<p>^ A&M has a stronger engineering program than any of the full-rides you mentioned, and it is affordable for the OP.</p>
<p>You would be out of your mind to take on $100,000 in debt. Not even sure they would let you, but even if they would it would be crazy. TAMU is a fine education and a great value at $5K per year. Do that, no doubt.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for the advice.</p>
<p>About the bragging thing, my intention was just to show what I meant when I said i’m “supposed” to go to an Ivy league…</p>
<p>I actually didn’t realize until recently that UT’s engineering program was considered better than A&M’s in many circles, but having visited UT as well, I preferred A&M. And as for merit scholarships, I’ve found from what research I have done that A&M is much better than UT for merit scholarships (especially NM). And private universities are the worst. Maybe its just because their pool of applicants is better qualified in general, but private universities hardly give any merit aid at all…</p>
<p>Thats interesting that A&M is above even Rice in that particular ranking. And how high UT is. I had always thought that they and A&M were pretty close in quality. Of course, that particular ranking is based solely on public opinion, so its reliablity can only go so far. Then again, public opinion is part of the worth of a degree.</p>
<p>Go with A&M. I am surprised you got so little money…</p>
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That blatant falsehood casts serious doubt on the validity of your research.</p>
<p>^ The rankings cited above are based on Peer Assessment scores. That’s not exactly the same as public opinion. They are based on surveys of deans and senior faculty.</p>
<p>As for merit scholarships, you’re right, the Ivies and some other top schools don’t give them at all. However, some excellent private schools do (Duke, Johns Hopkins, and USC for example.) But yes, the more selective the school, the keener the competition.</p>
<p>One issue to consider is whether you expect to be a practicing engineer, and if so, for how long. If you hope to go into management or financial consulting (which is where many engineers go for the money and status) then “soft” skills can become as important as technical skills. That’s one area where some of the top schools excel. I don’t have a good sense for how Rice and A&M compare in this respect (though RIce does have a very good reputation for liberal arts and sciences).</p>
<p>-Kameronsmith
hes referring to the very true fact that many private institutions do not give out very much financial aid/merit aid as compared to public schools. Perhaps an over generalization, but you took his sentence out of context. He isn’t denouncing private universities, just their financial aid options.</p>
<p>And that’s not actually true. Generally, private schools are more liberal with financial aid (especially need-based aid).</p>
<p>Even for merit aid, yes, top privates don’t have much (if any). But second tier privates generally have more aid than equivalent publics (endowments, lesser committments to instate students, etc.).</p>
<p>Many of you seem to be wondering why Rice didn’t offer the OP more than $17,000 in merit aid. It appears that the OP is from Texas given the schools he/she applied to. Texas is a huge state and it’s very competitive to get into Rice from Texas. Many students who are in the top 5% of the most competitive high schools in the state get waitlisted or rejected. The OP not only got into Rice, but received merit aid equalling close to 1/2 tuition. That’s pretty good! Rice does have some merit scholarships for full tuition, but they use them in very directed ways to get the cream of the crop or top students from areas outside of Texas to promote geographic diversity. We don’t know anything else about the OP to know whether he/she stands out in any other way, but Rice doesn’t just hand out full tuition scholarships to all applicants who score a 2400. Rice is a small university (about 3,000 students), and they are looking to build a community.</p>
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The OP specifically referred to merit aid. And only one private school with merit aid can touch A&M for engineering (RPI).</p>
<p>I’m going to go out on a limb here and say the OP’s application pkg may not have been as good as what he’s showing in a very short paragraph. A 2400 SAT is something to be very proud of! Most schools will tell you, beyond a certain # the difference between say a 2250 and 2400 is minimal depending on the way the score is disbursed. He was the top of his class which is also commendable. How rigorous was the schedule? You can potentially have a higher GPA than the student sitting next to you if you don’t push yourself academically, only taking AP classes you are comfortable you will get an A in. Perhaps other students got a B or B+ somewhere along the line, but challenged themselves more. He has many EC’s, but how involved was he in each one and did he hold leadership positions. Adcom’s my son has spoken with have told us they don’t want to know how much you have done, they want to know how greatly you have contributed to the groups you were involved in. It is better to have 2-3 high level EC’s that you are very involved in for 3-4 years and grow into leadership positions, than be in 10 clubs. Lastly, the dreaded essay. The OP’s may not have been superior, very good, but not superior.
I am making some generalizations here and filling in gaps that we know nothing about, but that’s the point, we don’t have the full picture. He may not have received more merit aid due to one or more of the above…
OR, he may have had a very hard class load, held leadership positions, been very involved in his EC’s (ie not just showed up for meetings), done community service, and held internships. All the things that get students into high level Ivey’s. It’s a tough economy, aid $ is becoming more scarce at some universities and this may have been the case.<br>
OP simply hasn’t given enough info for a full picture. He really didn’t need to… the question was between two schools and if one was worth going into debt for. It got murky because the stats do not appear to add up to A) merit received or B) where he applied, neither of which are going to change.</p>
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<p>Johns Hopkins, Duke, and USC are competitive with A&M for engineering, and are excellent research universities in the arts and sciences, too. They are private, and they offer merit scholarships. Vanderbilt may be a little less strong in engineering, but it’s another fine private university that offers merit scholarships.</p>
<p>I’m not questioning A&M as a good choice for the OP, just offering this information for other readers especially those who’ll be applying next year. Students in the middle income “donut hole” need to be aware of these options. They also need to be aware that, no matter how well qualified, they usually cannot count on huge merit scholarships from the most selective private schools.</p>
<p>^ Hopkins and Duke have a small number of incredibly competitive merit scholarships.</p>
<p>You are right about USC. That can be another good merit option.</p>
<p>Kameronsmith- Yeah, I was only referring to merit-based financial aid when I mentioned private schools. Need-based financial aid they are pretty good about. I was just pointing out that an application package that gets you nearly a full ride at a public school won’t do the same at a private school, partly because the merit scholarships are much more competitive.</p>
<p>Blueiguana- Well, one thing that I would say about myself is that I think standardized tests give an inflated picture of my intelligence, because I test very well - this has helped me a great deal in the college search, but I’m not like some super-genius or anything haha. As for my schedule, I’m taking a very rigorous schedule, not THE most rigorous one I could be, but fairly. (part of this is actually due to scheduling weirdness… Calc BC and AP Euro were positioned in the schedule such that I couldn’t possibly take those AND choir. So I ended up with a dismissal period, which has really kept me sane through senior year… My ECs are pretty good, though I’ve gone for more depth than breadth. I do choir and theatre, but at my school its very difficult to do both, I was busy pretty much all the time. </p>
<p>Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but at schools such as Rice, the financial aid is MAINLY “need-based”, meaning they take your EFC and make up the difference. The merit aid is reserved for the extremely exceptional students or the ones the school really wants, for whatever reason.</p>
<p>I’m also a WASP Male. Think that had anything to do with it? I don’t exactly help schools fulfill their goal of diversity… Just a thought…</p>
<p>I’m also surprised no one’s mentioned MIT. Aren’t they pretty much the best engineering school in the nation?</p>
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Again, that depends entirely on the specific schools. The same applicant at (for example) UVA likely wouldn’t get much aid, while at (for example) Case Western he would get a full ride.</p>
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What does that have to do with anything? You didn’t apply or get in.</p>
<p>Well, people were bringing up all these excellent engineering programs from various private universities, and I was surprised MIT wasn’t mentioned. Just a curiosity. Wish I had applied, though I’m told that for engineering, grad school is more important to potential employers than undergrad. So I’m planning to do my undergrad at A&M (close to home, aggie network, good fit for me), then apply to some top tiers (like MIT) for graduate school, that is if I choose to pursue a graduate degree.</p>
<p>MIT is high enough tier that it <em>doesn’t</em> provide merit aid, while others brought up do.</p>
<p>Gotcha. Another reason for me to wait til grad school, where hopefully I’ll have a better idea what I’m doing with my life. Ivy League prices are not an investment I’d like to make lightly.</p>
<p>I think you probably should have applied to at least 1 Ivy league school, to <em>see</em> what the aid was. Often people are surprised by the generosity of their programs (people all the way up to $200,000 get at least some aid).</p>
<p>Yeah… I am at fault for overcommitment in my EC schedule and a bit of laziness there. I seriously considered applying to MIT, and then learned about Rice, which (to my initial research) appeared very similar, but a Southern version, as it were. Rice’s engineering program is not nearly as strong as my initial research suggested, but oh well… I think I’ll really enjoy A&M, as well as get a great education there…</p>