does anyone want to help a lost student?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I'm currently looking into colleges, and I know that I want to major in electrical engineering. However, I have no idea what schools I should be looking at. I want to stay on the east coast, preferably 5 hours away from Delaware, maximum. I'm currently very interested in Villanova, Lafayette, Bucknell, and UDel as schools that I would have a decent shot at getting into. How good are these schools for electrical engineering? and are they regarded well after college? Also, does anyone have any other schools that I should be looking at that I may have skipped over?
My basic stats are:
SAT: 1980 ( I'm taking them again this Saturday, I'm hoping to get around 2100)
GPA: 3.25 UW, 4.1 W
ECs: average, some leadership positions, some long term, nothing national or international</p>

<p>I'm white, I live in Delaware, I would prefer not to go to UD, I want to get out of Delaware at least for college. my family income is about 60,000 a year, I'm not sure if I would be eligible for aid. No extra hooks.
If I didn't provide any necessary information please let me know, and I'll tell you as much as I can. Thank you very much!</p>

2

<p>Might I suggest asking some of the employers you like to work for what they think the best schools are? </p>

<p>They might mention this, but I would definitely consider a public school if it’s going to cost you significantly less than a private. Studies of, for example, people who got into Penn and Penn State show that they make exactly the same income no matter which they chose. That might be true for EE, but ask employers something like “What makes a good applicant and employee? Assuming I got the same GPA, would I make significantly more if I went to Nova over Delaware U? How long would that earnings gap last and what can an employee do to change that equation?”</p>

3

<p>Look at Drexel, it should be good for engineering.</p>

4

<p>*My basic stats are:
SAT: 1980 ( I’m taking them again this Saturday, I’m hoping to get around 2100)
GPA: 3.25 UW, 4.1 W
ECs: average, some leadership positions, some long term, nothing national or international</p>

<p>I’m white, I live in Delaware, I would prefer not to go to UD, I want to get out of Delaware at least for college. my family income is about 60,000 a year, I’m not sure if I would be eligible for aid.*</p>

<p>I think your family income may be too high for an EFC low enough for free federal aid. You need to avoid schools that will put either big loans or big gaps in your FA package. </p>

<p>You also need to find out how much your family will contribute each year. </p>

<p>You need a strategy to get your costs covered. You need to apply to schools that can meet full need with low or no loans (these may be your reaches), **and **some schools that will give you some huge merit for your stats (these may be your safeties). </p>

<p>It may be hard to find “match” schools because many can’t meet need or won’t give assured huge merit.</p>

5

<p>Thank you very much all of you who replied,
Mom2collegekids, I was thinking that my EFC might be too high, and you’re right, I should definitely look into how much money we can afford to spend, and how much we might be asked to pay. I’ll sit down with my parents soon and try to fill out the collegeboard calculator that helps to determine your EFC. Do you have any ideas of any schools that I might be able to look at? or of anyone that could suggest such schools? I’m not really looking for tier 1 schools or anything, I really just want a solid education. Does anyone know if it would be worthwhile to sit down with a college counselor outside of school (one that we would have to pay for) that would help me and my family get our finances in order, and would help me locate schools that would be good fits for me?</p>

6

<p>bump10char</p>

7

<p>Look at Case Western University in Cleveland, and at Worchester Polytechnic in Massachusetts. They both give out a lot of aid. I agree that Drexel is worth looking at- they give aid, and they have a coop program.</p>

8

<p>Thanks OneMom, I definitely will look at Case, and Worcester, They both look like good schools. Also, I’ve looked at Drexel and I’m on the edge about whether or not I want to go there, but I’ll keep it in mind. Again, thanks everyone else who replied, you’ve all been a big help.</p>

9

<p>Lehigh, Northeastern, Villanova, Bucknell, Worcester, College of New Jersey, Rochester all have quality EE programs.</p>

10

<p>Thanks! does anyone have any idea if any of these schools that streamertyer listed are generous with merit aid? or which ones i should avoid because they’re stingy with merit aid?</p>

11

<p>^^^ Lafayette has an excellent engineering program, and is generous in merit aid. About 10% of the entering class are selected as Marquis Scholars.</p>

<p>Lafayette Marguis Scholarship (from the website):

[Lafayette</a> Academic Scholarships](<a href=“http://www.lafayette.edu/admissions/marquis/index.html]Lafayette”>http://www.lafayette.edu/admissions/marquis/index.html)</p>

12

<p>Typical Northeastern merit scholarships run $10-18K. TCNJ is relatively inexpensive to begin with, but applicants with excellent SAT/GPA etc. can get up to about $7K merit money. Bucknell is not known to be overly generous. Can’t speak for the others, but as they say, best not to focus solely on the sticker prices and what you think they might offer. Visit and find schools that seem like they fit you, apply to at least 2 reaches, 4 ‘good fits’ and 2 safeties and see what the offers are, weighing everything once you have it all in front of you.</p>

13

<p>Best Colleges Specialty Rankings: Undergraduate Engineering Specialties: Electrical / Electronic / Communications
Ranked in 2009
1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA
2 Stanford University Stanford, CA
University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL
4 University of California–Berkeley Berkeley, CA
5 Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA
6 University of Michigan–Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI
7 California Institute of Technology Pasadena, CA
8 Cornell University Ithaca, NY
9 Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA
10 Purdue University–West Lafayette West Lafayette, IN
11 University of Texas–Austin Austin, TX
12 Princeton University Princeton, NJ
13 University of Wisconsin–Madison Madison, WI
14 Virginia Tech Blacksburg, VA
15 Texas A&M University–College Station College Station, TX
University of California–Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA
17 University of California–San Diego La Jolla, CA
University of Maryland–College Park College Park, MD
19 Duke University Durham, NC
Rice University Houston, TX</p>

14

<p>The following do not offer a doctorate:</p>

<p>Best Colleges Specialty Rankings: Undergraduate Engineering Specialties: Electrical / Electronic / Communications
Ranked in 2009
1 Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Terre Haute, IN
2 Cooper Union New York, NY
3 Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering Needham, MA
4 California Polytechnic State University–San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo, CA
5 Harvey Mudd College Claremont, CA
6 Bucknell University Lewisburg, PA
7 United States Air Force Academy USAF Academy, CO
8 United States Naval Academy Annapolis, MD
9 Rowan University Glassboro, NJ
United States Military Academy West Point, NY
11 Milwaukee School of Engineering Milwaukee, WI
Valparaiso University Valparaiso, IN</p>