Final College List?

College Search & Selection
1

Hello All,
After so much time and effort this summer, I believe I’ve come up with a respectable list. Please chance me for these schools, (especially merit aid/honors colleges) and give me any advice you can!

Vanderbilt
WashU
University of Michigan
Northeastern
Tulane
Case Western Reserve
Illinois Tech
Rose-Hulman
Bradley
Valpo
Augustana

Still on the fence:
UCLA
U of I
Carnegie Mellon
Boston U
Colorado School of Mines

Basic Stats, check my post history if you want more in-depth:
Major of interest: Mechanical Engineering with a Law minor/pre-law track
ACT: 35
SAT: 1540/1600
GPA: 3.8 UW, 4.5 W
Extracurriculars: Fairly strong, good leadership
Essay: Probably good to very good
Recommendations: Very good to spectacular

Thanks to you all!

2

Bump

3

Vanderbilt - Probably / Match
WashU - Probably / Match
UMich - Could go either way / Match
Northeastern - Very Likely / Low Match
Tulane - I’d be shocked if you dont get in /Low Match
CWR - Very Likely / Match
Il Tech - Almost Guaranteed/ Safety
Rose-Hulman - Very Likely / Low Match
Bradley - Almost Guaranteed/ Safety
Valpo - Almost Guaranteed/ Safety
Augustana - Almost Guaranteed/ Safety

UCLA - Maybe if OOS not impossible though / Match/Low Reach
U of I - Probably idk for eng / Match
CMU - Maybe / Match/Low Reach
BU - Probably / Match
Colorado School of Mines - Probably / Match

4

Pick a subset of those schools and show a lot of interest in attending. Stats are no guarantee anymore. Best of Iuck!

5

Based on your stats, you have good chances at all except Michigan, Vandy, WashU, UCLA, and CMU. Those 5, in my opinion, are high matches and reaches, and your acceptances will depend on your supplements (except WashU, which has no supps) and Common App.

6

What is your home state? What can your family afford? What does the NPC calculators show?

7

Home state: IL
Family Afford: 25k absolute maximum, ideally closer to 15
NPC: ranges from 27k to 35k for almost all privates.
Ideally I would love to get under 20k with merit aid

8

You will get a significant amount of aid at Illinois Tech and you will likely get invited to the Interview weekend for the full tuition scholarship.

9

Financially you will need a full tuition scholarship at any of the privates on your list to get down to the range you want to pay. Even if they met 100% of your need it wouldn’t get you there.

I would seek out schools where full tuition scholarships are available. Vandy, Tulane and BU are possibilities. UCLA, UMich, WashU not.

10

I will second ClarinetDad about you seeking out full tuition scholarships. However, I am pretty sure WashU DOES give out full tuition scholarships, they are just selective. Worth a shot though, considering it is probably as selective as the Vandy scholarships.
You’d probably also be in the running for some merit at Northeastern.

11

Northeastern is one of my top schools so I’m really really hoping for merit there. Vandy and WashU both are close to being affordable without any merit aid but unlikely

12

UWash has $7,500 scholarships for oos students but that’ll only make the pricetag 42k, still unaffordable. No aid to expect from the UC 's.

13

You’d likely get full tuition scholarship at Nebraska based on ACT & grades. Alabama too. Should be able to attend W. Va., Ok. State, and Florida State cheaply too.

14

Mooop I’m most likely gonna be a national merit finalist so I’m looking at Bradley and UCF which should both give me full rides

15

I don’t mean to bump old threads but OP should be aware that Tulane doesn’t have mechanical engineering since Hurricane Katrina. They cut the whole engineering department with the exception of biomedical engineering and chemical engineering which imo are pretty good at Tulane.

16

@blueguy99 yup I am aware, I’m planning on using their 3+2 program to complete a mechanical engineering degree at Vanderbilt

17

If you are NMF there are many tuition only scholarships, and some partial ones (e.g. USC) that may work in combination with FA. I’d start there, as well as the private schools with good merit if the goal is to spend $15K/yr and also look at your in-state options.

I’d also look at Purdue, Michigan State, Ohio State and Michigan for a combination of merit and FA.