First I want to say thanks to anyone who takes the time to read this and then give their opinion, I appreciate anyone trying to help. Here are my options:
FSU - accepted
Auburn - accepted, presidential scholarship
Clemson - accepted, presidential scholarship
Stanford - denied
Georgia Tech - pending
Florida - pending (very confident)
I am pretty much in between Clemson and UF. I love the size and family feel at Clemson, their engineering program is structured in a way that makes a lot of sense, and their colors are cool LOL. UF: good school that’s close to home and good price.
UF would be 10-15k less per year. I’m not gonna be in student loan debt either way but my parents will drop me some cash if I go to UF.
I probably won’t get into UF honors but I feel good about getting into Calhoun at Clemson and maybe getting a little bit more scholarship money.
If anyone is wondering about my scores and stuff:
ACT - 33
GPA weighted -4.5
unweighted - 3.9
Class Rank (weighted) ~ 20/510
Have a job and captain of varsity tennis team.
My main interest right now is mechanical and automotive engineering. Open to other options once I get there though.
What are yall’s thoughts on where I should go? Thanks! 
In state at Florida?
Yes sir, I live in Jacksonville. With Bright Futures and Florida Pre-paid it is very hard to pass up. I just like Clemson more is what I am trying to convey. Does anyone think it’s worth the cost.
Calhoun Honors does not qualify you for additional scholarship money unless you are selected for the National Scholars Program which is extremely competitive . They usually have SAT scores of at least 1500, ACT scores of above 35 and graduate in the top 1% of their class.
UF is very good school and you will be fine with either of the schools. I would go to UF and save 60K.
Save the money and go to UF.
Their website says you’re wrong and that over 30% of honors college students get private scholarships donated from alumni. @ carolinamom2boys
As someone whose someone whose son was accepted to Clemson Calhoun Honors with higher stats than yours last year, I can assure you I’m not wrong.
UF. Save the money. This is a no-brainer. Your parents might be able to afford the difference all four years, but then again, they might not. Things happen. Take the $ they offer you and SAVE IT. (I say this knowing how unlikely it is, but hey, I did say it.)
I understand wanting to go farther away; really I do. I went to college in Charleston, UF for grad school (family is in Central Florida), and S.C. is a good distance - close enough for weekend visits but not so close you feel like you never left.
Jacksonville just feels too close to G’ville - I understand.
But UF has a solid rep. The Gator Nation networking is pretty phenomenal. And you’re close enough to go home to do your laundry if money’s tight.
UF, it doesn’t make much sense to spend that much more for Clemson (engineering), unless the money is trivial for your family.
With a 33 ACT and 3.9/4.5 GPA, you are competitive for UF"s honor’s program. It’s all about that essay…
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Clemson - accepted, presidential scholarship
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the net cost at Clemson, even after the Presidential, is still quite high. Are your parents saying that they’ll pay for all the remaining costs at Clemson even though Florida would be so much cheaper?
I would not be confident about Calhoun honors and/or merit with an ACT 33 unless they’re now accepting more students. When my son was accepted years ago, the honors program was quite small and very hard to get into…I think it accepted the top 2% back then.
@mom2collegekids Calhoun Honors takes about 200 students , and you’re correct in that it is competitive for admission. Many high stats kids with great ECs are shut out. My son was also accepted last year. It certainly isn’t easy.
@carolinamom2boys
Agreed. When my son was accepted to Calhoun (years ago), it was very hard to get in, even then. I can’t remember if Clemson said the successful applicants had to be top 2% of their high school class…or top 2% of Clemson freshman. My son had higher stats than the OP, was NMF, and Val of his class.
My daughter received her acceptance letter to Clemson with only a $7,500 dollar Scholarship. She has the following and I was amazed that Clemson is her number one choice that has offered her the least amount.
ACT - 30 (waiting on December Scores)
GPA weighted -4.5
unweighted - 3.9
Class Rank 10/93
She has applied to Calhoun Honors College as well. We live in Louisiana. She is hoping she will be offered more money to Clemson compared to what the other colleges have offered her.
What is the Presidential Scholarship?
How much is the Presidential Scholarship at Clemson? The website makes it difficult to tell.
Regardless, though, it’s probably not worth it to spend $40-60K more to go there when you have UF. UF is great!
@juillet The presidential scholarship is typically 15,000( or it was last year). @momcollege2017 The reason why your daughter was offered 7500.00 was most likely due to her ACT score and rank. In the past , the cut off for a higher scholarship was 32 , SAT 1440 .Admission into Clemson has gotten more and more selective over the past several years . Acceptance into Calhoun even more so . Also, acceptance into Calhoun in and of itself does not guarantee additional scholarship money. Clemson is not like Bama and some other schools that offer an automatic amount for test score and GPA, rank is factored in. She is currently ranked in the top 11% of her class. From what I’ve seen in posts this year, even high stats, high ranking students are being offered around 10,000. If you go back and look at posts from last year in the Colleges and Universities section of this website, you’ll see that her offer is consistent with previous ones offered to students with similar stats.
My kid turned down Stanford and a very generous offer from USoCa last year to attend UF. She loves it. Has a research position as a freshman, and has actually made money going to college. Clemson is a great school, fun beautiful campus and all that, but UF has a ton to offer its students. Good luck with whatever you chose! (I also second the value of being close to home.)
We ran the numbers on Clemson, even with a decent merit award (it wasn’t the Presidential though) and it wasn’t anywhere close to the value that you get from UF.
I wanted Clemson to work because (besides being a good school) it’s very close to my side of the family, business connections of H, and it’s in a beautiful area. But it just flat out didn’t make sense compared to UF.
Gators, hands down, barring some circumstance we don’t know about and if you can afford to blow through the added cost with absolutely no effect on you or your parents’ lives.
@carolinamom2boys yes I see that and Clemson will defintely be off of her list because OOS tuition with her scholarship is right at $40,000 and I would never allow my child to take out student loans for her No. 1 school when more schools have offered her more money.
Clemson can be a tough go unless willing to pay a lot for OOS. Clemson’s OOS tuition is higher than many other flagships, yet it often gives smaller merit than other schools.
I can’t remember the exact amount that Clemson offered my son (back in 2007), but even with their highest award at the time, Clemson would have been more expensive than any other OOS public that he applied to.
@momcollege2017 where else did your DD apply and what awards has she gotten?