<p>Looking for universities that have good engineering programs but aren't ridiculously hard to get into, such as MIT or the Ivies. Something more along the lines of state public schools or smaller private universities that actually offer merit based scholarships. Any suggestions?</p>
<p>U Rochester, RPI, and Case Western are a tier lower than MIT and Ivys on the difficulty list, though Case also wait-lists kids who are too high for them. All offer merit.</p>
<p>What are your stats?
Why are you particularly seeking merit scholarships? What can you afford for college/yr ?</p>
<p>Purdue University.</p>
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I’m a junior, I’ll be a senior in four weeks, I’ll be applying to college in four months, and I have no idea what to do. I have the scores to go almost anywhere I want (3.94 UW, 4.8 W, 33 ACT, 1/379 class rank; the list goes on) and that stresses me out more than anything. “The world is my oyster”, as they say, and that means I have no merit-based criteria to narrow things down.</p>
<p>I’ve wanted to be a doctor for the longest time, probably 7-8 years, but lately I’m not sure if that’s what I want. I have a passion for the human body, medicine, and especially cancer, but I’m not sure if I would be happy doing that. After taking advanced math classes and physics/engineering courses, I’m beginning to realize that I love applied sciences and complex math. Now I’m all kinds of confused. I wanted to major in engineering as they generally do well on the MCATs and a few years into college I should know what to do, but I don’t think that is the best idea. I want to be able to pick what I want and dedicate all I can to it. </p>
<p>If I did premed along with engineering I wouldn’t be able to focus on engineering as much as I want to. What I would love to do is double major in EE and physics, but doing this would mean little to no time to study for the MCAT and might stretch me too thin. I’m also very good in the humanities, specifically history, and I’m not sure if I want to do something with that.
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<p>I dont know why you think that if you did premed along with engg you wouldnt be able to focus on engg. the premed prereqs are done frosh and soph years, and are common with many pre-engg classes.</p>
<p>My son was a premed chemical engineering student…so it can be done.</p>
<p>Thank you very much @mom2collegekids ! The more I’ve thought about it the less I want to be a doctor. My passion has always been in building things as well as complex math and science.</p>
<p>@Ctesiphon - my stats are up above! I’m seeking merit because although my parents will have 3 kids in college when I go in, we still won’t get much financial aid due to my father’s income (retirement, disability, and he has a new job that pays almost as much as when he was active duty). I’ll be paying most of my college on my own. My home state only has two good engineering schools and one is extremely expensive (almost $60,000 a year) and the other, after visiting, I absolutely hate. Therefore, I’m going out-of-state and have to pay the OOS tuition. </p>
<p>Alabama will give you free tuition…plus as an engineering major, you would get an additional 2500 per year…so about $110,000 total award.</p>
<p>Your remaining costs would be about $13k per year…very inexpensive.</p>
<p>Alabama has a gorgeous campus, a new Science and Engineering Complex, fabulous dorms, and has many, many OOS students …coming from all 50 states. Its College of Engineering is ABET accredited in all disciplines.</p>
<p>What state are you in?</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids I would absolutely love to go to UA, actually that’s probably my first choice. I know there are better engineering universities out there but I “dropped the ball” and I haven’t taken a single SAT II, it’s too late now… I didn’t even know they existed, living in the backwoods where the few who go to college go for agriculture or vocational careers. That rules out every Ivy and most top tier colleges. I live in North Carolina. My two choices are Duke, which is too expensive, and NC State, which is a decent school but I would hate being there for at least four years. </p>
<p>Whoa there big fella (or missy); who told you that NC State is simply “a decent school?” NCState is a very well regarded engineering university. Engineering at Raleigh is no joke. Certainly it’s better than Duke overall in the traditional engineering disciplines. While I would certainly heed M2CK’s recommendation and take a close look at U Alabama Tuscaloosa, you would be foolish to dismiss NCState engineering out of hand, since you are a resident of North Carolina.</p>
<p>It is ludicrous to suggest that NC State is better than Duke for engineering. Both engineering schools occupy the same ranking in spite of the fact that Duke has fewer faculty members and students. On a per capita basis, the schools aren’t even in the same stratosphere. You can’t compare Duke’s faculty to NC State’s faculty in terms of productivity or pedigree.<br>
Having said that, the OP is not qualified to apply to Duke because all applicants must have completed the requisite number of SAT subject tests. Also, Duke is more selective than several Ivies, so the OP probably doesn’t have a realistic chance of being admitted.</p>
<p>@LakeWashington I am absolutely well aware that NC State is a great school considering my father went there for engineering. I don’t want to go there. I hate the campus, I hate the people, I hate the atmosphere. I don’t like Raleigh in general. The amount that I hated my existence while I was on the campus was not enough to counteract how good their college of engineering is. </p>
<p>@Misanthrope Duke does not require SAT IIs if you submit the ACT. </p>
<p>^^^ Duke can’t be described as a strong “engineering school”. It has a limited amount of programs, and about 1/2 of the BS degree’s awarded each year are in Biomedical Engineering. If you want a great BME program, Duke has it, otherwise, it only offers a Civil, EE and ME undergraduate programs/degree (CS is outside of the engineering department). </p>
<p>NCState does have a very good engineering program, and with in-state tuition rates ($8,200 a year), it has to be viewed as a strong option. </p>
<p>You have very strong stats so I would cast a wide net in your search for merit aid. The following privates have solid engineering programs with a reputation for generosity when it comes to high stat students: USC, WashU, Case Western, U of Miami, Boston University, Rice, Stevens Institute, Santa Clara. Do some research on CC regarding these schools, and visit the school’s websites for more specifics regarding merit aid and scholarships offered. Good luck and keep us posted where you end up!</p>
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I haven’t taken a single SAT II, it’s too late now.
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<p>Why do you think it is too late? You can take more than one SAT II in a sitting (you can take up to 3 in one sitting, but that can be a little crazy to study for). You can study over the summer and take a couple in October, with the opportunity to do another in November (or retake, although that is a short time to study). Don’t give up on schools that require SAT IIs, pick your 2 strongest subjects and study for the October test.</p>
<p>Also, have you run net price calculators? With 3 kids in college, you might get more than you would think. The net price calculators are on the financial aid website page for each college, have your parents run them. However, if your parents are divorced, have a small business, or own rental real estate, they will probably overestimate the aid you would get.</p>
<p>If you don’t like NC State, another one to consider in state is UNC Charlotte. You would be a candidate for merit scholarships there also.</p>
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<p>Your stats indicate automatic big scholarship at UA (assuming that UA will admit anyone who qualifies for the automatic big scholarship), so UA is a safety if the remaining cost is affordable. If UA is your first choice, has the engineering major you want, and is a safety with affordable remaining cost, is there any reason to worry about applying anywhere else?</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus I would assume it would be better to apply to more than one school. Also, there might be better places out there that I’m not sure about. I know that UA is ABET accredited but I hear conflicting arguments on whether UA is actually a solid engineering school or not. Just exploring options. </p>
<p>@intparent I didn’t realize that you could take more than one in a day! That was what was holding me up from being able to take them in time. I’ll definitely do that. I have run a few but I’m not entirely sure my information is accurate. Both my parents work nights so it’s difficult to get them to sit down with me long enough to fill them out and if I’m not there they either forget or don’t care enough to do anything. Now that school is out I’ll have time while they’re home to make them run the NPCs. </p>
<p>Yup, you can take up to 3. Although every test is not offered every sitting. The most common ones are, but it used to be that a few (eg, world history) weren’t offered every single time. My kids both did 2 at a time (they didn’t have time to study for 3). But some of their friends did 3 in a sitting. You can’t take the regular SAT on that same day, though (just in case you were considering another sitting for that).</p>
<p>Just read how much you hate the campus so editing my post bc it was pointless.</p>
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<p>No one who has any direct experience with UA engineering would question whether it has a solid program. Until my H recently retired, he regularly hired Bama, Auburn, GT, Purdue (one of his alma maters), UMich, Vandy and so forth engineering grads and he saw no inferiority amongst the Bama grads at all. In fact he has been extremely pleased with his Bama hires, and had no fear of his son getting his engg degree there.</p>
<p>I know that one of my son’s Bama engg friends will be starting her PhD at Stanford in the fall…so Stanford certainly didnt feel her education wasnt solid.</p>