University of Alabama (I want to apply to randall and other honors programs)
University of Houston (Tier One program seems very good)
UT Dallas (Likely in state tuition + 2 full ride programs that I may apply for)
UMBC (I have been a research intern here for a good amount of time, and I want to try to apply to Meyerhoff)
FSU (In state waiver + full ride program which has just doubled in size)
I like all of these schools because they are affordable, seemingly solid in major, and have some kind of wow factor (Most of them have a strong honors program as well as some fellowship that I can attempt)
Thank you everyone for all of your help. Your suggestions have been appreciated. After having researched a ton of schools, I feel the next thing I should do is talk to my counselor. I will likely ask about the schools I wrote above as well as schools like MiamiU, University of Wyoming, Rose Hulman, and URochester.
It sounds like you are being very intelligent with your search. I expect you will do well with your life wherever you go since you likely put as much thought into other things you do.
It would be awesome if you keep us updated as you go through your application ā matriculation process. I love āfollowingā kids at school too.
Donāt discount Penn Stateās alumni network especially if you plan on staying in the Northeast after school. IIRC, it is over 700,000 people and everywhere I go in NJ, PA, MD, DE, NY someone came out of Penn State. Many employers prefer PSU grads and a good amount will only hire other alumni. There also opportunities there for full rides (Millenium scholars + the honors colleges).
I completely agree, Penn State is my top safety. I am also applying to Schreyers and Millennium Scholars. After acceptances (and rejections) there is a high possibility I will go to penn state, but I want to have other possibilities that may give me an amazing experience (like honors or scholarships)
UT Dallas has some other perks too. If you are in the honors program you get priority registration. UTD is very generous with AP credits, they also have a Fast Track program where you can double dipped some undergrad and grad classes. Both my sons are at UTD and both finshed their BS in 5 semesters and their MS in an additional 3 semesters. If you are National Merit UTD is an automatic full ride and if not, all applicants are considered for their AES scholarship, no additional application for that one.
The oldest was awarded the McDermott Graduate Fellowship to continue on with his PhD (The McDermott Graduate Fellows - The University of Texas at Dallas) We are so amazed that they gave him a full ride that covered both under grad and graduate and now they are paying him to stay for a PhD! His fellowship has been beyond expectations with fully paid trips to conferences and providing lab equipment tailored to his research.
The youngest landed his dream summer internship with a company in Houston paying $42 an hour and $6.5K housing stipend for 12 weeks plus other perks. The internship is considered an āon boardingā process to employment. He is expected to start at a 6 figure salary plus bonuses when he graduates with his MS in next May.
Interesting side note, youngestās GF who attends Smith has accepted an internship with a different company only a few blocks away but even though she is a female in STEM sheāll only be making a bit more than half of what heās making in the same location for the same type job.
Oldest sonās GF graduated Stanford last May and took a CS job in the San Francisco Bay area and is making just barely 6 figures but has a huge cost of living.
PhD programs worth attending are generally funded (tuition waiver + living expense stipend, often in exchange for TA/RA work), though stipends relative to local costs of living can vary. The McDermott Graduate Fellowship does not have the TA/RA work requirement (although obviously PhD study requires research, and programs may require TA work).
His living expenses are about half what his stipend is, heās sharing a new very nice 4 bed 4 bath apartment with 3 others, and still sharing the same car he had in high school with his brother (one of his roommates) which we pay for. Heās normally a pretty frugal guy. Heās very happy with paid travel and getting new tech for his lab. It also seems that the budget is not hard and fast and if he really needs some equipment or to travel were ever they have a way to make it work.
I have definitely looked a lot at alabama as well as the Birmingham and huntsville campuses. We actually lived in alabama for a long time, so we are relatively familiar with the schools. I am definitely leaning towards the Tuscaloosa campus mainly because of programs like randall.
I have read a lot about URochester, and it does sound great, but our net price estimate is far higher than any other school I am considering (JHU, CMU, UPenn, etc). I will definitely have to look at merit possibilities as well as the chance of receiving anything before making any decisions about this.
MSU is a popular destination for many of our students, but I am just not personally too interested and the net price is fairly similar if not greater than Penn State. I am also not really interested in attending a liberal arts school, but thank you for the recommendations.