This is definitely something we’re looking at because we can’t afford to lose scholarships especially at the out of state schools. A couple of the schools on are list are a lot more lenient than others. As in 2.0 vs. 3.2
“Reach : Harvard, Princeton, Cornell, MIT, Cal Tech, Stanford. None of these schools offer merit aid, so if she gets into any of these schools the chances of us being able to afford them are very small and we will likely have to turn them down. But you never know.”
I’m confused, the first 6 colleges mentioned by the OP above are some of the most selective and prestigious colleges in the US, if not the world, and yet OPs daughter doesn’t really care where she goes to college for engineering as long as it’s affordable? I’m totally confused.
@KevinFromOC I never ever said there was anything bad about starting with cost. That’s exactly what every family should do. You were asking how to parse the list. Then you went on to say that your daughter isn’t “picky” so any old school will do. SO, why are there 40 schools on the list? That is the part I don’t get. Go with the schools with automatic merit - the ones she knows she will get into. Then have her do a little research and pick one. I continue to not understand why you are collecting all of these options if it doesn’t matter to her where she goes. You are making this search way too complicated if that’s the case. I wouldn’t even bother with the competitive merit ones. The chances are so slim. I’m not sure you’re understanding how slim.
Not sure why you have a chip on your shoulder about people who saved and have chosen to pay full price for college.
I wonder if the fact that the OP’s D going to a private prep school in MA, a HS with many of her peers presumably applying to some of the top colleges in the US with no family price restrictions has something to do with it? Wealthy kids that have majors that will only get them a “job at Starbucks” once they graduate : )
A student who needs a high end merit scholarship to afford college will be near the top of the college’s range of students in academic credentials. Probably means that the student who wants a critical mass of comparable fellow students needs to choose a larger school. However, many common courses will have a mix of students from the full range of academic achievement.
@socaldad2002 @homerdog I might be wrong but I believe I understand the goal: get into the “best” school (e.g. the one with the best ranked engineering program by US News) with a specific budget, without too much consideration for other non-essential aspects commonly referred to as “fit”. That seems a reasonable approach to me because that is basically the approach we took last year with our son.
I was that kid in HS who everyone thought was slowing things down. One teacher asked the class to go around the room and announce our SAT and “achievement test” scores (brutal and obnoxious, yes) and she nodded after everyone spoke. When she got to me her jaw literally dropped. Made me stay after class, asked me to my face if I had cheated. My parents found that hilarious.
It would amuse me greatly if anyone avoided my college once they found out I was going there. And truth be told- I had a rough first semester. The prep school kids (like the OP’s D) were MUCH better prepared than I was. They went to office hours, they hung out after class to ask the professor follow up questions. Me? I had spent HS avoiding adults (which was the culture at my HS, I was not an outlier in that).
But slow but steady wins the race. I graduated magna cum laude, I won a major award for a paper I wrote as an independent study, I’ve had to prove my mettle over decades in a professional and competitive environment.
Just saying- there’s more than one type of intellect. And I am forever grateful that my college took a chance on me and saw something where I wasn’t the obvious “kid who gets it the fastest”.
@NJEngineerDad But all of the time I see posters saying that, as long as the engineering program is accredited, it doesn’t matter where the student gets that degree. So looking for the “best” engineering school doesn’t really matter? Maybe I’m wrong on that.
@homerdog I think it is a difficult question to answer. My opinion is that it matters to a certain extent, but not enough to justify paying more than one can easily afford. And that is why we let our son apply to a wide cast of engineering schools last year with the clear understanding of what our budget was (and made sure he applied to a few financial safeties). Was it a total waste to let him apply at Cornell and Carnegie Mellon that he eventually had to turn down? Maybe, but at least like that he knows where he stands academically. And we know for sure that we did not pass on an opportunity (there are unsubstantiated rumors that Carnegie Mellon has a handful of merit scholarships available).
College matters. Major matters. But they don’t matter nearly as much as the student herself/himself. Furthermore, no student is guaranteed good jobs or a happy life, no matter what college s/he went to or what s/he majored in.
@homerdog - My D had an early rolling admission acceptance from an ABET accredited regional school in early October. Worth it’s weight in gold as she said, “no matter what, now I know I can be an engineer.” Kids coming out of that school have multiple job offers and it’s a well respected program with employers in the area. I’ve said it before on CC and I’ll say it again, H’s company had an Alabama engineer beat out students from MIT and the Ivies for a position. A smart, hardworking kid is going to be successful wherever they go. We were fortunate that our daughter could choose base on fit but if we were in OP’s position, D would have chosen one of the schools that offered her a lot of merit money and wouldn’t have looked back.
I am certain OP’s daughter is going to do well where ever she lands. I imagine she can advocate for herself quite well with self discipline and internal motivation. I, too would take the easy AUTO merit and not look back.
@KevinFromOC
Looks like your daughter made the cut for NMSF in California with an SI of 222!!
That opens up new great scholarships opportunities…
Actually, my S did in 2014 - in part because he was chasing merit $$$! Mines was definitely a contender, and would have been even more so had he gotten one of their full-rides. BU I don’t think he even got Honors College, much less much merit $$$. Like lots of folks, we cast a wide net. One never knows …
I thought she had to meet the MA one since that’s where she tested?
“Go with the schools with automatic merit - the ones she knows she will get into…I wouldn’t even bother with the competitive merit ones. The chances are so slim. I’m not sure you’re understanding how slim.”
This shows a complete lack of understanding of competitive merit scholarships. They are not all like the UVA Jefferson or Duke Robertson scholarship. A student like OP’s D has an excellent chance of securing a competitive merit scholarship, potentially even a full ride, if she chooses wisely and works hard on a decent number of applications.
I really don’t know how someone who hasn’t been through the process of casting a wide net for competitive merit, and didn’t need to worry about the cost of college, has any basis to assert that “the chances are so slim”. We barely dipped our toes in those waters and still found a number of opportunities, and would have been pretty insulted if someone had told us (wrongly as it turned out) not to bother applying for competitive merit because it was unlikely to work out.
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/1684738/national-merit-semifinalist-process-for-boarding-school-students/. its explained well in this link (assuming nothing has changed).
What was the Massachusetts cutoff for NMF?
@KevinFromOC what %age if kids at your daughters boarding school are NOT from Massachusetts?
My thinking here is that while @KevinFromOC daughter might not care where she attends college, clearly Kevin does. If he didn’t care, those six reach schools would be OFF the list. The kid would be applying to affordable early admission or rolling safety schools…and she would be done!
First, my apologies to anyone who took offence to some of my remarks - that was definitely not my intention. My intention was satire, not snark.
I very much agree with @OHMomof2 who said “I hope we all know that any motivated student can turn any major into a successful career.” I have worked with smart motivated workers who spent their college years in Vietnam instead of a university and I’ve worked with unmotivated brilliant ones with Ph.Ds. I’ll take the former over the latter any day. In my example, the student in question was definitely not motivated, and hurt her future even more with her choice of major.
Nearly all of the comments on this thread are invaluable, and are having a big impact on schools to consider. A couple “woulda coulda shoulda” or unhelpful (from my perspective) ones got me a little frustrated. Couple that with my mom’s passing Monday morning and having to take care of most of the arrangements, and well, let’s just say internal tensions have been high.
I shall endeavor to stick to the topic and try not to get distracted. Now, to that end… I’m looking at deadlines. The colleges’ websites would have you believe that everyone who applies by their early deadline of X will be considered equally for merit aid. But, according to several commenters here, that’s not really the case - earlier is much better and gives you a better shot at merit aid (despite what the websites claim)
Many schools have early deadlines for merit aid around Nov 1. Others are Dec 1, and yet others are Jan 1. Georgia Tech seems to be the earliest with Oct 15. We’re hoping to submit applications about a month earlier than the EA/merit aid deadline, give or take a week.
Some applications (such as Colorado School of Mines) are very easy, others require a lot of work.
The schools with deadlines of Nov 1 or sooner are : Georgia Tech, ASU, Miami Ohio, CSOM, Virginia, Pitt, Northeastern, Maryland, Rose Hulman, Ohio State, Purdue, Utah, and Delaware (and maybe early action at Cal Tech). We’re shooting to apply to about half of those, and when that’s done focus on the next set of schools with deadlines of Nov 15 or Dec 1 (which are : Both Alabamas, South Carolina, Tulane, the 3 UCs, Kentucky, USC, BU, Vanderbilt, IIT, and Rice).
Question (Using my Dwight Schrute voice) : With the common app, I assume you can apply to colleges one at a time, and still be able to update the common app with new information that would then go to any schools after that point (while the previously applied schools would still reflect the old information). I ask this in case we apply to a school or two before we get her NHRP official notification (I’m still paranoid that we didn’t dot an “i” or something), or if a miracle happens and the National Merit cutoff is reduced by a point.
Oh for heavens sake. Do the Alabama application now. It takes all of 20 minutes…and that includes the scholarship application. It will be done! DONE. And you will have a decision with aid within a few weeks.
I just can’t imagine why you would wait. Get it done.
Re: Pitt. If your daughter is really interested in merit money…do that one as soon as it’s live for submission. It might be already. The school has rolling admissions…and merit awards are sent with acceptances…so money does get allocated to the early birds. So be one.