Lower tier oos vs. in-state engineering program

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>S2 is a junior in stem magnet program. His grades are good-3.8 uw. His test scores are decent, but not wonderful-currently sat 1900, but taking again in June. He thinks he would like to do materials science or product design engineering, although he is just starting to go in this direction.
While he would be perfectly happy go to UMCP (if he can't get into engineering program right away he hopes in do so by sophomore year), he really wants to go out-of-state and see other parts of the country. However, cost is a huge issue for us. It looks like he can get free tuition at a few directional state schools (East Tennessee State Univ. is one) that are ABET certified, but I am not sure they are worth it for job prospects. </p>

<p>I am just not sure he should bother applying to these schools, or that we should bother spending our time and money visiting them during spring break. I am trying very hard to change his mind about going away to school, but it is difficult. His brother is far away(with very good aid due to much better test scores) and he wants a similar experience.</p>

<p>Any thoughts or comments on lower tier directional state schools? Thanks.</p>

2

<p>Less well known schools will likely attract mainly local employers to their career centers. While any ABET accredited engineering degree will be of decent quality, a student at a less well known school may have to search for and apply to non-local companies on his/her own, rather than see them show up in the career center.</p>

<p>Remember also that many “directional schools” are heavily commuter schools serving the local area, so they may not provide the “college experience” that he is looking for or expecting. East Tennessee State has only 55% of frosh living in the dorms (a proxy for resident students as opposed to commuters), and dorm space is not guaranteed for frosh, according to [East</a> Tennessee State University Campus Life - CollegeData College Profile](<a href=“http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg05_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=915]East”>http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg05_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=915) .</p>

3

<p>Here are some merit scholarship lists:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-20.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-20.html&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1461983-competitive-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-4.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1461983-competitive-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-4.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

4

<p>The “directional” schools are well worth looking into, when trying to find an affordable OOS (the two above links are a great place to start) or even as an in-state option. However, you’ll need to do your research. </p>

<p>Two basic questions should be answered, before you think of visiting any of these schools.</p>

<ol>
<li>Does the school offer a strong program for your S2’s major?</li>
<li>Will your son be competitive for merit scholarships (usually in the top 25% of admitted students)?</li>
</ol>

<p>The stronger the program, the harder it is to get merit scholarship! So it’s a balance you’ll be looking for…</p>

<p>Lets use the University of Central Florida as an example (since I know something about it…). We added it to the list of schools for my D1. She’s interested in Engineering, and likely Industrial Engineering.</p>

<p>It’s a very large school (about 60K students, I think it’s number 2 in the nation, behind Arizona State University, in pop), with a fairly decent engineering department. Further research showed that Industrial engineering program is very strong (around 35th in the nation, great for a directional) and heavily recruited by local employers (Disney as an example). Being in Orlando, it’s fairly well recruited by employers (local and even to an extent nationally). OOS Tuition is $22K a year; however, they do offer an OOS merit scholarship, Knights Achievement Award. This year it paid $44,000 ($11K a year for 4 years) and the average stats fell between 28-34 ACT, or averaged about a 1270 SAT (CR+M) 2030 SAT, and 3.6uw/4.2w GPA. (We’re in-state, so it’s the in-state scholarships we researched)</p>

<p>I used College navigator to determine what majors are offered, tuition cost, and admission requirements. </p>

<p>[College</a> Navigator - University of Central Florida](<a href=“College Navigator - University of Central Florida”>College Navigator - University of Central Florida)</p>

<p>I used the forums in CC (UCF has an active forum) to determine the average stats required for an OOS merit scholarship.</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-central-florida/1578781-pegasus-bronze-silver-gold.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-central-florida/1578781-pegasus-bronze-silver-gold.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Further research (in to rankings and such), was enough for us to plan a college visit/tour. After doing a visit, D1 determine she really liked the school, so she applied.</p>

<p>By all means look at directionals, and not only the automatic merit scholarships, but the competitive tuition scholarships. Apply to a few (after doing your research) and determine if the merit makes them affordable.</p>

<p>Good Luck!</p>

5

<p>Thanks to both of you for the advice.</p>

6

<p>Personally, I don’t like the idea of trading a reasonably priced in-state tuition at a quality program just for the opportunity to live out-of-state. What about going to UMD-CP and seeking a summer internship in a different state?</p>

<p>S2 really wanted to work in California but OOS tuition didn’t make sense versus in-state tuition at Va Tech. He was able to get a summer internship in Silicon Valley so we have the best of both worlds.</p>

7

<p>You should look into schools outside your state but you might want to look at the [Association</a> of Independent Technological Universities: AITU](<a href=“http://theaitu.org%5DAssociation”>http://theaitu.org) schools as well as public universities. While they are all private, some of them have some very good scholarships available and might make it financially equivalent to UMCP. Lots of them are in major metropolitan areas and have an excellent reputation with employers.</p>

<p>All that being said, have the discussion of overall cost with your son. I hvae done it with two of my children and in the end, they both realized that the academically equivalent but lower cost option would give them more flexibility and financial resources in the long run.</p>

8

<p>I can’t imagine choosing to go to a low tier OOS directional U when UMCP and UMBC are instate options for engineering.</p>

<p>You might want to look into merit scholarships at U. Alabama. They offer quite good OOS merit scholarships, if the SAT (CR+M only) scores are high enough.</p>

9

<p>ChrisTDK, great idea! I will mention the internship far away possibility to my S. </p>

<p>xraymancs, thanks for the link.</p>

<p>sacchi, when you are 16 and really want to go away and have a new experience in a different part of the country, it can be difficult to stay local. It is even more difficult when his brother is far away having many great experiences. But he does know how wonderful UMBC and UMCP are-many of S1’s friends opted for those schools and we hear great things about them.</p>

10

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<p>But does he have any reason for going to a particular place (employment, culture, etc.)? There are many places to go away to, but many of them will not fit the given person.</p>

11

<p>I think you need to clearly communicate to him the financial realities, and then let him make the decision of where to go, within those realities. I would suggest to enforce that he at least apply to the instate options. Then, once all the acceptances and financial aid information is in, he can make an informed decision.</p>

<p>I’m an engineering manager. I would definitely give preference to a resume from UMCP over one from East Tennessee State, which I had never heard of before reading this thread. (Over the years, I’ve hired two engineers from UMCP, that I can remember off the top of my head.)</p>

12

<p>Our son has a good instate school that he’s also received merit aid for, making it by far the cheapest of his options. We’ve been fortunate enough to save enough to pay twice that much for his education and some of his other choices would use all of what we’ve saved on his behalf. We decided to empower him with the financial decision by agreeing to split the savings with him should he chose a less expensive option, while fully supporting his ability to spend it all should he choose. If he picks his most expensive school, he’ll have a good degree from a good school. If he chooses the instate flagship, he’ll have a good degree, albeit not quite as “prestigious,” and $40k in his pocket.</p>

<p>I would agree with others who have suggested not to go out of state just to go out of state. Start with schools that fit, in locations that he likes and build from there. A degree from a virtually unknown program might limit his job prospects.</p>

13

<p>If tuition cost is a significant consideration in deciding where to apply to, you need to have a really good reason to bypass your local colleges, especially when your local colleges have solid Departments in the academic areas of most interest to the applicant. From what I’ve heard, U Maryland-CP engineering is more than just fine. And people have been blushing over UM-Baltimore County and it’s President F. Hrbowski for quite a while.</p>

<p>That being said, it’s certainly alright for a kids to have a dream school, or to aspire to a city or region that she or he have longed to explore. But that argument really is only valid for special places where a college student will have a genuine opportunity to explore the local environment and live like a local when not in class. The big eastern cities and Southern California come to mind.</p>

<p>Sure, look at independent universities. Some may offer you significant cash. Just be mindful of what you’re signing up for, financially and career-wise (in light of summer and permanent employment). Lake Jr. is attending Engineering School hundreds of miles away from home, but we’re all confident that his job prospects back on this side of the country will be o.k. as long as he demonstrates initiative and hustle.</p>