Internships and co-ops are two different things. With a co-op, you take a semester off from school, to work at a company for 8 months. Typically, two co-op terms are done--you graduate in 5 years versus 4, but co-ops are paid.
Yes, for engineering -- maybe not for all majors -- a
successful internship matters more than the school name. Engineers tend to care more about experience than school name.
Of course, exceptions are possible; for example, my husband's old boss was always interested in recruiting /interviewing people who graduated from his own alma mater. Remember, human behavior is involved here.
In addition to all the advise above about internships, recruitment center contacts, etc, my suggestion would be to apply to ALL the schools. You never know what financial aid offers will be made and each school will have other merit scholarships that may offset what you're expecting to pay for room/board.
I've been teaching high school seniors for 26 years, and -- in my lengthy experience - this is an unusual situation. In fact, it's been a couple years since I've seen it happen for anyone at our school. Practically always, the more expensive school ends up being, well, the more expensive school.
By all means, play the game! Try it out! If you prefer a more expensive school, apply and see if you're the exception to the rule -- but, at the same time, apply to at least one affordable school in your own state that you can afford if those anticipated scholarships don't come through. And be sure your student understands that you're keeping all options open until the numbers shake out.
A story: I taught a girl several years ago who -- well, she thought a lot of herself. She was a very good student -- top 10% but certainly not top 10. When May 1st (date students typically need to make a decision) rolled around, she had TWO out-of-state acceptances to expensive private schools ... but, much to her surprise, NO scholarship money. Her father (ironically, an engineer) lost his job right around that same time, and suddenly her parents had to choose between bad choices. Tell her she couldn't go to the schools with which she was in love ... or withdraw money from their retirement to send her to "the school"? If she'd applied to an in-state school, their problem wouldn't have been so severe.
They do post information but it includes all engineering majors so I am not sure if the students not working in their field are all the chemical engineering students.
Keep in mind that students don't always stay in their majors. My husband's an engineer. He started in one field of engineering and ended up graduating in a different branch. A starting major is something of a guess made by a high school student with little real knowledge of the field.
My niece’s husband went to a community college. He had to set up his own internship. He ended up with a guy with his own business. A one man operation. That did not help him much at all because there was no opportunity for hire at that business after graduation. It took him forever to find a job.
That's a cautionary tale!
When I was ready to student teach, one of the professors sat down one on one with me and talked about the kinds of experiences I was interested in.
I loved what my nurse daughter's university did: they sent the students all over the place. By the time she finished, my daughter had experience in the emergency room, in a cancer ward, a burn unit, maternity and mother/baby, a psychological hospital, a nursing home, a school, and a prison -- oh, I can't remember anything else. The point: they provided her with multiple experiences, and the ones she enjoyed most
weren't the ones she'd expected to like. For example, most of her classmates enjoyed maternity -- she hated it. And I remember one of my old college roommates coming home from her clinical one day saying, "Today I learned that I am a surgical nurse." Experience is good.
Well, that student loan is what got you the education that got you the job that will carry you for 40+ years. Sort of a "Goose that laid the golden egg" situation. Without the goose, you've got nothing. But as a very cheap person, I think I would put student debt higher on the list than a car loan. All perspective.
I agree in theory, but engineers often don't have 40+ year careers. Remember I'm married to an engineer. I know LOTS of engineers.
Engineers have analyze-everything personalities, excel at math, make high salaries, and (universally after the first couple years) hate their jobs -- this all adds up to lots of them leaning towards early retirement. And/or they are laid off shortly after 50. It happens: at that point their salaries are high enough that the boss (who is also an analyze-everything personality) figures out that he could hire TWO new grads if he lays off the old guy. Young people tend to disbelieve this, thinking their contribution to the company is personal and super-valuable, but it happens.
The thing he told me that I remember 22 years later is that even if I went to a school that I could commute to I needed to move out and live on campus. He felt it was important to move out and have the experience.
I agree that the whole dorm thing /protected moving out on your own is great --
if paying for college isn't an issue. On the other hand, if "the experience" is going to saddle you with debt for years, I'd question whether it's worthwhile.
The problem with "knocking out core classes" at a community college is that the core classes may not be requirements at a more rigorous college - so they may not count.
My youngest wasn't ready to leave home /started at community college. 100% of her classes transferred -- and not just as elective credits.
No, it wasn't luck -- it was good planning. When she started at the community college, she had in mind two universities as potential transfers, and every semester as she registered, she compared her community college requirements against those two schools' requirements -- and she chose classes accordingly. Each of the universities offered an interactive online databank that allows potential students to enter their community college classes and verify if /exactly how those classes'll transfer in. Yes, in the past people might have had to kinda "guess" about what classes might be useful after community college graduation, but today that information is literally at your fingertips.
What if your kid completely fails at the major you're thinking about? You have to keep this in mind ... You really want to have realistic expectations for what your kid can accomplish. Grade inflation makes it more difficult to assess what your kid can really do.
Obviously none of us know your kid, but -- yeah -- this is a real concern. Sure, sure, he's a high school star -- so is everyone else who starts in the engineering program. Still, the reality is that MOST of the kids who start in engineering don't finish in that program. Sadly, my husband says that when he started his engineering degree in the 80s, everyone looked like him -- American-born white guys. By the time he retired, just two years ago, he says American-born engineers were the minority. He says all the young guys are from Japan or India. Doesn't speak well for the rigor of our schools, especially our math programs.
IF your son were to leave engineering, would the universities in question offer other majors that would suit him? It's almost always more expedient to remain at the same university.