<p>I am trying to help a young woman who wants to study BME on the east coast somewhere. She is looking for schools where she might qualify for merit aid. She is at the top of her class and has an ACT score of 32.</p>
<p>I suggested RPI and WPI and Boston University. I also recommended University of Alabama, which is not in her target area at all, but has good merit aid.</p>
<p>She is already applying to the more selective schools, but she wouldn't get merit aid there, so she wants to add a couple more.</p>
<p>Can you help me think of other schools in the northeast which have Biomedical Engineering and merit aid for someone with her stats?</p>
<p>If Ohio is acceptable, look into Case Western. Also U of Maryland. Rutgers and College of New Jersey have some merit aid, but not sure if OOS can get it. Tufts used to have some merit money. U of Pittsburg has bioengineering and merit. Carnegie Mellon has a few merit scholarships. Case western and BU seem to be the highest ranked BME programs in schools that offer substantial merit scholarships in the northeast. If willing to travel, might get a big scholarship from Arizona State, which offers both BME and bioengineering.</p>
<p>I was going to recommend Olin, which used to give a full-tuition scholarship to each student accepted. But when I went to research the school, I noticed that due to the recession, Olin is now charging tuition. Too bad!</p>
<p>I would also second Pitt. With a 32 ACT, she is on the borderline for a full-tuition scholarship. Plus, there is an annual engineering scholarship of $4,000 per year, which can be used to cover room and board.</p>
<p>University of Rochester. D received more merit money from U of R than BU.<br>
U of R BME department works closely with the medical center next door offering lots of opportunities for (paid) research as well as volunteering. Many pre-med BMEs - as to be expected.</p>
<p>*I’d look at Purdue. I know a kid who applied OOS engineering, got merit money and he was no great shakes. *</p>
<p>that surprises me. When DS1 (an NMF with stellar stats) was looking at Purdue, he wouldn’t have gotten much at all.</p>
<p>edited to add…</p>
<p>Trustees and Presidential Scholarships
Admitted students who meet the academic criteria for these awards will receive them automatically if they complete their admission application by November 15. Students who meet the application deadline may submit new SAT or ACT test scores for scholarship consideration until January 1, 2010. New scores must be sent electronically from the testing agency. Only domestic students are eligible for the Trustees and Presidential scholarships.</p>
<p>Trustees Scholarship
Value: Up to $10,000 per year for out-of-state students; up to $8,000 per year for Indiana residents
Criteria: Core GPA of 3.8 on 4.0 scale plus an SAT of 2000 or higher or a score of 30 or higher on both the ACT composite and ACT combined English/writing. The scholarship is renewable.*</p>
<p>Presidential Scholarship
Value: Up to $7,000 per year for out-of-state students; up to $5,000 per year for Indiana residents
Criteria: Core GPA of 3.8 on 4.0 scale plus an SAT of 1850-1990 or an ACT composite of 27-29 and an ACT combined English/writing of 27-29. The scholarship is renewable.*</p>
<p>I would suggest she check out Northeastern in Boston. I don’t know how the current economic crisis has affected the school but up to a couple years ago they were giving full or near-full rides to hot students. Plus, Northeastern’s co-ops (semester-long paid, full-time internships) enable students to get concrete, often impressive, experience while still in school - and a chance to earn money as well.</p>
<p>^^exactly. You hear of kids getting “a full scholarship” to certain universities and if you know how these things work, you know it’s finaid, not merit. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that, I hasten to add!)</p>
<p>Wow! So many great suggestions of schools I hadn’t thought of. </p>
<p>I will pass these on to her. It’s very late in the game for her to be beginning to think about merit scholarships, but I do want to help her out.</p>
<p>Since it is late in the game, she should probably focus on schools that automatically give lots of merit based on stats. Those are often the easiest to apply for - few require essays or teacher recs or any “extra work.”</p>
<p>^^^ It’s better to think about merit aid for the first time in December, rather than in April! Wait until you read all the posts in the spring from kids accepted to schools whose parents suddenly decide not to pay anything.</p>
<p>I am interested in Biomedical Engineering; I have an ACT of 32 - Math:34; Reading:33;Science 32;and English 29; My AP scores for Chem and Biology were 4s. What schools are realistic? What about money?</p>
<p>university of alabama…birmingham.[NOT Tuscaloosa… uab has the biomedical engineering program] they also have a sci’tech honors program, and a chemistry scholar program… with a 32 as an out of state student you should get a blazer elite scholarship (9K per year).so would leave room and board (about 5K plus 3400 for food) and about 4K of the tuition… so about 12k per year left to pay. If you are possibly an nmf then it is a full ride with some extra money. </p>
<p>To the OP’s friend, my son also wanted to major in BME. We were hard pressed to find an affordable school with the BME major per se. I would urge her to look at schools that are affordable and a good fit where she can get a general engineering degree, maybe minor in biology, and save her money for grad school specifically for BME. My son did like UAB, but chose Bama instead, but may perhaps do his grad BME at UAB, or maybe one of the other schools he researched. He’s only a freshman, so who knows where he’ll be four years from now. </p>
<p>Since she’s in the Northeast, I would also recommend she look at Clemson, which does offer BME and seems to draw a lot of people from the NE. She may get an out of state tuition waiver. </p>
<p>If she’s looking for a free ride, or close to one, she should definitely apply to the three Alabama schools, Auburn, Bama and UAB. Although not necessarily a fit for a girl in the NE, Missississippi State does offer BME and is very generous with scholarships. </p>
<p>Other BME schools my son applied to and got scholarships, but still left us with a high price tag, were Marquette, St. Louis Uni, Catholic Uni, and Univ of Missouri-Columbia (Mizzou). But what may be a high price tag to us may be affordable to your friend.</p>
<p>As she is from the Northeast, she may want to apply to Tulane. Lots of people from the NE there, and she may get some merit aid. Again, depends on what she calls “good merit aid”. </p>