Am I crazy?
The more I look at Colorado College the more I love it
The block scheduling, course rigor, variety, location all seem perfect.
But I want to do engineering and the 3/2 program is financially impossible for my family.
Anyone have any helpful advice on his dilemma?
Basic Stats:
White dude from IL STEM program
35 ACT, 4.5/3.8 W/UW GPA
Decent extracurriculars and essays
Good recommendations
Financial cap: $20k per year
Choose an affordable college that has your desired engineering major.
http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/ has some possible affordable safeties (but verify scholarships on school web sites):
Alabama - Tuscaloosa
Alabama - Huntsville
Tuskegee
Howard
Florida A&M
Louisiana Tech
Mississippi
Prairie View A&M
Apply, hope for a scholarship, and apply to some financial safeties as well.
I understand CC’s appeal.
Nevertheless, in my opinion it’s a poor choice for a prospective engineering major (even if you could afford a 3/2 engineering program). Few students want to transfer out after getting settled and forming friendships for 3 years.
If you really do want a LAC, then with your stats you may have a shot at Harvey Mudd.
Whether it would work for your budget depends on how far that $20K limit is from their Expected Family Contribution.
Run their online Net Price Calculator.
As for selective research universities, Cornell University offers excellent engineering, a beautiful setting, and claims to cover 100% of demonstrated need. Again, run the online net price calculator to see if their definition of “need” works for you. Among larger but less selective schools, Colorado-Boulder gives you the Rocky Mountain location and a very nice college town, but unless you’re a CO resident the net cost probably would be too high.
The schools listed in reply #1 don’t quite offer the Colorado College setting or atmosphere, but some people do rave about the University of Alabama’s campus. A nice campus and good engineering programs for ~$15K (after automatic merit aid kicks in) is a very good deal.
Take a look at University of Tulsa. Excellent engineering school and you would be a strong candidate for their Presidential Scholarship plus lots of others. Good luck!
One of the colleges in the CC 3/2 engineering program is RPI. That is an amazing school for engineering. It would be worth your time to check out their Net Price Calculator and if the numbers come up right, give that serious consideration.
Thanks everyone for the responses! After some hard thinking and contact with the CC physics department, I’ve looked at alternatively just completing a physics major. This would allow me significantly more flexibility and allow me to take alot more classes that Interest me, such as polisci classes. The dean of the physics told me that many CC students in physics can be placed into engineering jobs and then receive a engineering degree after several years of work. Does this sound plausible?
I’m not as much looking for a general liberal arts college but the block schedule and class size limit seem perfect for my learning style, more then anything other college I’ve seen
Yes, the block plan is unique (Cornell College and Quest use one as well) but small class limit is more readably available. There are several small liberal arts schools which offer engineering majors on campus.
How many is “many”? Do those outcomes actually happen very often?
How strong is the physics department at CC? You may also want to consider another science department (like geology, which apparently is very strong there, and might lead to opportunities in petroleum engineering or something like that.)