My S21 who is thinking either engineering or business/entrepreneurship with a tech focus for college.
We are bubble family in terms of financial aid and don’t want to pay more than $50k/year. So, basically we can pay OOS at a lot of publics (but not UCs or Michigan) and could prolly swing privates that meet full need b/c we’d get some need aid. I know about Babson, for example, but assume their financial aid is not going to be very good and they are $70k so I’m hesitant for him to even consider. This takes out Northeastern and NYU and other similar colleges that aren’t great with need aid, right?
My S is currently 4.0 UW as sophomore with lots of rigor. Not sure how he’ll test but I’m guessing it will be very good but not tippy top. His ECs will be average (or, at least CC average, lol) unless his robotics or rocket club teams start to rake in the medals. He’s very active in both but they are new at his HS so no bling yet…
For engineering he’s looking at NC State, Ga Tech (big reach) , and VA Tech so far. For business, he’ll look at UNC but I’m wondering other hidden gems out there that should be on his list. Ideally, not huge schools like Purdue or Wisconsin and not LACs either. I’ve thought about UT Austin and Univ. of Washington b/c of their locations but they both really big…
It’s worth noting that Northeastern (as well as some other 70K schools like Tulane, Case Western, etc) have competitive merit that can bring down the price by 10-30K. It’s not easy to get but for a competitive applicant it should be well worth the application. Most of the merit awards are auto-considered with no separate application. So generally you may not want to look at it from a need-based aid perspective but from a merit hunting one.
For that chance, Northeastern and Case sound like two good options I’d put on the list given his interests/area of study, and there are more options than that if you dig for merit.
Cooper Union is another good option with merit. More tech focused but also offers business courses and would be good IMO from an entrepreneurship angle.
GaTech offers a FIRST scholarship, and a very small alumni merit scholarship but the other merit is impossibly hard to win, so the majority of OOS students pay full cash costs.
Case Western offers the Michelson Morley award, and Presidential awards to STEM majors and they range
from about $25K a year, total $100,00 to $30K a year, for a total of $120,000. Also Case Western offers additional scholarships to upper classmen, in STEM, that can be applied for after getting to Case.
Here is the Think Box Entrepreneurial maker space at Case- http://engineering.case.edu/sears-thinkbox
UT Austin is known to reject out of state applicants in CS with very high stats. Its oversubscribed in CS. For engineering majors should be possible, but its very very large.
U of Utah Engineering is up and coming, offers merit based awards and easy to get in state residency too!
Texas and Utah allow students to apply for residency if they live over the first summer, and get a driver’s license and also register to vote in Texas or Utah.
Georgia, cannot get in state tuition unless you are veteran or actually live in Georgia for a year, as parents of a student and pay Georgia taxes.
Look into San Jose State. It’s right in Silicon Valley with well regarded business and engineering programs. COA out of state is around $40K. Also this – http://www.sjsu.edu/svce/
San Jose State has great job connections. It does not offer PhD programs, so focuses on undergrads, and
there are 28,000 undergrads, some are commuting there. There are a small, maybe 2000 grad students at San Jose State. There are very few non Californians at San Jose State, but that would not deter me. http://www.sjsu.edu/about_sjsu/facts_and_figures/
@Mastadon – thanks! I guess that serves me right for making assumptions. Def. worth keeping on the list.
@Coloradomama – We have Utah family connections but hard to see my S going there. Intriguing though. Case Western I think should be added to the list. It’s right size and focus areas. Will have to see about affordability
I saw Ga Tech even out of state is in our price range. Getting in, however. . .
We are fortunate to be in-state in NC – so both NC State and UNC are GREAT options. But we need more than 2 schools on his list so loving all these ideas!
I’ll chime in as another Utah fan (my D18 is there). I was blown away by the amazing facilities, which include the Lassonde maker space and dorm (https://lassonde.utah.edu/studios/). You can’t beat the skiing (30 minutes away) and outdoor life generally and SLC is a very pleasant city. Merit aid is excellent, and with residency after the first year the total cost is cheaper than being in-state at the UCs.
Engineering, Co-op. They have merit/aid that gives you a good chance to get below 50K a year and likely in the 35-50K realm. If he has really good stats it could be better.
OP, You mentioned Babson College (#7 also), so have you taken a look at Olin College, adjacent to Babson? They have cross registration. Get the engineering degree at Olin while taking some entrepreneur/business classes at Babson. However, Olin is a reach.
WPI could be a good choice for this. They have a project-based engineering curriculum, and a business school; and there are good opportunities for crossover including minors in entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship that can be paired with any major. And I believe they offer enough merit that a COA of 50K or less could be possible depending on the strength of his application when the time comes.