<p>My daughter is a rising High School senior who has completed a significant number of credits (over 30) towards her engineering degree from community colleges with a 4.0 average (has one A- in High School classes - her school does not weight GPA). She is currently taking a sophomore level engineering class from Iowa State and doing very well (97 on first test with average of 86). Iowa State is her first choice right now, but I would like to consider options given how well she is doing. Her ACT is not great (27 - September will be her last chance to improve it). She does not have leadership or sports, but she has been very involved in film making and broadcast journalism along with orchestra. She essentially swept the state awards for broadcast journalism as junior, and won the High School film festival's highest awards as a Sophomore. She also has had a great deal of success in dog agility (top national junior handler in one venue). She has done very well in her Spanish and plans to dual major in that at the college level along with the Mechanical Engineering.</p>
<p>Alternatives considered right now include ISU, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Would she stand much chance for scholarships at these out of state schools or Northwestern and Illinois which are a little farther than we would like geographically?</p>
<p>I can’t answer your financial aide/scholarship question except to say that Northwestern does not give merit awards, they are all financial need awards.</p>
<p>Also, I might suggest Harvey Mudd which is in California (way further than your geographic desire) and is particularly attuned to women in engineering. The President is a woman and her goal is specifically to attract and nurture female engineering students. Just a suggestion.</p>
<p>Your daughter sounds very talented and capable in many areas, why restrict her college choices geographically?</p>
<p>Many engineering schools are working hard to attract more female students. This can result in attractive merit scholarships For those, focus on the STEM-centric schools where the male/female ratio is a problem. Some examples are RPI, Case Western, RIT, WPI. If her ACT is a liability, note that WPI is the only test-optional engineering school.</p>
<p>What other factors matter to her (and you)? does she want to be close to home? does she like cities? Would she mind being a minority on campus at a STEM-school?
Actually, I think Iowa is one of the underrepresented states when it comes to applying to east and west coast schools. That may boost her odds a little at the more selective schools (though the ACT could still hurt her).
Would she like a smaller school with more of a liberal arts college feel to it? If so, a school like Bucknell, Lafayette or Union College might be good. Or a small university like U. Rochester, or Tufts.</p>
<p>My son also earned a good deal of credits toward an engineering degree from a community college during his high school years. In the fall he’ll be entering the U. of Michigan’s engineering program as a junior.</p>
<p>We were told not to worry about the ACT/SAT. In fact, he never took them. His advisor said that those tests are used to predict how well a student might do in college. But if he has actual college credits, then they know how well he’ll probably do.</p>
<p>So it’s likely that her college credits and GPA will be of much greater importance to her future university than her ACT scores. Best of luck to her!</p>
<p>I was also going to suggest Harvey Mudd- they have an excellent engineering program with a lot of opportunities for women. It is in a small suburb outside of LA- the town of Claremont is very cute and quirky.</p>
<p>Not sure how Mudd would treat her community college credits, though. They do not accept any college credits in non-STEM college courses (my D is an incoming freshman for the fall, and they won’t even take credits for courses comparable to humanities courses they offer). It looks like they will give credit for STEM courses, but the OP would want to talk to them about this before having his D apply.</p>
<p>Agree that merit aid may be tough to get there without higher test scores. Although there seems to be more to it than that… my D had a 2380 SAT (superscored) and 800 Math II subject test, and still didn’t get merit from them.</p>
<p>Definitely take a good look at Case Western Reserve University. Outstanding school for serious students, great merit aid and very strong engineering. Active Greek social life for those who would enjoy it. My daughter is at Case and loves it.</p>
<p>My D is a mechanical engineer. She did not have community college credits but her ACT was higher (31). We found that while colleges wanted female engineers, merit awards were pretty hard and fast. I think she she had an edge to get into schools but only those she was very qualified. She did not get into the school that was a super reach (Rice). </p>
<p>Rose Hulman is a school worth considering. D applied but the financial package was not great and she had different options that she liked better but she did like this school. Case Western is also a great choice. We toured and really liked it. </p>
<p>D did not apply to Harvey Mudd, we didn’t feel that she had any chance of getting in. It’s a really hard admit. She also did not apply to Northwestern as I didn’t feel like there was much chance for admittance.</p>
<p>My DS is starting this fall at Georgia Tech however he got into a number of other schools. The only school that didn’t give him some sort of merit aid(34 ACT, SAT 800 Math II) was Minnesota… Colorado school of Mines did give him a decent amount($12,000/year) however it’s really expensive to start with. Perhaps they would give more to a girl?</p>
<p>I would say that a number of the [Association</a> of Independent Technological Universities: AITU](<a href=“http://theaitu.org%5DAssociation”>http://theaitu.org) schools will be very interested and give reasonable merit aid. Some of them have been mentioned already but there are more in the association. Test scores are probably important as is whether the student is entering as a transfer student or not. My suggestion is to not go the transfer route because some of the better scholarships are only available to First year students (irrespective of the CC credits).</p>
<p>Further than you wanted, but I can’t not mention Smith if she’s open to women’s colleges. We are the only women’s college with an engineering program, and it is incredibly strong. And she wouldn’t have to submit her ACT scores as a domestic applicant.</p>
<p>UW (Wisconsin) typically does not have merit aid for incoming students. Departments may have merit aid for those in their department (amounts often depend on how much alumni donate specifically for the department). Do not count on any merit aid from UW.</p>
<p>Something to consider- some high caliber schools do not need to offer merit aid to attract top students. Be careful to look at quality in the major as well as costs. Consider the overall fit of the school as well. This includes social factors as well as academic. Consider the school’s national or regional reputation when thinking of future jobs- it depends where she may want to be. </p>
<p>Also- consider that with exposure to an on campus environment she may change her mind about major, where she wants to end up, etc. Do not let her feel that her path is etched in stone because she has been going it for awhile. Please encourage her to reevaluate her interests. She may discover something different. Teens are still maturing their ideas and she should not feel pressured to complete a major just because she invested HS years in it. She doesn’t want to regret her decision decades later because she didn’t realize she could change course. Most likely it will be the right course, however.</p>
<p>As a woman Chemistry major I did not want any women’s colleges eons ago as I wanted to prove myself with men as well. I suspect your D is as tough as we were back then and doesn’t need nurturing/coddling. I was lucky my flagship was UW and its excellent Chemistry dept (thank goodness there was no reciprocity with MN at that time or I would have left the Madison suburbs to go to a school with much older Chem facilities). btw- today’s good students have so many more options with need blind admissions policies (although you still need to figure finances to attend).</p>
<p>dad22girls, can you explain further what’s behind your desire to keep her close by? </p>
<p>If the OP is saying that Northwestern and U of Illinois are too far, then I’m not sure that suggesting Harvey Mudd, Smith, etc. is going to be helpful to him, but it would be good to hear his rationale.</p>
For those, focus on the STEM-centric schools where the male/female ratio is a problem. Some examples are RPI, Case Western, RIT, WPI. If her ACT is a liability, note that WPI is the only test-optional engineering school.</p>