RIT is a lot more than 7k FWIW - plenty of not tech-majors, though, so less pure tech than WPI / RPI though IMO.
UVM is 12K (roughly same as RIT) size and ticks a number of the boxes…has a gender balance issue of the opposite direction you were referring to - not particularly known for CS, but I don’t think Brandeis or Clark are either. It will be a more liberal area than RIT, too.
Trinity (CT) probably has decent CS since it has Abet engineering degree - not sure about requirements, but it isn’t religious. It has some frats, but not many, I don’t think?
How about some of the Maine schools (Bates?) if you are thinking Conn College?
Bennington is really quite small and feels pretty remote to students (or to students I have known).
a bit of an aside, but this is really interesting feedback, my 27 loved the Mines tour as it seemed SO geeky and nerdy (though tour guide wasn’t particularly).
What you are describing is what my 27 doesn’t really want. huh.
Sure, School of Mines is going to be geekier than Ohio State on a football weekend (even just comparing engineering to engineering) but it isn’t all work and no play. They may choose other types of play like biking or skiing with a small group of friends, but they don’t spend all their time in the library. Golden is more part of the metro Denver area now than it was in the 70s and 80s, and students can easily get to other places now, more easily than in my day, because of improvements to public transportation and just more things to do in the area.
How would you define “low to moderate breadth requirement”? I.e. what percentage of courses of the total to the degree would be “low to moderate”? Or are there certain categories that may be a particular problem for the student (e.g. foreign language, arts, general humanities, general social science, non-CS science)?
Best would be to check the requirements at each school under consideration.
fascinating! I never would have thought any didn’t have generic CS, even if sort of mediocre;)! Sorry about that. My 25 started as CS major and rarely found a school w/o it (ever?), but they wanted bigger so I guess that is why!
Just popping in to say that if you do end up thinking about WPI, please feel free to message me if you have any questions. My older child is a current senior there and very happy. (And FWIW he is a very sociable outgoing guy, not “geeky” at all. I think WPI has a reputation for students that are “nerds who can communicate well and comfortably” and he’s found that to be true. )
thanks! My 27, I think, doesn’t necessarily want to be studying all the time, but building things in robotics or similar spaces (sports hold zero interest for them). In fact, I think they liked the tour as homework actually, sounded very manageable (they are at a super rigorous HS right now and the tour guide’s HW load was a lot less than their HS load ) Free time of any sort sounds nice.
They LOVED all the traditions. I think it will make their list though. They also like to ski, so that part is good.
I think CS/Engineering in general - obviously kids have lives but they are far more rigorous majors and have drop out rates of 50% or more.
Drop out is a bit of a mis-nomer because the stats show most don’t drop out (about 10% of CS do) but change their majors to something non-engineering/CS.
So I do think they need that expectation going in - that it’s not going to be - easy. They’re going to see kids in all those other majors enjoying life more (even though they’ll get to enjoy life too).
(edit, I meant started off thinking they would be a CS major, ended up majoring in engineering).
My 25 is an engineering major, so not oblivious to this fact..nor is my 27.
My 27 actually takes some of their classes (including some STEM) at an R1 very selective university already in 10/11th -(weird HS experience) so is very aware of what it takes - almost all their HS classmates find the first years of college super easy academically obviously - and they almost all go to highly selective universities. Their HS classes (at least from 10th on)… are harder than the top 50 colleges’ first/second year classes (for real). Their 9th grade English was as hard as my other kids’ AP classes at their good LPS. They are nerdy kids - they choose this for themselves. I tried to talk the kid out of it and just go to LPS, but they wanted the challenge .
My son is at Rose-Hulman and he could not be happier. I was nervous about him going to Indiana given the politics, but the campus is very apolitical from what he’s experienced. Yes, the gender imbalance sucks, but Indiana State and St Mary’s of the Woods are right down the street. My son did not want to take a lot of required core classes and wanted more flexibility in his degree. The Rose core curriculum is very flexible, and he’s fulfilling most of the requirements with a minor in Japanese. He also got into St. Olaf, and I’m glad that he didn’t end up attending. I think the rigid core would have been miserable for him.
Rose is a quirky place, but there are a lot of really extroverted students there, as well. It’s a very collaborative environment, and my son has found his people there. I also can’t say enough about the faculty, staff and administration and their support of the students. My son was struggling with a class and called me in a panic one night. I told him to reach out to the professor. He emailed her at midnight and by 12:05 am she had emailed him back to say she’d be happy to meet with him and help him the next day. I can’t imagine that happening at many other schools.
) Free time of any sort sounds nice.
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