White female US citizen NJ resident, 1st in class at competitive magnet STEM public, 1590 SAT, varsity athlete but hasn’t pursued recruitment, awarded two fully funded prestigious summer engineering programs. Will apply to Rutgers, but seeking suggestions for good engineering schools that might award full tuition or even full rides. Prefer to remain in the Northeast but open to other areas. Prefer schools that offer a full complement of liberal arts majors in addition to engineering. I think is NMF.
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She might be competitive for the Stamps presidential scholarship (full ride) at Georgia Tech. It’s a long shot for everyone but worth a try. Students who apply early are automatically considered.
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Or northeast but Alabama you’ll go for near free tuition wise as you would at UAH. At Alabama, you’d get $30,500 off at least vs $32k tuition. My son was inundated with interviews and 5 offers in the Fall.
Don’t forget, most every college has liberal arts regardless of if they are LACs.
But for the Northeast, you might find schools that are male dominated (ie need females) such as RPI or schools that have ABET approved engineering such as Union or Bucknell.
But short of scholarships like the Jefferson at UVA or Presidential at SMU, you’ll likely have to go South or perhaps Midwest like WVU or Miami to get big money. Avoid schools, such as W&L, that are not ABET accredited.
Is there a specific discipline of engineering ?
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From a quick look, union gives max 30k merit, which still would be 50k a year. Same goes for bucknell. U Va good suggestion.
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This list from Prepscholar of colleges that have full ride scholarships might be helpful. Not all of them offer engineering - but many of them do such as Duke, Vandy. Wash U, U of Rochester, BU etc.
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Does she have a chance at National Merit?
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The issue with full merit is the likelihood or lack thereof so they can be chased with the expectation that they won’t happen.
Then to go low you need the auto merit schools depending on whether or not they’d be preferable vs Rutgers.
WPI offers a few full rides, is a great project based engineering school, and actively manages admissions to keep the M:F ratio close to 50:50. I’d certainly look there.
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Would Rutgers (or other NJ publics) be affordable without the large scholarships applicants can compete for? Or is there a price limit that requires a merit scholarship for them to be affordable?
Is she looking for automatic-for-stats (or NMF if she has it) large scholarships (i.e. safeties) or competitive large scholarships (i.e. usually reaches) to add to the list?
Unweighted HS GPA?
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In the NE, the University of Maine also offers merit scholarships that could benefit the student, especially if the student is NMSF, here: 23-24 First Year Out of State Merit Scholarships - Undergraduate Admissions - University of Maine
The University of Massachusetts – Lowell has some merit scholarship for OOS students (although I can’t tell whether the student would qualify for the top end), here: Scholarships for First-Year Students | My Financial Aid | The Solution Center | UMass Lowell.
The University of Buffalo (SUNY system) has merit scholarships available, but I could not discern how much the student might qualify for, here: Scholarships | Undergraduate Admissions | University at Buffalo.
Outside of the NE, look at University of Alabama – Huntsville, where the student would likely get significant merit aid from the school, here: UAH - Admission & Aid - Freshman Out-of-State Academic Scholarships. If the student is NMF, then there is a possibility of a full ride at UAH, here: UAH - Admission & Aid - Freshmen. UAH also has competitive scholarships in specific fields, including engineering, here: UAH - Admission & Aid - Find a Scholarship.
At the University of Mississippi, the student appears to qualify for a scholarship that covers OOS tuition plus the cost of a double occupancy room, here: https://finaid.olemiss.edu/scholarships/#8
I hope that this is helpful.
Most of the big merit / auto-merit schools are down south. If you want to stay in the northeast, Rutgers and TCNJ are probably your best bets. Rutgers gives up to $15k a year getting you $15-16k a year.
UMD has a great engineering program and provides a few full ride scholarships - but they’re very competitive.
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The secret, if you have to have that level of assistance to go to college, is to pick a few automerit schools that you like where you know you’ll get the assistance you’ll need. Then pick a few that you also like where that level of aid is possible, but not guaranteed. Don’t fall in love with any of them and see where the chips fall.
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If a full ride is necessary, here are some potential safeties, depending on GPA:
U of Delaware has a few competitive full ride or full tuition scholarships. Check out Rowan for engineering as well. Probably an easier admit than Rutgers and has merit with a less spread out campus.
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Temple has some big merit awards. BU has merit up to full tuition. Fordham too. Super-reach possibilities include Vanderbilt, Duke, Washu, and Rice. Is she NMSF?
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How does the GPA matter if the person is ranked first in their year in a good competitive magnet suburban STEM school in Northern NJ? And yes, Rutgers in state is affordable - this is the safety, both academically and financially. The idea is to find a better deal at a good engineering school at a college or U that also offers a full spectrum of liberal arts majors. Hence the request for such offering potential full ride or full tuition merit. And preferably northeast, although Virginia would currently be okay, too.
(Almost) every college offers liberal arts. So that won’t be an issue but finishing timely with engineering may be - depending on how many credits the student walks in with.
GPA matters in regards to schools with auto-merit but if you’re not willing to go South, Midwest, or West, it won’t matter. In other words, an Arizona has an award for UW GPA - 4.0, 3.9, 3.75, etc.
So if you’re a 3.6 but ranked #1, you’re still a 3.6.
I don’t know of any school in the NE that can get you to your desire - short of a school that offers a full tuition such as BU - but will be near impossible to get.
Hopefully someone does though…
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Virginia tech also has a stamps scholarships program. Here are the bios of last year’s winners. Virginia Tech does seem to value service to the community. It’s their motto “Ut Prosim - That I May Serve”
https://honorscollege.vt.edu/studentstories/Incoming2022StampsScholars.html
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UMD BK scholarship.
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Have you looked at the Common Data Set for schools you are considering? Many state that Academic GPA is very important and that class rank is less of a factor.
I know nothing about Rutgers, but a quick glance indicates that the schools have different priorities.
New Brunswick - GPA, test scores and course rigor are very important. Extra-curriculars are important. Class rank and essay are considered.
Newark - GPA and rigor are very important, essay is important, test scores and class rank are considered.
Camden - GPA and rigor are very important, extra-curriculars, talent/ability and class rank are important, test scores and essay are considered.