Have you run the net price calculator and found the result to be in the affordability range? A safety must be affordable. RPI also considers “level of applicant’s interest” to be “important”, according to http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg02_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=49 , so it may reject or waitlist applicants who appear to be using it as a “safety”. Also, it appears that her stats are in the middle range of admitted students, so it may be more of match-level for her anyway.
RPI might be a safety for a girl. But even if admitted, it will likely not be affordable.
Tulane does give significant merit, but not enough for this person. Other than a few highly competitive scholarships, their most “generous” aid is 25-30k, which still leaves a net COA over $30k.
Both of those schools are big with demonstrated interest. If you are interested, and think they might be affordable, gotta show them the love by visiting the school, meeting their reps at fairs, emailing admissions with questions, etc.
Bama is a southern party school, in that they’re in the south and they have parties. Every large school is a party school. However, with their huge honors college there are thousands of serious students. This is especially true in engineering, their fastest growing school. You will meet all kinds at Bama.
Yeah, I went to a school that some people called a party school. Those of us doing the applied math/cs/systems thing they offered at the time, (and many of our friends who were studying straight math, physics or pre-med) were … not. It really wasn’t a problem.
This is what I told DD - who is not a partier - early on.
RPI is pricey; Ivy League level pricey. I know two students enrolled there at present. One got decent aid because he was a top high school student. The other student received a very nice financial aid (notwithstanding the fact that the family is relatively affluent) package, no doubt helped by the fact that the student is varsity athlete
Virtually all schools are “party schools”…even Cornell. You get a bunch of 18-23 year olds together and there will be parties, booze, and sex…unless the school is a bible college or BYU. There’s just no way around that.
However, the eng’g students tend to party less because they don’t have time for it and their interests are often different.
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Tulane - the school is pricey, I've visited this school before and I think she'd like it but is it really possible to get 40-50k merit/aid to attend here? Some of you mentioned this school as giving large merits. <<<
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Your DD’s stats will not likely get $40k-50k in merit. More likely, will get around $28k in merit.
TIP: When people say “X school gives a lot of merit,” or “X school gives large merit,” please take that with a grain of salt. To some people, getting a $15k a year award is “large merit”.
Cornell is definitely a party school; with lots of bright students. Friends are Cornell alums. Definitely a place where students enjoy themselves outside of class.
@ mom2collegekids I agree any school is a party school if that’s what you’re looking for. Many times these statements are made with no first hand knowledge at all. That’s unfortunate. People miss out on great opportunities by listening to others opinions rather than making an informed decision . I also agree that 15,000 sounds like a lot , but it isn’t when looking at COA for OOS .
You guys are a tough bunch!
But thank you for all your opinions!
@hokiepokie2121 how did she make out?
UPDATE:
Applied to:
CORNELL - Denied early decision
GEORGIA TECH - Denied early action
NC STATE
ILLINOIS TECH
UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA
FLORIDA STATE
UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI
FLORIDA TECH - Accepted with $20k a year scholarship (school is still VERY expensive, hoping for financial aid to come in)
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
What do you think are chances for scholarships at remaining schools?
ALSO…the reason for so many florida colleges is the family is hoping to relocate to FL at end of school year…we know this will make her OOS until the following year…
Considering community college for the year until in-state tuition is eligible…last option
Glad not to see Wash U on the list. I read this from another poster:" I think that Washington U and Rice are pretty unlikely; WashU places a notoriously high priority on test scores…"
WashU seems to place high priority on test scores for those applying for aid. For the others, SAT scores don’t seem to matter. i think they may limit the acceptance of those applying for aid to very high scoring (high GPA and/or standardized scores) to compensate for low legacy and full pay scores/grades. Odd!
You applied to mostly OOS public Us? She didn’t apply to UDel for which she would be in-state?
No Florida A&M? Same engineering as Florida State, but should be automatic full ride, if the deadline has not passed, and unweighted GPA is >= 3.50.
@hokiepokie2121 “…we know this will make her OOS until the following year…”
Not so fast.
If Florida is like most other states, you will not be awarded in-state tuition rate status for the duration of your daughter’s matriculation at a Florida university UNLESS you become a Florida resident at least 12 months prior to your initial matriculation at a Florida college. Is it your understanding that Florida, like the state of Utah, awards residency status to OOS students after their Freshman year in Utah? You need to confirm the policy before you commit to a Florida college.
@LakeWashington Interesting, I didn’t know that. I posted a thread to see if anyone has experience with this in FL. I looked it up and looks like it may be a case-by-case basis based on the specific college. I’ll wait and see which schools she gets in and reach out to them.
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- She was accepted to CORNELL’S Curie Academy (week-long women engineering seminar/camp) last summer and that has confirmed her desire to study engineering and apply to CORNELL. She received a application fee waiver as a result.
- SAT scores: 700 reading, 710 math, 640 writing
- SAT subject tests will be taken in Oct
Her top choices right now are:
- Cornell
- Virginia Tech (oldest daughter attended there)
- NC State
- Georgia Tech
- University of Florida
We are ideally looking for a school that could offer close to a full-ride (with financial aid, scholarship), last resort would be the D of E loans which can be maxed out to $12,500 a year
Considering community college for the year until in-state tuition is eligible…last option
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The above info is very strange. It appears that you want lots of merit, but applied to many schools that give little or none.
Then you mention attending a CC for first year while waiting for in-state. Do you realize that if she goes to a CC for a year, she’ll have little or NO merit opportunities? Merit, especially the good-sized ones are for incoming freshman only.
Your DD may need to take a gap year, get residency and/or apply to a list of schools that will get you what you want.
As for loans…your DD can get:
$5500 as a freshman…she can’t get $12,500.
If you have bad credit, then she can get $9500 as a freshman…but only if your credit is bad.
Did she miss the deadlines for UDel in-state? Would be a shame …
These might move to state X plans only work if the family has very little to keep them in state Y (aka your can work in X Walmart or Y Walmart) OR if you are really lucky. Most alluring possible posts to Oahu don’t really pan out.
OP I am quite shocked that you didn’t have DD apply to UA before the Dec 15 scholarship deadline - for a financial safety if nothing else. You overlooked a gem of a school and she would have had full tuition plus $2500/year ($10K total) engineering scholarship.
My DD is in her second year of eng curricula at UA, and she has the Presidential and Engineering Scholarships (plus she had marching and concert band stipends/small scholarships). With our savings/college savings plan, she will graduate debt free. DD is also in a STEM MBA program where she will have 4 classes completed with her UG degree, and two summers on-line and FT fall and spring and she has her MBA. It is one of the honors programs (she is also in the overall honors college program).
The scholars program for HS seniors is this coming Saturday, which draws a lot of out-of-state families - many come to do in-depth department and Honors College investigation, then follow the Scholars schedule on Saturday. Many decide after this visit that UA has a lot to offer their student. Often, parents say they have to visit because of the fabulous OOS scholarship(s).
We have a number of engineers on both sides of our families, and H and I originally are from WI and also have lived in TX. We know engineering schools and universities (I have worked for two, and have graduate degrees from two). DD attended UA SITE program a week before her HS senior year to rotate through eng/CS at UA, and she decided civil eng. UA has expanded their civil eng curricula, and she is double majoring in two areas. DD also has a summer internship with a large national construction company (branch office at home town area, which works out great).
UA’s STEM facilities have been built up over the last 13 years or so, along with faculty. Dr. Witt (who was first hired in as UA’s President, and then Chancellor), is retiring, but this link gives you some background:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrV8g7kxJps
UA has updated its Quick Facts http://viewbook.ua.edu/quick-facts/
(2014 enrollment breakdown by state - new undergraduates - which would be freshmen for the most part): http://oira.ua.edu/d/webreports/enrollment2/Fall_2014/f18.html
http://oira.ua.edu/d/webreports/enrollment2/Fall_2015/e10.html
This URL gives FALL 2015 data for all of the university (not just freshmen).
http://eng.ua.edu/undergraduate/scholarships/
http://site.eng.ua.edu/ this was the summer program open to rising HS juniors and seniors.
http://president.ua.edu/ The new UA President has a very strong engineering background, and from what I have seen, is a great leader.
I consider substantial merit aid at your list of schools unlikely.
Since most other school’s deadlines for scholarship consideration have passed, my best recommendation is a gap year. I would have her take the ACT or new SAT during that time. That 1410/2050 is a great score, but just shy of the cutoff at some schools on the Automatic full ride/tuition list, and low for merit at schools like Miami(and those types schools are looking for other “intangibles”).
http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
With her stats, your child should have been able to find at least one school that she was CERTAIN she could afford to attend (for us, it was a university within commuting distance that offered a guaranteed scholarship based on stats which would cover the cost of tuition when stacked with Bright Futures). Not applying to a financial safety was a misstep, but since she hasn’t lost her FTIC status yet, that can be remedied with some patience.
Good luck! I would really love to hear how it all turns out.