Engineering...Help me narrow down my list

<p>I'm currently a junior from New York interested in either biomedical or chemical engineering...leaning towards biomedical. I'm pretty much fixed on staying in the northeast, with some exceptions. A big city would be nice for internships/job opportunities and I really like the co-op programs at drexel and northeastern.</p>

<p>These are my stats so far:
GPA: uw - 3.5ish (school doesn't give exact number) w - 3.72
Rank: top 25% (class of 400)
SAT: 2040 superscore M: 690 W: 690 CR: 660 - I'm retaking next week and going for 700+ in math
ACT: C: 28 E: 34 M: 30 S: 25 R: 21 - Probably gonna retake in september
SAT II: US - 700 Physics - 660 (should I send these even if the school doesn't require them or no?)</p>

<p>APs -
Junior: Physics B, US History
Senior: Calc AB, Stats, Biology</p>

<p>EC's are very average. I'll have 200+ hours of volunteering at a local hospital and at a local nursing home as well as some other various charity stuff thrown in there. But that's about it. This will probably kill my chances at all my reaches. </p>

<p>I will also need decent financial aid for schools in the 50k+ range so I'm thinking of cutting some of the higher reach schools and adding some where I can get a scholarship. </p>

<p>These are the schools I've been looking at so far. My list is pretty huge so I'm wondering which schools I should take out or change from match to reach or safety to match.</p>

<p>Reaches:
University of Michigan
University of Rochester
Georgia Tech
Lehigh
RPI
University of Wisconsin Madison
Boston University
Virginia Tech </p>

<p>Matches:
Northeastern
Maryland-College Park
Penn State
Syracuse
WPI
University of Delaware
Binghamton
Drexel
Stony Brook</p>

<p>Safeties:
SUNY Buffalo
University of Rhode Island
University of Vermont
RIT</p>

<p>I'm not sure if I'll continue engineering for grad school. How difficult would it be to switch to something more business or medicine related after getting a BME undergrad degree?</p>

<p>Check the net price calculators at each school’s web site. If the net price is too high after need-based financial aid, investigate whether you have a realistic chance for a large enough merit scholarship at the school.</p>

<p>3.0 GPA and 28 ACT gets the $15,000 per year scholarship at University of Alabama Birmingham, leaving about $10,000 per year of remaining cost of attendance. UAB has biomedical engineering but not chemical engineering. So it may be worth considering as a safety.</p>

<p>MBA schools and medical schools do not require any specific undergraduate major, although medical schools do have pre-medical course requirements (which should at least mostly be fulfilled by a biomedical engineering major).</p>

<p>ucb, do you know if UAB converts a SAT score or if you HAVE to have the ACT to qualify?</p>

<p>I’d rather not go to school in the south. Like I said in the OP, I’m pretty much set on the northeast with the exception being if I get into an amazing BME school like Michigan or Georgia Tech.</p>

<p>My parents and I are going through the FA calculators on schools and seeing how much aid I will get. Hopefully that will allow me to cut my list down a bit.</p>

<p>UMich will make you full pay. As will Penn State and most of the other OOS public Us. </p>

<p>You say you will need decent FA for high cost schools. Does that mean you are low income or middle class with high bills so your family can’t afford college as a full pay? Being in the second category does NOT mean you’ll get FA at schools that offer it. As UCBalumnus recommended, check out the Net Price Calculators on each school’s web site.</p>

<p>Re: UAB and ACT vs. SAT score</p>

<p><a href=“Error 404 | Not Found”>Error 404 | Not Found; says to refer to the ACT / SAT concordance link if you have the SAT.</p>

<p>Well we’d like to keep it no more than 35k a year. We went through the net price calculators for some of the more expensive colleges on this list like Northeastern, Drexel, Syracuse, etc. and they were all generally in the 30,000-34,000 range, which isn’t great but definitely doable. I might have to get rid of UMich, their net price calculator estimated around 50,000 which we probably can’t afford.</p>

<p>Boston University and Northeastern would both be high matches. Northeastern’s freshman profile is slightly higher than that of BU.</p>

<p>This is my updated list (since I can’t edit the OP):</p>

<p>Reaches:
Lehigh
Georgia Tech
RPI
University of Rochester
University of Wisconsin - Madison </p>

<p>Matches:
Northeastern
Boston University
Maryland - College Park
Penn State
Syracuse
WPI
University of Delaware
Binghamton
Drexel
Stony Brook</p>

<p>Safeties:
SUNY Buffalo
University of Rhode Island
University of Vermont
RIT</p>

<p>I’m considering applying ED to one of my reaches, I’m just worried that the net price calculator isn’t 100% accurate and I want to make sure I’m in that low-30k range at the least.</p>

<p>This was the first year of the NPC and no one is sure of their accuracy. The general thought is the more questions the calculator asks you the more likely it will be accurate. Any NPC that just asks for your EFC is going to be less accurate.</p>

<p>If you are willing to go to Virginia or North Carolina, note that Virginia Tech and NCSU list prices are within your budget range, so any financial aid grants or merit scholarships would be a bonus, rather than being absolutely necessary to make them affordable.</p>

<p>Some other schools that you may want to check for your desired engineering major but whose list prices are likely to fall within your budget range:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1294383-less-expensive-list-price-less-obvious-schools-attract-good-students.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1294383-less-expensive-list-price-less-obvious-schools-attract-good-students.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;