FIRST Class of 2014, Where are we going?

I'm sticking to California:

Applying:
Cal Poly SLO
UC Davis
Santa Clara University

Deferred:
Stanford University

[Johnnybukkel]

I'm going to be applying to RIT and WPI, and maybe CO Boulder. I want to go for Aerospace Engineering but I'm also thinking about U of R for Biomedical Engineering

[AcesJames]

Originally Posted by Gregor

Did I read that correctly?

Gregor,

Libby is absolutely correct. Clarkson has an incredibly unique setup for our FIRST mentors. Aside from Team 229, which is comprised of about 50 HS students from 2 schools, 2 HS teachers, and 20ish active Clarkson mentors (did I mention our shop space is at Clarkson too?), we have a suite-style dormitory for FIRST Alumni and Mentors. Currently our housing is a single floor with 20 students (12 freshmen and 8 sophomores), but we have plans to occupy up to 3 floors next year with 60 total students.

Each dorm room holds two people and is connected to one other room through a bathroom (2 people per room, 4 per bathroom). All the rooms face inward toward a central lounge which has (among other things) a 60" TV, a workstation computer, many laptops, some field components, and whiteboards for studying/mentoring.

Our residents are not only FRC mentors, but also JFLL, FLL, and FTC mentors on the weekends. We provide coaches clinics (our students coach other local adult coaches) to 18 FTC teams and 24 FLL teams, host our own FTC and FLL tournaments and scrimmages, and even travel around Northern NY in our robotics van doing demonstrations with quadcopters, FRC robots, humanoid robots, etc.

Feel free to PM Libby or myself with any questions you might have.

[Brandon Zalinsky]

I originally considered Clarkson, but I don't know if I could handle the Canadiens fans (Go Bruins!)

I've applied to, in order of preference:

1. Florida Institute of Technology
2. Virginia Tech
3. Wentworth Institute of Technology (Accepted)
4. VCU
5. Clemson
6. UNH (Accepted)
7. RIT

[Calvin Hartley]

Originally Posted by ehfeinberg

My schools; ....... All big, cold, Northeast/Midwest colleges. Bring on that snow.

If you want cold and snow, try Michigan Tech. Here is their snowfall records page.

Originally Posted by AcesJames

Libby is absolutely correct. Clarkson has an incredibly unique setup for our FIRST mentors....

I might need to look into this...


In all actuality though, I am looking at Grand Valley State University. I've recently learned of a few other schools that interest me as well, but GVSU is my main consideration right now. I'll probably do some courses at 'CC (Grand Rapids Community College) next year, and then go to GVSU for Mechanical Engineering.

[Christopher149]

MTU, great choice. There's like two feet of snow outside right now, broomball and winter carnival can be a lot of fun, and there are local teams that you can mentor.

[Calvin Hartley]

Originally Posted by Christopher149

MTU, great choice. There's like two feet of snow outside right now, broomball and winter carnival can be a lot of fun, and there are local teams that you can mentor.

I have a few friends there, one of which I talked to recently who says you can't go a day without seeing some FIRST garb.

[Nathan Streeter]

Just wanted to mention I'm stunned that no one's mentioned Northeastern University!! So, I'll have to take a couple minutes to try to remedy that by tooting my school's horn! ;-)

They're usually a popular school for FRC students, with their competitive Engineering education, top-notch co-op program, and significant involvement with FRC... 125 (the NUTRONS, a great team in terms of both robots and impact) are based there and they've hosted Beantown Blitz for 8+ years and will now be hosting the Northeastern District Event!

It's a great school that's only been getting better and better over the past 5, 10, and 20 years! I very highly recommend applying! The big selling points for me were their passionate and friendly faculty, great engineering programs, excellent co-op program, and location in Boston... these elements have all proved every bit as great as I thought they would.

Really though, the co-op program is what I have to focus on... Northeastern's partnered with hundreds of great companies (GE, Apple, BAE Systems, Raytheon, QinetiQ, DEKA, Farm PD, Keurig, Johnson + Johnson, Kiva Systems, to name a few) and provide really great opportunities doing real work in Engineering that will pay well too. These companies send a list of job descriptions to Northeastern every year for positions for NEU co-ops to fill... your co-op advisor will work with you throughout the whole co-op hunt process... NEU has high enough demand for their co-ops that they have 100% co-op placement in Engineering!

So, give at least some consideration to Northeastern... I really doubt you'll regret it!

[Steven Donow]

Originally Posted by Nathan Streeter

Just wanted to mention I'm stunned that no one's mentioned Northeastern University!! So, I'll have to take a couple minutes to try to remedy that by tooting my school's horn! ;-)

They're usually a popular school for FRC students, with their competitive Engineering education, top-notch co-op program, and significant involvement with FRC... 125 (the NUTRONS, a great team in terms of both robots and impact) are based there and they've hosted Beantown Blitz for 8+ years and will now be hosting the Northeastern District Event!

It's a great school that's only been getting better and better over the past 5, 10, and 20 years! I very highly recommend applying! The big selling points for me were their passionate and friendly faculty, great engineering programs, excellent co-op program, and location in Boston... these elements have all proved every bit as great as I thought they would.

Really though, the co-op program is what I have to focus on... Northeastern's partnered with hundreds of great companies (GE, Apple, BAE Systems, Raytheon, QinetiQ, DEKA, Farm PD, Keurig, Johnson + Johnson, Kiva Systems, to name a few) and provide really great opportunities doing real work in Engineering that will pay well too. These companies send a list of job descriptions to Northeastern every year for positions for NEU co-ops to fill... your co-op advisor will work with you throughout the whole co-op hunt process... NEU has high enough demand for their co-ops that they have 100% co-op placement in Engineering!

So, give at least some consideration to Northeastern... I really doubt you'll regret it!

I don't regret it! It's crazy right now to think that, because of the co-op program, a year from now (as an NEU freshman), I'm gonna have a "real-life job" with real-life engineering experience. The co-op program at NEU is really amazing, and as college rankings take that into account (ie. less emphasis on graduating in four years), Northeastern is going up and up in the rankings. I'm sure Brandon Holley can speak more as to the strength of the co-op program.

[Libby K]

Originally Posted by Gregor

Did I read that correctly?

Originally Posted by AcesJames

Gregor,

Libby is absolutely correct. Clarkson has an incredibly unique setup for our FIRST mentors. Aside from Team 229, which is comprised of about 50 HS students from 2 schools, 2 HS teachers, and 20ish active Clarkson mentors (did I mention our shop space is at Clarkson too?), we have a suite-style dormitory for FIRST Alumni and Mentors. Currently our housing is a single floor with 20 students (12 freshmen and 8 sophomores), but we have plans to occupy up to 3 floors next year with 60 total students.

Each dorm room holds two people and is connected to one other room through a bathroom (2 people per room, 4 per bathroom). All the rooms face inward toward a central lounge which has (among other things) a 60" TV, a workstation computer, many laptops, some field components, and whiteboards for studying/mentoring.

Our residents are not only FRC mentors, but also JFLL, FLL, and FTC mentors on the weekends. We provide coaches clinics (our students coach other local adult coaches) to 18 FTC teams and 24 FLL teams, host our own FTC and FLL tournaments and scrimmages, and even travel around Northern NY in our robotics van doing demonstrations with quadcopters, FRC robots, humanoid robots, etc.

Feel free to PM Libby or myself with any questions you might have.

James nailed it - but the best part is, you don't HAVE to live 'on the floor' to be a part of FIRST or its community at Clarkson. There are tons of FIRSTers on campus involved at many different levels with Clarkson's/the NNY Robotics Institute's activities. We also support each other, with upperclassmen making sure to take the newer students under their wing and help them adjust to school. It's a pretty awesome community at CU. I am honored that some of these wonderful rising-star mentors and volunteers consider me their friend, colleague, and 'second mom'. That's the way Clarkson is - welcoming and friendly. Just like FIRST.

[Akash Rastogi]

If students want some feedback about Drexel, feel free to message me. There are quite a lot of FIRST alumni there that I could put you in touch with. I personally didn't enjoy it there, and now am at Syracuse University, but many others have enjoyed their time at Drexel.

Plus, I helped start team 3929, which is close by. There are a couple other teams in the city as well I can connect people with, such as 4454.

Best of luck! And let me know if any of you will be in Syracuse

[Jscout11]

Applied:

UMich
University of Rochester
UMass Amherst
Northeastern
Bucknell
TCNJ
UDel
Northwestern
UNC Chapel Hill
Indiana University
University of Wisconsin

Accepted:
Indiana University
University of Wisconsin
UMass Amherst

[ErvinI]

Originally Posted by joelg236

Applying to U of T, Waterloo and U of C. Haven't decided if any US schools are worth it.

Which options are you looking into for U of T? "Core 8" engineering look pretty similar to each other, however Engineering Science is a beast of its own.

[JosephC]

I've been accepted to Oakland Community College, where I'll get my two year degree in Computer Science and then transfer to Georgia Tech to finish it up.

Gotta save that $$

[Ben Martin]

If anyone has any questions about Purdue University and its FIRST Program, feel free to shoot me a PM. I had four great years there, working with a lot of great people.