<p>My son is a rising senior and is interested in math, science, and engineering. We are one of those families that might or might not get financial aid so we need to have good financial backups as well as admission safeties. He prefers small classes and also wants a school with good liberal arts. Open to different locations but wants liberal atmosphere. He is a non-conformist type.
Here are some stats:
2400 SAT
234 PSAT (will be NMF)
800s on Chem, Math 2 and Latin SAT
780 World History SAT
3.92 GPA unweighted
5s on AP Chem and Psych
Senior yr sched is AP English, AP Calc BC, Honors Physics, AP US Gov, AP Latin, AP Japanese.
Was in Japan on exchange scholarship this summer.
Received Chem award at school this year.
Had gold medal on National Classical Etymology Exam
No major math or science ECs or national stuff which could be problem?
Current school list-
Harvey Mudd
Yale (legacy)
MIT
Swarthmore
U of Chicago
Reed</p>
<p>Any recommendations are welcome! I know some schools might offer part or full tuition scholarships so aside from the general list are there specific ones that people think might be good for him?</p>
<p>Since safeties rarely give good need-based aid (and it doesn’t sound like you’d qualify anyway), then the safeties would have to award large merit scholarships so your remaining costs are affordable.</p>
<p>Use the links that Erin’s Dad has included to identify those schools. </p>
<p>How much merit do you need? In other words, how much do you want to spend each year of a safety school? for instance, if you’ll spend up to $15k per year for a safety school, then your son needs to apply where he’d get AT LEAST full tuition so that your money will pay for room, board, fees, books, travel, and misc.</p>
<p>It looks like most of the schools on your son’s list give only need-based aid. Are you fine with paying full or near full cost to attend one of them? </p>
<p>Since your son is a likely NMF, look at the lists for big scholarships for NMFs…the remaining costs at some schools will be about $10-15k per year.</p>
<p>Some/many safeties may not be “small schools”, but many have honors colleges which offer small classes and a more intimate feel.</p>
<p>Those two links in post #2 are good to check.</p>
<p>But the three schools listed do not natively have engineering (they may have 3+2 programs, but those bring admission, financial aid, and scholarship uncertainty regarding the “2” school). Chicago and Reed also do not have engineering. Yale has a rather small selection of engineering majors.</p>
<p>Use [ABET</a> -](<a href=“http://www.abet.org%5DABET”>http://www.abet.org) to check for schools with engineering degree programs.</p>
<p>What state of residency and cost limit? Some in-state public schools may be affordable at list price, and some may offer large scholarship opportunities limited to in-state students. Also, some public schools have relatively low list prices even for out of state students (e.g. University of Minnesota - Twin Cities; the state’s public LAC at Morris is even less expensive, though no engineering).</p>
<p>Thanks Erins dad, mom2coll and ucbalum. Erins dad-I will look into dension, grinnell and beloit. Do any of you know which other schools on those lists Erin’s dad pasted might be a good match for a kid like my s and have engineering? I will certainly look into it myself but any advice is also welcome. Forgot to add he was also interested in Caltech and Stanford. Anyway, it might sound strange but I don’t know yet what we can afford. There are noncustodial parents also and I have to sit down with them. We have a small amount saved and some home equity. Is it a terrible idea to take out a home equity loan to help pay for a more prestigious school? We are in NY state so don’t know which would be better schools to look at there.</p>
<p>There are noncustodial parents also and I have to sit down with them. We have a small amount saved and some home equity. Is it a terrible idea to take out a home equity loan to help pay for a more prestigious school? We are in NY state so don’t know which would be better schools to look at there.</p>
<p>Yikes…you need to speak to the NCPs ASAP. Their income and assets will also get considered at the top schools that give the best aid If they refuse to fill out the paperwork, your son’s aid app will not get processed at all. </p>
<p>Frankly, it sounds like your son won’t qualify for ANY aid once their income/assets are considered in addition to yours. :(</p>
<p>If they are willing to fill out the paperwork, but aren’t willing to pay their “fair share”, then you could be in a very bad situation…meaning that YOU would have to pay all costs. </p>
<p>Talk to them ASAP. You need that info in order to properly proceed.</p>
<p>As for using home equity to pay…well, that’s a personal choice. it’s not something I would do…ever. Do you have other children? Can you afford the increase in house payments if you borrow $200k against your home? </p>
<p>BTW…It’s highly unlikely that it will be worth it to you to borrow that much. If your son goes into eng’g, he’ll start at the SAME pay as someone graduating from a lesser school with no debt. Seriously. Eng’gs do NOT start at higher salaries because they went to Elite U. The Elite eng’g grad may feel a bit miffed when he finds out that the Cal Poly eng’g grad is getting paid the same as he is.</p>
<p>The worst case is that the non-custodial parents are wealthy but unwilling to contribute, in which case your son will get no need-based aid, so that the cost constraint would be based on what you can contribute, merit scholarships that he can get, his work earnings during summer and school year, and Stafford loans. If they are poor and willing to fill in financial aid forms, or wealthy and willing to contribute, that may relax the cost constraint.</p>
<p>Parent borrowing is often not a good idea, since if the parents cannot afford to pay, they probably cannot afford the debt either.</p>
<p>In New York, Stony Brook is probably the in-state public with the best reputation for science and engineering. Geneseo is a public LAC, but does not have engineering. Some other SUNYs do have engineering.</p>
<p>Among the NMF big scholarship schools, Texas A&M probably has the biggest reputation and attractiveness to out of state recruiters in engineering. The NMF scholarship leaves a net cost of about $50,000 for four years (about $12,500 per year) after applying the scholarship and out-of-state tuition waiver.</p>
<p>Mom2college- thanks. The NCPs are definitely willing to do their fair share, it’s just that I don’t have the figures yet. There are no other children and I would have to borrow probably 70K after the NCP contribution assuming they pay one-half and savings are taken into account. I understand what you are saying about the eng’g starting salaries being equal no matter where they went to school. On the other hand is there better recruiting at the “better” schools? Anyway I’m not sure that he will stick with engineering but maybe. The allure of prestige is strong but these days I also know it’s better to avoid more debt. I was looking at Cal Poly- do you think it’s true that it’s only approx 19K tuition for out of state residents? Would really like to find a great liberal arts/engineering type of program that would be affordable.</p>
<p>Ucb- thanks. Didn’t see your post until after I posted. The NCPs will be contributing so that is not an issue. Will also look into stony brook, and have heard some good things about binghamton. Texas A & M have not thought of so thanks - will look into that.</p>
<p>“understand what you are saying about the eng’g starting salaries being equal no matter where they went to school. On the other hand is there better recruiting at the “better” schools”</p>
<p>There is plenty of recruiting at all good eng’g schools. The reason is that the few top schools don’t produce enough engineers for all the good techie companies out there. </p>
<p>As for Cal Polys’ OOS costs…the cost is</p>
<p>Tuition and fees $17,259
Room and board $11,375
Books and supplies
Estimated personal expenses $1,575<br>
Transportation expenses $725<br>
Estimated Total $32,434</p>
<p>Transportation estimate is probably low for an OOS student, but yes, that’s the OOS tuition.</p>
<p>Also consider Santa Clara…with his stats, he’d certainly get at least a 2/3 tuition scholarship…also USC would be generous with merit.</p>
<p>Mom2-thanks, I know he is also enamored of CA so will definitely have him look at these. One of our friends has a kid going to Santa Clara next year also.</p>
<p>I obviously was focusing on the math and science rather than the engineering aspect of what to study. For engineering also look at Bucknell and UMinn which is relatively inexpensive for OOS students.</p>
<p>Thanks Erin’s Dad. Will add those to my list.</p>
<p>2 for your consideration U of Rochester 4,000 kids & Rochester Institute of Tech. 14,000 kids. I think both schools are known for big merit awards and have great math /sci programs…</p>
<p>USC (Trojans) apparently does throw around a lot of half tuition scholarships – but the remaining cost of attendance is still a decent amount even after the half tuition scholarship (since tuition is expensive).</p>
<p>Cal Poly SLO is very good if the emphasis is engineering. Other schools good for engineering that are in the same list price range (for out of state) include North Carolina State, Virginia Tech, and Minnesota (as mentioned above). Small specialized engineering schools with relatively low costs include New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology and South Dakota School of Mines.</p>
<p>There are a few near-full rides on the automatic merit list that have engineering, if the cost limitation is extremely low: Louisiana Tech, University of Alabama - Huntsville, Prairie View A&M, and Howard.</p>
<p>Thanks so much livesinNJ and ucb. I will add those to the list. I could be wrong but I’m pretty sure he will want a school that also offers good liberal arts in case he changes his mind. I’m sure some of those do and some may not, but I really appreciate all of your input!</p>
<p>My daughter had a similar list of schools and interests as a high school senior. She is starting her fourth year at the University of Pittsburgh. It might be worth a look. It does offer scholarships for top kids.</p>
<p>I’d recommend Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. Likely to receive a full ride w/those stats. Good school, but sleeper on College Confidential.</p>
<p>What state are you from?</p>
<p>Thanks MdMom and Higgins. Swattie we are in NY. Are you at Swat? He visited and really liked it.</p>