Help!!!~ Any obscure Engineering colleges that might fit me?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hello, I am a junior in a Californian high school. I am aiming to become an engineer. I’m looking into schools that I can attend, but I’m having trouble finding any schools that are great for engineering other than the top 30 or so that are always mentioned in conversations (MIT, Carnegie, Cornell, etc.). Are there any obscure schools out there that might be good schools for me? Location doesn’t really matter.</p>

<p>I plan to go to a 4 year college and work up to a degree (preferably up to Masters and hopefully to Doctoral) in Mechanical Engineering. (Possibly a minor in Computer Sciences.)</p>

<p>I am retaking the SAT, but on the first test I have scored 2200:
760 Critical Reading
770 Math
670 Writing</p>

<p>I have also taken 3 Subject tests:
800 Math
770 Physics (thinking about retaking)
770 Chemistry</p>

<p>I have taken 5 AP’s so far, and am planning to take 5 more next year:
3 AP Language and Composition
Waiting on Physics B, Calculus BC, Chemistry, and Physics C Mechanics.</p>

<p>My Unweighted GPA is 3.85
My Weighted GPA is 4.15</p>

<p>My family’s yearly income is around $27,000. (Family of 4). I am looking for a school that might offer financial aid. </p>

<p>I prefer a small school, which means more time with the professors. I am not opposed to a medium sized school. However, I do not want to go to a large school.</p>

<p>I’d like to live on campus, but this is not a very important aspect.</p>

<p>I don't know if I missed anything, but please tell me if you need any more information. </p>

<p>Can anybody help me find schools that may be a bit obscure but still have great engineering programs? </p>

2

<p>For a student from a low income family, need-based aid at California public schools is fairly good. Typical net prices from the net price calculators:</p>

<p>CSUs as a commuter student: $4,000 to $5,000
UCs: $8,000 to $10,000
CSUs as a non-commuter student: $11,000 to $12,000</p>

<p>These would be amounts that you (as the student) are expected to contribute from student loans and/or work earnings.</p>

<p>If your UC/CSU GPA is 3.9 or higher, you can sign up for UCR’s guaranteed admission program during June or July. Then include UCR in your regular UC application to make it a safety.</p>

<p>Your stats will pick up automatic full ride merit scholarships at Louisiana Tech, Howard, and Prairie View A&M. These can also be candidates for safeties.</p>

<p>For small schools, look at SD Mines and NM Tech. These are low cost, but not low enough as is. But your stats may get competitive merit scholarships to bring the cost down to within your price limit.</p>

3

<p>Consider the CSUs. They’re kind of obscure y’know, people overlook them all the time. They’re not too expensive and I’m confident you’ll get most of it covered by financial aid w/ your income.</p>

<p>I don’t know the CSU system in its entirety too well, but put some research into it–unlike the UCs, the program in general is smaller and the professors will get to know you–Next semester I’ll be taking core (upper div) classes with sizes ranging from 13-30 students w/ only one section open. However, the program generally is oriented towards getting you ready for industry and getting a job rather than moving up to the Masters/Ph.D (maybe towards Masters). I believe the CSU’s do better at landing the job right after graduation in engineering… Besides, as the professors say at my school: Why spend more time in school when you can be working? (Unless you are brilliant and they want you to become a professor later). A professional engineering license in the field is more valuable than the master’s degree / Ph.D.</p>

<p>Good luck! Yeah, I know I don’t like showcasing the CSUs up in front of a lot of “bigger” schools, but I want people to see the benefits of attending these schools. </p>

<p>Last said, I’m only an incoming second year and am awaiting an interview for a well paying research position related to electrical engineering, at the CSUs. So there are opportunities.</p>

4

<p>UCR’s guaranteed admission program:
<a href=“http://admissions.ucr.edu/whyucr/ourguarantee”>http://admissions.ucr.edu/whyucr/ourguarantee&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Automatic big merit scholarships:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/16451378/#Comment_16451378”>Automatic Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - #300 by BobWallace - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums;

<p>Competitive big merit scholarships:
<a href=“Competitive Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - #50 by BobWallace - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums”>Competitive Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - #50 by BobWallace - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums;

5

<p>Thank you for the information! </p>

<p>Although this was helpful, I am looking for obscure schools that might be great to go to even without the prestige.
I am, of course, planning to go for scholarships and such, but what schools are worth mentioning (disregarding the prices, those are not the major driving force for choosing the colleges).</p>

<p>I have enough information on my (probable) reach schools (Carnegie/Harvey Mudd/Cal Tech) and might apply to Georgia Tech as a target school, but I want to find a school that offers a great engineering program rather than money. I am planning to look at all the colleges with great programs and THEN strike the ones that don’t seem affordable. Thank you for the information on the scholarships again, but please help me find some notable colleges! </p>

6

<p>

</p>

<p>Being from a low income family forces you to make affordable cost a major factor in selection. There is no point in doing a lot of research into a college if you know it will not be affordable.</p>

<p>Also, some colleges become less likely due to the need for a merit scholarship. For example, Georgia Tech out-of-state will not be affordable to you unless you get the top level full ride President’s scholarship. This makes Georgia Tech a high reach, since admission without the full ride President’s scholarship is effectively a rejection.</p>

<p>In any case, you should start your list with affordable safeties (e.g. UCR, possibly local CSU, and automatic full ride schools).</p>

7

<p>If you don’t mind going across the country to a place that is beautiful but cold, look at Clarkson University in upstate New York.</p>

8

<p>Check out Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. A top undergraduate engineering program, very easy to get into for you probably, possible scholarship and decent aid there, medium with great teacher accessibility and learning environment from what I have heard. It was one of my safety schools for CS and I would have been plenty happy to go there.</p>

9

<p>Bucknell, Lehigh, and Lafayette are all small to medium size schools in Pennsylvania with good engineering programs. They are all private with high “list prices” but good to excellent need-based financial aid. I think some if not all of them offer merit aid as well. You might want to run the net price calculators to get an idea of what the aid packages would look like for you and your family.</p>

10

<p>How about Union College or Trinity University (San Antonio)? Run the net price calculators to see if they’d meet need for you. I second Bucknell, Lehigh, and Lafayette. Medium-sized and rural.
There’s also University of Minnesota-Twin Cities if you can get merit aid but it’s very, very big and urban.
South Dakota School of Mines would be a possibility if location doesn’t matter (safety).
What about Olin? Not a safety but you could look into it.</p>

11

<p>Mm! Thank you! I’ll start looking into these colleges and see what they can offer.</p>

<p>Are there any of these colleges that offer some sort of research opportunities in laboratories and such? I know there might not be many, but I am just wondering. I know that most of the large, laboratory sciences colleges are ones that are pretty expensive, but I’d love to get into one that might cost a little less (if I have to, I’ll try to get money through loans and other methods).</p>

12

<p>Run the Net Price Calculators. The colleges with the highest price tag may end up cheaper than public universities for someone (like you) with EFC 0.
You should apply first to all colleges that promise to meet need, especially those that have such big endowments that they can afford to provide you financial aid with no loans.
<a href=“Colleges with Need-Blind Admission for U.S. Students”>Colleges with Need-Blind Admission for U.S. Students;
(This is a website dedicated to 1st generation college students, so there may be other posts of interest).</p>

<p>Include colleges that provide automatic merit aid for your stats and see if you’re competitive for some full rides, too. They’re all listed in “sticky threads” in the Financial Aid Forum on this website.</p>

<p>Most colleges named so far would provide you with opportunities for research, especially the smaller schools or schools where you’d be in the Honors Program.</p>

13

<p>There are quite a few schools that have co-op programs where you can work in labs or for companies, plus earn money to pay for the next year of schooling. Drexel, RIT. You could also look at Emery-Riddle. Some of the smaller schools have a lot of merit aid.</p>

<p>I’d stay in CA, but there are many engineering schools, small and large.</p>

14

<p>You may want to look at schools like the University of Idaho and Montana State University. These are small state schools with good engineering programs that I think will give you very good merit aid. University of Nebraska might be worth considering as is the University of Alabama. Your BS in mechanical engineering is going to be pretty much the same at all of theses schools so look at cost and where you want to go to school.</p>

15

<p>Stevens Institute of Technology, in Hoboken, NJ.</p>

16

<p>South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, Rochester Institute of Technology, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Ohio University, UAlabama-Birmingham, North Carolina A&T University, Saint Louis University, U of Rochester, U of Portland.</p>

17

<p>Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago?</p>

18

<p>In general you can try the [url=“&lt;a href=“http://theaitu.org%22%5DAITU%5B/url”&gt;http://theaitu.org”]AITU[/url</a>] schools which are all private and not very large. Many of them have been mentioned above. The more “obscure” ones (Illinois Tech being among them) will often have very nice merit aid that public universities will not, in general, have. They all have very solid engineering programs.</p>

<p>In addition, there are often some full ride scholarships that you can compete for. At IIT, we have the Camras and Duchossois Scholarships which require you to have your application materials in by the 1st of December. For the Camras, you are automatically considered if you are among the top 25% or so of applicants but for the Duchossois, you need to submit a special application. Other AITU schools probably have the same kinds of opportunities.</p>

19

<p>Olin College meets full need but is highly competitive.</p>