My recent visit to Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey, was eye-opening. We met with the Dean of Undergraduate Admissions who told us that their peer institutions are WPI and RPI. The biggest difference is Stevens' location, a stone's throw from Manhattan internships and coops. Amen! And who wouldn't want to be in Hoboken, a really hip and vibrant city just outside NYC?

I was impressed with so much that I heard here. There are just over 4000 undergraduates, which I think is a sweet spot. Lest you think these are all techy nerds, there are 23 D3 sports teams and 20 performing arts groups. There's a new core curriculum which is very hands-on and tech-centric, and a coop program is available for engineering and computer science majors. Students can live on campus while working full-time in those coops or summer internships; NYC is so close that students have opportunities on their doorstep.

The most popular major among applicants is mechanical and undecided engineering, but the most popular single program is computer science. And there are 12 different majors within the Engineering department, including Naval, Optical, Software, and Industrial and Systems Engineering. A new major here is Quantitative Social Science, a combination of sociology, technology, and data analytics. How cool is that?

For admission, calculus and physics are crucial. Students without calculus can be admitted conditionally, but students without calculus or physics must take one or both the summer before matriculating.

At $84K, the price tag is high, but merit scholarships start at $10K and go up to full tuition. The president's strategic plan includes doubling the number of applications in 10 years, effectively reducing their acceptance rate in half (currently 41-44%), while increasing full-time, high-quality faculty. I see no reason why that shouldn't happen. This school is a gem and should be on the rise.