Chance Me: Asian Male (Valedictorian) from Alabama with high hopes in MechE [3.98, 33, $25-30k]

Chance Me / Match Me!
709

Auburn offers graduate research assistantships that will pay for your masters degree and a living salary. My son got his masters in Mech E (bachelors in AE) at Auburn and had lots of job offers on graduation competing with salary - the 3 year he spent as a graduate research assistant and getting his masters were treated as 5 years worth of experience by hiring manager, not an entry level.

On the other hand my other son graduated from a local regional college in Georgia and is a software engineer for Google - making ridiculous money, but he does live in California, so he needs it.

Whomever above said you were putting too much emphasis on ranking is correct. Find an accredited school that teaches what you want to learn and where you think you will fit in, that turned out to be the most important factor for my kids success.

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710

I stand by this suggestions from 630+ posts up thread. Roll Tide!!

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711

For your Ohio State application indicate Mechanical Engineering on your application. You can switch out of their most popular majors if you donā€™t end up wanting to pursue it, but wonā€™t be able to switch into those majors unless they change their current policy.

"Starting Autumn 2023

In order to implement a transparent and equitable admission process and recognizing the challenges in meeting the demand and space availability in popular majors, effective Autumn 2023 the college will limit enrollment options for all Columbus and Regional campus students pursuing the following majors:

  • Aerospace Engineering
  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Computer Science - Computer Science and Engineering (ENG) and Computer and Information Science (ASC)
    • Learn about the different computer science options at Ohio State.
  • Mechanical Engineering

Only students in these pre-majors may apply to their respective major. For example, only biomedical pre-major are permitted to apply to the biomedical engineering major.

Prospective Ohio State students (freshmen and transfers) interested in one of these majors will need to apply to the major during the undergraduate admissions process." from Admission to Major | Engineering Advising

I agree that your in state options will be hard to beat, so be sure to apply for honors and complete the supplemental applications for Ohio Stateā€™s full tuition and full ride scholarships, turn all items in well before the EA deadline and make sure your application is complete.

You can use the ABET website https://www.abet.org to search for accredited programs by Name and Institution to find The Ohio State University accredited programs are:

Aerospace Engineering (BSAE)

Agricultural Engineering (BSFABE)

Biomedical Engineering (BSBME)

Chemical Engineering (BSChE)

Civil Engineering (BSCE)

Computer Engineering (BSECE)

Computer Science and Engineering (BSCSE)

Computer Science and Engineering (BSCSE)

Electrical Engineering (BSECE)

Environmental Engineering (BSEnvE)

Food, Biological, and Ecological Engineering (BSFABE)

Industrial and Systems Engineering (BSIE)

Materials Science and Engineering (BSMSE)

Mechanical Engineering (BSME)

Welding Engineering (BSWE)

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712

They are. Bama is ABET-accredited, well-known, guarantees you Honors College&a scholarship, allows you to apply to Honors within Honors for further opportunities and scholarshipsā€¦
Auburn and UAH are also ABET accredited and hve good links to industry.
In short, your 3 instate universities will be absolutely fine.
However my understanding is that you want

  • more prestigious acceptances (and once those 3 apps are completed you should definitely shoot for your favorites bc your profile is excellent)
  • universities witha different vibe: less Greek life/partying&sports vibe, smaller class sizes, less heat, etc.
    Thereā€™s nothing that should prevent you from applying to a variety of colleges once youā€™ve applied to all 3 instate universities.

An issue will be figuring out finances so a mix of universities with merit and some meeting full need would be ideal.
If your ideal environment is MIT/HarveyMudd/Olin, I can understand why Bama or Auburn wouldnā€™t be your first choice, but they offer what you need and there are worse safeties to havešŸ‘ - Congratulations on your hard work that makes them safeties.

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713

My daughter had the same scores and one B in HS, UMD offered $3000 a year. This was in 2021.

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714

From an underrepresented state?

715

No, NJ.

716

I think that matters way more to private LACs than it does to public flagships.

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717

But you are still talking about needing to get Banneker Key for him to attend. Worth a flyer but OP should know itā€™s extremely highly unlikely so expectations are proper - even if he came from Alaska.

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718

Iā€™m not saying itā€™s likely, and Iā€™m not saying OP should apply (other than to take a shot at it if he wants to). Iā€™m just making the point that B/K and other merit awards at UMD are holistic, not purely stats based. So itā€™s hard to predict merit based on stats. I know kids with great stats that got nothing, kids with somewhat lesser stats that got $12k, etc.

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719

My daughter is an employed engineer with a 4 year degree. She did have to take the FE and PE exams but did that after starting her job. Sheā€™s not interested in returning to school for a masters. My nephew and his fiancee are both engineers who got a masters immediately after undergrad because their school, CU, offer a program where they just stayed in undergrad for the 5th year and then graduated with both a BS and MS (paid undergrad tuition rate). Heā€™s in mechanical (works on a space project even though he took not one aerospace class at CU, a school known for aero) and sheā€™s in environmental/water, so she also had to take the PE exam.

Through them, I know a ton of engineers and all have jobs after 4 years if they want them. They all worked through covid and the universal complaint is that they donā€™t have enough time off to go to all the weddings they are invited to.

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720

For most engineering jobs in the US, a bachelorā€™s degree in the relevant type of engineering is sufficient education for a US citizen.

Some jobs (more basic research or academic) may require or prefer a higher degree.

721

There is ABET accreditation for CS, but it is not generally required or looked for, except for the patent exam.

722

OP is now looking at MechE.

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723

I know that no one can tell me if I can actually get in to certain schools but what are the chances for me at Rice or Johns Hopkins?

724

Also when I am filling out NPC and it has students income should I fill any of it out since I have a business that requires me to pay taxes?

725

Yes, you have to report all your income and assets that the NPC asks for.

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726

I believe income is prior prior yearā€¦so you need to use the correct tax year.

And rememberā€¦the net price calculators will likely be a little off until they are updated to include new FAFSA guidelines.

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727

Not strong but again you never know. Reaches are reaches for a reason. Rice, moreso than Hopkins, may be worth a flyer.

As for questions being asked - which will be asked on official forms - of course, you need to answer all questions honestly.

728

The whole concept of chasing merit seems kind of crazy to me for this particular student. He is entitled to free tuition at his state flagship, so his costs will be around $16k/year for room & board & books). The cost of some of the other, roughly academically comparable schools, will cost $10k-$15k per year more for him IF he gets merit aid, so an additional $40k- $60k over the 4 years.

It doesnā€™t sound as if OPā€™s parents have a lot of extra money to throw around, but they have enough to be able to pay this extra $40k-$60k if there is a strong reason for doing so. IMO, desiring to go out of state is not a strong reason for a financially stretched family to incur these extra costs. It may be, however, that some schools have particular programs that might be worth the extra investment. For OP, Iā€™m wondering if WVU might be such a school because of its automotive engineering program.

So, OP, I think some members here have given you some good ideas of schools that would give merit so youā€™d get down to the $25k-$30k number. Look at those schools and apply only to those that have something special about what they offer (whether academically or EC-wise) that you wouldnā€™t be able to get at U of AL that would justify spending the extra money. As an aside, with the Mercedes plant close to U of AL, or with Talladega not too far away, would there be opportunities for you there?

So, IMO, youā€™d apply to the more traditional number of schools so you can focus on writing great essays, rather than applying to a whole bunch of merit schools. IMO, since U of AL gives you such a great deal, you would apply there & Auburn, and then a mix of other merit schools that have something special to offer you and reach schools with a low EFC. How that mix looks depends. Others here know financials better than me, but it seems like your family might be on the cusp of having financial need, so the more well endowed schools might give you significant financial aid whereas the less well endowed might give you little to nothing. No use applying to a reach school that wonā€™t give you sufficient money.