<p>A couple of things too-I just toured George Washington University. The are in the middle of building a very nice engineering school building. To attract students to it they offer $30K annually to in-coming freshman who are in the top 30% of their class</p>
<p>Is that written somewhere? I find it hard to believe that GWU gives that much merit to those in the top 30% of their class.</p>
<p>I’m also interested in engineering and trying to generate a good list. I have a lot of the same schools on my list, but a few others. I’ve also considered Northwestern, Washington University in St. Louis, U Michigan (a lot bigger than most schools on you list), Duke (if you’re okay with a more southern vibe), and Carnegie Mellon. These all are known for good engineering programs. You seem to mainly be looking at midsized schools in the northeast, are either of those strong preferences? If you’re pretty confident you want to do some sort of engineering field, considered some technical institutes like RPI, RIT, and the like.</p>
<p>Case Western Reserve, RPI, WPI…All good engineering schools that can be generous with merit aid.</p>
<p>Have you looked at the Franklin Olin College of Engineering? I know that they still offer the Franklin Olin Scholarship to every admitted student, which is half the tuition (it used to be a full tuition to any admitted student). That could substantially help with your financial needs and it’s also a great Engineering School.</p>
<p>Even with the half tuition scholarship, Olin costs about $40,000 per year, so the OP would need to check the net price calculator to see if need-based financial aid will bring it to within affordability range.</p>