Help me find the right mid-range engineering school (merit aid)!

College Search & Selection
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<p>I would love for some of your recommendations on this. I wasn't originally planning on another school, which is why this is so late, but hopefully you guys can help.</p>

<p>I'm looking for 1-2 more schools to apply to. I've already gotten into a safety and it's affordable, so no worries there. I've applied to some reach schools, but want to be prepared for the worst and am looking for a higher ranked match than my state flagship. I've also applied to a few top-15 schools that at least offer some merit. I'm probably looking in the Top 25-75 range now.</p>

<p>First of all, scores and stats and stuff: GPA UW 4.0, ACT 34 composite, 740 SAT2 Physics, 680 Math 1. Class rank: 1/190
I've taken a bunch of courses dual-enrollment, have taken some of the few APs my school offers. Located in southern Idaho, University of Idaho is my main safety. I have applied to the University of Alabama as well. I'll give SAT scores if needed, but they're not as good.</p>

<p>My main question - would it be worth it to apply to another school? I've been accepted into UA and am just wondering about fit and engineering strength. I am looking for a very academically strong engineering program, with many options (areospace and electrical are majors that I am looking for ATM). Not sure if going from a school ranked ~100th (UA) to going to a school ranked 43rd (Pitt) might make any difference academically.</p>

<p>I'm mostly interested in getting merit aid. I know the deadline for most merit has passed, but I know there are still some out there. I can afford ~15k between parental help and working a job. </p>

<p>So basically I am looking for strong engineering schools with a fairly decent chance of me receiving merit aid. </p>

<p>As for the type of school, I'm not too picky, so not many of these are deal-breakers, but just considerations.</p>

<p>Size: 5000-30000 students
Climate: I prefer temperate but can survive a cold winter
Greek life: no preference, not interested at the time
Religion: I'm fine attending a religious school, I'm Christian.
Academics: strong
Party-school: No preference, I'm not the partier type. All colleges are party schools anyway :)</p>

<p>Any suggestions will be welcome, I'm just trying to narrow a list (or widen it, :)) ). So far I've heard Pitt will be good. </p>

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<p>SAT, please, because you need a lot of merit and are competing with strengths in GPA, test, and ECs.</p>

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<p>@jkeil911‌
Reading 750
Math 700
Writing 670</p>

<p>Here is my ACT by category if that could help
Comp 34
English 29
Math 35
Reading 36
Science 35</p>

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<p>If you are strongly religious, you may find that a strongly religious school of a different Christian denomination may not be the best fit here.</p>

<p>You can look for additional automatic merit scholarship schools and some competitive merit scholarship schools by going to the financial aid and scholarship section and reading the sticky thread at the top with links to scholarships and low cost schools.</p>

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<p>You just make the announced SAT cutoff at Pitt, 1450. I know of at least one student who had a higher score and didn’t get merit, so don’t count on it, esp. since the three score is not overwhelming in merit terms. What will catch Pitt’s eye, however, will be your rank out of 190. Work that hard, but the Pitt money tends to go out early on. Last year, apparently, there was still some money late, so it is worth applying but there are these hitches I’ve mentioned. </p>

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<p>I don’t have any suggestions for you for you. Our ds was in you position last yr except we really needed the total costs to be closer $10,000. He ended up with lots of scholarship offers,but even after the scholarships, all but 3 were unaffordable. </p>

<p>Anyway, I just wanted to ease your concerns about UA on multiple fronts. One, any ABET program is going to provide a good education or they wouldn’t be ABET certified. Our oldest ds is a successful chemE from a no name state university and had great job offers at graduation. Second, UA has lots of great students. My ds is finishing his first semester at UA as a physics and EE double major. He is a very strong student and loves UA. He hasn’t felt “underwhelmed” at all. I saw on the UA forum that you applied for UFE. Did you apply for CBH? Ds loves CBH and everything it offers. (I don’t know much about UFE. Our ds is passionate about research, so CBH definitely captured his interest.)</p>

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<p>Case Western Reserve Univ. Great engineering program; somewhat higher than “mid-level” but offers substantial merit aid to qualified students.</p>

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<p>@ucbalumnus‌ I’m technically non-denominational so it won’t make too much of a difference to me, every denomination surely has it’s quirks though, and you have a valid point. I’ll try to check the thread out this week.</p>

<p>@jkeil911‌
Yeah, I’m not as proud of my SAT score, I only took it once because my school required all students to take it as a grad requirement. Probably too late anyway, and I’m not sure I want to sit another test.</p>

<p>@Mom2aphysicsgeek‌ Thanks for the advice. I am applying to CBH as we speak. Not proud of letting it go until the last minute, but I’ve been crazy busy this week. </p>

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<p>Does Case offer more than $30000? That was our ds’s offer last yr which left us with the bill for the remainder, around $30,000.</p>

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<p>Don’t you have to apply early to Pitt to get merit? Hopefully someone who knows will chime in here, but I am nearly certain that to get consideration for merit at Pitt you have to apply early in the app season. But, maybe I’m wrong. </p>

<p>How much merit might he get from Pitt? Half tuition? If so, that’s not enough. this student needs at least full tuition merit, so the $15k can pay for room, board, books, fees, travel, personal expenses. </p>

<p>the trouble will be getting the net cost down to $15k. Yes, some schools may give partial tuition awards, but then the net cost will be $25k-40k+ per year. </p>

<p>@ARandomGeek‌<br>
How much will your parents be contributing? If you’re not sure, ask them.
How much will YOU have to contribute to get to the $15k?</p>

<p>when looking at scholarship awards, pay close attention to see if the award WILL increase as tuition increases. Any tuition price you are seeing now, is for this CURRENT school year. So if you’re given a $20k per year award from some school, that award will become less meaningful EVERY year when the school raises tuition. </p>

<p>Many schools do NOT increase their awards to reflect tuition increases. </p>

<p>Just to let you know, that Alabama tuition award WILL increase in value each time tuition increases, so no worries there.</p>

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<p>@mom2collegekids‌
The merit deadline is Jan. 15 on their website. I’d have to decide by the end of next week because credentials need to get there by that date. </p>

<p>Yeah, I need full tuition merit at this point. For this application I just want reasonable chances of getting aid. Better chances than @ top-10 schools at least. So Pitt might not be a great fit. </p>

<p>My parents say they can contribute 8-10k per year. The 5k is my part, either with a job or student loans. </p>

<p>Alabama scholarships are great :smiley: got my capstone letter a couple weeks ago and my engineering letter today. On that note, I also submitted the CBH application. Phew. If there was one thing I hated about Bama, it would be that these things aren’t automatically considered! :stuck_out_tongue: </p>

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<p>UFE and CBH require a lot of extra work and time commitment. They are not going to appeal to a lot of applicants. CBH requires learning programming,projects, etc on top of research. It would not make sense to screen all applicants.</p>

<p>Fwiw, in case you weren’t t aware, there are additional scholarship opportunities offered by both UFE and CBH, as well as dept scholarships for double majors. (Our ds has two dept scholarships, physics and engineering.). UA is amazing in allowing all scholarships to stack. Our ds is attending full-ride due to the multiple stacking scholarships he was awarded.</p>

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<p>I also want to encourage you @arandomgeek - even if you do not get into the highly selective UA CBH or UFE programs, they have other honors programs like a larger program which facilitates freshmen research opportunities - coordinates with a class; students can apply or respond to their mybama email invitation to apply. My dau is in a STEM MBA honors program (has 300 freshmen in that program). The ‘finish in four’ layout of various curricula/majors can help you determine how you want to proceed in you academic pursuits. Do not worry about not being around equally smart kids or having a challenging enough curricula. ABET accreditation is key. UA has focused a lot of resources in STEM facilities and faculty over the last 10 years. UA is ‘the Capstone’ and offers a lot of opportunities to high stat and academically successful kids. Dau in civil eng was excited with the enhancements of that program and will be focusing in architectural design major within CE. </p>

<p>There are multiple worship opportunities available at UA - several churches and youth centers/programs are clustered on campus (H and I are originally from the ‘north’ and there is a more secular general attitude in the north). Some students choose to go to youth activities or church, and some do not.</p>

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<p>The freshman research program within Honors College at UA is called Emerging Scholars Program.</p>

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<p>Bump…
(Is bumping even allowed? If not, let me know and I’ll stop :slight_smile: )</p>

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<p>Ok I’m back. Still looking into this and I’m not sure if I will end up applying anywhere else…
Looking at UPitt I don’t feel like merit aid will be easy to come by, so I’d like to keep looking for schools, if anyone can recommend any more. I’ve heard good things about universities in the Texas system…</p>

<p>Sorry guys, I’m really just having a hard time with this. I absolutely fell in love with MIT but got deferred so I want to keep my options going. But the more I look it seems no other school comes close to the culture and vibe that MIT gives off, at least not in my price range :expressionless: </p>

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<p>Are you a NMSF in Idaho? Michigan State will give you in-state tuition with your scores. NMF’s from out-of-state get free room and board. That would probably put you at around 15K. Of course, if you’re a NMF you’d be getting more from Alabama/Kentucky/etc. Some invitees to the Honors College get an assistantship worth another $2500, and you will probably be invited to the Distinguished Alumni Scholarship Competition. You’d have a shot at a full ride there, but the odds are long. </p>

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<p>Case Western Reserve University
Washington University St. Louis
Princeton
St. Louis University
Ohio University</p>

<p>Also, South Dakota School of Mines & Technology is in your price range. No Aerospace Engineering Department but overall engineering at Mines has a very good reputation among professionals nationally and Mines has aerospace-related research projects going on all the time. Recent Mines students have been selected for internships at NASA. Boeing recruiters have visited Mines to recruit possible employees. </p>

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<p>@greeninohio‌
I’m not a NMSF. Probably could’ve been, but I guess the PSAT isn’t really my test :)</p>

<p>I’ve filled out the NPC on Princeton and if it is anywhere close to true, Princeton should cover all but 15k of costs - right in my price range. Might apply there, I know admissions chances are slim, but Princeton is a really good school. </p>

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<p>The good news for you is that Boeing, General Electric Aviation, Pratt & Whitney etc, hire a greater number of AE graduates from places like U Colorado, Wichita State, California Polytechnic and Saint Louis University than they do from Princeton.</p>