities that sponsored the team.

If your search is open to schools with club athletics, you’ll find more options.

There are off-campus rowing clubs in various locations in Texas where there are public universities with civil engineering (e.g. Dallas, Houston):
http://archive.usrowing.org/domesticrowing/organizations/findaclub/findaclubtexas

UT Arlington has civil engineering, and there is an off-campus rowing club in Arlington not listed above.
https://arlingtonrowingassociation.org/

Embry- Riddle (florida) and Florida Tech have teams. They are D2 but many regattas include teams from all divisions (as men’s rowing isn’t an NCAA sport)

If you want to see an exciting race, watch Florida tech v. Michigan at the Dad Vail in 2015. Tech was behind by about 8 lengths and came on at a pace of 48 strokes/min to win. http://spacecoastdaily.com/2015/05/florida-tech-mens-rowing-win-programs-third-title-barely-edges-michigan/ (first clip is the race, but I’ve seen other clips that were more exciting).

It doesn’t hurt that Florida Tech’s AD is a rower and was the coach for many years (team is well funded)

Pitt?

My degree was in architectural engineering, which means I studied the structural design buildings (I chose that degree instead of civil because I didn’t want to design roads, draw drainage plans, etc.). I have to caution you that architecture and engineering are polar opposites. I graduated with high honors but I made a C in architectural design (we had to take the class to get a feel for what architects do)! It’s the VERY rare person who would do well in either field. Your son should be aware of that. He shouldn’t pick architecture merely because he’s interested in buildings.

Just from experience kid is at Michigan State studying engineering… never was part of a crew tream… he joined had fun until the water got a bit cold …

Thanks for the warning. He is looking at the Construction Management Degree in the TX A&M Architecture School. His father studied architecture, so we are familiar with design fields. I agree with you that Architectural Engineering and Architecture are very different.

Having had a kid involved in rowing for 4 yrs at a northern college, I’d strongly advise against your son attending a school in a northern state. At northern schools, a lot of their practices are indoors–their time actually on the water is far less than at southern schools. Also, a lot of their outdoor practices are in really really miserable weather. And race events are often cancelled due to crappy weather.

Also be aware that some club rowing teams are really half-baked organizations…poorly coached, underfunded, bad equipment, uninspired athletes, etc. While others are well-run, serious enterprises. Do plenty of research ahead of time.