Top academics, average runner. Colleges?

parenting q wrote:

What think you engineering people generally about the 'liberal arts plus engineering' theory generally and Dartmouth specifically?

Honestly, nobody ever has been harmed by having Dartmouth on their resume. You don't have to go to the school with the "best" Engineering program to be successful.

Regarding 'liberal arts plus engineering' vs heavy tech school, that depends on the student. If he studies Engineering, he's not going to have very much space in his schedule for non-Engineering classes. Typically, it's 1 per semester, max, in non-STEM classes. Having "Gender Studies" majors around isn't going to really make so much of a difference in his life.

More important than any other factor is whether the student's fit in the school's culture is good. If they feel like they belong, they'll work harder. If your son feels *really* uncomfortable at a tech heavy school, don't force it. Personally, I think it helps to have a high enough percentage of engineers to give them a strong presence on campus. Dartmouth is just under 10%. That's not bad. Most big state schools that offer engineering are under 5%, which can be difficult. Notable exceptions include Purdue (22%), Illinois (18%), and specialized state schools like Georgia Tech. Cornell is 16%. RPI, where I went, is 53%. That's too high for some. MIT is about 40%.

Colorado school of land mines (d2)

thanks all

I think the best points here are:

1. he really loves Dartmouth - that's a big deal.

2. he isn't 100% sure he wants to major in engineering and Dartmouth can cover just about anything else, at a fairly high level.

3. Engineering seems good enough there - it is the 2nd or 3rd most popular major now, and there is a grad program with facilities.

4. Just about everyone has to go to grad school now anyway so undergrad needs to be solid but isn't make or break.

the bad parts are the 5th year, the lack of truly top facilities and the cost.

Engineering programs can be pretty specific. Any interest in a particular field? The energy industry is seeing a huge retirement push and lots of opportunities (if you can stomach the boom/bust cycles). No one entered the industry in the 80s and 90s during the two oil gluts. The result is that everyone who got in the industry in the 70s is retiring and there is big demand for new engineers (the current glut will be a distant memory in 2020). If energy is a consideration, U. Tex., Rice, Tex. A&M should be on the radar. All have very good women's running programs, but not so out of this world that a decent runner couldn't find a spot on the team for XC.

CMU for sure. Look into the other little ivies

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Ivies

Lots of choices.

I went to UW & Berkeley.

Washington is #3 in the world for Medicine.

Berkeley is #1 in the world in Physics, Chemistry, Science.

re:

http://www.shanghairanking.com/

Post Hole Digger wrote:

boomKat wrote:Even though the disbursement was called a scholarship? And came AFTER my financial aid package? Huh.

Yes. It's all need-based, but part of your award is from specific scholarships and they ask you to write a letter to the scholarship donor. They determine how much you're getting first, then later as the disbursements are made you see the specific scholarship parts of it.

You're both right. You did get an academic scholarship, but it was part of your overall need-based aid package.

Correct; one which I would not have gotten had I not been in a particular program/major.

But the point is still that the coaches can help steer you to a certain major based on competitiveness of the applicant pool and available funds.

To the OP:

I think it would help to share some more information about a location where she wants to go to school, a specific engineering major she is interested in, and her running times and how important that is.

She may find that when she's in the middle of a degree program, she has less time/interest for running. But if this is important for her college experience, then pick a school that will accomodate majoring in engineering and running track/XC.

Some research universities can be very "top heavy", and you don't get much attention as an under-grad. There are exceptions. Stanford tends to do well with its undergrad programs. UC Berkeley not so much. The service academies are all strong for undergraduate engineering, but they are very selective about their admissions, and not everyone want to be in the military in college and after.

From the limited information, she meets the profile for a D3 school with an Engineering program. From a first-job perspective, make sure the school has ABET accreditation for a Civil Engineering major, etc. It also helps to have an opportunity to do a co-op or internship with a local employer while you are still enrolled.

A good friend of mine ran at CalTech and loved the track program there. He also got a terrific job with Intel upon graduation.

Can't beat the weather either.

The male/female ratio at the school would be hugely in her favor, assuming she is straight.

Colorado School of Mines

South Dakota School of Mines

UC San Diego

West Coast D2 wrote:

UC San Diego

Indeed.

UCSD is steadily rising in the engineering ranks and it is an awesome place to live.

Colorado School of Mines is an excellent engineering school. They are very competitive on the boys side in D2, their girls aren't quite as good. That isn't from the coaching though, there are just lower #s of girls in engineering. She would probably develop just fine in Chris' program. http://www.csmorediggers.com/sports/xc/index

pb&jelly wrote:

Stellar kid academic-wise. 2360 SAT, great Subject Test scores, top of class, and in a ton of AP classes. This kid is, however, an average runner. Won a League Championship in the 3k last year, competitive in league, but nothing extraordinary. Loves to run and has a huge passion for it, and really would like to run in college. She wants to study engineering. Any schools with great engineering programs that also would suit her needs running-wise?

Regarding "liberal arts plus engineering," I majored in engineering at Brown (well over a decade ago), and I felt that their program prepared me very well for graduate school (which was not what I wanted to do), but not so well to get hired and be useful as an engineer in the workplace. I had friends who went to good state schools with more employment-oriented engineering programs who were infinitely better prepared to get themselves hired and do their jobs well as engineers. I think a liberal arts school with a strong engineering program could be a good fit for somebody who wants to be an academic researcher or a professor, but if you want to work for an engineering firm or anything along those lines, go to a school whose reputation is for engineering. (I have a good job now, but have never been employed as an engineer.)

fgasdf wrote:

West Coast D2 wrote:

UC San Diego

Indeed.

UCSD is steadily rising in the engineering ranks and it is an awesome place to live.

San Diego has rock underground hence less catastrophic earthquake damage.

Urban Tall Tales around SD says UCSD federal labs has a top secret US government 100 mile diameter particle accelerator 10 miles under ground carved out in rock. Maybe it's true?

interesting - a little scary, but interesting

rose who? wrote:

Midwest KId wrote:

Rose Hulman is the top engineering school in the country, has a phenomenal coaching staff, is a competitive conference in the HCAC for a girl of her caliber, and a very high job placement rate after college with companies like Lilly, Cummins, etc. She shouldn't commit to any schools she hasn't visited, and taken in the atmosphere though. WUSTL is also a great school. Neither school is very cheap, but if she is that academically gifted, she would probably be in the running for a very good academic scholarship at either place.

Never heard of this school.

The top 4 engineering programs have already been named on this thread multiple times.

You need to get out more often.

college fair wrote:

rose who? wrote:

Never heard of this school.

The top 4 engineering programs have already been named on this thread multiple times.

You need to get out more often.

He is correct - Rose Hulman is not a top engineering program if your metric is a school that produces top engineers.

Definitely look at the schools in the UAA league, especially CMU, WashU, and Chicago for engineering. Most of them are fairly good at xc for D3 schools and all have top engineering programs