A little help with colleges: I will be looking at schools

[arbitragegls]

Is the RU program at New Brunswick or another campus

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New Brunswick Busch Campus...life sciences...

 

[Townie72]

next week with my HS freshman, just to get a start. (His idea.) He wants to study genetic engineering. We will be looking at U Penn and Princeton. He does not want to stay in NY (at this time.) Anybody got any recomendations that are reasonable driving distance from Syracuse that won't kill the whole vacation? (I already told him that UCLA would have to be sight unseen, because I am not taking him out there for a visit.)

I'm a Princeton NJ Townie. Of course the school has changed tremendously over the years.

A few years ago I was in Princeton for Communi-versity Day ... a sort of celebration in the Spring of the Town and the school.

I was shocked, chagrined even aghast at the PU students in full frolic on campus and in the town. You have never seen a fruitier bunch in your entire life. And I don't mean homosexual "fruity". I mean skipping or prancing about throwing flower petals "fruity". And not just a few of them ... there were hundreds.

I'd take a REAL good look at the students to make sure that your son or daughter would really fit in with that crowd. The academic reputation of the lace is beyond reproach. Although they do have that nitwit, Cornell West, on the staff.

 

[edowd26]

My cousin goes to Vanderbilt, its a pretty sweet place.

 

[Room 914]

I'd also suggest Carnegie Mellon. Excellent school w/genetic engineering. And, Pittsburgh's really a nice city for college students.

Yes. University of Pittsburgh as well. Good engineering school.

 

[Scoopadelphia]

Case Western is a pretty good engineering school, isn't it?

 

[OrlandoCuse]

Lehigh is located fairly close to Princeton and Philly - obviously a great engineering school, and they're better at basketball than Duke!

 

[rrlbees]

next week with my HS freshman, just to get a start. (His idea.)

What is it with these damn freshman? Mine did the same thing. Took a visit to SU and of 50 kids visiting, was the only freshman there. Spent some time with counselors too.

 

[BlackKnight76]

What is it with these damn freshman? Mine did the same thing. Took a visit to SU and of 50 kids visiting, was the only freshman there. Spent some time with counselors too.

I've never heard of freshmen visiting schools. Usually just junior/senior year.

 

[rrlbees]

I've never heard of freshmen visiting schools. Usually just junior/senior year.

About 50 kids at the presentation they gave. I'd say 5 were seniors since most seniors already visited schools, about 5 were sophomores and the rest were juniors except knucklehead. It was good tho, the guy doing the presentation called him out and told him he was a good man for thinking about it already and one counselor went through a 4 year HS plan with him so he would be best prepared for the subjects he would take at SU plus allow him to come in with about 20 credits.

 

[OttoMets]

Don't know much beyond its (stellar) reputation, MIT's probably worth a look. We stayed a couple blocks from there last weekend; seemed a really vibrant college neighborhood.

 

[BlackKnight76]

About 50 kids at the presentation they gave. I'd say 5 were seniors since most seniors already visited schools, about 5 were sophomores and the rest were juniors except knucklehead. It was good tho, the guy doing the presentation called him out and told him he was a good man for thinking about it already and one counselor went through a 4 year HS plan with him so he would be best prepared for the subjects he would take at SU plus allow him to come in with about 20 credits.

Definitely have him get as many credits in HS as possible. You can save a lot of money (he can graduate in 7 semesters or just enroll as a part time student at the end which is like 6k vs. 25+k) and he doesn't need to deal with as many of the annoying liberal arts requirements.

 

[Shrmdougluvr]

I've never heard of freshmen visiting schools. Usually just junior/senior year.

Part of it is admissions get more and more competitive, schools have found that that enrollment rates correlate with how many times an applicant has contact (visits, interviews, open houses, etc) with the school. Enrollment rates directly effect a school's ranking and prestige. which of course, in turn, draws better applicants.

 

[PhillyOrange]

Drexel University in Philadelphia is one of the top Engineering schools and Univ. of Penn is a few blocks away.

 

[HoustonCuse]

I guess first I would ask is "Genetic Engineering" even a major? If it is... yikes man. Secondly - would everyone please stop throwing out there that so-and-so is a "good engineering school." Genetic Engineering - if such a major does exist would a) not be in the engineering dept and b) have nothing to do with what 96.45% of the other engineering students at the school were studying. I would assume that you care much more about the Biology faculty/labs than what the engineering school has.

 

[OrlandoCuse]

Genetic engineering really isn't offered at the undergrad level. Probably the closest thing you are going to get is bioengineering then pursuing a phd in genetics.

Your child isn't going to able to do much in that field career wise without a phd. If they are looking at ivys already, then they probably realize that.

 

[JoeSU]

Genetic engineering really isn't offered at the undergrad level. Probably the closest thing you are going to get is bioengineering then pursuing a phd in genetics.

Your child isn't going to able to do much in that field career wise without a phd. If they are looking at ivys already, then they probably realize that.

This is absolutely true. His undergrad degree will determine where he gets into grad school, but his graduate degree will be the one that colors his professional reputation.

Also, he needs to be realistic - Ivys, MIT, etc. are extremely competitive (acceptance rate like 6%), and simply being a top-10 student at some public HS is usually not enough to get in (I have no idea about your son's qualifications).

 

[mscanlo]

to e

This is absolutely true. His undergrad degree will determine where he gets into grad school, but his graduate degree will be the one that colors his professional reputation.

Also, he needs to be realistic - Ivys, MIT, etc. are extremely competitive (acceptance rate like 6%), and simply being a top-10 student at some public HS is usually not enough to get in (I have no idea about your son's qualifications).

to echo that, it's almost better to go to a good school where he can be one of the top in his class or at least keep really good grades then to go to one of the top schools and get good grades and maybe not be the best. grad schools with take kids from a wide range of schools. it's sometimes better to stand out at a good school than be average at an elite school (top 10/15)

or look at a school where he could go all the way through grad school in. if they have a continuous program, great. if the school requires a separate application, top schools usually are bias towards their own undergrads ( at least in my experience of friends who got into grad school)

 

[TexanMark]

My son is at MIT courtesy of your tax dollars...I'm sure he could answer some questions for your kid. BTW he loved meeting a bunch of Cuse fans two weekends ago.

 

[Garbs]

Drexel University in Philadelphia is one of the top Engineering schools and Univ. of Penn is a few blocks away.

while in the area might as well go to Nova too

 

[EastCoast2]

I didn't take visits until my senior fall...

 

[CarolinaCuse]

CT - I would also recommend checking out the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering outside of Boston. It's a newer institution (founded in 1997); however, they are well respected for their unique curriculum. Not sure if they have bioengineering though. All students have half of their tuition paid by their endowment.

 

[TexanMark]

I didn't take visits until my senior fall...

I never took any visits and went on a whim. Times have changed.

 

[SUFAN1]

4 get UCLA it's located in a dump.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Living in the midwest, I have a bunch of friends that are engineers from B10 schools. While it is incredibly annoying to hear about their research consortium, their programs really are very, very good. Michigan isnt THAT far. Outside of your travel zone, UChicago has a very good program (James Shapiro Research Center). Also, Wiscy's genetic engineering program is one of the best in the country (their strength, however, focuses on genetically-altered crops (disease/drought resistance)). UW's program gets big-time federal dollars since the benefits of their research directly impact the world's food supply/demand ratio.

I had a friend who went to Univ. of Chicago. Unless your kid wants to have absolutely no fun whatsoever in college, look elsewhere. Yes, it's a great school, but the kids are boring work-a-holic grinds.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Definitely have him get as many credits in HS as possible. You can save a lot of money (he can graduate in 7 semesters or just enroll as a part time student at the end which is like 6k vs. 25+k) and he doesn't need to deal with as many of the annoying liberal arts requirements.

Elite schools frequently don't give you credit for having taken AP courses, just to give you a heads up.