Colleges that fit me?

College Search & Selection
1

Currently a junior in high school that attends a private Christian school. Could anyone offer suggestions based on my stats and what I'm looking for?

State: Ohio
Ethnicity: Caucasian male
Family income: 50-75k/ year
What I can afford: No more than 35k/ year
ACT: 31 composite
SAT: N/A
GA: 3.95
Rank: Not exactly sure (school doesn’t publish). Probably top 10-15%

Coursework: My school does not offer AP/ IB, but instead offers college classes that count towards college credit. I’ll pretty much have taken the most that I can (English Composition 1, English Composition 2, Sociology, Psychology, Calculus 1, Statistics, Western Civilization, Special Topics in History: Holocaust). Most people take just Physics as a senior year, but I’m taking Physics AND Anatomy/ Physiology (most people just take one or the other). Only places I’m behind in my coursework is that I could’ve taken Calc 2 if I was in double advanced math, I could have taken honors English (scheduling didn’t really work out), and I could have taken Spanish 1-3 in class instead of through Rosetta Stone.

Extracurricular’s:
-3 years of Track and Field (JR. High as well, got Coach’s Award and MVP during JH)
-2 years National Honor Society member
-2 years Mu-Alpha Theta member (math society)
-Out of state week-long math competition trip (with other Mu Alpha Theta members in my school)
-Senior Project (mandatory year-long project that’s required from seniors at my school, which requires the actual project along with a research paper and oral presentation. I haven’t done this yet, but I hope to base my project on something in the STEM field, and more particularly, something that will give me engineering experience like an internship or scientific research)
-Photography awards (Participation in Congressional Art Show, Special Recognition in the Governor’s Youth Art Exhibition for two pictures, two honorable mentions in the Scholastic Art Show)
-~50 hours of volunteer work at homeless shelters, community activities, etc.
-~50 hours of paid work for my mother’s business

Job/ Work Experience:
-Worked 50-100 hours paid for my mom’s business
-MAY be getting an internship the summer of my Junior year (either at an engineering firm or at the hospital). Hoping this will work out because it’d look great and I’d get a ton of experience from it

Volunteer/ Community service:
-~25-50 hours worked at homeless shelter (Foundation Dinners)
-Service at misc. elementary math competitions (for Mu-Alpha Theta)
-~25-50 hours worked through community service projects through my school (we have a week-long community service trip every year)

Essays: Have yet to write my college essay, but writing has always been something I’ve been good at. By the time I write my essays I will have completed college English Comp 1 and will be into English Comp 2, so I should have the skills I need to write a great essay

Recommendations: Will most likely get one from my chemistry/ physics teacher who has a PhD. Another one from my freshman physical science teacher. My academic adviser likes me alot as well, so she should write good things about me.

What i’m looking for:
-I’m most likely going to go into Engineering (chemical preferably). Other options that I have been thinking about as well are Actuarial science, Biology, Computer Science, or Physics. So the school I want to attend should be great for the STEM subjects.
-I don’t want to go to a small school. Big school’s are fine. The school I attend I’d like to be in or near a big city.
-The closer to Ohio, the better (I’d go decently south, pretty much anywhere in the east, and about as far west as Nebraska, but not farther).
-I’m ambitious, so I don’t want to go to an “easy” school that would be a school I’d be settling for. I love challenges and tougher environments, and I want to aim high.

-Some colleges which I've thought about are OSU, UMICH, University of Cincinnati, Carnegie Mellon

Anyone know of some good places that I’d have a shot at, and ones that generally meet what I’m looking for? Thanks!

2

Just realized the last two EC’s that I posted were also posted in the Job/ Work experience section… forgot to cut them out. My bad

3

I have to ask, with income of $50-75K/year, how will you afford $35K/year? Look here: http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/

4

@ErinsDad Even though that’s our current income, we have more money than that (my dad passed away with life insurance, he had a great job). And when I say 35k/ year, I’m wanting that to be the default tuition, and hopefully for it to cut down by scholarships and financial aid

5

For “affordable” Chemical Engineering:

Ohio University
South Dakota School of Mines & Technology
U of Minnesota-Twin Cities
U of Akron
Missouri University of Science & Technology
Kansas State University
U of Tennessee-Knoxville
U of Virginia
U of Pennsylvania
U of Dayton
Illinois Institute of Technology
Worcester Polytechnic Institute

6

@LakeWashington I see alot of those that have 40k+ tuitions. I’m guessing they offer awesome aid or something?

What are your thoughts on OSU? More affordable, and a better school then most on that list.

7

U of Pennsylvania, like other Ivy League universities, will provide significant grant money, depending on the family income. Consult the Penn website. U of Virginia is one of at least two state universities whom guarantee to satisfy the financial need of admitted students. I know applicants at WPI who received decent offers that significantly reduced the COA. As Xraymancs from Illinois Tech has said on this forum, there are significant freshman awards available from that school.

As for Ohio State University, it is debatable whether or not its engineering programs are superior to the schools I recommended. Most U.S. engineering schools are rigorous and quite fine. Some schools simply have more assets than others. I would opine that regarding my list, only Kansas State perhaps doesn’t possess as many assets (research grants, labs etc.) as Ohio State. If you can get into Ohio State with it’s affordable in-state tuition, there’s no need to seek an engineering education at another state’s public college. By the way engineering at U of Akron is outstanding, particularly the Chemical Engineering and Polymer Engineering departments. The Goodyear Research Center is located on the UA campus.

8

@LakeWashington I frequently see OSU ranked very high in its engineering program… Do most of the schools on that list really match? I’ve looked into UPenn and would love to go there, it’s just kind of a reach with my current ACT/ EC’s

“If you can get into Ohio State with it’s affordable in-state tuition, there’s no need to seek an engineering education at another state’s public college.”

So OSU might be my best bet if I get accepted (which I’m almost guaranteed to imo)?

9

U-MN has great ChemE and lower OOS tuition than most public universities. If you can get in, admission is competitive.

10

Ohio State has excellent engineering programs. I recommend it as it’s relatively affordable.

11

Good posts, I’ll add UMN/ UPenn to the list (OSU is already on it).

Any more thoughts? Carnegie Mellon is a school I’ve been pretty interested, although it’s very very competitive, anyone have thoughts on there?

12

There is no disadvantage in having a ChE degree from Ohio State U, in terms of reputation. One thing you should focus on is career placement. That is, what kind of employers and how many of them send recruiters to OSU? I will guess that OSU gets it fair share of chemical and other industrial companies visiting the campus to recruit ChE students. There may be as many chemical and industrial process companies (facilities) in Ohio as there are presently in Texas. Just a guess.

13

What about University of Tulsa?

Also, I presume that you are not NMSF (otherwise you probably would have mentioned it); but if you are, and become NMF, there are some schools (such as University of Oklahoma) with good ChemE programs that would give you significant aid.

This also might give you some ideas: http://best-engineering-colleges.com/chemical-engineering

14

The University of Cincinnati has a great co-op program for engineering students, and I believe it would be an affordable option.

15

@LakeWashington I know that OSU has yearly career fairs for engineering students in the fall and in the spring, with over 200 companies sending recruiters just for engineering students. I think it'd be fairly easy to get an internship/ coop in college at OSU, and maybe stick with whatever company I intern'd with after college.

@gandalf78 I don't think I'd choose UTulsa over my other options atm, but thanks for the recommendation/ link

@suzy100 Yeah my school was visited by a UCinci representative and I was impressed, their co-op program sounds awesome. Honestly though I think I’d choose OSU over Cinci

16

Sorry to hear about the loss of your father.

Is it ok with your mom to spend $140k of the life insurance on school? It’s not necessary with your stats. Is her retirement adequately funded?

As an eng’g major, Alabama would give you:

free tuition
2500 per year.

These are assured for your stats.

Remaining costs would be about $12k per year.
Bama has amazing STEM facilities.

My son was a ChemE major there.

This would be a good low cost safety for you, but you have to apply NOW…deadline for merit is in Dec, so apply now…the app takes only 5 minutes…no essays, no LORs

You’re not likely going to qualify for much/any FA since your family has a lot of money in savings.

How many are in your family?

17

Listen to MC2K.

18

Er…I mean, M2CK.

19

You may have a shot at Penn or even Cal Tech. Is your GPA unweighted?

20

@mom2collegekids I probably should’ve explained the whole financial situation better.

My parents are willing to pay 10k/ year for my college. That leaves me with scholarships and financial aid to pay for the rest. I’m willing to take out student loans to pay for tuition as well (if I’m getting my money’s worth).

When I say I'm willing to pay for 35k/ year, I'm mainly meaning that I'd hope they'd offer financial aid or scholarships to help pay for the tuition. Sorry, I should've explained this in the OP.

I should've also pointed out that my mom is remarried. My family are my parents, me, one older sister that graduated college, and one older sister that's a Junior in college (attends OSU). Also, I'm a junior in high school, so I don't need to rush to apply to places this year.

Thanks for that rec’ to Alabama as well, I’ll check them out.