<p>Any suggestions? Daughter is a straight A student, APs and Honors classes. High SAT and ACT scores. Does not want to go to school in the mid west but other parts of the country are possible. </p>
<p>We are looking for a good Engineering school that gives good financial aid. We live in the southeast. My husband died a few months ago, so our family income and dropped drastically and financial aid is a necessity. </p>
<p>MIT, CalTech, Northwestern. Top schools, but since your income has dropped they are needs met for Financial Aid, and women in Engineering are a plus. I would think that they would all be less out of pocket to attend for your D than Georgia Tech, or similar public school.</p>
<p>engineering is engineering, as long as the program is ABET-accredited. Don’t mortgage the house to pay for D’s education when there are so many schools your D could go to for next to nothing if she’s that good–and get an education equivalent to what D could get at the very tip top. Research carefully, keep your costs down, and remember your retirement is not that far away. Speak to a financial advisor if you have not already done so, and make certain that, if you can afford it, you have a life insurance policy that will cover your D’s education.</p>
<p>Run the net price calculators at the schools that have been mentioned and at your state flagship. These will give you an estimate of what you will have to contribute for D’s four years usually excluding merit. Remember that if you get merit aid, it first goes to pay off student loans and then towards any grant awards before it has any effect on remaining costs. So the needs-based grants of the schools at the tip top might be the way you will want to go if your D can get into them. </p>
<p>Agreed that your state flagship is probably a good option. And go through the list of USNWR and or ABET accredited engineering schools (can be found if you do google search). Look at the net price calculator. And also seek out some schools where your D is in the top quarter or so of the GPA/SAT range so she may have a chance for merit aid.</p>
<p>Agree with reply #2. If a college is ABET-accredited then really the other factors become more important in your search - fit and cost. I suggest getting a good book on college admissions such as “Admission Matters” to understand more about fit; your D should explore what she prefers in terms of class size, types of student that tends to enroll, advising system, where students live, etc. etc. A good way to get a start on this is to visit schools of various types in your area; a large public, a smaller college, a college in a city, a college in a rural area. She will spend 4 years there and the differences in what an engineering education covers at at various colleges pale in comparison to the differences among the types of colleges. </p>
<p>As I always suggest when kids are sure of their career goals, is she confident this is right for her? Doing well in class and on the SAT indicates ability and a certain work ethic, but not everyone with this is cut out to be a scientist or engineer. Be sure she has spoken with a few engineers to understand what the day-to-day job is like, how the career progresses, etc. And as it turns out the education to become an engineer is almost nothing like the day-to-day practice of engineering, so its important she understands the difference and wants to do it as a career.</p>
<p>So sorry to hear about the loss of your husband.</p>
<p>What are her test scores?</p>
<p>She can apply to the obvious “full need” schools, but she also needs to apply to some schools that will for sure give her HUGE merit.</p>
<p>Is she a likely NMF?</p>
<p>As long as the school is ABET accredited and has an established CoE, it will be fine.</p>
<p>What is your home state?</p>
<p>There is a poster on cc that swears by Alabama for engineering. He goes by ‘Chardo’. Maybe you can pm him!</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids, you’ve been pre-empted by chardo! and with just one-twelfth the posts! oh, the shame, the misery! no worse, there is none! :(( </p>
<p>(nothing against chardo intended) </p>
<p>35 ACT
2300 SAT, with 790 math
NC</p>
<p>a woman with those kinds of numbers can get in at the top engg schools. Don’t ignore UNC and NC State, but she can certainly expect some interest from Cornell, CMU, PSU, Harvey Mudd, Stanford, in addition to the schools mentioned in #1. She might be a full ride/tuition at URochester, WashU, or Vandy (I know, no midwest). </p>
<p>There are however schools where she’s much more likely to be a full-ride, and if finances call for it she can certainly look at those schools enumerated in the pinned threads on CC’s FA & Scholarships forum.</p>
<p>And there’s also the consideration of what kind of engineering she wants to do. For instance, Hopkins is very good in BME and has money for its top candidates.</p>
<p>So if you can tell us more about kind of engg and what your family needs in the way of costs to you, we can be more helpful.</p>
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<p>NC publics with engineering include NCSU, NCAT, and UNC-Charlotte. NCSU and NCAT both have large competitive merit scholarships as well.</p>
<p><a href=“Links to Popular Threads on Scholarships and Lower-Cost Colleges - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1678964-links-to-popular-threads-on-scholarships-and-lower-cost-colleges.html</a> has a list of other threads with big scholarships (automatic-for-stats and competitive) and low cost schools.</p>