Another thing I think thE OP is ignoring is that the football mania of Bama not only gives her son the opportunity to," go to football games" That kind of mania inspire a rabid allegiance in alumni which is very important in the job market. While once this would only have been helpful in Alabama the huge number of OOS Students will likely help more nationwide soon
Lol @ClassicRockerDad, it looks like we posted at the same time.
I wouldn’t call Lafayette an inferior engineering department. It is not a research university and if you tour I would ask them about their future of the engineering department. I thought that they were thinking of changing it but I’m not sure what direction they are going in.
My caveat is that my D is a Lehigh grad, but her ex BF went to Lafayette. She works with other Laf grads and one of her best friends is also a grad. All the Laf people are strong engineers. Smart, hard working good engineers.
I do agree with @ClassicRockerDad that ED is a way to go for Lehigh. They love people who show an interest and he would get a big bump with ED. They also like high test scores, which your S has.
I also agree with @mom2collegekids in that engineering is one major where ranking isn’t that important. Recruiters know which schools turn out good technical engineers who (hopefully) can work well with others. If you are concerned see what companies recruit at Alabama. I think you would be very pleased.
Now if we were comparing say Michigan with Western Michigan engineering departments, then I would say there would be a big difference in what companies recruit. One is very local, the other is nationwide even international.
@sybbie719 No, we are nowhere near NYC and our school district does not do grade conversions to the 4.0 scale or give letter grades. I did a conversion off of a couple of scales another poster provided.
We have no interest in the NY STEM scholarship.
Interesting about that link you provided for the Honors criteria. S2 has a friend that graduated with him last year who is currently in the Buffalo honors program. He had about a 90 average and a 24 ACT and an 1100ish SAT. He was rejected at Binghamton and Syracuse and waitlisted at Geneseo. Apparently those are some pretty loose guidelines they publish.
The top 10% is hard to say since our school is so secretive about ranking. However, when S15 graduated a W 94ish would have been top 10% and last year when S16 graduated a W 92ish would have made the cut. Right now S has a W 93 which I expect will be a W 96 by the end of this year. There is no guarantee because his class is particularly competitive, but it is probable. Still, no interest in the NY STEM commitment.
Sounds more like the kid’s profile got him accepted in to EOP, He may be an acker’s scholar on top of that.
https://www.suny.edu/media/suny/content-assets/documents/summary-sheets/EOP_profile.pdf
@sybbie719 He did have a W 93 which got him into the top 10%, but EOP, no lol. He is a Drs. kid and white, so no Acker’s either. It was all very odd…like in April when he had no choices it seemed, out of nowhere he was suddenly in Buffalo’s PharmD and honors program?
Does your school send s lot of kids to buffalo?
lol, why are you yelling at me Mom? I meant that 103 in the engineering rankings was relatively low compared to 20 or 50 or 70. I was simply thinking that his stats will get him into a school of a higher ranking and I was wondering if it is prudent to chose a school with a lower ranking in order to meet his preference for athletics.
He is a first semester Jr. It is not April Sr. year. I am simply throwing around some ideas right now so that when it is time for him to make an actual list I can provide some educated guidance. I have not kicked golden child Alabama to the curb.
@sybbie719 We have only had Naviance for the past 3 years but it shows 40 acceptances and 9 attending.
Alabama does seem like a great choice. Ranking 103 is no problem. They are ABET accredited and have great facilities and good recruiting. Those are the kind of things that matter. And schools at the highest rankings, like “20” are less likely to give the kind of aid you may be looking for. Most of the big programs are OOS publics ( and some top privates that are reaches for everybody) and not as likely to give out the kind of big merit awards that Alabama does.
@sevmom I will definitely seriously consider it. There are other factors of course. The distance and logistics really concern me, I have reservations about the South, I find big schools intimidating, and an initial visit will be difficult and costly in itself. I am trying to be open minded because within reason it is about what S wants, not about my comfort zone.
@planner03 Given that Bama is an academic safety (your son can even have his grades drop slightly and still easily meet the 3.5 criteria) as well as a financial one ( it’s going to be free tuition for sure!!!) meets his one desired interest in sports and is in a pretty warm climate…and is a school with a huge OOS population so unlike some other Southern schools he wouldn’t as likely feel be out of place, it would seem that focusing on the difficulty of logistics of a visit is being penny wise and pound foolish.
^ @planner03, how about this scenario: you present your son the schools that ARE within your comfort zone and budget that are feasible with his current stats ; anything past THAT that he wants (whether big sports, large size, Southern location etc) will be up to him to research, plan, find scholarships for, and convince you that it is the perfect fit. Sounds as if he is a bit indifferent at this point and relying on you to sift through the contradictory factors to find the perfect school that has it all. (Lots of stress for you, and the more you work, the less he has to.) So, if he wants the spectator sports, large school, southern school as well as the elite status/certain academic offerings that you want him to have…it will be up to HIM to put some skin in the game. You point him to certain resources for info (i.e. those on College Confidential) and maybe he will think about getting grades and test scores up if he does want it all.
@inthegarden Sound advice
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lol, why are you yelling at me Mom? I meant that 103 in the engineering rankings was relatively low compared to 20 or 50 or 70. I was simply thinking that his stats will get him into a school of a higher ranking and I was wondering if it is prudent to chose a school with a lower ranking in order to meet his preference for athletics.
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He is a first semester Jr. It is not April Sr. year. I am simply throwing around some ideas right now so that when it is time for him to make an actual list I can provide some educated guidance. I have not kicked golden child Alabama to the curb.
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Yelling? Did I use all-caps? I don’t think so.
Yes, relatively speaking, 103 is low compared to 70. For that matter, 50 is low compared to 20.
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I was simply thinking that his stats will get him into a school of a higher ranking and I was wondering if it is prudent to chose a school with a lower ranking in order to meet his preference for athletics.
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? I had to go back and look at his stats.
I think your thinking has become confused. No one is saying that he can’t get into a top 50 eng’g program. Sure he can.
BUT…will you pay for one of those schools? He won’t likely get much or any merit from those schools since at those schools, an ACT 33 isn’t “special”.
Your statement seems odd. It may not be prudent to choose a lower ranking school to meet a preference for football IF you’re willing to pay most/all of the costs of a higher ranking school.
Why are you asking if it’s prudent to choose a school with a lower ranking to meet PARENTS preference for good-sized merit scholarships? Why aren’t you asking that question. football isn’t really the issue except for final down selection of affordable schools.
If you’re not willing to pay the costs of a higher ranking schools, then the “football interest” at a merit school is irrelevant.
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1st time ACT 33 PSAT 221 in NY so probably <<<<
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^^^^^
Sounds like this family may be eligible for need based aid which opens up some schools that otherwise would not be in the equation.
However, family needs to think about will they be able to afford all 4 years?
School will be great when S3 is a freshman and S2 is a junior and S3 is a senior
It may even been good when S3 is a sophomore and S2 is a senior
But what about junior and senior year when S3 is the only one in college?
Are the other 2 kids attending schools that meet 100% demonstrated need?
Are they receiving merit $$?
Are they attending FAFSA only schools or schools that use the CSS profile
I think op needs to run the net price calculator adding approximately a 3% increase each year.
Run it with 3 kids in college, with 2 kids in college and 1 kid in college
Things have derailed a bit.
I am not looking for merit. I am looking for need based aid but unfortunately it does not seem like it is going to be easy to find an engineering/football school that he can get into that offers need based aid since they tend to be OOS publics.
I am aware. I also said that his grades aren’t great, nor his ecs. I said that he will not get into selective colleges, even ones that posters have suggested. I used the word “average” quite clearly in the title.
Does it matter if its need based or merit…as long as the costs you need covered…are covered??
@sybbie719 The post was never meant to be about money. I only brought it into the post because I knew it would be the first question someone would ask.
@thumper Merit aid comes with gpa restrictions that make me nervous, so unrestricted need based aid is preferable. However, I realize that merit is the only option if he wants to attend somewhere like Alabama so I have to be open to merit.