So I’m going to be honest, I want to go to small engineering colleges like Stevens Institute and RPI/ WPI but at the same time having a party scene like CU Boulder or something is a huge plus. I grew up having such few friends etc but it was a lot thanks to circumstance so when I have true freedom I want to build myself socially as well. Plus it would be cool to get with a girl before I graduate lmao, and play around while I have the time
I’ve been looking at schools like Cal Poly which have classroom experiences like WPI but also good social scenes. Am I trying to have my cake and eat it too? Also would be good is if these schools were relatively prestigious - high starting salaries and name recognition for employment is a huge plus.
I also don’t know what I want to study; mechanical engineering or computer science, so a college which allows me to drift between these two would be awesome.
Nobody can suggest realistic options without knowing your stats and budget. Are you a CA resident?
You can meet really nice young women at schools of all sizes.
And little bit of mentorship here. “Getting with a girl” should be really replaced “getting to know a young woman or two”.
You will make so many more opportunities to meet nice “girls” who are friends of “girls” who you become friends with on a real and honest level.
They’ll introduce you to more girls that you’ll want to date and will want to date you than your vision of keg party freedom. As be really really careful to make sure you take it slow. Be 100 percent sure of clear consent. Tough to be sure when you both are intoxicated. There’s a lot of misinterpretation of signals that go incredibly wrong when booze and inexperience collide.
Don’t get me wrong they can be fun too.
Just a little Dad coaching here. Lol.
Hi. No budget here. Stats is around 33 ACT with predicted IB around 37 and low to medium ECs.
“no budget” means ‘Bank of Mom & Dad will pay $70K p/a’ or ‘there is no budget I need financial aid’ or ‘my parents said not to worry about it until I have actual acceptances’? unless it’s the first one, you need to figure out the budget part first.
Engineering education is pretty flat; there are a handful of very prestigious schools (MIT, Caltech, Stanford, etc) but the majority are treated as peers by employers due to the ABET standardization of the programs. Starting salaries are going to be about the same no matter where you go.
My advice is to pick a school where you’d want to go if you’re not an engineer. Whenever someone mentions having fun in a premed or engineering program they don’t seem to make it thru if they come back and post while in college. I think its a marker like those questions on aptitude tests that ask if you’d rather spend a day at the beach or in the mountains; doesn’t seem at all relevant but the answer is correlated with the way people happy in different careers answer.
No budget = bank of mom and dad, yes indeed
How about shooting for an honors college program at a larger university? That could be the best of both worlds.
Check out Lehigh, Lafayette, and Bucknell, all near each other in PA.
Take a look at University of Maine. It’s a smaller big school with a decent engineering department.
Party schools = any large state university, or any school with a really good sports programs
Great engineering schools = CalTech, MIT, Stanford, Michigan, CMU, Rice, PSU, Georgia Tech, Wisconsin, Purdue, Cal, Cornell, etc.
Great school to meet a nice gal = any school with a 50/50 M/F ratio, or up to 40/60 M/F ratio, or in a cluster of nearby colleges. Also look at schools with a good M/F ratio in the engineering college.
Great school to keep bank of Mom and Dad happy = merit school - do you have anything like National Merit?
Just take the intersection of those conditions and you’ll have created a good short list.
Union (NY)! Very social LAC with an engineering school.
@privatebanker - your post reminds why I am a founding member of DADD - Dads Against Daughters Dating 
University of Wisconsin-Madison: Great engineering, and also a great social scene and school spirit. Best of both worlds!
Good suggestion, @kkendall! UWi-M does not get enough love on this forum.
If you are looking for basic Top Engineering Programs, here’s the typically used list:
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/engineering-doctorate
Many of them have rah-rah sports and at all of them you’ll find parties and opposite gender students.
I’ll second the advice of picking a school with alternatives you like outside of engineering. Those who major or minor in party rarely do well in engineering. Don’t misunderstand that. Engineers still have fun and do ECs. They just rarely word their plans for college the way you did.
If you’re looking for another school similar to RPI/WPI, add RIT.
If you’re looking to drift between CS and engineering, look for computer engineering. You can’t really drift with things like Aerospace, Chemical, Civil, etc. Engineering is a full course load in itself. Even schools that have set credits one needs in other areas often has that limit set lower for engineers in order for them to graduate on time with needed courses.
Careful with Wisconsin. Some engineering majors aggressively weed out students with first year GPA requirements as high as 3.5 technical and 3.0 overall.
https://www.engr.wisc.edu/academics/student-services/academic-advising/first-year-undergraduate-students/progression-requirements/