Major: Mechanical Engineering (Robotics/Mechatronics are my interests) Social Life: It’s all similar for techies - as long as it’s not too boring and there is clubs/activities/sports to do. Study Abroad: huge plus Internship/Coop: huge plus Sports: I am an athlete and 2 schools (IIT and Rose-Hullman) are offering me to be part of their Div III teams.
Both IIT and RIT are the least expensive options around $15k without loans. Visited IIT - didn’t like.
Virginia and Rose-Hullman are in the middle - around $30k without loans. Visited Rose-Hullman - liked (the only thing I didn’t like - in the middle of nowhere)
WPI is most expensive at $45k without loans
Widener is a smaller school compared to the above but $20k without loans, offers me spot in the team and has Robotics Engineering degree…great campus, secluded but central to a lot of things…
If you want to play, it looks like you are down to Rose-Hullman and Widener. I had never heard of Widener. They are both very small and 20% of both are athletes which sounds like a good fit. Widener does not have good rates for retention, graduation or hiring salary; but you are the one that can judge your success to be in the good percents! I would suggest a visit to RIT if you can fit that in and you are not stuck on playing. Have you appealed Rose-Hullman fin aid? That may help with the decision!
My daughter is an IIT grad. Her roommate was an athlete who was able to compete in her sport and still do well academically. My D had internships every summer and had a job lined up before graduation. Her roommate also did internships and came out employed. D’s boyfriend (CS) also had no trouble with internships and went on to grad school. They all had good experiences at IIT, and enjoyed living in the city. D really enjoyed the large international student community at IIT and all the diversity in culture that added. IIT does have study abroad programs but I don’t know much about them. If you want to study abroad at any school, get to the study abroad office your very first semester on campus and begin planning it, so you can figure out how and when to best fit it in your schedule, especially with an engineering degree.
An extra 15k+ for the schools other than IIT and RIT seems like money that would be better saved for something else to me.
Yes - appealed (actually for most schools) - but got very little with RH. Compared to other schools (like IIT or RIT), they said they don’t have the bandwidth with budgets/extra help. Money is not the biggest issue with RH - I like suburbs, but RH is a next level of “middle of nowhere” - the campus is super nice. Their rigor is another thing which is a little scary. 3 quarters with 194 credits needed to graduate, but 99% jobs within 6 months of graduation and average starting salary of $70k+ (highest ones were $150k+) - great companies hiring, like Military, Roll-Royce, etc.
I actually visited IIT and it was like 180 degrees for me - it was my #1 choice with most scholarships. The campus felt very industrial/grey. Few students I met seemed depressed- kept saying that I must look past visuals and clubs/activities. That my best choice is to join a fraternity. I wasn’t crazy about the surrounding area safety-wise. The food was really bad. Maybe it was just a bad visit.
Sounds like Virginia Tech would hit the sweet spot: within budget, none of the others downsides, and most D1 universities have pretty competitive club sports and intramural team rivalries that would likely love to have a D3 recruited athlete (email them ASAP).
WPI hits all of your sweet spots except price. Their travel abroad is unmatched by any other school. No one does it like them. Have you contacted them about appealing the financial award?
Otherwise, Rose sounds like a goo option. There is the Terre Haute thing (gulp!) and a pretty tilted M:F ratio, but they produce great engineers.