<p>OOS Michigan is very expensive–comparable to (or exceeds) many top LACs. Great engineering school, but very expensive if you don’t live there. You might consider Drexel–good engineering program and their semester on/semester off internship program would give him the chance to earn $$ toward his education while gaining valuable on-the-job experience.</p>
<p>How about Cooper Union (if he would like to be in NYC)</p>
<p>Does anyone have a child at RPI? Concerned about cost and social life. With a total cost of $52,000 and a 66/33 male/female ratio these factors don’t bode well for a good fit. Any comments?</p>
<p>My S goes there. They are generous with both merit aid and need based aid.</p>
<p>Average need based scholarships and grants are $22,400 and the average merit award (for someone not receiving need based aid) was $13,000. Almost all students do get need based aid or a merit award.</p>
<p>See pages 19 and 20 in the Common Data Set:</p>
<p><a href=“http://provost.rpi.edu/sites/default/files/CDS2009_2010.pdf[/url]”>http://provost.rpi.edu/sites/default/files/CDS2009_2010.pdf</a></p>
<p>As someone has previously mentioned, each high school can award a Rensselaer Medal to its top math /science student, which guarantees $15,000 a year in merit money. If interested, have your S ask his guidance counselor about the Award, as a lot of times they give it to a top student who expresses interest in RPI (or, so I have heard).</p>
<p>Yes, the ratio is something like 66/33. However, my S has made a lot of friends of both sexes and they have a little group of about 8 or 10 guys and girls who eat their meals together and hang out. I have met several of them and they are really nice kids. </p>
<p>Some of the guys at RPI tend to stay in their dorm rooms and play video games, etc. , so that helps even the odds out. My S says that if you make an effort and are friendly, it helps a lot.</p>
<p>He really likes the school, so I would recommend at least looking at it.</p>
<p>Let me know if you have any questions or if I can provide any more specific information.</p>
<p>BTW, my S also liked WPI very much. Another school to consider.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>thanks for the info. We are actually leaving to see the school today. I have also spoken to both his guidance counselor (who didn’t know anything about the RPI medal!) and the head of the science department who does. Unfortunately, my S is not the top math or sci student - he is competing against a kid who got a perfect score on the SATs! But I think it would be a good fit for my S if we can overcome the concerns I previously mentioned. Going to try to meet with the admissions adviser while we are there. </p>
<p>thank for your help - if I need any more info, I’ll take you up on your offer!</p>
<p>wolfarkas: it’s not necessary for the RPI medal student to be the top math/sci student. The guidelines are pretty vague. If a student is likely to go there and the “top” student isn’t, the guidance counselor can certainly nominate a different student.</p>
<p>Good to know - thanks!</p>
<p>How does Rice decide on merit aid for engineering? ACT/SAT my daughter scored a 34 on her ACT and has not taken the SAT yet? Does ED have an impact on the offer?</p>
<p>crl123: Lucky, lucky you we are also oos waiting to hear abou$$ from Michigan. I am thinking that since he is engineering, white,male, middle class with upper 1/3 stats, college educated parents with good jobs and no major debt…he does not have a chance. Is your s or d going to attend? My s is going regardless of the scholarship $$…we are just gonna make it work…our EFC is less than the 47K price tag anyway… GO BLUE</p>
<p>
While it’s true that you need good stats to get a Marguis Scholarship, they are offered to about 10% of the incoming class, according to their website. </p>
<p>“Scholarship recipients are typically at the top of their graduating class in the most demanding curriculum available, with SAT scores in the mid-1300s or better (Critical Reading and Math) or ACT Composite score of 31 or better.”</p>
<p>My son is in his third year at RPI, a chemical engineering major. He did not receive the Rensselaer Medal from his high school but RPI put together a generous financial aid package of merit scholarships and grant money for him each year so far. He has also taken Stafford loans and has been offered campus work study to supplement. He has elected not to do the work study as he has made enough money from summer jobs/internships to handle his expenses while at school. We agreed on this approach as it has allowed him to use his limited spare time to be involved in extracurriculars. He plays three intramural sports and gets out with his friends on a regular basis. Troy is certainly not the nicest city in many areas but the downtown area has been revitalized and there are some good restaurants down the hill from the school. My son mentions that he is aware of some crimes off campus such as muggings and thefts from cars etc but it sounds average for a city of Troy’s size. Students just need to exercise common sense as they would anywhere. My son will sometimes travel the 15 minutes to Albany for the restaurants, concerts, movies, mall shopping. But they have fun on campus too. All in all, he has made wonderful friends at RPI and has really enjoyed his time there. (Case in point, he is now officially on Spring Break but is delaying coming home until tomorrow afternoon so he can hang out with his friends tonight!)</p>
<p>In our engineering college research, Northeastern and Case and Olin are the best deal financially (unless my son decides to stay in state at CU or Mines). </p>
<p>-Northeastern has great scholarships for NMF and good scholarships for high stats </p>
<p>-Case seems to offer $20K+ if you have superb stats (see Case posts in CC). </p>
<ul>
<li>Olin used to be free tuition for all, but as stated above their endowment was hit and they nowc charge half tution …still a good deal for students OK with the tiny size. They have a Feb “Candidates Weekend” for the first-cut of student acceptanes to learn more.</li>
</ul>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/382751-usnews-2008-engineering-ranking-compilation.html?highlight=engineering+ranking+2009+electrical[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/382751-usnews-2008-engineering-ranking-compilation.html?highlight=engineering+ranking+2009+electrical</a></p>
<p>rankings</p>