I don’t know if the distinction between Harvard and MIT is accurate- at least regarding the urban piece. Every Harvard student has to cross Mass Ave and other “city streets” multiple times a day to get to libraries, buy toothpaste, grab a cup of coffee. Hanging out inside Harvard Yard isn’t really the lifestyle of a Harvard student, and Cambridge is part of the Harvard campus, just as Harvard is part of the city of Cambridge. Harvard has “bled” into adjacent neighborhoods over time which has increased how urban it is. You don’t need or want a car at either school- the epitome of an urban environment where having to worry about parking isn’t worth the upside of car ownership! Neither college would be a good fit for a kid wanting a clearly defined campus. Brown is a better example-- College Hill sits above the downtown area of Providence, and it takes a little effort (up a steep hill) to get there.
This preference might matter after she is accepted but if you are looking for merit aid, I don’t think you should eliminate good options based on something like this. She will grow a lot in a year and her opinion/preference may change. Some schools in big cities have a community feel to them.
I think that I have a list of all of the schools that have mentioned to date. I plan to start researching these over the next couple of weeks. Thank you!
ASU
Alabama
Miami of OH
UofSC
OSU - Eminence Fellows
Utah
Missouri S&T
FSU
UCF
USF - Tampa
Fordham
Temple
Miami, FL
Texas A&M
UT - Dallas
Texas Tech
U. of Ariz.
U. of Utah
U. of New Mexico
U. of Maryland - College Park (Banneker/Key - No Special App Required)
Rose Hulman
Olin
Clarkson
Univ. of Rochester
TCU
SMU
Baylor
Competitive Schools with Full Tuition Scholarships:
Vandy
Wash. U
LeHigh
Richmond
NC State
Rice
Duke
Purdue
As far as I know, Purdue does not offer any full tuition scholarships for out of state applicants. (As much as that pains me to say). The highest merit award is the Trustee Scholarship which is $16K/year. COA is $40-42K for OOS so you’d be $4-6K over your budget.
Purdue does have Stamps but that is playing the lottery.
University of Delaware gives out a few full tuition awards.
i’ve been reading this - our s20 searched for merit last year for engineering. I agree with your list; our kid applied to 10 from that list.
someone above mentioned Tulsa University and I’d encourage that on your list as well. I thought they were impressive.
What a quandary to be in. No 1 in the class and qualified for free in-state tuition at a place like Georgia Tech and not wanting to go because she can see campus from her family residence. This is a unique situation for sure. Most people would kill to get into Georgia Tech regardless of the cost. Most people (students) would also rather die than go to a school within view of their family home. My two cents would be to snag the Georgia Tech option unless she can get into MIT or Stanford, and then spring for some loans. No other school would be worth it for me unless its engineering program was comparable to Georgia Tech’s and also free or very low cost. Georgia Tech’s neighborhood is actually one of the better ones in Atlanta, but yes, there is still a good deal of street crime nearby. That’s just how it is there. The vast majority of students never become crime victims though. Since tuition at Georgia Tech would be free and you’d have some money to work with, you could sweeten the pot with a number of things, like the promise of several study abroad programs (Georgia Tech’s array of these is very impressive and spans the globe) or a car. A car is a nice thing to have in the Atlanta area, as you know. It would afford access to the coast, the mountains, Florida, and other places too, not to mention just making it easier to get around town. Internships and coops are also extremely popular and common at GT, and many (probably most) are situated in other states. All of these things (study abroad, a car, coops/internships) would cut down on the time spent on campus.
I agree with WC. She doesn’t have to come home unless she wants. Summers away and a semester abroad would help
Lots of students (mainly outside of these forums) do not have much of a choice in this matter – going to a college that they can commute to from home may be the only way they can afford college.
It would seem that you are in somewhat of the same boat I am in, though our budget is a bit higher and our S22 is on the line for NMSF (SI of 215 in TN). He is considering:
Alabama
Florida
Texas A&M
Arizona State
Utah
Iowa State
Colorado School of Mines
Georgia Tech
Purdue
Of those, Purdue and Mines likely should come of the list for budgetary reasons. But, you are in-state for Tech (lucky you!). 'Bama certainly fits the bill whether your daughter is NMF or not (if so, it is a 5 year scholarship +). Iowa State does not get a lot of mention, but it is an excellent university for engineering and should be considered. Arizona State/Barrett fits. Utah has a lot of merit and waives OOS tuition after the first year (if you do certain things) (great computer/video game program, too). Others to consider would be Mississippi State and Alabama-Huntsville. Good luck.
I just added Tulsa, Univ. of Delaware, and Iowa State to our list.
Where did your s20 end up? Is he happy with his choice so far?
If you were replying to me, I have an S22. So he will be applying in the same class as your D22. I am unsure of his favorites as yet.
The only other one that comes to mind is UTK if she wants to stay closer. Not sure what she considers “urban” but it didn’t feel urban to me despite being next to downtown. Our guide was from Atlanta. With 4.0 she could end up with Haslam full-ride scholarship although I think there are only 15 awarded per year. There are quite a few on CC that are engineering and applied to the trio of Clemson, UofSC and UTK.
You had asked about honors colleges. Barrett at ASU is one of top-rated HCs, along with UofSC and Clemson. As someone said, ASU is huge and Phoenix/Tempe is a large metro area, but we just visited and it felt very suburban vs urban to me. Campus is large, but flat so still feels walkable. Barrett is its own complex and I think gives kids a smaller school within a larger school feel. ASU has a scholarship estimator on their website and their scholarships are pretty automatic so you can easily see if it’s within range.
I don’t agree. I went to school in Boulder and about 1/4 of my sorority was from Boulder High or other surrounding high schools (they joined the sorority and lived in dorms to have a ‘college experience.’) They were all thrilled to be Buffs but when you are living in a great town, why not take advantage of a great school in your neighborhood. One was a Boettcher scholar so could have gone to any school in Colorado for free but chose CU (chemical engineering) and to her it was a bonus that she could still attend her church and go home for dinner on Sunday nights.
The rest of us often benefited from a home cooked meal or getting to use something at their homes too (a driveway to park a car for a weekend, washing machine in an emergency, a sewing machine).
My friend’s son grew up in Madison and went to UW. Loved it. His cousin went too and he brought her home to do laundry and watch the Packers on Sundays with his dad.
Best of both world, going away to college (live in a dorm or apartment) but still able to get home without hassle.
Is UTK University of Tennessee Knoxville? If not, which school is it? Thank you!
UT Knoxville.
I noticed on your list of colleges offering large merit awards you had UofSC which is another often confused abbreviation. Both the University of South Carolina and the University of Southern California have excellent merit scholarships.
Georgia Tech for free? I’d strongly steer my D22 there if we had the chance. Hmm, maybe move to an adjacent state so GT would not be in line of sight… 
If it is such an amazing opportunity, maybe everyone should move to GA. The requirements to qualify for the Zell Miller are not super strict (3.75 GPA and 1360 SAT, I think). 
We are lucky to have good in-state options.
Finding the right school is all about fit, and GT and/or UGA are not the right fit for every student. Several GA residents bypass our in-state scholarships and choose to attend school elsewhere.
@Dis3456 With my D’s HS being all online I’ve joked with my sibling in GA that we should have shipped her to GA for the HOPE!
We must be neighbors! And my D feels the same way… she wants to get away. She was a semifinalist for the Stamps at Tech and we told her if she got it she would be going there! She didn’t progress to the next round… 
hmm, I wonder about that now. 
(Before anyone says anything, I’m obviously joking. She tried her best and would be over the moon to get a full ride plus the Stamps opportunities since we are possibly looking at med school down the line. But it wasn’t in the cards.)