Hi all,
My son is a senior this year and he has shown some interest in applying to MIT. This is completely out of my league. My husband and I both went to state schools and I don’t know the first thing about the difficulty of acceptance at this school and if it is worth the effort to do a separate college application? He wants to be an engineer.
He’s a pretty normal kid in most ways, but has tested quite well. He has a 3.75 unweighted, 4.6 weighted GPA, 35 ACT (but superscores to a 36), 800 on Physics SAT II, 780 on Math 2 SAT II. His extra curricular are choir, guitar and he was in a school play once. He works as a paid tutor at the local community college math center. He’s taken and passed 7 AP test and has 5 more on the docket for this year, including getting a 5 on AP Calculus AB, Physics 1, Statistics and 4 on APUSH, World, Government&Pol, and Eng Lang. This year he’ll take 3 more AP Physics tests, Calculus BC, and English Lit.
The other question is if he does apply and actually gets in, I don’t know if we could ever pay for it. The tuition is quite pricey and though we don’t make a lot of money, I think we probably make too much to qualify for federal financial aid.
I’m a little intimidated by the whole idea, but don’t want to hold him back.
Thanks!
The “will he get in” – who knows?
How much would it cost – answered here
https://sfs.mit.edu/access-affordability/net-price-calculator
Every college is required to have a net price calculator somewhere on their site.
Personally, I would try to expand his list to have choices between the state university and MIT so there is a range of options. See if there are schools that have more to offer than your state university without being quite as elite as MIT.
Thank you for the calculator. I’m going to use the link now. He’s got 4 options on the table right now: University of Kentucky (State school), BYU(we’re LDS so tuition would only be $5000/year), Purdue (but we’d be out of state - so tuition might be too pricey there too), and MIT. Anywhere else you think he should consider?
There is another issue to consider: MIT is academically very challenging. He should only go there if he wants to do it.
I heard Purdue offers Full ride. Your son’s stats looks pretty good. MIT’s admission is not binding so at least give it a try and decide later if you want to send him there based on the aid package?
Interesting…when I used the net price calculator for MIT, it only put our net price at $15,000/year which is actually doable. I see no reason not to let him at least apply (this was completely his idea). When/If we receive an acceptance for any of the colleges he applies to, will they give us an estimated net cost? Will we be able to compare financial aid packages, grants, scholarships, before we make a decision?
“Will we be able to compare financial aid packages, grants, scholarships, before we make a decision?”
Yes. Finances are a very important consideration for most families.
from MIT website : “Admitted students must inform MIT of their enrollment decision by May 1”. So I think you should have at least a month time to compare and consider
@newHSmom Nope. Maximum merit aid at Purdue for out of state just brings the costs down to full pay in-state prices.
@FtrEng42 The only time you don’t get a chance to compare financial aid offers is if you use a binding early decision admission plan. Be sure to read the financial aid pages of each college website carefully so you turn in all necessary information on time. Schools like MIT require more than just the FAFSA.
Depending on the institution, you will be asked to fill out certain forms (e.g. FASFA and CSS) and provide certain documentation (e.g tax returns). Link to MIT page https://sfs.mit.edu/undergraduate-financial-aid/aid-info#320 For schools that offer merit scholarships, there are likely separate forms to complete and submit. For schools that accept your son, they will provide a detailed financial aid package at that time (how much, what type). Unless you applied ED (in which case you are stuck with that school – MIT is EA), you definitely should compare packages and you might even have the opportunity to get better aid by showing a superior aid package from one school to another and asking the second school to “match”, especially if they are “peer” schools competing for similar students.
@AroundHere This is from Purdue’s website
https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2016/Q2/6-purdue-students-receive-full-ride-stamps-scholarships.html
Looks like not only covers tuition and fees, room and board, also a $10,000 enrichment fund to help cover expenses for study opportunities, such as conferences, seminars, study abroad programs, leadership training and research internships…
Try the net price calculators for some of these: RPI, WPI, Tulane, Lafayette, Case Western.
@newHSmom I was talking about the standard freshman merit scholarships. The one you linked to only went to a handful of kids so probably harder to get than admission to MIT! (Purdue accepted 27000 freshman applicants, 7000 enrolled, 2 OOS kids got this scholarship.)
Why is Purdue more popular (from what I’ve seen on this site) than UW Madison when UW Madison ranked higher per USNews…
@newHSmom Not sure really. My guesses would be:
- Football
- More marketing to OOS kids
@AroundHere Well, if a kid applies both MIT and Purdue, without full ride I don’t see Purdue could have an opportunity to entice this kid away from MIT…
@AroundHere possible. It is a bit closer to Chicago too
Some of the other schools recommended here look great. Thank you!! He’ll be home from school soon and I’ll have him look at these other options as well. To be completely honest about why his top 4 choices are his top 4: MIT I think is a dream school…something that sounds cool and elite. Purdue came to his high school (where the district gifted program is housed) and got him excited at an informational meeting, BYU is a good school, close to some extended family and inexpensive, and University of Kentucky is down the street and would almost certainly give him full tuition. He’d also get to keep the KEES in state scholarship money he earned during high school (should be about $2500/year) if he stays in state.
@FtrEng42 given your son’s accomplishments, I think he will plenty of great choices. The top 4 you listed are so disparate in geography, vibe (actually about everything). Has he ever considered and articulated what he wants out the next 4 years, academically, socially, life experience? MIT is a great (maybe it and Caltech are the best) school for kids that already know they love STEM and want to be surrounded by other STEM focused students. You won’t get the big State U experience with the sports and wide range of activities (and students). If you haven’t done so, maybe a good exercise to go through would be to go through a list of college attributes and determine which are important to begin to better focus your son’s list.
@FtrEng42 as BKSquared said, your son will have plenty of choices, if he applies to plenty of schools. That being said, he needs to understand that the probability of being admitted to MIT is extremely low. He should get into Purdue, however keep in mind that they admit on a rolling basis, so the earlier he applies the better his chance of admission. Every year, there are students with stats very similar to your son who don’t get into Purdue’s FYE program because they apply too late. So if he hasn’t applied yet, he should do so ASAP.
Good luck!