Also, you need to be aware that typically it takes 5 years to earn an engineering degree, not the normal 4. Will either of these scholarships cover that extra year?
Finishing in 4 years can be done, but it takes both good planing and hard work.
Re: whether Louisiana Tech is a commuter school
http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg05_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=1521 does indicate that only 35% of frosh live in the dorms. Since there is an on-campus housing requirement for those not living with parents or who have financial, medical, or special dietary reasons preventing them from living in the dorms (see https://www.latech.edu/documents/off_campus_packet.pdf ), that implies that it may be a commuter-heavy school.
However, the OP is a relatively strong student (HS GPA >= 3.5 and ACT >= 32 or SAT CR+M >= 1400 to get those scholarships), so finishing in four years is more likely for the OP than a “typical” engineering student.
I agree, but it takes more than smarts. The main reason given by U.Cal-Davis when it researched this was that engineering has more prerequisites than other majors. Almost every course needs to be completed in a particular order, and there are very few electives. One misstep and you add a semester to your education.
My point was to raise the issue, and I recommend OP look at the curricula of the two schools and see which one seems more flexible or less onerous – especially requirements outside of the engineering department. A heavy “core curriculum” can very negatively impact progress in an engineering major. In short, I think that the curriculum is just as much a factor as the student.
If looking at the risk of delayed graduation due to missing a prerequisite in a sequence, it helps to look at the longest prerequisite sequences in the major, and check whether each course in those sequences is offered every semester or quarter.
Louisiana Tech’s curriculum and suggested schedule is here:
http://coes.latech.edu/ug-programs/curricula/curriculum_me.pdf
You can look in its catalog and schedules to see what courses are prerequisites to what other courses, and what quarters each course is offered.
Alabama helpfully gives the curriculum in flowchart form, showing what the prerequisites are:
http://me.eng.ua.edu/files/2014/05/BSME-Curriculum-Flowchart-Fall-2014.pdf
You can still use the catalog and schedules to check what semesters each course is offered.
Starting in a more advanced math course than indicated in the schedule (e.g. if you have AP or college calculus credit) can shorten some prerequisite sequences which depend on the math sequence and the physics sequence that has math prerequisites. This can give some additional schedule flexibility. Note that Louisiana Tech’s schedule starts with what appears to be a remedial math course in the first quarter, so a student who is merely on-level (i.e. had high school math to precalculus) should already be a quarter ahead of the schedule.
If your mother can give you the college tax credit, you can work for the summer, and you can have an interest-free loan from your mother, you’d have mess than 10,000 in loans, so I think you’d be better off at UAlabama Honors College. The curriculum and student caliber* would be more on par with your own and the town itself is better.
- the expected sequences also reflect the students' preparation
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does indicate that only 35% of frosh live in the dorms. Since there is an on-campus housing requirement for those not living with parents or who have financial, medical, or special dietary reasons preventing them from living in the dorms (see https://www.latech.edu/documents/off_campus_packet.pdf ), that implies that it may be a commuter-heavy school.
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Yes, it is a commuter-heavy school. that is fine for someone instate who is dorming, because they can go home on weekends when the campus empties out on weekends…which it will on most weekends.
Last year, when my son was looking at engineering schools, we visited both LA Tech and Bama. One thing that really turned him off to LA Tech is that the engineering school rep told us that they want to “keep all their freshman engineering students at the same level.” In other words, they want you all to be taking the same classes and no one to get ahead of the others. My son had AP credit in 10 classes that LA Tech gives credit for, but he was told that they prefer the students to retake the AP courses so that the class stays together. That did not go over well.
On the other hand, Bama’s CBHP was really interesting and Bama gives as much AP credit as you actually earn, so completing the engineering degree is certainly doable in 4 years or less if you come in with a lot of AP credit. He ended up attending elsewhere, but the decision would have been much harder if he’d gotten into the CBHP program.
@Woodjew
Do you have any AP credits? How many? You may not need all four years.
I only took two AP exams: Calculus AB (5) and Biology (4). I’m not sure whether I can use the biology credit since it does not relate to my major.
5 on calculus AB should let you get ahead by a quarter or semester in math, which should let you start physics a quarter or semester early – this can be helpful, since physics is part of the key prerequisite sequences.
But you may want to try the old final exams of the colleges’ first quarter or semester calculus courses that you can skip, just to be sure that you know the material from the college’s point of view.
@ucbalumnus I feel very uncomfortable with calculus right now. My AP exam score is not an accurate reflection of my understanding of the subject. However, I recently bought a calculus textbook and plan to self-study so that I will be able to use my AP credit and start with calc II my first semester.
http://ocw.mit.edu/resources/res-18-001-calculus-online-textbook-spring-2005/textbook/ is another (free) one that you can read.
@Woodjew You might want to explore the Huntsville branch of the University of Alabama. Frequently known simply as UAH, it probably would offer you a full tuition scholarship, but the room and board costs are considerably cheaper than Tuscaloosa/u.
UAH is probably about the same quality of engineering education as the other two.
I am biased, though, because I grew up in Huntsville and my sister graduated from UAH (she is now a doctor). Huntsville is a nice city; prosperous and has lots of engineering jobs. UAH has a pleasant campus. It was founded in 1950. So all the buildings are fairly new. The housing is quite new.
You still have time to apply. Take a look.
http://www.uah.edu/admissions/undergraduate/financial-aid/scholarships
http://www.uah.edu/eng/departments/mae
http://www.uah.edu/admissions/undergraduate/financial-aid/scholarships/departmental-scholarships
I agree with many of the points in this thread. When looking for the best deals for my high-achieving daughter, I saw a lot of places where she could get a full ride. Most were eliminated when I saw they were commuter schools. I few others were eliminated when I saw the 4-year graduation rate was around 15%.
Free or not, going to a commuter school when you live out of state sounds like a lot of lonely weekends.
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I only took two AP exams: Calculus AB (5) and Biology (4). I’m not sure whether I can use the biology credit since it does not relate to my major.
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sure you can have it applied to your transcript…and it’s good to have those Bio credits in case you ever decide to go to grad school in some kind of medically-related area…biomedE or whatever.
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Free or not, going to a commuter school when you live out of state sounds like a lot of lonely weekends.
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this is why I don’t think LA Tech or UAH would be good for this student. Both are commuter schools.
I’ve chosen UA
Roll Tide! 
Congratulations!!!