Just looked at both schools briefly. Qunnipec is Abet Accredited. It’s all over their first page for engineering… Lol…
Which school is better for his attention issues? Would he prefer more hands on? Would he like more co-op type learning and does either do that. Some schools trade off on co-op then academic or co-op in the summers type of thing. As far as more engineering classes VS regular boring classes this could be a mix. Seems like schools have different spins on this. Usually like 1 engineering class mixed in with his requirements. Keep in mind the lower threshold for merit. That does not mean the 2.0 is going to be easier. Engineering is very hard even for the best students. Sometimes getting a “C” is a good grade for that class. But you need the boring class to build your education on.
I would see which schools speaks to you on helping him. All schools with have learning centers but which school will he feel more comfortable at actually using them? Which school has peer to peer help? Which school will he have conversations with the professors at? Faculty looked good at both schools but I was impressed with the ones at Qunnipec if I had to choose one. I looked in all fields not just civil.
Also which school is getting decent internships and co-ops more in line with his field?
As an aside… Have him look at the Wahl construction company internship opportunity. They like getting their kids early.
I actually disagree. It comes down to the individual student. Whenever we did engineering college tours we would tell my son “which kids do you think you fit in with or more like your friends now” type of thing. He just saw kids his age. We saw different things as parents. Also if the kids in a bad mood or just not into it that day then the experience can have the opposite affect.
On admitted student day you are with your entire incoming class. It’s a different feeling than going on a regular college visit with your parents. For an undecided kid it makes a difference. Also, I had a few colleges on my list that I thought I would love and once I visited realized it wasn’t what I thought. I wound up removing them from my list. Admitted student days are extremely important.
Been there done that with two kids. I am glad it helped you in picking a college. You are speaking in absolutes. That is not true for every child,including my own. The OP son seems to have a more positive view of one school. That’s awesome. Trust me we did the “let’s go see” X"school, one more time for comparison, (admitted school day) . My kids were far from over it but we did one. After that they admitted it was just a waste of time for them.
I am just letting the OP know its OK and not the end of the world he didn’t get to. My kids both found Facebook groups, club groups and the like more informative then most tours.
Thanks for the SKIING correction from Bill Marsh. I’ve been gone from NY for 27 years and had names mixed up for 2 of the places I had not skied there (Gore and Whiteface). It looks like Whiteface is 57 miles from Potsdam.
In honesty, I don’t recall many Clarkson friends that had the time and money to downhill ski. (That’s not to say there were none.) One guy in my dorm was a crosscountry racer - it was cool to watch him racing around campus on his wheeled trainer (non-snow) “skis”.