Engineering or Engineering Physics. Given our situation, is there reason to widen our search?

College Search & Selection
1

I apologize in advance for the length of this post!

My DD is a junior, interested in aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering, software engineering, or perhaps engineering physics. She has taken all offered honors courses her first two years, has two AP classes this year, and is registered for four APs next year. She’s a practical kid and we’ve always encouraged her to challenge herself, but also to follow her interests; thus, an introductory engineering class and a music theory course are on next year’s schedule, rather than additional AP classes. In extracurriculars, she’s followed her interests as well – she’s passionate about marching band; jumped in to mock trial despite her innate shyness; and when she decided that competitive swimming was not for her, she leveraged her expertise into a job giving swim lessons.

Her unweighted GPA is 3.98. I know the PSAT scoring for National Merit is in flux but, according to articles I’ve read, she will likely be at least a NMSF.

We are Illinois residents now but, because my husband was employed at UMUC for 26 years, our kids get full tuition remission at any school in the Maryland State System. Her older sister is a liberal arts freshman at UMBC. With their generous merit aid, she will have zero cost for four years.

Financially, we now earn too much to qualify for need-based aid. We can help out by a few thousand a year but, beyond that, we’d be taking out loans.

From research, the following schools seem most logical:

UMBC – only has mechanical and software engineering, and no opportunities for marching band, fencing, etc. Great internship opportunities and generous merit aid. She’s seen the campus twice and really likes the “nerdy” vibe. I keep reading that, although they have an excellent reputation for undergrad teaching and for technology/science fields, they are seen by many as the inferior choice to UMD. (That’s not a factor; the best school for her may not be the “top-ranked” one.)

UMD – offers all majors other than engineering physics, has that great engineering school with lots of opportunities. Great internship assistance, less merit aid available. The large size of UMD might be a little intimidating to her, but I think she’d be fine. Lots of opportunities for extracurriculars, but the party atmosphere isn’t appealing at all.

UIUC – my alma mater. Offers all four majors, also with a great engineering department. In-state tuition is good, but I’ve been unable to find much about merit aid. Large school size and the party atmosphere are a factor here, as well.

I know there are some full-tuition schools for NMSF with decent engineering programs – Alabama comes to mind. It’s still less financially prudent than a Maryland school plus any amount of merit aid, but she’d love the weather!

She is looking at us to help her select potential schools. Should we look into schools with great aid to National Merit recipients? Are there others we should be considering? Purdue? Wash U?

Thanks in advance for your help

2

She can try for automatic or competitive full ride scholarship schools (whether NMF-based or not), if she likes them over the schools in the existing list you have.

Computer science as a major is a good substitute for software engineering, since computer science departments usually have software engineering or project courses in the offerings and curricula. Some schools without aerospace engineering have aerospace electives within mechanical engineering, so check offerings in the catalogs.

If she is undecided, pay attention to how difficult it will be to change into any of the desired majors after enrolling. For example, UIUC computer science requires a 3.67 college GPA to switch into.

3

Great advice. Thanks! We are aware that mech engineering frequently has ties to aerospace, and that many aerospace jobs are held by mech engineers. It’s one of the reasons both degrees are on her list. Adding in computer science seems reasonable, as well.

I’d heard that engineering schools are much harder to transfer into than out of, but I wasn’t thinking of the difficulty of transferring into computer majors as well. Thanks!

I didn’t cover it in the original post, but we sat down with DD and asked a series of questions to begin narrowing options. She is very frugal by nature, so it’s important to her to graduate with low or no debt. (She’d also like a school with 7,500 or more undergrads.)

Where would we find more information on appropriate schools where there is a possibility of automatic or competitive full-ride? (Wow, I didn’t even know that there was a non NM school that offered automatic full-ride for merit!)

Thanks for your help.

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P.S. We’re also keeping in mind the stats on changing majors, but she’s always been a chemistry/physics/engineering type, so schools with solid engineering programs will hopefully work out no matter what.

5

You may have already seen this, but if not it may be helpful down the road: http://nmfscholarships.yolasite.com/

And this also: http://competitivefulltuition.yolasite.com/

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Again, thanks! We want to help her find schools that will meet HER objectives, including her financial ones. This will help.

7

gandalf78, do you have any feedback on which of these scholarship schools have solid engineering programs? George Tech I know, but I’m unsure of any others. I will happily weed through each school’s site since it looks like DD could qualify in many cases, but it would be great to have some guidance.

8

You could look into the University of Rochester for engineering, fencing, band. I’d think their highest scholarship awards would be very competitive, however.

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Thanks, merc81! I’ll add it to the list.

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In addition to the lists in #4, there is http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com .

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Look up “[school name] change major [major]” in a web search to see if it may be difficult to change into that major at that school.

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Regarding your topic title itself, I’d say the reason to widen your search is because the benefits of exploring a little further could be meaningful and are essentially cost free. If the process leads you to further appreciate the substantial merits of your original group of schools, that would be good as well.

13

Just to give you somewhere to start, the popular full ride schools on CC seem to be UA,OU,KU, UCF, Ole Miss, UH, and UTD.

Not popular, but I’ve been looking into UNL which is automatic full tuition, but has a competitive room and board scholarship for Computer/Engineering types like your D called Raikes.

14

Check out RPI - terribly expensive but they can give substantial merit - my D (freshman engineer) got merit aid covering her full tuition. They have a 70/30 boy/girl ratio so they really want to attract girls, especially in engineering. If her stats are really high she might get substantial merit aid. Also, it’s the size school your D wants. Nerdy culture. Excellent undergraduate academics and a highly respected program in industry. Not a party school. My D is quite happy there.

15

Also check out Rice - excellent engineering program, good student culture, and quite generous with financial aid (I heard free tuition for families making under $80K)

16

Check out University of Central Florida. I think there is a very good NMF deal there.

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@NerdMom88: In regard to your Post #6, I will send you a PM.

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@nw2this Which college is UH?

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^ I think it is University of Houston.

20

UAHuntsville should be considered…although I think it’s total population is a little under 7000 students, so smaller than the 7500+ you mentioned was your D’s preference. Almost 1/3 of the UAH students are in engineering, so it is a very tech focused campus and Huntsville is a mecca for aerospace companies and other tech companies. Huntsville is the home of Cummings Research Park which is one of the world’s leading science and technology business parks, so my understanding is that the area has outstanding options for internships and co-ops.

UAH also has great automatic scholarships for good GPA/test scores (see the table on their website), and has a full ride for NMF if your D ends up qualifying as finalist down the road.