I love STEM and want to major in math or computer science or maybe engineering so I’m looking for a good tech school.
My top choices are MIT and Caltech, but I want my backups to be tech as well.
I know Georgia tech is a good tech school, but are there any other schools like Georgia tech?
Stanford would be another top choice like MIT, Caltech. UIUC, UMich, Pirdue are good tech schools like GTech.
You can also consider RPI in NY and WPI in MA.
Also consider Harvey Mudd and Rice.
I don’t know if I would list them as a backups, but CMU ¶, Olin College of Engineering (MA) and Cooper Union (NYC) deserve that designation. Some schools are on the map because of very large graduate schools and corresponding research budgets which may or may not match up to the quality of the undergraduate schools.
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Check out this list @https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_technological_universities.
It is very hard to find a polytechnic, an institute of technology, or a school of mines which does not have a very demanding program. It is the nature of the beast! If you have doubts about job placement, average salaries of graduates, or graduate schools attended, etc. you should ask the schools directly. Some schools have very good websites for this. You will be surprised how many schools you never hear of have very impressive records. The world of quality choices is much broader than you may realize. Popular rankings can be misleading.
If you want engineering at large state institutions you might also look at University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
If you want fully developed project education programs look at Olin and WPI (also international project studies).
If you want hands on activity, you might look at Cal Poly.
If you want a true first class “pressure cooker,” try MIT or Cal Tech, but the others are not easy.
What specifics are you looking for?
:bz
@retiredfarmer I’m mostly looking into pure mathematics and/or computer science. I might change to physical sciences or engineering but ATM I want to study math. Personally I just want to stay within academia (I want to keep studying up to PhD and maybe become a prof or something like that, I think it’s cool). I mean I would love to go to MIT or Caltech, but in case of backup I’m trying to find less competitive schools that still have somewhat similar characteristics.
Also what does “Polytechnic institute” mean?
Harvey Mudd has great grad school placement, but really isn’t a backup or even match for anyone. Case Western?
Polytech = tech school.
What are your practical considerations - location, price you can pay, etc?
Your credentials - ACT/SAT , GPA, EC’s ?
Other items of importance?
I don’t really mind the location. I’m an international student, and for private colleges I’m requesting FA, and for public since they’re cheaper I can mostly afford, I’ll still see if the school has any merit scholarships available for internationals though.
I have a 1510 in SAT, my school doesn’t do GPA but I’m in IB and my last predictions were 39.
My ECs are mostly small and personal; I have a self-directed service project, doing music on my own (submitting a portfolio wherever applicable), Taekwondo, and I also indicated that I used to do robotics and play house league ice hockey too, I don’t do them anymore since my current school doesn’t have robotics and there aren’t any more hockey levels that aren’t competitive in my association.
Lots of universities in the US are good for math and computer science, whether or not they focus on technical majors or offer a wide variety of majors.
Note that some “technical schools” like MIT and Harvey Mudd do have extensive general education requirements in non-technical subjects.
If you are an international student, you will have to pay full fees at most public colleges and universities.
Public state colleges are paid for by the states and their taxpayers, so students who are not residents, do not receive the same financial aid as instate resident students.
So, if you apply to the UC’s you will be expected to pay $60K per year. There is no funding for non-residents.
Carnegie Mellon University
Harvey Mudd College
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Keep in mind, many top engineering, mathematics and computer science departments are not in “tech” schools. Check out the following:
Brown University
Columbia University
Cornell University
Johns Hopkins University
Northwestern University
Princeton University
Rice University
Stanford University
University of California-Berkeley
University of California-Los Angeles
University of California-San Diego
University of California-Santa Barbara
University of Chicago (they don’t offer Engineering, but they are excellent in Mathematics and Science)
University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign
University of Maryland-College Park
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
University of Pennsylvania
University of Rochester
University of Texas-Austin
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Also keep in mind that just because a “technical institute” focuses mainly in the STEM fields does not exempt you from having to take non-STEM classes. In fact, you would probably have to take fewer non-science classes at Brown than you would at Caltech or MIT.
The terms polytechnic, institute of technology, and “school of mines” identify the historical roots of schools. These schools were founded starting in the 1800’s to meet the needs of industry and were originally modeled after the technologically focused schools of Germany. The oldest such school in the US was RPI (1824, the second was MIT (1861) and the third was WPI (1865). Because of the evolving needs for a more highly skilled workforce, US manufacturers began demanding more study on the application of science to industry. Many have since grown in scope to become full fledged universities. As they worked on the application of science to industry, they became more and more involved in the development of pure science and math. Carnegie Institute of Technology was founded by a very wealthy US industrialist in 1912 and later merged with Mellon Institute of Industrial Research to become Carnegie Mellon University. Case Western is another example of an early technological school’s merger with a more traditional college.
By comparison, Harvard, Yale and the “Ivy’s” were founded earlier and focused on theology, Greek, Latin and study of the classic western thinkers. Harvard made significant efforts in 1842 and Yale in 1852 to develop engineering schools and did make significant contributions. Education was for the well-to-do and there was little interest in the hands on environment of the rapidly developing engineering fields. Applied science studies had an early, but difficult start at these institutions because of their teaching faculties strong focus on the classical fields. It was hard to appreciate the coming explosion in the application of scientific knowledge. “Hands on” had difficulty gaining full acceptance with the more traditional faculties.
CS and math are highly developed fields of study at many of these schools today. The historically technologically grounded schools tend to offer a broader scope in the engineering fields because of the broad range of engineering laboratories needed to cover ME, CE, EE, ChE and now robotics and biomedical engineering. Cornell University is an “Ivy” with a robust, fully developed engineering school…
:bz
@Alexandre is correct.
MIT, Caltech, Gatech, WPI, RPI, CMU, Harvey Miss, Olin, Mines, Stevens, Rose Hulman, RIT are “Tech” schools.
Meaning the vast majority of student population >50% is STEM.
Some others above >50% are IIT, Mich Tech, NM Tech, NJ Tech, UAH, Missouri Tech, NYU Poly, FIT, Cooper Union, Case Western and the service academies (Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard).
UIUC, Mich, Purdue, UT Austin, UCB, UCSD, Texas AM, NCST, Washington, Rice, Duke, Stanford and many other universities have great engineering departments but they aren’t “Tech” schools.
There are also universities with “Tech” in their name that aren’t “Tech” schools. TexTech, VPISU or VaTech, LaTech, TennTech.
You need to research colleges that provide financial aid to international students. This list is a good place to start.
I’d also look at Waterloo in Canada.
re #5: “I’m mostly looking into pure mathematics and/or computer science.”
Regarding pure mathematics maybe some of these prior threads can help:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/223626-if-not-harvard-where-else-for-math.html
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/princeton-university/900687-cambridge-vs-princeton-for-math.html
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1319347-math-major-harvard-stanford-princeton-caltech-or-berkeley-p1.html
Regarding computer science, maye some of these prior threads can help:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/932455-the-best-computer-science-undergraduate-programs-p1.html
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/math-computer-science-majors/1943448-top-10-computer-science-universities-p1.html
also these:
https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/university-subject-rankings/2014/computer-science-information-systems#sorting=rank+region=+country=+faculty=+stars=false+search=
https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-science-schools/computer-science-rankings
http://www.shanghairanking.com/SubjectCS2012.html
Have you looked in to unis in the UK?
You have a shot at Oxbridge and if you already know what you want to concentrate in, the very focused British curriculum may suit you better.