Thanks! I’d already tentatively put it on her list, for just those reasons. Although at either UMD or UMBC she wouldn’t have to apply merit to her tuition and, therefore, would probably be better off financially, there are a LOT of benefits to UAH. Since she likes UMBC, which also has the reputation of a commuter school, I don’t think that (or the size of 7,000) would bother her. I mentioned both UA and UAH to her today. She said she had never seen herself living somewhere like Alabama, but when I explained about Cummings, her eyes lit up! She’d definitely have the stats to qualify for free tuition, and might pull off the housing as well. She’s very likely to get a merit scholarship from DH’s employer, so although we would owe, it might not be too bad.
I’d like to thank everyone for their assistance. I scoured the lists of full tuition and full ride scholarships, looked at a lot of those schools, and added the schools everyone mentioned. The list I have for her now includes UMD, UMBC, UIUC, UAH, and UA; possibly GT (although the scholarships are VERY competitive.) I’ve seen a few other schools that have good/great engineering and say they have merit – Texas A & M, anyone? – but are very unlikely to award it to OOS students. Some, like RPI, look fabulous but even with merit would be a financial reach for us.
Is there somewhere obvious that I’ve missed that is great with merit and has a solid engineering program? If not, I think I’ll have her list those six schools to receive her scores, and then we’ll go from there.
$10,000 per year and waiver of additional out-of-state tuition for National Merit Finalist:
https://scholarships.tamu.edu/Scholarship-Programs/National-Scholars#0-NationalMerit%C2%AEOpportunities
Net price after such a scholarship would be about $14,000 per year, based on:
http://financialaid.tamu.edu/Undergraduate/Cost-of-Attendance#0-Undergraduate
However, Texas A&M does not admit directly to engineering majors; students in the first year engineering program need to apply to 3-5 majors. Almost all get one of their selected majors (though not necessarily their first choice major), but it is not stated on the web site if any are especially selective. Ask the departments directly if this is a concern.
https://engineering.tamu.edu/academics/advisors-procedures/entry-to-a-major
Temple University in Philadelphia might be worth a look. They have a Presidential Scholarship comparable to Bama’s and solid engineering.
Thanks! I’ll definitely check Temple’s website.
With one daughter in the mid-Atlantic and DD likely to be there or in the south, it will certainly be an empty nest! Too bad UIUC or IIT aren’t as generous with merit. 
On the other hand, I am extremely grateful for the opportunities they do have, no matter where they are located.
Given the academic record you posted, your daughter would probably be nominated for one of the Full tuition Camras Scholarships at Illinois Tech so it might be worth applying to see what the eventual cost might be. However, UMCP is an excellent engineering school as well and should definitely be considered.
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do you have any feedback on which of these scholarship schools have solid engineering programs?
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Look to see if their Eng’g disciplines are ABET accredited. If so, then the eng’g is solid. BTW…any reputable state school with an established college of eng’g is going to be solid. Luckily, in this country there are over 200 very good eng’g programs.
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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
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UIUC is notoriously bad with merit…and bad with need based aid.
How much merit do you want? What do you want the net cost to be?
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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.
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Making NMSF is based on PSAT score. Once that happens, her PSAT score is irrelevant for NMF. So, if she makes NMSF, and she doesn’t have grade issues and has a good enough SAT, she’ll make NMF.
WashU and Purdue have lousy merit for NMFs. I’m not even sure Purdue gives anything for NMF. WashU may give a few thousand, maybe. Neither are great with merit.
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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!
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It sounds like UM-BC might be cheaper than Alabama because of the add’l merit, but UM-CP would not.
If your DD makes NMF, then Bama would give her:
5 years of tuition (and she can use those extra semesters to fully pay for summer abroad).
1 year of housing
$2k towards summer experience
$3500 Stipend
plus $2500 per year from eng’g.
So would it be close to what UM-BC would cost with merit?
Wow – thanks for all the info! I was coming to the conclusion that UIUC was not good for merit aid (along with most other major state universities.) I’ve taking Wash U off of the list for the same reason, and told her that Purdue wouldn’t come close to UMD or UMCP financially. She doesn’t seem really thrilled about UA, but is kind of intrigued by UAH, with their proximity to aerospace businesses. She’d have to score a 34 on the ACT to make them viable, though. That would get tuition plus room.
UMD would probably be about equal to UAH; she looks likely to get enough merit to cover room, and tuition is covered by remission. UMBC is by far the best, since their merit aid is much more generous than UMD. I don’t want her to think it’s all about the money, though. I want her to have some viable options, and let her make the decision that’s right for her.
To answer your question about where we want to see the price, we’re comfortable with the two (and possibly three) options that cover tuition and room. We can handle the rest. If she finds another school that is her dream, we’ll be into loans. Again, I want her to have the option to consider other schools – she’s a smart kid and won’t go way into debt just for a school’s reputation.
UIUC is not notoriously bad with merit. Someone with your D’s stats has a good chance of merit especially because she is an Illinois resident.
If interested in Alabama please have your D visit. Many high stats kids are lured there because of the merit but many leave after the first semester. Also, very few graduate in 4 years. Check the stats, it’s all there. The large, southern school is not for everyone, especially someone you describe as nerdy. Frats and sororities are abundant so she would need to be into that.
Purdue is another that is strong in engineering. There is merit for top students and according to the college data set she is at the top of the applicant pool. Purdue is rated #8 in the country for engineering and has all her majors.
What is your source for that, @jr2016?
My son is a nerd from the Northeast, with no interest in Greek Life, and he’s been very happy at Bama. None of his Honors College friends has left either.
Be careful not to look at overall retention rates and assume they apply to Honors College students, particularly those with big merit scholarships.
There is also Wichita State if aerospace is of interest; it has big scholarships for National Merit:
http://webs.wichita.edu/?u=merit_scholarships&p=/national_merit/
(but watch out for the 3.5 renewal GPA)
She’s going to visit UMD and UMBC in March, and UIUC in April. If she’s still into Purdue, we can fit that in this spring as well. I think Alabama is out, although Alabama-Huntsville is not. I hadn’t mentioned it before, but I had also looked at Georgia Tech. They do have scholarships, but it looks to be tough to qualify. I’ll have her take a look at their site, though. Ditto for Texas A & M – the low percentage of OOS students who get merit is discouraging. I even looked at Cal Poly SLO, but I’ve seen several postings on CC that merit is difficult there, as well.
Fortunately, we’ve got time to figure this out!
Alabama’s baseline selectivity is rather low, so it is likely that the students who leave after a semester, or take longer than 4 years (8 semesters of school) to graduate are the ones with relatively weak high school preparation (i.e. not so much the big scholarship students).
However, if the relatively large fraternity and sorority presence (as a percentage of undergraduates) is a concern, take note of that.
Thanks for the Wichita State rec! I’ll look into it. (And thanks for the warning for the renewal GPA. Everything else we’ve considered has a 3.25 or below requirement for renewal.)
Since @jr2016 hasn’t come back yet to identify his source for this:
I just want to share the following for those interested in Alabama: http://viewbook.ua.edu/quick-facts/
Bama’s freshman retention rate is 87%, which is line with other similarly ranked schools.
I have never seen freshman retention rates for the Honors College (and certainly never freshman retention rates for just one semester), but I’m very interested in hearing where that’s coming from.
Embry-Riddle sounds like it could be a good fit. Great student environment. Strong engineering programs, with Engineering Physics available. She would be a strong candidate for the honors program.
There’s more than one campus of Embry-Riddle, right? Is one preferred over another?
UMd-CP has an honors program including honors dorms that will reduce the party atmosphere. They are not building any more housing, so likely she will live off-campus in one of the new high rises after sophomore year. UMd-CP is better than UM-BC, but people that go to UMBC seem happy and their scholarship mailing included lots of big scholarships especially for women in STEM. I would still consider spending more for College Park,they also have a very active aerospace program, one of the best in the nation, although I would add that aerospace jobs are scarce so getting an ME degree with an AE option may be more prudent. Being computer saavy up to computer science minor / major will make some jobs easier … although many MEs really use CAD and analysis tools, they don’t write software. NASA Goddard is down the road.
Case Western, Tulane, U Rochester all have large merit scholarship programs that should be in reach for your daughter. With good merit, you are looking at about $35K. Georgia Tech scholarships are very competitive, their applicants keep getting better, and even the honors program was oversubscribed last year. The total cost is above 45K.
First, my husband is a mechanical engineer in the aerospace industry and he does a fair amount of hiring. Feel free to PM me if you’d like me to get his input on the colleges you are considering.
Second, I encourage you to ensure that whatever school she chooses, it has a broad curriculum and varied strengths. I entered college as a physics major. In high school I deliberated between chemistry and physics. In college, I got turned on to international affairs and ended up doing a huge change – poll sci and international affairs dual major with a minor in Russian. And my mechanical engineer husband started out as a chemistry major. More often than not, plans change in college, so I would encourage a school that will offer a wide variety of programs.