Engineering Scholarship Questions

Colleges and Universities A-Z Rice University
1

<p>Hi all,</p>

<p>I was just wondering is anybody has any information on how competitive the engineering scholarship is. The Rice University website says it covers anywhere from $6,500 to full tuition.</p>

<p>Does anybody know how many engineering scholarships are granted each year?</p>

<p>Any feedback would be much appreciated.</p>

<p>Thanks! </p>

<p>(BTW, I haven't been admitted yet... I just applied! I was just curious to see how competitive the engineering scholarship is if I DO get admitted since I probably won't qualify for a reasonably amount of aid.)</p>

2

<p>I’m going to go out on a limb and say that it is ridiculously competitive.</p>

<p>They don’t give full tuition to just anybody</p>

3

<p>Interestingly enough, Rice is very vague in regards to their merit scholarships. When we visited the campus, the adcom lady who made the presentation remarked that its very competitive. Other than 30% of the students are in some form of merit scholarships, data is very sketchy! There are few folks here in the forum has said that they have full tuition from Rice. It’s a myth, a folklore and certainly a suspense. You will have to wait until April 1st to find out!</p>

4

<p>DS applied for the freshman class entering Fall, 2009. Rice was his first choice and we believed son was a top competitor. When the acceptance came in, the merit offer consisted of 2 scholarships (Trustee Distinguished and Engineering) totaling over $22K per year. While it was extremely generous, we did not have enough saved to cover the difference for four years and were leery of undergrad debt while the US economy was crashing around us.</p>

<p>Vanderbilt (an incredible school in its own right but not the right fit for son) offered the Cornelius Vanderbilt full tuition + scholarship and we tried in earnest to leverage that offer against Rice’s offer to no avail. </p>

<p>The only thing that I considered a deficit was that son had no research or hands-on engineering experience while in HS. He did have outrageous stats, awards, recommendations, leadership, employment and community service. Maybe the lack of engineering experience made a difference, maybe not. We’ll never know!</p>

<p>Today, son is thriving in his financial safety, happy, making his mark academically and forging ahead. </p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

5

<p>Thank you very much for sharing. I think our story is going to be similar to yours! I think we have a very strong case to be a top contender for this university, but in the end we will find that it will not be affordable. Let’s see. Keeping my fingers crossed.</p>

6

<p>Full tuition is much more rare than people getting engineering scholarships. Century scholars etc. get a good chunk of money, but it is a ways away from the 40+k needed. </p>

<p>And yes, as everyone has said, there is minimal detail available on merit aid. Good Luck!</p>

7

<p>HopesFortheBest: Would you mind posting your son’s general stats? Posting his general stats might help as a point of comparsion for those trying to figure out what possible merit aid amounts will be awarded to applicants with specific stats (although I definitely understand that subjective matters also come into play as to who receives what merit money). Thanks.</p>

8

<p>Thank you so much for the information everybody! </p>

<p>Thankfully, I do have research experience at NASA Goddard; hopefully it will help me out a bit. But all I can do now is wait and hope for the best!</p>

9

<p>We have a story very similar to HopesForTheBest’s. My son applied to Rice for Fall 2009 as well. He was also awarded $22K per year in scholarships. Though we thought that to be very generous, we still couldn’t afford Rice. Like HFTB, we tried to politely leverage that with a small handful of full tuition scholarships from other schools – to no avail. That son is very happily attending a different school for the cost of room, board, and books, though I’m sure he would have been very happy at Rice as well – if he could have afforded it. </p>

<p>This year, another son is applying to Rice for Fall 2011. We agree that the merit scholarships at Rice are somewhat of a mystery and not well-publicized. It’ll be interesting to find out how it goes this time around! :)</p>

<p>HopesForTheBest, when you say your son is happily attending his financial safety, can I assume that it’s NOT Vanderbilt? (only because most people wouldn’t consider Vandy a financial safety …) And if not Vandy, then why not, considering that he was offered full tuition +? My other son is applying there as well … that’s why we’re curious.</p>

10

<p>I’ll be glad to share stats although I don’t think you can guess scholarship amounts from stats.</p>

<p>SAT (one sitting) 2390: 800r 790m 800w
SATII Math 2 800, Physics 770
9 APs Calc BC, Physics, Computer Science, Latin, World History, Eng Lang, Eng Lit, Macro Economics, US Gov
HS GPA unweighted 3.86 from very competitive academic magnet school which does not rank
National Merit Scholar
US Presidential Scholar Semifinalist
Awards, community service for many years, developed and led writing workshops for kids, Clubs, etc.</p>

<p>Our family traveled to Vandy with high hopes. We only visited after receiving the scholarship offer because it would have been out of the question otherwise. Son spent a full day there, meeting students, attending a class, touring the labs and meeting an engineering prof recommended by the dept. </p>

<p>Vanderbilt is absolutely beautiful, the administration was wonderful and their generosity was overwhelming. Unfortunately, not one experience during the visit clicked for my son. The students volunteers were giggly sorority girls and the class one took son to was a humanities class where he felt like he was in HS. The labs for engineering he toured centered on prosthetics while son dreams of space related engineering. When son met prof and tried to discuss higher level math he had been working on independently, prof just dismissed the subject saying it is not part of the curriculum. Maybe it was just a series of coincidences, but the one day son visited, the stars were not in alignment. </p>

<p>Conversely, the day son visited Rice, he felt as though he found his new home. He had lunch with a wonderful group of students. Their spirit for Rice and their college was contagious. They wanted him to stay and experience the evening there but we had a plane to catch. Son sat in on two classes he chose himself and a seminar that wowed him. He spoke to professors that were engaging. One encouraged son to attend an academic competition team meeting with him later that evening and another corresponded afterwards and emailed son a textbook he had written.</p>

<p>The financial safety is our state flagship and son is pursuing a dual degree in physics and aerospace engineering. He does feel challenged in his classes, has a heavy course load and has to work hard for his near perfect GPA. He has been noticed by professors and is now busy filling applications for summer research programs. Son has also experienced many new things with an abundance of clubs on campus and has a wonderful group of friends.</p>

<p>While I’ll always wonder ‘What might have been?’, I know too that many different paths can be taken to achieve the same goal. </p>

<p>Good luck to all!!</p>

11

<p>^Hmmm. We seem to be very like-minded about this whole college thing.
I couldn’t agree more … there are many different paths to achieve the same goal. </p>

<p>So why not avoid heavy debt while doing it? :)</p>

12

<p>@Hopes: Well said. Good luck to you as well.</p>

13

<p>Thanks for sharing your son’s story Hopes. Very helpful!</p>

14

<p>“While I’ll always wonder ‘What might have been?’, I know too that many different paths can be taken to achieve the same goal.” So true! </p>

<p>My son was interested in the University of Florida and a higher ranked school for civil engineering and chose UF after an alumni member made sure my son understood there are many paths to success. My son parlayed the UF full ride into a full ride masters degree scholarship at Univ of Texas. He was surprised by the number of kids from what he considered 2nd and 3rd tier schools (much lower ranked than any state flagship) that were invited to Texas, Cal Berkley and U of Illinois as their masters degree scholarship candidates. The cream always rises to the top. :slight_smile: </p>

<p>My high school junior daughter has similar interests and should have similar stats to Hopes for the Best’s student. Thank you for mentioning the engineering research. My D also does not have that on her agenda, but we will be looking to address that issue this summer. Rice is also on her short list of schools.</p>

15

<p>I have the full tuition engineering scholarship, but not a clue how I got it and no information about it other than the bill. Feel free to PM me if you want my stats.</p>