<p>Harvey Mudd is a fantastic school, but its financial aid is usually not that generous. The same is true for Carnegie Mellon. Cornell has a great engineering program and has very good financial aid for families with income under 60k.</p>
<p>If he checked the box on the PSAT for African American he may be a national achievement scholar which has a cut off score less than national merit. It varies by region not state. There are posts about this and you can also google it. This could open up a lot of possibilities like Iowa state and northeastern as well as the more well known schools like Alabama.</p>
<p>Is he AA?</p>
<p>If he is and he didn’t check the box for AA, then have his GC contact NMCorp and correct that. It’s not too late to fix that.</p>
<p>If he is AA, and he got a 200+ on his PSAT, then I’m pretty sure he’s made NASF. If so, then he’ll have more options.</p>
<p>Georgia Tech, USC, BC, Northeastern, George Washington</p>
<p>Maybe look at some of the Big Ten schools if he wants to end up in the midwest.</p>
<p>Sorry, but the first thing that popped into my head was “high schools can limit the number of colleges you apply to?” Really?</p>
<p>He is hispanic. The UC’s and CSU’s count as ‘one’ of his 8 applications.
He would prefer to stay in California but will consider other states, it will come down to where he receives enough merit/financial aid $ to make it possible to attend.
Thanks for the great suggestions.</p>
<p>Some very strong liberal arts schools are showing interest so he is thinking of doing a 3/2 CS/engineering program. With only 8 schools in the mix it is difficult to get a final list.</p>
<p>University of kentucky is a great school with great programs</p>
<p>3+2 programs bring uncertainty as to the financial aid at the “2” school (and could also bring uncertainty as to transfer admission to the “2” school). If he is strongly interested in engineering, it may be better to consider schools which have engineering natively (some small schools do have engineering, such as Cooper Union, Rose Hulman, Bucknell, Swarthmore, Harvey Mudd, etc., though many of these are highly competitive for admission and probably not worth an application with a 3.5 GPA).</p>
<p>I would suggest applying to UCs and CSUs that interest him, but check carefully about changing (engineering) major and whether engineering undeclared is available, as many of these schools admit by major and require an application process to change major, due to enrolling each major to its full capacity. He should also check the net price calculators.</p>
<p>If a very low cost safety in addition to UCs and CSUs is needed, take a look at the <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html</a> . Full or near-full ride scholarships at colleges with engineering can be found at Alabama - Huntsville, Louisiana Tech, Prairie View A&M, and Howard. Some other schools with engineering offer full out of state tuition scholarships.</p>
<p>That’s a good point about the 3/2 programs and the uncertainty of the financial aid with the ‘2’. I think that all of the full or near-full ride scholarships will be of great interest and I don’t believe that the hs counselor mentioned these at all.</p>
<p>One thing to note about the large scholarships: check whether they require a high college GPA to keep them. While a student getting an automatic full ride is likely to be near the top of the class anyway, a high college GPA requirement to keep the scholarship leaves little room for error and thus increases the risk of losing the scholarship.</p>
<p>Also, if he is interested in space exploration, note that NASA Marshall Space Flight Center is in Huntsville, Alabama (may be convenient for internships or job recruiting if he attends Alabama - Huntsville).</p>
<p>Stanford is unrealistic, even Notre Dame/Vanderbilt/Northwestern/Rice would be reaches.</p>
<p>You will be competitive at Boston College, William and Mary, Lehigh, etc.</p>
<p>Other low cost options would include UCs and CSUs that he can commute to. UCs’ Blue and Gold Opportunity financial aid for family income < $80,000 per year means that grants and scholarships will be topped up to systemwide tuition, so if there is a suitable UC within commuting distance, that can be a low cost option if financial aid at others is insufficient (check the net price calculator at each school for a financial aid estimate).</p>
<p>Berkeley is the only UC within commuting distance.
Davis, Santa Barbara are within easy driving distance but would then he would have to live on campus. Santa Cruz doesn’t have engineering but does have computer science so that might be an possibility.</p>
<p>Assuming SF bay area, the nearby UCs and CSUs with engineering include:</p>
<p>Berkeley: chemical, civil, computer, electrical, industrial, materials, mechanical, nuclear
Santa Cruz: computer, electrical
San Jose: aerospace, chemical, civil, computer, electrical, industrial, materials, mechanical
San Francisco: civil, electrical, mechanical
East Bay: industrial</p>
<p>ucbalumnus: That is so helpful. Thank you!</p>
<p>Someone just mentioned today that he might think about Wash U in St. Louis, and maybe even as reaches, Cornell or Columbia.
They knew someone with similar stats (a little higher GPA but not an URM). He was admitted to those schools and is now at WashU.</p>
<p>He should be sure to run the net price calculator on each school’s web site. If need-based financial aid is insufficient, he needs to check the availability of large enough merit scholarships – in that case, the reach/match/safety assessment would be based on getting the merit scholarship rather than just admission.</p>
<p>If he has UCs, CSUs, and an automatic-full-ride school as three of the applications, that leaves five more for other schools, right?</p>
<p>Yes, that’s right.
He’s also going to check to see if there is a way to allow any additional applications. He doesn’t think that 8 is going to be sufficient.
I think it is critical to have at least one safety that provides enough funding for him to be able to attend, then he won’t have to worry so much about the other applications.
He just isn’t sure what that safety would be.</p>
<p>For safeties, he may want to:</p>
<ul>
<li>Consider the automatic full-ride schools.</li>
<li>Consider the automatic full-tuition schools, if the remaining cost is affordable.</li>
<li>Check net price calculators on UCs and CSUs; if affordable, some of them may be safeties (selectivity at CSUs and many UCs varies by major, though; e.g. [San</a> Jose State](<a href=“http://info.sjsu.edu/web-dbgen/narr/admission/rec-1045.html]San”>http://info.sjsu.edu/web-dbgen/narr/admission/rec-1045.html) is probably a safety for some engineering majors, but could be more like a match for some others).</li>
<li>Consider community college, then transfer to a UC or CSU (does not require using up one of the eight applications now).</li>
</ul>
<p>Of course, a safety must offer the major(s) he is interested in, and must be a school that he would like to attend.</p>