<p>My DH has a Mechanical Engineering degree from NC State University. He has worked at a nuclear power plant (31 years) ever since he graduated from NCSU.</p>
<p>Good luck santookie! The UofA is a safety for your son and a really good school to boot. I went there and can attest that it has really moved my career forward and I was able to get into a top MBA program for grad school. I’ve also worked for some of the most competitive firms in America and overseas with an undergrad degree from them. It is a major center of learning and they sent me overseas for a year (which I extended to 3 years!) during undergrad.</p>
<p>Arizona is a beautiful state and if your kid likes the outdoors the desert is magical once you get to know it. The state has interesting people and embarrassingly ridiculous politics – it is certainly a unique environment that I miss very much.</p>
<p>Anyway, keep Cal Poly SLO high up on your list. One thing that we love about the school is that it is 3 1/2 hours away. Far enough away for the kid to feel that he is on his own, but close enough to home that in an emergency we can be there or he can be here in less than half a day. We in fact, had an unexpected medical emergency this year that required us to be together as a family on very short notice. It is completely resolved now. However, I was grateful that he was close enough for us to come together as a family the same day and not have to get on plane. Never thought that we would be in this situation, but it happened to us. Something to think about. Nuff said…</p>
<p>Just so you know, when it comes to the top nuclear engineering programs, Michigan is #1. </p>
<p>[Best</a> Nuclear Engineering Programs | Top Engineering Schools | US News Best Graduate Schools](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-engineering-schools/nuclear-engineering-rankings]Best”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-engineering-schools/nuclear-engineering-rankings)</p>
<p>Yes I know this is for graduate school, but there is no undegrad rating for nuclear engineering at USNWR.</p>
<p>Texas A&M is a solid school for engineering and I believe it’s relatively cheap even for OOS.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Looks like you have likely safeties:</p>
<p>Alabama with automatic Presidential + engineering scholarships
CSUs like SJSU, CPP, etc.
community college, then transfer to UC or CSU
New Mexico with Regents’ scholarship (has nuclear engineering if he wants to major in it, or take a few courses in it while majoring in something else)</p>
<p>Does your son like any or all of the above?</p>
<p>Regarding matches, Cal Poly SLO looks like a pretty likely admit (low match), and its list price falls within your recently stated price limit. Berkeley is probably a match if its net price is affordable to you.</p>
<p>Some of the out-of-state publics mentioned previously are low match or safety for admissions, but are likely high match or reach for getting the merit scholarships that you need for affordability.</p>
<p>Iowa State will probably give him some money and to me, it is one of the prettiest campuses I have ever seen. I know that is important to young men.</p>
<p>I think we have talked about Pitt before, but depending on those SAT scores, he might get either full tuition or the $10k scholarship. Pitt offers additional engineering scholarships as well. One young electrical engineering major at Pitt is interning at CMU this summer. Being from California will be an advantage for your son at both schools. Have him do the application early and he will hear starting in October. Good luck with the application season.</p>
<p>I had a friend tell me that our family should eat noodles if my daughter got into a certain school. I thought at the time that the idea was over-rated, and DD took the scholarship.</p>
<p>I did think about Michigan, but out of state is so expensive. It’s like going to Berkeley but paying out of state.</p>
<p>Iowa State has always been on my list, but wife cringes. Aah son would be willing to go. We’ve been reading college essay writing books and he’s been self teaching himself calculus at this summer program. Now they’re doing 3D animation with this program MIT created called Alice. He has a storyboard and everything. Last part of this summer thing is engineering. So lucky he got into something for free. But its a 1.5-2 hour bus ride each way =(</p>
<p>I’ve thought about Texas A&M just no idea if the merit/financial aid was there.</p>
<p>Never considered New Mexico, thats really off the radar. Will look into it.</p>
<p>Cal Poly Pomona was sort of a safety. I’ve even tried to figure out if he could get reagents at Davis. But those things are so competitive since the state has so little money. SJSU is definitely a safety.</p>
<p>I thumbed through Iowa States scholarships he’s definitely a URM there, but I doubt we fit the financial need component there. Is there merit only awards at Iowa State?</p>
<p>I doubt UW could be considered a backup, tons of people apply its really competitive in my mind. Berkeley, Wisconsin, Michigan, Texas A&M, Texas Austin are all up there. Seemed like reaches to me. Plus I go by the theory will he be in that high percentage that they offer money too. Which is likely no.</p>
<p>Pitt is sort of a dream school to him. He likes the location and the buildings. They invited him to a sleepover and tour. But wife was against me sending him alone.</p>
<p>Tell your wife he can stay with my daughter at Pitt. Hahahaha. He should go do the sleepover (kidding about with my daughter). It is an easy city to get around and is quite safe. I am sure they would take good care of him.</p>
<p>My daughter got a little merit money at Iowa State and a little more because I am a grad. It seems like it was about $7500. total. I do not remember what the split was.</p>
<p>Might be an URM for Wisconsin too. They have many URM only eng scholarships. </p>
<p>[UW-Madison</a> College of Engineering, Diversity Affairs: Leaders in Engineering Excellence and Diversity (LEED), UW-Madison College of Engineering, Diversity Affairs Office](<a href=“http://studentservices.engr.wisc.edu/diversity/leed/]UW-Madison”>http://studentservices.engr.wisc.edu/diversity/leed/)</p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://scholarships.wisc.edu/Scholarships/org?orgId=121]Scholarships[/url”>Our Opportunities - Wisconsin Scholarship Hub (WiSH)]Scholarships[/url</a>]</p>
<p>Re: #29</p>
<p>That link to the LEED scholarships says “The LEED Scholars Program is a competitive scholarship program, designed to attract academically talented women and students from groups historically underrepresented in the field of engineering: African Americans, Latino/a, Southeast Asian Americans (Hmong/ Cambodian/ Laotian/ Vietnamese), Native Americans, and Alaska Natives.”</p>
<p>The second Wisconsin scholarship link says that “In most cases, students must have been enrolled at UW-Madison, College of Engineering for at least 2 semesters (excluding summer session) to be eligible.”</p>
<p>We’re not SE Asian, we’re Korean/Chinese/White (think Scotish). Iowa state offered $7500? Thats barely a dent, hmm wondering if I should take it off the list.</p>
<p>MD Mom what did Pitt offer your daughter? If you don’t mind me asking and did she have similar stats to my son? Thanks for the response in advance.</p>
<p>ucbalum - thanks for scanning the scholarship for me! If we ever meet I definitely owe your a beer or something. You always give me some awesome input!</p>
<p>barrons - thanks for looking as well! The amount of scholarships on each site makes my eyes go crossed.</p>
<p>Louisiana Tech might be your best financial safety - stats would guarantee a full ride there (Presidential Scholarship):
<a href=“http://www.latech.edu/admissions/Scholarship%20updates%20for%20website.pdf[/url]”>http://www.latech.edu/admissions/Scholarship%20updates%20for%20website.pdf</a></p>
<p>For the Alabama schools, UAH might be a better fit than UAB, as it has a broader engineering curriculum. (Nothing against UAB in general.)</p>
<p>Have you visited Bama? If not, and you plan to, be sure to let me know so I can get you in touch with the Honors College people who will arrange his day…meeting with profs, touring the new Science and Engineering Complex, touring the Honors dorms, etc. </p>
<p>This year’s freshman class will be 60% OOS! And, the acceptance rate is now down to about 44%…which is pretty good for a state school. However, it would still be a safety for your son with his stats. :)</p>
<p>As you know, he’d get free tuition PLUS 2500 per year…remaining costs (room, board, books, etc) would be about $11k per year if you choose the honors dorms.</p>
<p>(be sure to estimate travel costs in all OOS schools…those costs can add up if your child (and PARENTS) travel to and from the school a couple of times a year. Just one PARENTS’ trip to an OOS school to help with “move in” can cost a couple thousand once you consider airfare, car rental, hotel, restaurants, etc). </p>
<p>And…as other parents will tell you, there are always some surprise expenses that will pop up…child’s phone dies, laptop gets broken, need cold weather clothes/shoes for very cold climates, study abroad opportunities, etc…those things don’t seem to get included in COAs. In other words, you can’t budget college costs to the dollar. Even a funded REU opportunity will likely cost you. </p>
<p>Considering what you said in the previous thread about your ability to pay being significantly less than college financial aid EFC, you may want to see if any of the schools listed here are suitable safeties (of course, check if they have decent ** ABET-accredited ** engineering degree programs of interest):</p>
<p>All of Bama’s eng’g disciplines are ABET accredited. CS is as well. </p>
<p>ACT 33 and SAT 2080 </p>
<p>As you probably already know, those scores won’t likely get merit money from Harvey Mudd and some of the other higher ranked schools mentioned. An ACT 33 is very good, but as you know, it’s not in the top quartile for some of these mentioned schools. </p>
<p>I think some people are forgetting that merit money gets applied to NEED first. So, unless the merit is huge, it won’t change what the family has to pay. For instance… $15k from URoch isn’t going to reduce your EFC. </p>
<p>Regarding Parent loans…Do you have any younger kids to put thru college? If so, keep in mind that you’ll be making loan payments while trying to put the younger one(s) thru college as well. That would mean even less money to put towards EFC.</p>
<p>To get your TOTAL costs down to the $20k range, that means your child needs at least a 3/4 tuition scholarship. $15k-20k per year merit scholarships to privates isn’t going to get you down to that cost. </p>
<p>As you’ve said, your fixed expenses are pretty much set…mortgage, insurance, utilities, etc are pretty much going to be the same…you don’t sound like you have many areas in which you could “cut back.” </p>
<p>Remind your wife that companies do not pay new-hire engineers more money because they graduated from Presigious U. Everyone starts about the same, except sometimes a MIT or CalTech grad may get a little incoming salary bump…certainly not enough to justify a bunch of debt! </p>
<p>I’m sure the Cal eng’g grad scratches his head when he finds out that the Long Beach State or SLO grad started at the same pay as he.</p>
<p>
The engineering school did not seem as prominent as at some other schools. For example, the professor I talked to said that the university implemented a 120-credit graduation requirement across the board. This is very unusual for engineering programs, which normally require a few extra credits. Based on that conversation, I got the impression that credit counts were artificially lowered to fit the university requirement at the expense of accurately representing the total workload.</p>
<p>That’s obviously not much of a problem, but I still remember it because the rest of my research seemed to corroborate the idea that engineering was not WUSTL’s strongest suit.</p>
<p>If y’all really like the place, I’m sure it’s a fine program. It just seems like there might be a better fit at that price and selectivity level.
Just to clarify: Idaho State University has the undergrad nuclear program. UI offers graduate programs through the Idaho Falls campus, but for undergrad you’d want ISU in Pocatello.</p>
<p>New Mexico is a more well-rounded safety choice if he changes his mind about nuclear.</p>
<p>Purdue, Georgia Tech, CMU, Case Western, Tufts, Cornell, URochester, Michigan, Alabama…good luck!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The better known (for engineering) schools do tend to attract more non-local company recruiters, so a student graduating from such a school is likely to have more choices of non-local companies to work at after graduation. Of course, each school will attract local recruiters (so that EE and CS graduates from SJSU and UCSC get a boost due to Silicon Valley proximity, as do those from Berkeley and Stanford). Note that CPSLO is generally considered highly attractive to recruit engineering graduates at, at least regionally.</p>
<p>Bobwallace - I saw UAH even had full rides. Only thing that turned me off was some student comments I found a this coughcough ******* site. I originally saw nothing wrong with UAH it just made me weary.</p>
<p>m2ck - Bama is definitely on the list. Just have to see what other offers we have before we spend all that money on airfare and hotel. Wife definitely wants to go. Can’t just send the boy. sigh</p>
<p>noimag - aaah I could see that. WUSTL seems more geared toward pre-Med and Law.</p>
<p>choc - I was thinking Georgia Tech, but those scholarships see insanely competitive. I don’t know guess I’ll figure it out once I see his recent SAT and ACT scores. His SATII scores didn’t make me feel that great about his chances.</p>
<p>ucb - I would agree with the Cal Poly SLO comment but thats because Cal Poly is like RHIT. More of the application then theory. More practical and you’re better to start right after just completing your undergrad. Seems like my son is edging toward going to grad school.</p>
<p>So my list so far I think</p>
<p>Reach
UC Berkeley
Stanford
Olin
Princeton (wife and son want this, no idea why)
CMU (maybe)</p>
<p>Match
Cal Poly SLO
Pittsburgh
Alabama
Iowa State
North Carolina State
Purdue (maybe)</p>
<p>Safety
San Jose State</p>
<p>^Maybe more realistic reaches would be a good idea…
And Alabama is a safety
Just my two cents</p>
<p>@santookie - did you ever look at SUNY-Buffalo? They offered my kid full tuition plus a little more for engineering, on merit, with stats lower than your son’s. Also, if he likes Pitt then he would probably like CMU, too. They are adjacent in Oakland, have cross registration, etc.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Berkeley is probably not as high a reach as Stanford or Princeton, unless you absolutely need the Drake scholarship.</p>
<p>Olin is probably out of reach financially unless its need-based aid is extremely generous (check the net price calculator). The automatic half tuition scholarship still leaves about $40,000 per year remaining cost of attendance, which is significantly higher than your price limit.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Given that Alabama has an automatic full tuition plus merit scholarship for the student’s stats, it should be a safety, as admission and affordability are basically assured. The same goes for any other automatic large merit scholarship schools.</p>
<p>For your match list, the schools other than Cal Poly SLO are OOS publics; the cheapest (Iowa State and NCSU) have OOS list prices comparable to UC in-state list price, which is higher than your price limit, but probably won’t give you as much need-based aid (check the net price calculators). So you need to make the reach/match/safety assessment based on the chance of getting large enough merit scholarships at those schools.</p>
<p>Perhaps Texas A&M may be worth a shot, because even some of the smaller merit scholarships come with waivers of the additional OOS tuition. Also, check other UCs’ net price calculators to see if they can be affordable.</p>