I wouldn’t risk it at BU but there is a potential for five years whereever she goes. What type of engineering? Maybe Civil or Industrial would be an O’k risk.
What area of eng’g?
Are you instate for Pitt?
It’s rarely necessary to pay much for eng’g. Companies don’t pay you more.
We paid nearly nothing for younger son’s ChemE degree (nearly all merit). He could have walked into a starting position at $85k per year if he hadn’t gone to med school instead.
She is leaning towards mechanical with an interest in mechatronics. We are out of state and the cost of Pitt would be a little over $40K all in. A 25K differential is significant. For us the financial no-brainer would be SUNY Buffalo, but I would like her to have more options than that.
I would choose WPI or RPI over BU if you want to spend that much. Also UMass Amherst would probably only cost you 30k a year with a 12k scholarship.
We are looking into WPI. DD didn’t like RPI, but liked RIT and University of Rochester, along with Pitt and BU. I will mention UMass to DD. Thanks.
And look at UMass Amherst. It is great for engineering and they have mechatronics and robotics. Amherst is a top college town. It can be difficult to get into engineering though (more difficult than UCONN)
Stony Brook?
Hey there, I’m going into aerospace engineering with a full ride NMF scholarship with a GPA requirement of 3.5. Yes, it’s crazy, but I have a sizable number of transfer credits that will make it so I can mostly take 15 unit semesters and graduate in 4 years. I will certainly not be taking 18 unit semesters. I am planning to study my azz off to keep that GPA, and if I’m not understanding something in a class, I’m not afraid to ask for help. I’ll camp out at my teachers’ office hours and/or find tutors if need be. It’s a great opportunity, and from what I hear at the school, there’s only been 1 person that lost the scholarship in all the years they’ve been giving it, and that had to do with music and band, nothing to do with engineering.
Yes, it will be hard. Engineering is hard, no matter how you slice it. But is it possible? YES. It has to be.
@ucbalumnus That is my alma mater. While I had some good experiences there IMO the school has some serious drawbacks regarding quality of teaching as well as a large portion of the study body going back to their homes on Long Island for the weekend.
Well, see what her SAT will be, 5% class rank is great, maybe she will even get some merit from some of the schools on her list, bringing cost down to less than 50% of BU.
The problem with most engineering majors is that there is a set sequence of courses for the first two to three years. There generally is no real flexibility to lighten your load or drop a course (or pass/fail) that is hurting your gpa without seriously hindering your ability to graduate on time. The first year is often 17-18 credits due to labs. Labs could add 3 hours each (not including the write-ups) to the class time each week, The first year can be tough if you are not a strong student with good study habits.
Is it doable. Sure but it does add stress knowing that you need a certain GPA.
The other thing to consider is that things happen. Kids get sick/injured which could impact the GPA. Can’t dwell on it but if losing a scholarship means leaving the school it has to be considered.
That is surprising to me - in my experience a required GPA is the norm rather than the exception for large merit scholarships.
Strategy is very important. Also realizing that the vast majority of professors, though they give a hoot, cannot do ANYTHING about a “bad grade”, especially after a semester ends. We are seen as uncaring, but the problem is overload - everybody has a reason that they “messed up” and “need a second chance”. Some are athletes with a minimum GPA according to the NCAA. Some will lose financial aid. Some will lose scholarships. Some were out sick for a while but no doctor’s note. It all is the same to me, and the answer is “why didn’t you see me during the semester?”
- Make sure she has a balance of engineering classes and electives each semester.
- Make sure she is proactive asking for help and doing assignments early in case she has questions.
- She should find a study group as soon as possible, and use any department or university resources for study sessions before exams.
If she looks at what she is gaining from this scholarship, it will be worth it. But if she schedules herself too tough for one semester, it may be difficult to get up to a 3.2.
Your DD might not have liked RPI, but they have no GPA requirement to maintain merit aid - just don’t get thrown out. The more schools she can compare, and note their merit aid/scholarship requirements, the better decision she can make.
FWIW, I had a 3.4 GPA first semester freshman year in engineering with no electives. I got over it 
My advice is never to assume past performance is an indication of future results.
@BobWallace - WPI and University of Rochester consider academic probation to be a trigger for cancellation of a meri scholarship (with a semester probation period). RIT has a 2.8 GPA cutoff but penalizes the recipient by reducing the award and if you bring your performance back up the full amount is restored.
These all seem fairer than BU’s policy.
@rhandco - you got over a 3.4 GPA? 
I started with a 3.4 GPA at Penn, calc 1, physics 1, a few others I can’t recall but all science and math.
Then I crashed (2.3?) in the spring.
Managed a 2.7 GPA overall, a few Ds, one in a class where I didn’t have the pre-requisite due to the advisor (okay, me too) messing up.
@smokinact This is directly from Rochester’s web site: “Students who receive annual scholarships of $15,000 or more have a GPA requirement of 3.0.”
It is a little risky for engineering major.
@Bobwallace - thanks - for U or R I was looking at a more general page.