@2sunny I looked. UKy is ranked 133, UCF 176, and AL 103.
@3scoutsmom I was simply saying about time/$$ to TRAVEL-- The point I was making is that no matter where you go for FULL RIDE< it is not 100% Free (but very close to it). Carnegie Mellon does not give full rides, but it is Ranked #1 in world (tied with MIT for CS). Carnegie would be at least $100,000, plus books/travel
If you want 100% full ride for National Merit go to Texas Tech they will pay all travel, books living expenses even give you a stipend to cover incidentals like shampoo.
https://www.depts.ttu.edu/scholarships/incFreshman.php
Needs 3.5 GPA (other choices have 3.0 GPA)
UTD even pays for TRAVEL ABROAD!!! All these National Merit Winners get wonderful Full Rides (I’m not concerned about $400 airline ticket… ) I’m concerned about which 1 has best Career Options !
@2sunny does your son have credits from dual enrollment or AP’s? If so you might look at UTD’s Fast track program , he might be able to get his Masters or at least a good start, covered by the National Merit scholarship.
https://engineering.utdallas.edu/academics/undergraduate-majors/fast-track/
Yes, he has many AP credits. He will come in like a Sophomore. Fast track at UTD is great option!
@Mom2aphysicsgeek Which site do you use for Rankings? I was using the USNews, which gathers at Master’s level. We narrowed it down to U of KY and UTD in Dallas. Dallas is 70.
https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-science-schools/the-university-of-texas-at-dallas-228787
Yes, it’s too late for CBH (and Fellows), for everybody. That said, UA has tons of awesome opportunities w/o CBH or Fellows in the picture. 
My daughter is a 2nd year CS major there, NM Scholar, very happy, etc. My son is matriculating there in the fall, some sort of engineering, currently declared ChemE/premed, also a NMF.
Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.
For CS I would say UTD, UAH, or Texas Tech (I thought they gave lesser amounts of scholarships too, or do they all require 3.5?), also UA. Your son should visit them and talk to the departments to see which one best matches his interests.
Just because USNews says that UC Berkeley, MIT, CMU are top CS programs, that doesn’t mean that everyone gets accepted there or can afford to go there. I’m sure lots of CS students at above schools had good career opportunities.
He could get a master’s as well at UA most likely.
@2sunny, have him visit. The number of ranking on some list does not represent the suitability of a particular program to your individual child.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek can tell you how her son picked his school.
@mommdc We are not located in TX. Are all of the colleges you wrote in TX? There are plenty of great Comp Science choices, besides in the South. And if a certain student wants to stay in New England, or Midwest, then he would have no reason to look at CA, TX, or FL. In our case, my son is Finalist, so we are simply exploring Full Rides, which happen to be at UTD and U of KY. I have not researched the other options. And yes, I know only 5% get into an MIT, but for those who are fortunate…then many doors open WIDE open for them, instead of struggling to find a decent job. The Rankings quoted simply give a student a general idea of where to start, esp. if they are NOT familiar with a geographic region of college. I keep hearing over and over that U of TX in Austin is ranked super high, but that does mean that student should cancel out on UTD. Piece of cake to understand all of this! :>
I see UAH is in Huntsville. We would pick UTD, because it is NON STOP airfare, and nice suburb near Dallas.
I guess we may need to entertain UTD for son. Looks like a nice financial deal. Strog academics I assume?
<<<<
I guess we may need to entertain UTD for son. Looks like a nice financial deal.
[QUOTE=""]
[/QUOTE]
What’s your son’s major and career goal? We tend to hear that UTDallas is strong for premeds…don’t know what else it’s strong for.
What do you want your net cost to be? Did I see that your son wants Georgia Tech? Are you ok with paying full OOS price for GT?
UTD is very stong in comp sci, business, animation art, and neuroscience.
Oh well. @mom2collegekids yes we are OK with paying for Ga tech but found out today he was rejected. He wants to study engineering.
@amyandscott sorry about GA Tech. What are his top choices now?
@NASA2014 I think Auburn