<p>U of Chicago will visit my son’s school soon, and they sent him a card to notify him (He’s scored high in PSAT, and has all A’s). I think he would like it, but he wants to be a ChemE Engineer, so should he even consider U of Chicago, or just bite the bullet and say, not a good fit and go on?</p>
<p>While Chicago doesn’t have an engineering department, it does have great chem/physics/math ones. If your son loves the school overall, he might consider majoring in chem, phys, or math and then completing a graduate engineering program at a different school (which I’ve heard a lot of people have done). If he isn’t truly interested in Chicago’s curriculum/vibe, etc., maybe a different school is a better fit.</p>
<p>Also, don’t put too much stock in what the postcard might mean. U of Chicago is a school that seems to spend a lot of money reaching out to students who do well on various standardized tests. It is not surprising your son got a card from them. I would think a huge percentage of CC students have been contacted by the school. They have dramatically increased their applications in recent years with this strategy. My son (a senior) has received probably 20 separate mailings from them even though he has expressed no interest in applying there.</p>
<p>Why in the world would an engineer come to UChicago? There are plenty of engineering schools that will also be good fits for your son.</p>
<p>imho, if your son is dead set on doing engineering, then Chicago is likely not the best environment for him.
Maybe consider places like Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, MIT, Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, etc. which have extraordinary programs in engineering.</p>
<p>Thanks to all for the responses, they were helpful.</p>
<p>Since this hasn’t been mentioned yet, I do want to emphasize that UChicago is great for students who want to do research. There’s a lot of funding available, and the science faculty is top-notch. That said, a job in chemical engineering would require more education after the undergraduate level, so that’s a knock against UChicago as well.</p>
<p>If one can get into a comparable school to UChicago that offers engineering, then that obviously makes sense. However, there are plenty of basic science majors at Chicago who get terminal engineering masters directly after graduating. There seems to be no major problem admissions or employmentwise. I would not pay sticker to go to a second tier engineering school in lieu of top 15 or so research university just because the later does not offer engineering directly.</p>