I’m a senior this year and have gone through the hell that is the college admissions process. I’ve been accepted to most of the schools I applied to (mostly targets/safeties) and am only waiting on a 3 more decisions. I applied for Chemical Engineering, and after looking through the list of the schools I’ve been accepted to I’m really struggling to identify the best program for the least money.
Here are my options:
SUNY UB - accepted w/ $20k scholarship (in-state, so cheap)
Northeastern U - accepted w/ estimated $84,600k in gift aid (b/w grants and scholarships)
UMaine - accepted to honors college w/ $60k scholarship
U of Maryland, CP - accepted to honors college, waiting to hear for merit scholarships
UNH - accepted to honors program w/ $40k scholarship
UVM - accepted to honors program w/ $64k scholarship (basically ruled this one out…)
Penn St. U - accepted, waiting to hear back for Schreyer honors college and merit aid.
I’m also waiting to hear from Lehigh, Bucknell and Dartmouth. Of the above schools, which ones do you think have the best programs for the least cost?
Yes, they are all renewable based on maintaining a set GPA. For example, to
retain SUNY UB’s $5,000 scholarship each year over 4 years I have to keep a 3.0 GPA or higher and complete at least 24 credits each academic year. All of the others are similar with different GPA requirements.
Rewrite your list for us with the amount you have to come up with each year rather than the scholarship you received. That’s the information that counts. Also add the GPA requirement to keep each scholarship. Getting >3.0 in engineering is not easy.
SUNY UB: $19,988/year, 3.00 GPA for scholarship
Northeastern: $40,602/year, 3.00 GPA for scholarship
UMaine: $25,982/year, 3.00 GOA for scholarship
UNH: $29,892/year, 3.20 GPA for scholarship
UVM: $35,736/year, 3.00 GPA for scholarship
UMD-CP: $44,645/year (no merit aid yet)
PSU: $43,084/year (no merit aid yet)
My Expected Family Contribution is $37,050/year, and the estimated Federal Loans include $3,500/year subsidized and $2,000/year unsubsidized. Work-Study also contributes an estimated $5,500, which I am willing to do.
Also, I do realize how difficult it will be to maintain the required GPA’s for the scholarships, and I am definitely worried about that. I don’t know if I should take that into account though when deciding on a school. Is a 3.0 an attainable GPA through the latter years of college?
As an engineering student at any school, maintaining a 3.0 GPA is very inportant, not only for scholarship renewal but also for career employment as you approach graduation. Many engineering firms will only grant interviews to applicants with a 3.0 GPa or higher.
If you do not go off the deep end partying, you should be able to maintain a 3.0.
Penn State has very good engineering, as does College Park. However, College Park’s aid is very stingy for OOS students. I think that their maximum merit award (Banneker) for OOS is $12,000. I think that Penn State may be even stingier. So those schools will likely be a bit pricey. Can’t really comment on the other schools.
Yeah I was looking at UMD’s and PSU’s merit scholarships and they did look a bit lacking in aid…I definitely would place UMD higher than PSU in terms of interest, however I haven’t visited Penn state yet so that be a premature assumption.
@swampdraggin, so the post with the cost per year is the net cost after subtracting the scholarships that I have been awarded from the original COA.
For example, SUNY UB, without any scholarship, would cost me $24,988/year. I just took $5,000 out (the scholarship awarded was $20,000 over four years). The same follows for each school.
In regards to your other question, I honestly found things at every school that I really liked, despite the variety of locations. At Northeastern, I really liked the fact that it’s campus, although set in Boston, really had a “campusy” feel to it. In addition, the campus had this energetic, innovative feel to it. At SUNY UB, my in-state safety, I liked the spread out campus (I know, completely different from Northeastern) however it was lacking in internship availability. Overall, a school that I would place highest in terms of location would probably be Dartmouth (a reach…). I really like the campus, although isolated. I’m an outdoorsy person, and the skiing, biking, and hiking opportunities seemed abundant. I guess I’m moreso considering schools with a close-knit campus rather than their immediate location. I still have to visit a few schools, namely UMaine, UNH, Lehigh, Bucknell and PSU
Don’t forget that, for most (if not all) of these schools, any guaranteed-for-four-years merit award is fixed, while the cost of attendance will increase each and every year.
Penn State is very stingy with merit aid–even those admitted to Schreyer as freshman are only guaranteed a $4500 annual award.
I’ll come at it from a different angle. How much do you know about what ChemE’s do? Is someone you know a ChemE, or have you gone out and met with some to find out about the job? Nationally between 1/2 and 2/3rds of those that start in engineering switch out. The courses are tough, and also they discover it isn’t really the future they want.
So depending on your confidence in becoming a ChemE I’d factor in whether the scholarships are just to study engineering, or good no matter your major. If you have a few schools that you see as roughly similar in terms of cost then I’d think about which one(s) I’d want to attend if I was not an engineer.
Thanks @LucieTheLakie, that’ll add $1,000-$2,000 to the tuition for each school I guess.
@mikemac, I arrived at the ChemE major by weeding out things I knew that I definitely did NOT want to do. I worked at my uncle’s law firm in downtown Manhattan over the summer, and I absolutely hated being in a cramped workspace with the same job being done over and over. From that work, I basically decided that any career I ended up in would not require sitting in an office anywhere near 100% of the time. I like to write, am half decent with numbers and loved physics when I took it last year. I am currently taking AP Bio and I’m interested in some aspects that it includes, however I don’t think that BME is something that should be a major for undergrad (correct me if I’m wrong, just a common gist I’ve seen on CC). I really want an occupation which will constantly challenge me and allows for innovation and research. That being so, I decided on ChemE.
Every scholarship that I’ve earned so far does not specify that I must major in ChemE, so that is unrestricted. I think that, for the most part, the schools that I applied to offer a wide range of majors and so allow for changes.
As an afterthought, if I go to SUNY UB I will be eligible for the STEM program offered by NYS, which provides full tuition for STEM majors with an agreement for those students to work for 5 years after graduating in NY
So, all you have to do to get full tuition at SUNY UB is work in New York for 5 years after graduating? Personally, for me, that would be a no brianer, so long as you can ensure that you can find a suitable job in NY.
@hungryteenager - SUNY UB is up there on my top choices. My older brother went there so I’m familiar with the campus. And the STEM program is a huge plus. I just want to see what all of my options are.
UB is incredible for engineering. My son is a recent grad and had many great opportunities on campus. Summer paid internships and 3 job offers by the fall of Senior year. Great value for the $$$.
@crazed, thank you for the input! My neighbor graduated from UB (majored in Civil Engineering I think…) and is now working on the Tappan-Zee Project. Another advocate for UB I guess lol.
In terms of overall quality and opportunity provided, would, say, attending Northeastern (discounting cost) be a better option than SUNY UB?
