<p>As of right now, I want to go into engineering and have a couple of scholarship offers thanks to National Merit and a separate scholarship competition for the University of Delaware. The colleges, rankings, and scholarships information are listed below.</p>
<p>College___<em>Ranking</em><em>Engr.Rank</em><em>TotScholarship</em><em>MoneyNeeded(Yr.)
U Alabama</em><strong><em>75</em></strong><strong><em>98</em></strong><strong><em>$130,000</em></strong><strong><em>$0
U Arizona</em></strong><strong>124</strong><strong><em>45</em></strong><strong><em>$120,00</em></strong><strong><em>$5,000
U Delaware</em></strong><em>75</em><strong><em>52</em></strong><strong><em>$160,000</em></strong><strong><em>$0
U Oklahoma</em></strong>101_<strong><em>78</em></strong><strong><em>$92,000</em></strong>___$10,000</p>
<p>The bottom line is that I'd like to consider going to Oklahoma because of its petroleum engineering program, but it'd be nice to have a free education. However, Oklahoma IS one of those schools that tries to hoard National Merit Scholars. Considering that I have more money at somewhat more highly ranked schools, would it be wise to try to pry some more scholarships out of Oklahoma (and to a smaller extent, Arizona)? Does anyone have any insight about the likelihood of bargaining with these schools specifically?</p>
<p>EDIT: Just realized that it's the wrong forum. Oh well.</p>
<p>Not quite, it’s a very odd scholarship package; basically you get in state tuition (I’m OOS) minus $2,000 a year, $5000 a year towards room and board, and a bit more money in stipends, study abroad, etc. Which means you’re still short about $6000 in tuition and whatever else you need by way of room, board, and fees.</p>
<p>You can ask, particularly with the other offers you have, but schools don’t usually bargain merit aid because the criteria are already set. Just state you’d like them to relook at the merit aid because you’d much rather attend OU.</p>
<p>We had this same decision last year. My son was looking hard at OU. My understanding was that the National Merit Scholarship was the biggest one they gave and they could do no more. Still if that is the field you want, then I would recommend paying the additional money.</p>
<p>Who exactly would I try to get in contact with to ask for more money?</p>
<p>At this point I’d consider forking over more money, but honestly I’d be happy with any engineering major.</p>
<p>And PetE is not a dying field; it is fairly limited but I think I’d be quite content with working on oil rigs, etc so I’d be willing to move wherever I need.</p>
<p>I have visited all of these schools except for Arizona, and so far OU seems like it <em>might</em> be the best fit. None of them are instate.</p>
<p>Talk to the admissions office and explain your situation. Ask for your particular admissions officer. How it will go over, I don’t know, but you can try.</p>
<p>I suppose there’s no harm in talking to your admissions counselor to see if you can get more, but I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you - speaking as an Oklahoma high school senior, I’ve yet to see any of my classmates get anything beyond the initial offers. </p>
<p>And a word of advice - speaking as the daughter of an engineer - if engineering is really where you think you want to go with your life, that’s fantastic. But maybe go to a school with multiple programs so if you are interested in changing your focus down the line you can. Petroleum engineering is important, but it is limited. From what I’ve heard from talking to various professionals - lawyers, professional engineers, etc - many times something broader like electrical or mechanical engineering can be more useful because it can be applied to more fields. So maybe just look at attending a place where there are good alternatives if you do change your mind part way through your undergrad?</p>
<p>Just a thought (sorry if I sound too negative - just trying to help!), but whatever you choose to do I wish you the best of luck!!! :)</p>
<p>That’s definitely not to negative. Going into such a specialized and peculiar field, I need to here all the different perspectives I can, and I wouldn’t want to limit myself to PetE this early. It turns out that OU actually has the widest selection of alternative engineering fields out of my schools, so options shouldn’t be a problem.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot for everyone’s input so far, it seems that there’s no harm in trying. Does anyone have any experience with Arizona as well?</p>