Help picking out safety schools?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi everybody, I am a high school senior from Maine with pretty good grades (All A's) and test scores (upper 600s to lower 700s on all SAT subject tests, two 4s on AP Biology and US History, and 2080 SAT) working on my college applications. I'm applying to some of the Ivies (Harvard, Yale, Princeton) and MIT, but I'm looking for some safety schools. I'm looking for some relatively inexpensive (preferably under $20-25k) schools with decent engineering programs. They don't have to be in the Northeast, but it would be nice not to be too too far from home.</p>

<p>Thank you so much!</p>

2

<p>How about Penn State?</p>

3

<p>Penn State
Rose-Hulman
WPI
RIT
UMCP</p>

4

<p>You could look into the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities.</p>

5

<p>Penn St would be too expensive for his budget. It’s at least $40k per year OOS. </p>

<p>Most OOS publics will NOT be affordable. Some will give you merit scholarships…not Penn St…and I don’t think UM-CP will either.</p>

<p>Do you know what your family EFC will be? </p>

<p>preferably under $20-25k</p>

<p>What is the breakdown of your SAT?</p>

<p>I have to be honest with you… Your chances at ivies/MIT are very low. A 2080 is in the bottom 25% for these schools. Your SAT II’s are too low. You’re from the NE. You’re not from a rare state and you don’t have a special hook.</p>

<p>The bottom 25% are URMs and those with special hooks or from more rare parts of the country. </p>

<p>Yale…</p>

<p>middle quartiles</p>

<p>SAT Critical Reading: 700 - 800
SAT Math: …710 - 790
SAT Writing:… 710 - 800
ACT Composite:… 32 - 35 </p>

<p>Once we know what your M+CR score is, we can recommend some schools that will be affordable with merit scholarships.</p>

6

<p>SUNY Stony Brook and SUNY Binghamton might be worth a look. Best of luck!</p>

7

<p>Buffalo might be a better choice for engineering than Bing.</p>

8

<p>Your affordable safety school is likely to be UMaine.</p>

9

<p>^UB is a good one also.</p>

10

<p>University of Maine is probably your most affordable school that is not a super-reach for admissions (if you are applying to such schools, throw in Stanford – but your scores may not be competitive at any of them).</p>

<p>The $25,000 limit puts the usual less expensive list price schools just slightly out of reach (they are in the $29,000 to $33,000 range for out of state):</p>

<p>University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Stony Brook University
Virginia Polytechnic and State University
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo</p>

<p>If you have a 3.5 GPA and get a 1330 on the SAT CR+M or 30 on the ACT and major in engineering, University of Alabama offers full out of state tuition + $2,500 scholarships (which would leave less than $15,000 of other expenses per year):
<a href=“http://eng.ua.edu/undergraduate/scholarships/[/url]”>http://eng.ua.edu/undergraduate/scholarships/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Cooper Union gives every student a full tuition scholarship (leaving about $20,000 per year of living expenses and such), but is not easy to get into.</p>

<p>If your choice of engineering is mechanical, Berkeley with Drake Scholarship is a full ride. But that is probably a super-reach, and Berkeley will be too expensive for out of state without the Drake Scholarship.
<a href=“http://www.me.berkeley.edu/StudentAffairs/ProspectiveStudents/Undergraduate/Drake.html[/url]”>http://www.me.berkeley.edu/StudentAffairs/ProspectiveStudents/Undergraduate/Drake.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

11

<p>Can’t tell the gender of the OP but Stony Brook has the WISE scholarships. UB would likely offer around $5K in scholarship money, which would bring costs within reach.</p>

12

<p>3/2 Engineering Program at Geneseo might be worth a look. SUNY Geneseo has a cooperative arrangement with Columbia University as well as a few others. </p>

<p><a href=“https://www.geneseo.edu/admissions/cooperative-engineering-brochure[/url]”>https://www.geneseo.edu/admissions/cooperative-engineering-brochure&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Geneseo is a small selective public liberal arts college in NY with a strong science program. </p>

<p>[Geneseo</a> Virtual tour | by VirtualMedia360.net](<a href=“http://www.virtualmedia360.net/tours/geneseo/]Geneseo”>SUNY Geneseo Campus Virtual tour | by VirtualMedia360.net)</p>

13

<p>Clarkson
RPI </p>

<p>…don’t know if you could get the price down to $25,000 but they areworth a look.</p>

14

<p>What kind of Engineeering?</p>

<p>Alfred University (NY) establlished in 1836, has both merit aid and need based aid.
COA runs about 37k for most majors. School of Art & Design has in-state tuition as it is NYS program… Some of the engineering majors are also NYS affiliated. </p>

<p>[Alfred</a> University : Financial Aid : Undergraduate Freshmen Scholarships](<a href=“http://www.alfred.edu/finaid/scholarships/]Alfred”>http://www.alfred.edu/finaid/scholarships/) Merit Aid Incoming Freshmen </p>

<p>[Alfred</a> University - Inamori School of Engineering - Undergraduate Programs](<a href=“http://engineering.alfred.edu/undergrad/]Alfred”>http://engineering.alfred.edu/undergrad/) Engineering Majors </p>

<p>[Alfred</a> University - Inamori School of Engineering - Co-Op Education](<a href=“http://engineering.alfred.edu/undergrad/coop.cfm]Alfred”>http://engineering.alfred.edu/undergrad/coop.cfm) Co-op for Engineering Majors </p>

<p>[Alfred</a> University : Undergraduate Cost of Attendance](<a href=“http://www.alfred.edu/finaid/undergraduate_cost.cfm]Alfred”>http://www.alfred.edu/finaid/undergraduate_cost.cfm) Cost of Attendance </p>

<p>AU has 2,300 undergrads, Division III athletics, no Greek Life, small classes-know your professors, need-based aid, merit-based aid, new Performing Arts Center, located in small charming village of Alfred, NY with very friendly people. Alfred State is located across the street from Alfred University, so lots of college students. Many clubs & student organizations, AU publishes a monthly guide for students with campus events. </p>

<p>School of Engineering
College of Liberal Arts
School of Art & Design
School of Business </p>

<p>Fiske Guide Best Value
USNWR’s Great Schools Great Prices
Princeton Review’s Best 376
Fiske small schools & universities strong in Engineering
Fiske small schools & universities strong in Art & Design
Princeton Review’s Best 300 Business Schools
Fiske Guide 2012 </p>

<p>Depending upon your Engineering major, you might be able to get the price down to your price range with merit aid. You also have a hook here, you are from Maine & AU would love to have more students from outside of NYS. </p>

<p>Best of luck in your college search!</p>

15

<p>A 3/2 program would cost an additional year of tuition, room and board, and many/most(?) students who start out in a 3/2 program don’t finish because they don’t want to leave their friends and school after 3 years.</p>