Can you help us identify some universities that have strong CS & EE programs and high caliber students - combined or where double major or minor is common, with relatively small classes and a collaborative type environment rather than super being “competitive” or “weed out” schools? Emphasis on hands-on learning, reasonable amount of workload, access to professors,and research possibilities is a plus as is nonfrat/ not party school. Where curious and caring students thrive without excessive stress. So far, thinking about WPI, RPI, Rice, RIT, Olin, Stanford but need more options, especially with “reasonable acceptance rates”. Thoughts about Case Western, USC or OTHER schools?? We are in the Northeast but other locations are fine too. Thanks so much!!
^Bump
have you looked at auburn?
http://eng.auburn.edu/programs/index.html
(minus a few of your desires)
I think the issue you will have is you want a school like hendrix college or muhenberg college but they do not have engineering. and lots of colleges that do have the engineering schools are an issue on things you mentioned like frats, party schools, and large classes. you will have to do some give and take to get what you are looking for. however if you or your child can just do computer science and say math or chemistry as undergrad majors you could have an amazing 4 years at a school like hendrix or muhlenberg. (minus the engineering)
p.s. both schools have joint programs for engineering
https://www.hendrix.edu/preprofessional/default.aspx?id=33362
http://www.muhlenberg.edu/main/academics/physics/curriculum/dualdegreeengineering/fall2015orlater/
@zobroward – Thanks so much for these suggestions - greatly appreciate and will check into them for sure.
There are smaller engineering-focused schools like the “mines” schools in SD, NM, and CO, Missouri Science and Tech, and private ones like Rose Hulman, Illinois Tech, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Stevens Tech, Worcester Polytechnic, etc…
In terms of “competitive” or “weed out” schools, check to see if there are higher GPA or competitive admission requirements to enter the desired majors after the student enrolls. Such requirements exist because the departments may not be large enough to accommodate all interested students. CS in particular has had surging enrollment recently.
Note that 3+2 programs for engineering mean an extra year of cost (with uncertain financial aid at the “2” school), and few students in them actually transfer to the “2” school. Since the “2” school may have high GPA requirements or competitive admission to transfer, that may not be desirable for a student who wants to avoid a “competitive” or “weed out” situation.
Some schools have on-line class schedules where you can look up class sizes.
What cost constraints are you looking at?
Rose-Hulman should definitely be on your list. Great small-class, high-attention environment, and not quite so selective as some of the other schools on your list. In the super-selective category, seems like Harvey Mudd is an obvious omission.
My D is graduating this fall from Olin, by the way, and it is everything you described in terms of what you’re looking for. Couldn’t be happier with the quality of her undergraduate experience, and she’s already been hired for a super job once she’s finished. I think they’re taking some steps to beef up their CS curriculum, as well, though CS is not a true major there – the closest approximation is what they call Engineering with Computing (this is what my D did).
Also, if you’re looking for high quality undergraduate education and small classes and are willing to consider an environment that’s not quite so tech focused, you might consider some of the LAC’s that offer engineering and CS. Swarthmore would be at the top of that heap, with Lafayette, Bucknell, Union, Trinity College (CT) and Trinity University (TX) being some other names to consider. I’ve been very impressed by the CS offerings at Trinity U – it’s very high on my son’s list at the moment.
Swarthmore is not a “non-competitive” school, though, and difficult to get into.
Rochester is a good option
swathmore is a school where students ask for extra homework and it is very hard to get into!
and Lafayette is an awesome awesome school but not easy to get into.
I don’t think anyone has to ask for “extra homework” at Swat. An overabundance is provided to start with.
Agreed on Swarthmore having a heavy workload and being a pretty intense place, and also, of course a very tough admit. Not sure that makes it “competitive” – don’t have enough personal experience with it to make that judgemen t–and they do have strong engineering and CS programs and a non-frat, non-partying culture. Some of the LACs I listed (Bucknell, Union, Trinity College) may not be a great fit for a kid who doesn’t want much of a frat culture or a lot of partying (I really need to learn to read these OPs a little more carefully before I respond).
I stand by my recommendations of Lafayette, Trinity U and Rose-Hulman, though. Harvey Mudd is a terrific place, as well (@intparent can tell you all about it!), but HM and Olin kids do both work very hard. I think they’re both in the top 3 on princetonreview’s Students Study the Most list.
intparent(that was a tiny bit of sarcasm)
Okay. 
And yes, I can talk about Mudd (at length, as many of you know!). It sounds like it would be a reach for the OP’s kid, and the workload is very intense. It is, however, quite collaborative and supportive. They do only have a general engineering degree, though.
Thanks for all the tips - greatly appreciate your thoughts. As always, CC’s = amazing! We will look at Rose-Hulman and Trinity, maybe Lafayette and more! Went to Harvey Mudd - we believe there is not an actual EE degree & he did not love the campus - we went during summer. He has great greats & high ACT & good ECs (except no sports) and a number of awards/accomplishments. Just looking for a place to grow, get to “dig in” to EE/CS (not lots of humanities), hopefully get to do research, tinker in a maker space etc!!
Also I second the University of Rochester. Certainly if you are looking at RIT, you could also visit U of R while you are there. That is a mid-size research University that is selective with strong, smart students but not crazy difficult to get into. Everyone we know who had attended just loves it and has been very successful upon graduation.
@momofzag – Thanks – will add Univ. of Rochester to consider.
A few other things about Trinity U: it’s hard to overstate how spectacular their new science building (which houses both engineering and CS) is. Amazing facility. They also have a shockingly high endowment for a school their size, which translates into very nice amenities (like the aforementioned science building). Finally, it’s an outstanding value for a private school: “only” about $50K/year full price and very generous merit aid for high stats kids. One the flip side, it’s not terribly well known outside of Texas, and your kid will have to ask themselves how they feel about being near the top end of the academic distribution, since it’s not a super-selective school.
It is critical that you visit RIT and University of Rochester for a comparison - both have high quality education but different approaches to college life.
If you son/daughter likes one more than the other then there are 2 distinctly different ways to turn
Thanks @swampdraggin – would be very helpful to compare them – agree!!