I really don't have a clue(engineering)

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi, I'm very new to this, so please tell me if I break standard practice in some way. I need some help with your where to apply. Here is all my info/back story.
Class rank: 34/517
Act: 34
GPA :4.29/3.73(weighted/unweighted)
SAT subject scores: 740-math II, 710-physics
Clubs: real world design challenge, German club, ski and snowboard club
Sports: Lacrosse (was club, but was wondering of the it to. Be a school team). I also longboard and snowboard, but just recreationally.</p>

<p>Okay, now that all of that is out of the way, on with the show. I live in the Chicago suburbs. I want to go to school for mechanical engineering. The logical choice is to go to U of I, where my sister goes. However, I really want to spread my figurative wings and flee the coup that is the Midwest. I don't feel like a technical institute is the place for me either. While I have some good scores, I am not one to put forth 100% in school, or even remotely close to that. However, I'm also not much of a partier. I like having time to myself to just do my own thing and think, which is be why I like snowboarding and longboarding so much. </p>

<p>Now, on top of this, I can't just go to any school. With a sister in school, and divorced parents, they are straight up pay for Cornell or other private schools. While both work and my dad makes enough that financial aid probably won't happen from schools on the CSS instead of the FAFSA(live with mom), they still can't abandon their lives and on pay for my schooling. It would be selfish of me to expect them to do so much. </p>

<p>Anyways, so there you have it. I'm looking for schools with decent enough engineering programs that are enormous, preferably in a scenic area of the country, and give merit aid hopefully. </p>

<p>Also, I have AP classes and volunteer hours and stuff, but it seemed a little extraneous. </p>

<p>Thank you very much, in advance, for both your time and help.</p>

2

<p>Well, have you asked your parents how much they will pay each year?</p>

<p>As for less expensive…</p>

<p>Alabama gets a good number of Illinois students because of its great scholarships. You would get free tuition, plus 2500 per year for eng’g. Your remaining costs would be about $13k per year (see why many Illinois kids go to Bama…half the cost of instate UIUC).</p>

<p>Alabama has an awesome new Science and Eng’g Complex. 900,000 sq ft of new academic STEM space. Beautiful and state of the art. The state is home to Cummings Research Park, the second largest Research Park in the nation…so lots of STEM jobs, internships, co-ops, etc. </p>

<p>The campus is GORGEOUS, the academics are strong, and the people are friendly. Bama is nearing 50% OOS with students from all 50 states. I think Illinois is about #7 in sending students to Bama. don’t worry, you’d still be spreading your wings, but you would likely run into a IL student or two…which can be nice for carpooling, etc, back home.</p>

<p>Here’s a video and pics about the school…
[The</a> University of Alabama College of Arts & Sciences “This is How College is Meant to Be” - YouTube](<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube)</p>

<p><a href=“Titanium Chef | Home”>Titanium Chef | Home;

<p>Pics of the new Science & Engineering Complex begin on page 6, Student housing pics begin on page 12.*</p>

<p>Visit the Alabama forum on College Confidential…it is VERY active.*
[University</a> of Alabama - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-alabama/]University”>University of Alabama - College Confidential Forums)</p>

3

<p>^^^snowboarding might be difficult in Alabama ;)</p>

<p>You didn’t mention how rigorous your HS classes were. It affects how they will judge your GPA.
Consider schools near ski areas where your scores/gpa put you above the norm in order to get merit aid. It is still unlikely that you would get a lot of merit aid, most schools that have it will offer 10 or 15K to lure in the best students. That may not be enough for you to attend. Clarkson, Syracuse, RIT, U.Rochester, UNH, UVM, WPI, RPI…</p>

4

<p>lol…yes, I missed the snowboarding part. </p>

<p>That said, I’m not sure how often an eng’g college kid has time to snowboard. I know my eng’g son couldn’t even attend full home games. He’d arrive at half-time and just see the last two quarters. Homework, projects, lab work, studying took too much time. </p>

<p>This student says that he’s not one to put 100% towards school. Well, in eng’g, he’s going to find that it’s a LOT tougher than high school. A LOT tougher. And the first year or so are WEED OUT semesters…to weed out the ones who can’t/won’t do the work. </p>

<p>I’m not saying that there would never be time to snowboard, but if doing so would only be a couple of times per year no matter where he went to school, students do go up to Tenn for skiing, etc.</p>

<p>(how much snowboarding is in Chicago suburbs or near UIUC? Where do you go snowboarding?)</p>

5

<p>

Be sure to pick colleges that have majors you want once you are no longer in engineering. The workload is intense to get thru an engineering major. It is common to spend 7-10 hours per week studying for each math/science class, and you’ll be taking 3 or 4 of them at a time. Add on the time it takes to write up labs.</p>

<p>Talk to any current engineering student if you don’t believe me about the workload. Frankly, from what you’ve written, you’re not going to last out the 1st year as an engineering major.</p>

6

<p>Ok…the student naturally has the smarts to do well in eng’g. He’s not one of these ACT 22 2.5 GPA students looking to go into eng’g. </p>

<p>But…this is the time that he needs to make an important decision. If he TRULY wants to be an engineer (not just cuz the pay is good…lol), then he has to commit to the fact that he’s going to have devote a LOT more time to academics than as a high schooler. Maybe this year, his final senior year, can be a test year. I know that Senioritis will set in and all, but the student can use this year to evaluate whether he has the self-discipline to devote time to an eng’g major. </p>

<p>MechE is tough. Lots of Math, Chemistry, Physics with Calc, and of course, the eng’g classes and labs. These aren’t for those who take coursework lightly. You don’t want to emerge with some crappy GPA which employers will run from. </p>

<p>My own son was a Chemical Eng’g major, which is similarly academically demanding to MechE. He was also premed, so his grades were super important since med schools expect/demand high GPAs. </p>

<p>Did he have some fun in college, yes. But, he knew that he had to devote a large portion of his “non-class-time” to academics. He’s schedule his study time in a way that he’d still have a few hours of fun on a Saturday (take in a bit of the home football game or go to a party for a few hours). </p>

<p>You’re a high IQ kid, no doubt. BUT, if you went to a high school that didn’t require much homework or studying to get good grades, then you’re going to be in for a SHOCK when you get into eng’g classes. </p>

<p>If you were able to spend many high school winter weekends driving to the mountains for a day of snowboarding, then you’re going to find that’s not likely possible as an eng’g major.</p>

7

<p>If you love beautiful scenery and outdoor activities close-by, and want to escape the midwest, you may want to check out these schools:</p>

<p>University of Arizona
New Mexico Tech
Embry-Riddle Prescott
NAU
Colorado School of Mines
Utah State</p>

<p>I can’t speak for any east coast schools since I’m relatively unfamiliar with them (however, the west coast is better anyway :wink: )</p>

8

<p>You need to find out how much your parents will contribute. Different amounts will result in different sets of schools that are available. For example, at $30,000 per year, a fair number of out-of-state public schools could be affordable at list price, or with adding just a direct loan or some work earnings. But if their contribution is $10,000 per year, you probably need at least full tuition worth of scholarships and/or financial aid grants. If their contribution is $0, you need close to a full ride (maximum realistic student contribution tends to be around $10,000 per year if you take direct loans and contribute a reasonable expectation of work earnings).</p>

9

<p>U of I is a fine school and if money is a consideration, you may not be able to beat it. There are many ways to spread your wings even if you stay in-state. Find new activities that interest you. Meet new people. Try something different as a club sport. Take a year (or a semester or a summer) abroad or at another school in another part of the country etc.</p>

10

<p>U of I is a fine school and if money is a consideration, you may not be able to beat it</p>

<p>UIUC may be instate, but its price is very high. With this student’s stats, he could beat UIUC’s price if he looked at schools where the merit is generous.</p>

11

<p>Okay, thanks for all of your help. It seems that a bit more information is required. To start with what is relevant, I go to a very high achieving public high school in the Chicago suburbs. As far as classes go, I ran out of high school math classes, so this year I’m taking multi variable calculus through North Central College in Naperville, IL. Only about 18 students from my class of over 500 are in it. I’m also in AP Statistics, AP Physics C, and Intro to Engineering and design. In the past few years, I took AP us history, AP chemistry, AP macroeconomics, CADD, 3D Design and Animation, as well as the fact that I’m currently in AP German. I was named honors physics student of the year last year, as well as receiving awards for technical education student of the month and being a North Star(school citizenship award). I have easily over 200, maybe 250 hours of volunteering in my schools nurses office. On top of this, I have been working as a soccer ref since I was 12. </p>

<p>But still, even with all of that and stuff, I am a hardcore procrastinator. Everything gets done, just not on the smartest timeframe. I really don’t know how much my parents are willing to pay, but regardless, I intend to pay them back after school. </p>

<p>Also, my dad told me to look at Alabama as well. He was trained as an electrical engineer, but now works as a project manager at BP. He could probably cover my whole education if he wanted to, but I wouldn’t let him do it. The guaranteed merit scholarships are very nice, but I can’t find as much on the quality of their current program. </p>

<p>And yes, snowboarding probably won’t happen because of limited time in a day, but a kid can dream.</p>

12

<p>*Also, my dad told me to look at Alabama as well. He was trained as an electrical engineer, but now works as a project manager at BP. He could probably cover my whole education if he wanted to, but I wouldn’t let him do it. The guaranteed merit scholarships are very nice, but I can’t find as much on the quality of their current program. *</p>

<p>Arrange for your dad and you to come down and visit. You have the stats for the Honors College and they can arrange your day after you take a campus tour (schedule that for the morning). The HC will arrange for you to meet with eng’g profs, honors college profs, tour the new Science and Eng’g Complex, etc. </p>

<p>first set up the campus tour online…try for an early morning time! </p>

<p>In the email to the Honors College recruiters include:</p>

<p>Student’s name and contact info</p>

<p>Date and time of the Campus tour that you’ve reserved.</p>

<p>GPA and test scores (include likely NMSF if applicable)</p>

<p>Likely majors*</p>

<p>Career interests (including med, law, etc)</p>

<p>Anything particular that you want to see. *If you have an interest in seeing the new Science and Engineering Complex, let them know.</p>

<p>Honors Recruitment
Allison Verhine
Coordinator
269 Nott Hall
205-348-5534
<a href=“mailto:allison.verhine@ua.edu”>allison.verhine@ua.edu</a></p>

<p>Susan Alley
Assistant Coordinator
270 Nott Hall
205-348-5599
<a href=“mailto:susan.alley@ua.edu”>susan.alley@ua.edu</a></p>

<p>Allison and her assistant will arrange the rest of the day…meeting with faculty, honors people, touring honors dorms, touring the Engineering Complex, etc.</p>

<p>Sometimes mail goes to their SPAM folders, so call them if you haven’t heard back within a few business days. These ladies do an excellent job and work very hard</p>

13

<p>Really, thank you all for your help. I feel like UA may be a good place for me. I’m working to schedule a visit right now. </p>

<p>Anyways, does anyone have any more suggestions? My mom doesn’t believe that their program has improved as much as my dad thinks it has. He’s an engineer and she’s a librarian, so it should be pretty clear whose opinion means more, but I digress. She thinks I could go somewhere better that UA but below my original goals of Berkeley and Cornell(even if I got in, I’d be an average student over my head in debt) and still receive substancial merit aid. She also said that they(the parental units) are willing to pay for UIUC or of a similar cost if I’m getting as good of an education. I can rationalize Alabama because of the $106,000 scholarship(full tuition plus 2500 for engineering). So what I got out of that is that the school needs to cost less than UIUC(assume no merit or financial aid) after merit aid, because there are not many schools that have engineering for a similar price at that caliber of school. I just don’t have the corn fetish required to keep sanity at UIUC. </p>

<p>Sent from my PantechP8010 using Tapatalk</p>

14

<p>Look in the financial aid and scholarships section for the sticky threads at the top for automatic and competitive full tuition and full ride scholarships. The automatic ones can provide safety candidates (including Alabama); if you like any of the competitive ones more than your safeties, you can try for those as well.</p>

15

<p>My son is also from the Chicago area. We just recently took a trip down to University of Alabama to check out the campus. He has already been accepted to both chemical engineering and the Honors college. UA was not his first choice. He liked UIUC (crazy tuition even for in state), and has been accepted to ASU, Minnesota, Tulane, and a few others. Howeve, financially, UA is his best choice. The campus is great and their engineering program is really trying to move up to compete with the Michigans, Illinois, Minnesota’s. They aren’t there yet, but from talking to the professors and doing a little research, I think they will get there. The school offers a ton of opportunities. Research as a Freshman, Coop, study abroad, and an exchange with other Universities for summer research. Honors dorms are incredible, new rec center being built near the dorms. And the new engineering complex is phenomenal. Another benefit of going to UA is that after receiving your degree, you won’t be 100K in debt as many students from other schools will. Good luck with your search.</p>

16

<p>University of Alabama to check out the campus. He has already been accepted to both chemical engineering and the Honors college</p>

<p>My son graduated with a Chem Eng’g degree from Bama last May. Although he went to med school, his ChemE friends who graduated with him were all immediately employed with very high paying jobs upon graduation.</p>

17

<p>Second RIT, U of Rochester and WPI. RPI is great but pricey. U of Minnesota-Twin Cities. </p>

<p>Also, since you seem to have a full throttle attitude (LOL) about snow skiing, take a look at South Dakota School of Mines & Technology. You won’t find the Lax Bro vibe there but it’s a very friendly campus amidst the great outdoors. Go skiing in the nearby Black Hills. Its reputation for engineering is excellent; just ask Boeing Company, 3M, Dupont, Dow Chemical etc.</p>