What are the chances for scholarships and admission for my twins with stats below:
College of Engineering
Female
ACT 30 (27M, 28Sc, 34 R, 33 E)
4.0UW, 5.4 W
Top 5% of Class (600+ in class)
All Honors Classes Throughout HS
AP Bio, AP Lang (4 AP test)
AP Senior Year - BC Calc, Psychology, Literature
4 years Tennis (2 Varsity)
NHS
I year Softball
1 year Basketball
4 years Interact (400 hours Community Service)
Chair for volunteers for Challengers Baseball Fundraiser (Baseball for mentally/physically impaired children)
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (Human Physiology)
Male
ACT 32
4.0UW, 5.4W
Top 5% of Class
All Honors Classes through HS
AP Bio, AP Lang (4 AP test)
AP Senior Year - BC Calc, Chemistry, Literature
4 years Wrestling (2 Varsity) - Will be team Captain Senior year
Interact 2 years (159 Hours Community Service)
Sponsorship Chair for Challenger Baseball Fundraiser
Both Iowa and Iowa State now use a formula - the Regent Admission Index - to calculate whether a student will be admitted: http://admissions.uiowa.edu/node/192 https://www.admissions.iastate.edu/freshman/requirements.php Both require a minimum of 245 on the RAI (Iowa says 245 for OOS students). I did not run the numbers, but both your kids should be golden. My youngest son applied to both schools last week and has already been admitted to Iowa State, even got the welcome letter!
Iowa does not have a merit scholarship calculator. Iowa State does: https://www.admissions.iastate.edu/award_calc/freshman.php We will be visiting both schools this fall from Arizona.
@CyclonesGrad - I forgot to put your handle in the previous post.
Beaudreau - How do you put the handle in? I do not know. BTW, the Iowa State site is good. If only my D would consider but because I went there it is probably off the table. Even though she wants to go into engineering.
@CyclonesGrad - Just type the @ symbol in front of the name. That way, the poster get’s notified of the correspondence.
Yeah, I figured that you must have graduated from Iowa State because of your user name. My youngest son does want to go into engineering and Iowa State would be the cheapest out-of-state option for us in Arizona if he decides not to go to ASU. We will have two others in college this fall (Texas A&M, Miami of Ohio), so I can appreciate wanting to save money. Iowa State claims 95% placement for engineering graduates within six months at an average starting salary of $62,000. That’s not too shabby!
And I feel your pain. I haven’t been able to get either of my first two sons to apply to Michigan State, my alma mater. Son number 3 says he will apply. If he gets into the Honors College, it could be in the running, because it opens the door to some pretty great scholarships. Still, Iowa State Engineering is slightly higher rated than MSU.
@Beaudreau - My daughter wants to look at Iowa for engineering. My feeling is that Iowa State is a better choice; not because of my association but that is the specialty other than Ag/Vet medicine. Iowa is really good for Medical/Business/Liberal Arts.
You should ask about the placement office at ISU. It was really good when I was there and all the big names recruit there. I also remember the Coop program being strong.
Let me know if you have any questions about ISU. My nephew is going there now after my recommendation. At least someone listens to me 
@CyclonesGrad - Yes, from ISU’s website: ISU has one of “the largest annual engineering career fairs in the country with about 350 employers and more than 6,250 students attending.”
Here’s a thread on Iowa engineering: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-iowa/1748863-benefits-of-smaller-engineering-program.html#latest Based only on web research, the Iowa engineering program looks good and could mean more individual attention. Job placement does not look as strong.
My middle son is starting in ME this fall at Miami University in Ohio. It’s a smaller, but growing, program in a mid-size school that really focuses on undergraduate education (#2 in US News). It’s a beautiful campus in an old-fashioned, small college town. He picked Miami over ASU, UA, Santa Clara (too expensive), Portland University, Trinity University and Rose Hulman. Miami also has automatic merit scholarships. http://miamioh.edu/admission/merit-grid/
@Beaudreau - Will have to look into Miami of Ohio. I know it is a good school. Engineering ranked #29 for schools without Doctorate. That is pretty high. Good choice by your son. Seems he wanted the small school feel.
@Beaudreau Has your son looked at Alabama? They give tremendous scholarships for 30 ACT and above with a 3.5 GPA. Something to consider. Their CC site is very active.
OSU also has very good OOS scholarships.
I think my kids will narrow it down to UM-TC, Iowa, OSU, and Alabama.
@CyclonesGrad I tried to get him to take a look at Alabama. I really like what they have done with all the new engineering and honors dorm construction and of course the competitive merit scholarships. He had no interest.
OSU was just too far down the US News lists for National Universities and for Engineering schools and he knows nothing about the school.
I think it will come down to Arizona State, Michigan State, Miami, or Iowa State. ASU and MSU lead. He attended ASU’s summer engineering camp and really enjoyed it. He loves ASU’s Barrett Honors College and will have many friends there. He informally visited MSU for a MSU/UM football game and really liked the campus. With a 33 on the ACT, if he gets into the MSU Honors College, MSU could be cheaper than ASU. We will formally visit on October 12.
He has not visited Miami or Iowa State. We will visit those schools on October 14 and October 16, respectively.