Less than three weeks and 630 posts later, a little progress has been made. 
6 Likes
I think we need OP to clarify because now he doesn’t want to discuss financials which either means his family has it figured out or they told him don’t worry about money, get in and then we’ll figure it out later (a recipe for disaster).
So to me the question to answer first is - is a very good but not mid or high level school in his parents mind even in play ?
If it’s mid (ga tech) or high level (MIT) or them a safety of which UD is - but those safeties being the low cost In state - then we are done. He has a list.
If he’s open to others that are strong but don’t have the cache he and the parents seek, then a lot of schools, including UD, could make suitable choices.
I’m not clear on the current thought process.
1 Like
Congrats on completing the UAH and UA apps. Set them aside for now and look at them tomorrow: you WILL find errors/typos and perhaps sth that can be better. Improve what you can. Perhaps see if s.o else can review the UA app, just to make sure you didn’t miss sth.
Don’t forget to contact universities about fee waivers or free apps and what you have to do to grt one of those (explaining Gpa, score, immigrant family/sister QB scholar but while fortunes have improved for your family you’re trying to help your family…)
3 Likes
@An_D – here is the link to the JMU scholarship page – Freshman Scholarships & Financial Aid - JMU – they also have some OOS student scholarships that admitted students can be considered for.
1 Like
so slightly off topic perhaps – but maybe not - i’m on the bama fb parents pages - and saw something about how many freshmen are going this year and there’s not enough housing on campus! yikes. I know several years back (2017??) they had upped the ACT/SAT scores to 33s for their presidentials . … i almost wonder if that might come back again? anyway - i’m sure they’ll again give great merit to in-state; but as it’s not set yet I’m curious what it’ll be.
1 Like
That sounds like a “no” to me. I would urge you to do a couple of things:
- Create a document (or 3 separate documents) for Tuscaloosa, Huntsville, and Auburn. Then go to each school’s website and social media, and start digging around. Anything cool, interesting, or fun that you notice, add it to the document. This could be football traditions, or a professor whose research sounds particularly interesting, or a visiting speaker series, or a club that you’d love to join, or a living learning community that sounds fascinating, or the type of course distribution requirements, or easy access to a particular site, etc. Keep on adding to the lists until you have at least 10 things for each school and/or until you would happily enroll at one of them and not start thinking about possible transfer plans before you even set foot on campus.
-
Revisit that list of colleges in post #581. Browse through the websites and social media and pick out the 3-5 that are the most promising to you. Repeat the same activity that you did for Tuscaloosa/Huntsville/Auburn, but for these schools which are extremely likely admits that are extremely likely to hit price X.
-
After you’ve done steps 1 and 2, figure out which schools you would be happy to attend for four years. This is not saying that you might not prefer to attend MIT or Georgia Tech. But if you end up at one of these schools, you’d still be happy with it.
In case it helps, here’s a car analogy. Maybe you’d love it if you were gifted with a Ferrari (shoot your shot) or Lexus (middle ground). But if someone presented you with a Toyota (sure things), you’d be perfectly happy and prefer it over the old clunker that leaks whenever it rains and whose only way of cooling off is opening up the windows (manually) and can’t get over 55mph without sounding as though it’s wheezing (college that you will eventually come to terms with needing to attend…i.e. can hardly wait to get out of there via transfer or graduation). That clunker can get you wherever you need to go, but it won’t be an enjoyable experience. Find the Toyotas of the college world for you. Who knows, maybe it will turn into a Toyota Supra and you’d be happier with it than you would with a Lexus sedan.
5 Likes
Nice analogy! I’m going to share it with our college counselor. He’s excellent, and I’m sure he can put this in his toolbox to use with some of our students.
2 Likes
Agreed. I’m a little concerned that OPs parents read this entire thread and still think a Purdue or Michigan is a mid tier engineering school. It’s like the 600+ posts have done nothing to evolve them from their original position. I wish OP all the luck but applying as an OOS to these schools even with good stats is a tough reach, and it seems OPs family are not willing to see the reality of the admissions landscape, be it related to admissions or affordability.
6 Likes
A 650-post thread must be quite overwhelming and I commend @An_D for being able to synthesize and act on the key elements.
Now that UAH and UA apps are done as far as is possible, time to move to the next 2 steps:
-
create a college email (An_D.college@…mail.com type of email) and join the mailing lists at colleges you’re applying to/are interested in/listed on this thread. They’ll be sending you messages regularly: check once a day during the summer or several times a week, open the messages, click on any link that looks interesting. This will be tracked, especially at private universities. If the college definitely doesn’t interest you, unsubscribe. Some colleges may send you fee waivers this way, news about scholarships you can apply to, etc.
-
Complete what you can for Auburn. (I DO think UA has grown more famous than Auburn outside of Alabama, especially in states such as NJ, IL or CA due to their scholarship program but there’s no denying Auburn is solid&well-known in AL. Both will be Party-prone if you join Greek life, both will be challenging in STEM.)
+Read over your other 2 applications: do you see typos? Mistakes to correct?
Then, at your leisure (DO take the time to relax, have fun, etc etc… )
-
Start filling put the basics (name, family, etc.) on CommonApp: it’ll roll over. If you’ve done that already, use the search tool to look up colleges - not urgent but might provide shortcuts to the mailing list.
-
You seem interested in STEM for sure but uncertain wrt what field: CS, CSE, EE, MechE…
Look at the UA, UPenn, MIT, Olin pages for these majors.
3 Likes
Agreed.
It appears this is basically another case of T30-or-in-state-public. There is no middle ground, and the family is willing to pay to attend the reaches. The in-state publics will be very inexpensive and provide a great education in the chosen field(s). I don’t think any OOS public will be seriously considered if it is not in the GT/Mich/UIUC range, so no SUNYs and no big money merits like AZ/Pitt. Nothing wrong with that if that’s the family’s plan. In the end, it’s their decision.
@An_D , I think you have your marching plans. Good luck and keep us updated! 
4 Likes
I agree with you. I brought them up because the OP kept asking about schools that give merit.
I also agree that this family is looking for top 30 or instate, so there is no reason to look for other schools. It took me awhile to figure that out as this entire post is confusing to me.
This student wants backups, yet does not want backups- very confusing. I would apply to other schools, but I am not in this family.
1 Like
@An_d : I’d still apply to Pitt, SUNY Bing, or ASU Barrett - EconPop is probably right wrt what your parents want for you as of now, but you need to have backups, especially if for any reason you’d rather have an alternative outside Alabama. Better safe than sorry.
Note that for CS specifically, UMD (Maryland) and UMass Amherst are considered extremely good, in the same way Purdue is for Engineering. Both have potentially significant merit aid, unlike UWash or UIUC.) At all these, apply to Honors to maximize the odds of scholarships.
ASU Barrett would likely be more affordable though.
4 Likes
Agree…both UMD CP and UMass have early action. Get your applications done in the early action round at these two colleges. At UMD…this is essential as they accept the vast majority of their incoming freshman class in the early action round. On the UMass website it clearly states that you should use early action if UMass is your top choice…and you want UMass to feel this is the case. So apply EA there too!
3 Likes
We have discussed cost and that stuff is solved.
2 Likes
My school updated rankings today and I am now 3. I believe it is because others were not taking any unweighted classes like engineering. However my school considers anyone with a 4.45 and up a valedictorian. Does this new rank affect me?
I think I was told that merit would be very possible at a school like UMD.
1 Like
Thank you. Will do.
1 Like
Your GC can indicate “#1/Valedictorian”+“number with whom the rank is shared: 3”.
1 Like
Merit is possible, but very significant merit is unlikely. I still think you should apply just in case.
1 Like
I still plan on applying to middle ground schools such as UMD, Penn State, Ohio State. These middle grounds just won’t be the majority of colleges that I apply to.
2 Likes
I asked for fee waivers from the three instate schools and I will be doing their applications on their websites and not on Common App. Does this sound good?
4 Likes