My daughter will be graduating high school in 2018. She goes to a very competitive school and has a B average - 3.3 GPA, which puts her in the bottom 50% at her school. She is in JV basketball, is founder and President of a school club focused on female empowerment and volunteerism. She volunteers every Sunday at church and is also a part of another organization that helps young women to regain self esteem who have been in tough situations. She does peer tutoring for Math and did accelerated math in 10th grade. She plans to do about 6 courses in dual enrollment in her senior year next year. She also does the Engineering pathway at her school and will get a seal on her high school diploma for it. She plans to take part in the Technology/Engineering competitions this year. She also plans to get her autocad certification over the summer. Will she be able to get into a good engineering program? She is African American and wants a very diverse school.
Depends on which southern school. Your daughter has no chance at Georgia Tech but is assured admission at Mississippi State University if her SAT/ACT is above the national average. What schools is she considering?
Definitely not Tech, she has to have at least a 4.0 to get in there…although they have a feeder program. Looking at Clemson, Auburn, Univ of Alabama, North Carolina State, University of Tennessee, University of Florida, Texas A&M. I don’t think there is much diversity at most of these schools, but quality of education, class size, co-op opportunities, etc. comes before that.
We live in Ga, so the last resort will be going to Georgia Southern and transferring to Tech through the Regional Engineering Transfer program, or another program which is really, really low on the list would be to go to UNG on a dual degree program they have with Mercer, Ga.Tech and Clemson where you get a physics degree from UNG and get an engineering degree when you transfer to either of the day three schools. I just don’t like the UNG part as I think it is watered down and won’t prepare her for the rigor at the engineering schools.
Admissions for A&M looks to be very competitive BUT your daughter does have some solid ECs that show an ongoing interest in engineering and the new holistic review process may benefit her.
How “on board” with the process is she of prepping for her ACT or SAT? If you can get her really on board and encourage some steady prep this year then her chances will be more solid. It sounds like she is a motivated kid and takes initiative and those are the kinds of kids who do well with self-prep. If you want some detailed info about how to self-prep just message me and I will be happy to share.
Cost constraints? Out-of-state publics tend to give little or no financial aid other than if she gets merit scholarships.
Test scores (if any)? High ACT or SAT-equivalent can get some big scholarships with her 3.0 GPA (32 = full ride at Louisiana Tech; 33 = full tuition at University of Mississippi). May be better to try both, since some students do better on one than the other.
In Georgia, GSU, KSU, UGA each have several engineering majors, according to http://main.abet.org/aps/Accreditedprogramsearch.aspx .
If cost is not a concern, then universities in Alabama and Mississippi are not that hard to get into, and many other states have non-flagship universities with engineering that are not that hard to get into.
She could look at Florida A&M (FAMU). It shares the engineering department with FSU (and some housing), but there are a lot of scholarships at FAMU. She can also look at the private schools (ex. Embry-Riddle) which like female engineering applicants.
Her gpa is low for UF. It does have holistic admissions so they might consider all her other accomplishments.
MSU offers OOS tuition scholarships for students with GPA’s between 3.0 and 3.49:, which makes it a popular choice for Georgia engineering freshman with less than stellar grades. Combination of low OOS cost and a solid engineering department (8 different engineering programs, from Aerospace to Industrial), could make it a good fit. It’s also fairly diverse.
http://www.admissions.msstate.edu/freshmen/money-matters/scholarships/academic-scholarships/
For example, OOS tuition and fee’s are $20,900 a year. With an ACT score between 26-29 or SAT between 1170-1320, she would be offered a $9,000 - $10,000 a year merit scholarship.
FAMU is a good choice, but they do require a 3.5 GPA for the best scholarships.
FSU, in the past, has given out OOS tuition waivers for ACT scores of 30 or better. That would bring in-state tuition down to $6,500, but admissions has gotten more competitive at FSU. UF will likely be too competitive and expensive (OOS tuition is $28K+ a year, and they give only limited OOS merit awards).
Clemson looks at GPA, test stats, rank and rigor in evaluating students for admission . ECs are weighed minimally.Students are admitted directly into the engineering program where they take general engineering courses their Freshman year , and choose a specialty after that. Engineering at Clemson is one of the most competitive programs at the school . Good luck in your search. You may want to look at University of South Carolina as well. They have quite a few engineering programs.
OP, most of the larger, less competitive Southern schools with engineering admit mostly on GPA and SAT/ACT scores. To properly evaluate whether it’s worth your daughter’s time to apply, we need to know her SAT and ACT scores, if she’s taken them, as well as what you’re willing to pay.
If you’re looking for other school suggestions that are diverse, accessible to someone with your daughter’s stats, and meet other desired criteria, you should also post on the Search and Selection board.
She did the SAT in June, decided at last minute to sign her up, 2 weeks before exam. Got 1100, not great I know. She will be doing the SAT and ACT over the next 1.5 years at each sitting that is offered - that is the test prep plan I have for now. Trying to find a really good test prep program too.
Great, an 1100 makes her competitive for Auburn, and a number of other southern engineering schools. How much can you pay per year?
I am hesitant in having her going into a really intense program, that maybe for some kids, but not her. She loves to be involved in a lot if activities and volunteering. She wants a school that will have those opportunities and for her to go on mission trips. She ultimately, wants to go and do two years of Peace Corps before starting her career. To put it in n another perspective, when she does competitions, she does it because of the team work and not the competitiveness. That is why I don’t want her but n a “cutthroat” or “drones” type of environment. In regards to cost, we hav saved about $10K per year for college.
$10K saved for each year so far…so $40K in total for 4 years, hoping that she doesn’t have to borrow more than $30 or $40K as well.
She sounds like a hard-working, great kid!
Wild and crazy, out-of-the-box idea . . . look at FAU in Florida. They are trying to boost their engineering program (my son’s BF goes there and is in engineering - he is an outstanding student who is staying local). Her dual enrollment classes (if she gets good grades) could boost her gpa, and if she can pull in good test scores she might have a shot at an OOS scholarship. http://www.fau.edu/admissions/scholarship-os.php Her dual enrollment credits will probably transfer to FAU fairly easily (double check their transfer credit policies, especially coming from OOS).
Lest I sound like an FAU booster, we lived next door for a long time and I got familiar with the school when my son dual enrolled there. Our son ended up choosing UF (long story). But FAU seems to be working very hard to improve their stats and standing in the academic world. The campus is beautiful, and it looked like there is a vibrant minority community (a big plus). South Florida is truly a melting pot of multiple cultures.
Anyway, just thought I’d throw that out there. Wishing you and your daughter all the best in this journey!
If your contribution is $10,000 per year, then the net price (after subtracting grants and/or scholarships from the list price) needs to be:
<= $10,000 if she does neither federal direct loans nor work part time and summers for pay
<= $15,000 (approximately) if she takes either federal direct loans or works part time and summers for pay
<= $20,000 (approximately) if she takes both federal direct loans and works part time and summers for pay
Have you run the net price calculator on the Georgia publics with engineering (GSU, KSU, UGA, GT) and other schools of interest?
She would qualify for the in state scholarship here in GA, that pays 80% for GPA of 3.0 and above, at 3.7 they pay 100%, but She doesn’t qualify for Tech, don’t like KSU, UGA doesn’t have what she wants and I am not sure how solid GSU program is in regards to coops, research and employability.
There is no doubt that she could stay in state and more than likely don’t have loans, but her options based on grades would not be that great.
She still has a full year to improve her grades. Combine that with a strong ACT and her school possibilities open up. Have you spoken to her about concentrating a bit more?
LA Tech was mentioned. Also look at UL Lafayette. I would guess it’s more diverse than Tech. Defintely in a more lively/interesting town.
Two of my children did engineering summer programs at FAU. I second the suggestion to look at this school.