Psywar, the Honors College sometimes has scholarship funding available for study aboard. My son received $1,500 to help for costs for his study aboard in Belgium.
That said, there are many prestigious scholarships out there that Alabama will encourage your son, as well as other high-flying kids, to apply for. My son was a Holling Scholar, as was one of his best friends. As a Hollings, he received a $22,500 scholarship that included a paid internship with NOAA. He spent nine weeks doing research and compiling a report for NOAA … in American Samoa. His friend spent her time in Tampa. She, as a mechanical engineering major, also won a Goldwater and a Mitchell, which allowed her to earn her masters in engineering in Ireland. She is now doing her PhD at Stanford. One of his roommates won an Exxon-Mobil scholarship and worked one summer in Denmark. He also won a scholarship to spend two weeks in South Korea. He also occupied my son on the study aboard to Belgium.
I agree with Robotbldmom about applying for all the local scholarships you can. My older son was a National Merit kid, so he got that scholarship, but he also won three, small national scholarships. That offset other expenses. My younger son is at UAH. He has a full tuition scholarship. He earned enough local scholarship money to pay for his first year of housing.
Thank you @momreads for addressing scholarships that might pertain more to engineering. Yes indeed, as @momreads refers to the local scholarships, those $ amounts might not be too small either, if they can add up to pay for housing.
Make sure to look for unusual scholarship opportunities as well. I can’t remember exactly which one, but a woman’s group awarded some money to my student. He met all the criteria, but apparently some skipped this application thinking it was restricted only to women. Read All rules carefully.
There are some scholarship opportunities that are reserved for certain levels of academic achievement, and must be applied for in a certain year of undergraduate work. Other scholarships are open and can be applied for more than once. Again, careful reading of all eligibility criteria is necessary.
Your student will also have to learn to deal with some rejection. There are many, many qualified applicants for these scholarships and competition can be fierce. Right now, during the HS years, your student may be a top achiever accustomed to a high GPA and many awards. However, the reality is that when a student goes to college, the course material becomes harder rapidily, especially if the student uses AP/CLEP credits to skip lower level entry classes. Add the newness of the experience to the college adjustment period and some students find themselves having to rethink majors (such as pre-med or nursing). None of which is necessarily a bad thing, students often find their true passions this way. That is why all majors have “weeder” classes. It is just better to know going into college that things can and probably will change to some degree. But even if the student holds fast to their original career goals and educational plans, they are now competing in a larger pool of bright, highly qualified applicants. Again, since rejection does and will happen, it is better that your student be aware of this from the beginning.
@psywar I’m a student in the STEM Path to the MBA program, and I can answer your second question. Scholarships are primarily offered through the Manderson Graduate School of Business (the grad school part of the business school) to the strongest applicants (high GPAs, high GMAT scores, strong interviews, etc.). As a National Merit Finalist, your son shouldn’t have a problem with achieving a high score on the GMAT. If for some reason he does not earn a scholarship, the “extra” 2 semesters of tuition can be applied to two MBA semesters. I personally would suggest applying those to the two summer semesters and becoming a Graduate Assistant for the 5th year. Many Graduate Assistant positions cover tuition as well as providing a monthly stipend in exchange for the student’s service.
@MathMajorUA thank you very much for your reply! Could I ask you to share your thoughts on the program? How easy was it to intern / co-op? Are hiring mangers receptive to an undergrad directly to MBA program? While I am intrigued, I had always heard you should work a little before getting your MBA. Seems like a great program! Any other insight into your program would be appreciated.
@psywar I’m so glad your son and family had a positive visit to Alabama. My son just completed his freshman year in Chemical Engineering on the pre-med track and in CBH. CBH is a wonderful program and year one was a great experience for my son. Darren, Mrs. Batson, Dr. Sharpe, and the staffers are the best and the other students in the program are just amazing. CBH has been a real difference maker for my son.
As far as scholarships go you may already be aware but I didn’t see it mentioned in this thread so if not the School of Engineering offers additional scholarships over and above the NMF ones. Here is the link http://eng.ua.edu/undergraduate/scholarships/ and some info from that page.
College of Engineering Scholarships 2015-2016
The following scholarships are in addition to the University-level scholarships offered.
In-State
Students who have a 27-29 ACT or 1210-1320 SAT (math and verbal scores only) and at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA will receive $1,500 per year for four years.
Students who have a 30-36 ACT or 1330-1600 SAT (math and verbal scores only) and at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA will receive $2,500 per year for four years.
Out-of-State
Students who have a 27-29 ACT or 1210-1320 SAT (math and verbal scores only) and at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA will receive $1,500 per year for four years.
Students who have a 30-31 ACT or 1330-1390 SAT (math and verbal scores only) and at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA will receive a tuition supplement to bring their University-level scholarship offer up to the value of tuition. In addition, they will receive $2,500 per year for four years.
Students who have a 32-36 ACT or 1400-1600 SAT (math and verbal scores only) and at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA will receive $2,500 per year for four years.
So your son will be eligible for the extra $2,500 per year from CoE.
@psywar No problem! With the program still being so young, I like helping out where I can!
I love being in the program! The time commitment is not such that it interferes with other courses, extracurricular activities, or jobs (I’m quite involved on-campus), so it makes it easy to manage. I applied to the program because I felt as though the flexibility offered by an MBA would only open doors for me career-wise, and I didn’t, and still don’t exactly, know what I would like to do after graduation.
Internships and co-ops are strongly encouraged in the program. Most of my peers (I’m a rising junior) are about to finish up their internships from the summer, and many others are currently co-oping. The way co-ops work in general would be working three semesters (a fall, a spring, and a summer - not in that order usually) with a company. The STEM-MBA program works around that with applications like Skype. Students will be electronically present during class so that they don’t get behind in their studies within the program. This works well because STEM-MBA classes are usually offered in the afternoon and evening, so students can select an evening class that doesn’t conflict with their internship/co-op.
Many hiring managers are impressed with the STEM-MBA program because it is the first of its kind. They know the importance of engineers who can speak business or businessmen/women who can speak engineer. Job placements for the MBA students (plain MBA, not STEM-MBA) within 90 days of graduation was 90 percent for the class of 2014. I imagine the STEM-MBA students will likely exceed that.
As far as waiting for the MBA goes, I have heard it is harder to go back to school once you leave. UA has an Executive MBA program (designed for working professionals who cannot attend class regularly), but I personally believe staying one more year is the better option.
One thing I would also like to add is that if your student is even remotely considering this program, please let him know to apply for it. It is much easier to be admitted and leave if he doesn’t like it than join later. With the program becoming more well-known each year, it becomes more important to apply earlier rather than later. That being said, it’s not impossible to come in a semester late; it just depends on where he would be on the waitlist and how many drop out of the program.
@psywar Keep in mind that the students (especially in CBH) will have many interesting paid summer internship opportunities which will be important to them from a learning perspective AND as they seek to obtain their permanent jobs. Perhaps all of the summer opportunities as OU sound great, but summer is a great time for cash in-flow, too
@psywar Most of my friends (engineering majors) in the program had internships this summer. Through career fairs and the co-op office at UA, there is virtually no reason for an engineering student (especially of STEM-MBA caliber) to be unable to find internships and/or co-ops.
How do the internships and job opportunities for STEM MBA students differ from the ones that a STEM only major would get? Can you go straight into managing other engineers and scientists?
I can’t imagine they’re being hired to manage other engineers or scientists. I would think someone with an MBA is being considered for different types of positions than someone with just a BSE, perhaps the former would be considered more for a marketing or sales position.
There’s a big difference between someone with several years’ working experience prior to getting their MBA and a 22-year-old new grad, MBA or not.
Then the question becomes how are the positions of STEM MBAs different from someone with just a BA in Business or Marketing? Questions I will ask when I visit.
There is some evidence that while the STEM/MBA students don’t have much experience right out of school, they have good opportunities for internships and their resume stands out upon graduation.
@LucieTheLakie This is nearly a year after your post, but one of the recent STEM-MBA grads, Kaylie Crosby, was recognized in SME’s Manufacturing Engineering magazine as one of the “30 under 30”: http://advancedmanufacturing.org/crosby/
Yes, I’ve seen that, @MathMajorUA. She’s clearly a dynamo. Is her experience the norm, though, for students in the program? It may be, I honestly have no idea. Do you know where to find career placement information for students who’ve graduated from the program?
@LucieTheLakie She’s definitely an all-star, but there are others who are performing highly as well. Megan Torman skipped a year of ChemE and received a provisional patent (http://undergraduate.ua.edu/undergraduate-magazine-the-next-big-idea/). One of the recently graduated STEM-MBAs works for the IBM Watson group in New York. I’ve found that the dynamos like Kaylie and Megan are also the students that get most involved in the program and take full advantage of it. Speaking from experience, there are some students that have been in my classes that are not involved more than they need to be. Ultimately, like college as a whole, you get out of it what you put into it.
As for career placement for these students, I’m not sure if that information has been published anywhere. However, we have many speakers from several different companies (IBM-Watson, NASA) that have shown great interest in STEM-MBA students.
