If OP is a US citizen or permanent resident they will apply as a domestic student.
If not, they will apply as an international student, which will mean lower probability of acceptance at some schools, as well as no federal financial aid.
OP, are you a US citizen or permanent resident (have green card)?
Because from past posts over the years, citizenship status has been a concern for some students. Financial aid can be limited depending on the status.
Will wait for the OP to clarify but legally speaking, “immigrated” means “permanent resident” or “naturalized citizen”. Someone on a visa (as a visitor, temp worker, etc) is not considered to have immigrated.
Yes, Lehigh has a strong reputation for Engineering, but I believe in recent years, Lafayette has become comparable and, for some, preferable for engineering and overall.
Cal Poly SLO is a relative bargain oos. Two of my daughters freshman roommates were from Arizona studying engineering. No FA for out of state, but if it’s in the budget it could be a great choice for EE.
Seconding checking into Questbridge to see if you qualify. You sound like you’re a great student and will do well in college. Kudos for looking into things now and being open to ideas.
I would throw Rice into the mix too. It’s a hard admit but you have a good story and good stats. Being from Arizona would probably give you a slight advantage. You can apply test optional if needed. Rice is a T20 school that meets demonstrated need. All costs covered if income is below $75,000 with no loans. It’s a smaller school but has amazing research opportunities. Students that want to research have no trouble doing so.
You need to find out firmly what your parents can contribute annually to your college costs. Point being…if the net costs of a college cannot be paid, you won’t be able to attend that college. So…sit with your parents and run the net price calculators for any school you are considering applying to.
It’s nice to say “don’t worry” but that won’t pay the bills.
The OP also mentioned immigrating with their mother, with no mention of their father.
If the parents are divorced or separated, remember that many of the colleges with good financial aid that have been mentioned here require both of their finances. This can make getting financial aid difficult if they are not both cooperative with financial aid forms.
Apologies for the late response. I only just now reopened this thread.
I did very recently learn about Questbridge, which seems like a perfect fit, though the application deadline for their College Prep Scholars program is relatively soon. Still, I have begun the application process and hope to produce at least a competent product (if nothing else, it could be good practice for NCM later).
As for my citizenship status, I am fully naturalized as of 2020. My mother and father, however, are indeed divorced, and neither I or my family have any means of contact with him.
If that doesn’t prove to be a barrier, though, Lehigh and Lafayette definitely sound like excellent choices.
Best of luck with the Questbridge application. It seems like it would be great for you if you can get it.
I would definitely focus your attention on Questbridge for now and see how that pans out. But if you decide to start researching colleges again, I’d still recommend going back to post #8 (which has both Lehigh and Lafayette) as I think a lot of those schools might work for you financially and academically. Most of them are going to have small classes and opportunities for research. And with smaller classes, you get to know your professors better (and have a better shot at research positions), all of which leads to better networking and strengthens your application for summer internships and the like.
This will complicate getting financial aid at many of the colleges mentioned on this thread as having good financial aid (including many in Questbridge), because they require both parents’ finances. You will have to request a waiver, but getting one should be considered a “reach” for each college. Therefore, any college that you need financial aid from and which requires both parents’ finances should be put in the “reach” category.
More: FAQ: Divorced parents, financial aid, and net price calculators (however, the definition of custodial parent will be changing to the parent providing most financial support, although that will not differ for you)
Wyoming doesn’t really have a WUE price anymore. It has the Brown and Gold award for ALL out of state students and the amount of the scholarship is based on gpa and ACT scores. If the student gets the top award, it is similar to the old WUE of 150% of instate tuition. There are also other scholarships that can stack, like engineers all get $2500 (might be higher now), alum awards for certain departments and need, ROTC, music and theater, etc. And it is pretty cheap to begin with.
I agree that Questbridge could be a great option for you.
Many of the WUE schools could be affordable, but probably don’t offer more prestige than ASU. That said, I think you could get a bargain at Washington State and I personally love the atmosphere at Oregon State and recommend you check it out.
I think you stand a good chance if getting the Provost Scholarship at Davis, but even so it probably would be cost prohibitive at $55k/year or so.
One more thought to consider: I think a lot of small liberal arts colleges would LOVE you and some are more generous with aid than public universities and offer 3+2 programs in conjunction with prestigious universities (3 years at the liberal arts school plus 2 years in engineering at the linked university).
I suggest you look at top 40 ranked liberal arts schools, narrow the list to ones in locations you like that have 3+2 programs that interest you, then run Net Price Calculators to see which are affordable (and maybe research here to see which meet need/ are generous with merit aid).
A 3+2 program does mean an extra year of net cost, and financial aid at the “2” school is unknown up front, although you can run their net price calculators as well as those of the “3” schools.
But also note that making the transfer to the “2” school is uncommon for various reasons. One reason is that transfer admission may be difficult or competitive.
At some schools, admission to the “2” school is preferred/automatic, provided prerequisite and GPA requirements are satisfied — but, as you say, not common for a number of reasons.
The Carleton website has FAQs and several pages describing the process for their 3+2 partnership with WashU and related programs, just as an example: https://www.carleton.edu/engineering/about/
https://www.carleton.edu/engineering/questions/#acc1_0,acc1_1 says that 50-60 students are interested enough to get on the email list, but 0-3 actually transfer to the “2” school each year.
Check out UT Dallas and their scholarship program if you end up getting a National Merit Semi-Finalist qualifying score.
You can go out of state as long as you choose a school that has good financial aid. If you’re low income, you have a huge advantage with private schools. The best thing to do is pull out your mom’s tax returns and run the net price calculator. The list from @AustenNut is good. Check out NYU, they increased their financial aid offerings recently. Also try Wake Forest. There’s also Tulane. Also, check out Boston College and Boston University.
The good news is that if all those options fail, you can fall back on a killer scholarship at ASU.
Either way, you can’t go wrong.
Apologies for the late reply once again, but thank you all for your amazing recommendations! I admittedly wrote this in a state of panic after seeing so many qualified applicants get rejected nearly everywhere this cycle, but I’m glad to know I have solid options.
As a side note, I did end up with a 1470 on this SAT, which I’m pretty pleased with.