<p>I’m currently a junior in high school, and I have been looking at a few colleges to visit this summer before I apply in my senior year. I’ve eliminated a lot of schools by narrowing down the locations that I would like to spend my college years. I know, for example, that I am not very compatible with cold weather, so I have been concentrating my search from South Carolina to Florida and over to Texas. I am an avid scuba diver, so I have been looking mostly for schools within easy driving distance of the coast, but that’s not the most important factor. I’m not completely sure what I will be studying, but I am looking for schools with strong business and engineering programs. I’m not a fan of large cities, and tend to like a smaller, more personal learning environment. </p>
<p>The schools that I have found that look interesting are (in no particular order): Florida Institute of Technology, Florida Atlantic University, Rice, and College of Charleston. Are there any other schools that I should be adding to my list?</p>
<p>Those schools are very eclectic. All small, I suppose, but that’s about all I see in common. In particular, Rice is vastly more selective than any of the others. Also, since you want warm weather and near the beach…why no interest in California?
I’m from FL, and knew I wanted to go north…plus I have no interest in business or engineering, so I have not done significant research into the type of schools you might like, and thus cannot suggest anything.
But I wish you luck with your search.</p>
<p>How about UT-Austin, Elon, Rhodes (thats where I am going 
but its not in the location you want), SMU, UF, UMiami. College of Charleston is a great college…nice location and its near the beach. Got a couple of friends going there</p>
<p>Hello! We actually have a scuba diving club here at FAU. The contact info is on here, page 8:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.fau.edu/sda/clubs/clubs_index.pdf[/url]”>http://www.fau.edu/sda/clubs/clubs_index.pdf</a></p>
<p>I would just post the email address but I don’t think it’s right what with email bots scouring the internet and everything.</p>
<p>Good luck! FAU is a great school.</p>
<p>There’s always Vandy. I’m not sure how big Nashville is in your reckoning though.</p>
<p>U Florida has strong engineering and business programs…maybe stronger than anything on your list thus far. If your scuba interests are mainly lobstering and spear fishing, UF has is fairly close to appropriate beaches. If you want recreational scuba, it would be good to get closer to the keys…so U Miami might warrant a look!</p>
<p>U of North Carolina-Wilmington (don’t know if they offer Engineering, but overall it’s a fine college. Check out their Biology Department).</p>
<p>Texas A&M
University of Maryland-College Park</p>
<p>Vandy, Emory, and UVA are excellent choices.</p>
<p>Vandy, Emory and U of Virginia, really? I don’t have a PhD but I’m reasonably certain that all three are quite a-ways from the coast. Not many scuba diving opportunities in the north Georgia mountains, middle Tennessee or the Shannandoah Valley.</p>
<p>What about New College of Florida?</p>
<p>Tulane, Florida State, and College of Charleston come to mind as coastal (or relatively coastal) schools. U Miami is obvious. </p>
<p>What do you define as “easy driving distance?”</p>
<p>virginia tech has an amazing engineering deartment, and a very good business department</p>
<p>New College of Florida doesn’t have engineering. I have done the business and engineering search for my son, and you have a pretty good list for warm weather and scuba. Most of the small, private schools I found were in colder climes. Most big public universities have business and engineering, but then you lose the individual attention. Still, if you need a safety school you might consider University of Hawaii or one of the UC’s. If you are considering Rice even though it’s in a large city, you might consider USC in LA. We just visited this week and they have a brand-new engineering building and small class sizes even though they have 16,000 undergrads. My son’s list for CS and econ/business is: CMU, Rice, USC (all reaches), Bucknell, Lehigh, and several UC’s. I am having trouble finding safeties that have small class sizes, but considering Seattle University. Tried to avoid the tech schools because of the high male/female ratio. There are tons of them, of which FIT seems your most likely choice. Of course, not mentioned here are the super top tier schools like Harvey Mudd, Swarthmore, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, etc. because they are so difficult to get into. Harvey Mudd has economics if you consider that you can take classes at Claremont McKenna. If you have the stats to get in, then it is relatively close to scuba. Most of the top tier are too cold anyway except Stanford.</p>
<p>College of Charleston doesn’t have engineering.</p>
<p>Have you considered Eckerd College in St. Pete, Florida? They offer a degree in International Business and have a 3-2 engineering program with several universities, including Washington U. St. Louis, Auburn and the University of Miami.</p>