College Search

[Kreon]

I'm looking into colleges more closely now

My top 3 (in no specific order) are
US Coast Guard Academy
Rensselaer Polytechnic
Worcester Polytechnic

Which of these do you suggest (or in addition to), I'm
Going into electrical engineering
Want to stay in New England, Upstate New York
Able to get into all of them (in terms of GPA and SATs)

Thanks everyone

 

[booboisie]

Although it's a new college, I recommend Olin College (near Boston), if you're definitely sure you want to do engineering. Their full-tuition scholarship is nice too .

 

[PHiuR]

Come to Hell.

Rochester Institute of Technology.

RPI and WPI are probably both better schools though.

 

[Gunslinger08]

VA Tech if you want to venture a little south.

 

[Kreon]

Thanks

Can I get a link to Olin College? Do they have ROTC?

I ruled out RIT a while ago, thanks though
VA is a little to far south for me, I still want to be able to drive home once in a while

Any others?

 

[Sukhoi]

Cornell.

 

[PHiuR]

Northeastern

 

[IAteYourMother]

MIT!!!

 

[drinkmorejava]

Hmmm, I think I've seen more posts about going to RPI and WPI than all other colleges. Anyway, I'm dong aero at RPI, WPI was my third choice, Embry Riddle my second. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me. If you search for RPI some stuff should come up too.

 

[Kreon]

I visited RPI and was incredibly impressed with their facilities
I really liked the Dining Plan

Any reasons for Cornell or NorthEastern??

I wish I could get into MIT, I'm not that good (though I do plan on applying just to try)

 

[PHiuR]

Northeastern, cause it's in Boston... and they require co-ops.

 

[RallyMaster]

Go to Purdue. This place might surprise you in terms of engineering education.

 

[ponyo]

Which is the cheapest? Does cost or money matter?

 

[Parasitic]

Rensselaer has been revamping the graduate programs, especially with that new Center of Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies and the new IBM supercomputer center contract.

I guess another choice might be Cornell or Columbia, although I think Columbia is no longer "upstate" by your definition.
Or maybe Rutgers?

 

[Kreon]

Money doesn't particularly matter

I do like free things though

I figure I'll be in debt no matter what, whether with years of my life or money
I'd prefer the years, as I get paid and cared for during it

Note: I would like to avoid schools in large cities, I like to visit them, but never wanna live there

 

[NatePo717]

All of those are excellent schools. I would also recommend RIT for a value school (going there now and am in my 5th year now). It's a 5 year program but they require 5 co-ops as part of grad and is a trimester school. Each lasts about 12 weeks including finals week. My brother goes to WPI. It's a pretty nice school as well. No required co-ops that I know of. They also follow a quarterly schedule. you go through 4 academic terms (each lasting 7 weeks) with a summer break. I had to choose between WPI, RPI, RIT, and Villanova. I decided to go with the one that was more affordable and is still ranked pretty high regarding their engineering department. I also know someone who went to the Coast Guard academy. I wouldn't be able to deal with their strict rules.

 

[Parasitic]

RPI doesn't seem terribly expensive for undergrad, at least in my opinion. I'm paying almost as much for in-state UC Berkeley in fees, cost of living, and everything.
It also depends on your career path. Most graduates from all these schools you listed tend to join the industry, so if you do prefer a bit more academics you might want to consider otherwise.

 

[Kreon]

I want to go into the military (most likely Coast Guard as that's what my dad was in)

I dunno if that's the "industry"

 

[CraKaJaX]

I'm in the same sort of deal as you. Upstate NY, want to stay in the New England area, etc. So far I've checked out UMass Lowell, Clarkson, Manhattan College, and Merrimack College. All for Electrical Engineering. I'd have to say that out of all of them, Clarkson impressed me the most.

 

[NatePo717]

Originally posted by: CraKaJaX
I'm in the same sort of deal as you. Upstate NY, want to stay in the New England area, etc. So far I've checked out UMass Lowell, Clarkson, Manhattan College, and Merrimack College. All for Electrical Engineering. I'd have to say that out of all of them, Clarkson impressed me the most.

Merrimack is like 2 min from my house

 

[Kreon]

I looked briefly at Clarkson
I decided against it because a few kids from my school have gone there and had terrible times

These were good students too

one did ok and was one of their best cross country skiers though... (so says her mom)


I ruled out UMASS because of the party atmosphere
I don't mind a little, but zooMASS has too much for me

Manhattan, I don't want to live in the city, not for me. I need forests

I never really looked into Merrimack
NatePo, should I bother?

 

[booboisie]

www.olin.edu

I doubt they have an ROTC program (the whole school only has a class size of ~320), but they have a cross-registration program with 3 other schools (Babson, Brandeis, and Wellesley). I just checked Brandeis' site and they have a navy and army ROTC program through Boston University, so you could probably manage to get into that. Recently Olin's become a very difficult school to get into, I think this year's acceptance rate is probably around 10%, so it's about the same as MIT.

Good luck.

 

[CraKaJaX]

Originally posted by: Kreon
I looked briefly at Clarkson
I decided against it because a few kids from my school have gone there and had terrible times

These were good students too

one did ok and was one of their best cross country skiers though... (so says her mom)


I ruled out UMASS because of the party atmosphere
I don't mind a little, but zooMASS has too much for me

Manhattan, I don't want to live in the city, not for me. I need forests

I never really looked into Merrimack
NatePo, should I bother?

What was the "terrible times" they went through?
If you want to be in the forests, you can't go wrong with Clarkson.. lol. UMass I just visited, didn't really look deeply into it. As far as Manhattan, it was a nice and small school. I liked it myself, but I don't mind the city. As far as Merrimack, I scheduled a tour and my tour guide sucked ass. She didn't eve bring us inside anywhere except for the main cafeteria building -- and the cafeteria was closed at the time. I saw their deli-type thing and the gym, but that's it. The campus was really flat, which is a plus.. but it didn't look nice at all. It wasn't well groomed is what you could say, and personally I like the campus more if they take care of them.

 

[Kreon]

A lot of the problems came from academics
I don't know the details, most of them went there when I was a freshman, and I heard about it from the guidance councilors and a couple parents

 

[NatePo717]

Originally posted by: CraKaJaX

Originally posted by: Kreon
I looked briefly at Clarkson
I decided against it because a few kids from my school have gone there and had terrible times

These were good students too

one did ok and was one of their best cross country skiers though... (so says her mom)


I ruled out UMASS because of the party atmosphere
I don't mind a little, but zooMASS has too much for me

Manhattan, I don't want to live in the city, not for me. I need forests

I never really looked into Merrimack
NatePo, should I bother?

What was the "terrible times" they went through?
If you want to be in the forests, you can't go wrong with Clarkson.. lol. UMass I just visited, didn't really look deeply into it. As far as Manhattan, it was a nice and small school. I liked it myself, but I don't mind the city. As far as Merrimack, I scheduled a tour and my tour guide sucked ass. She didn't eve bring us inside anywhere except for the main cafeteria building -- and the cafeteria was closed at the time. I saw their deli-type thing and the gym, but that's it. The campus was really flat, which is a plus.. but it didn't look nice at all. It wasn't well groomed is what you could say, and personally I like the campus more if they take care of them.

Merrimack is ok from what I've read. I wouldn't go there though. There's nothing to do in that area unless you can get into Boston. It's a small school too.