Making College list

College Search & Selection
1

Junior daughter in strong STEM program.
Live in MD.
Interested in Biomedical Engineering (can do BioEng, Mechanical Eng, General Eng.) Not interested in premed.
Stats: SAT 1550 (Math 790). Math 2 - 790.
Will be taking subject test in Physics.
GPA 3.9 UW, 4.5 WT.
AP (Gov, 2 Econs, CS A, Stat, Lang, Physics C, Calc BC). Will have some Dual Enrollment college level classes for senior year from CC. 90% of subjects on transcript are technical.
Was on robotics team for several years. Did CS hackathones, writing essay competitions, theater productions etc.
Not eligible for Fin Aid. Family can get 1/3 tuition scholarship through work.
Can pay up to 25K out of pocket (including room and board).
Would like medium size schools in relatively warm climate (but flexible) - driving distance to DC. (FL is too far). Prefers East coast.
Looking for places where can get some merit scholarships to reduce cost. Wants to go OOS.

Currently considering:

UMD CP (in state)
U Pitt
Olin
Cooper Union
Rice (that one breaks driving rule)
Case Western
Ga Tech
Boston U
U of Michigan (?)
Purdue (?)
Urbana- Champ (?)
RPT (?)
WPI (?)

If no chance for merit (see ? above), would rather not apply.
Should we add /remove something?
Thanks.

2

Ups, missed that she is not interested in rural setting.

3

So do you think our list is good?

4

Yes, just make sure to apply to UMD by the priority deadline (11/1) and Pitt has rolling admissions, so an early acceptance is possible there

5

Rice seems like a good fit for her interests, but it may not fit your budget. Run the net price calculator at Rice to see if it works for you. Rice gives some merit, but not a lot of students get it. It focuses on meeting financial need.

6

JHU focuses on meeting full need, but like Rice, I would run the NPC calculator. BTW, I found JHU’s site to be very informative.

I’m glad to see UMD on your list.

7

Here’s a link to JHU’s scholarships and grants. Scroll down for merit-based: https://finaid.jhu.edu/undergraduate-aid/types-of-aid/grants-scholarships/

8

Purdue is stingy with merit for OOS. OOS COA is $44k. You won’t get them down to $25k.

9

Sounds like OP is full pay and not applying for fin aid, so whether school meets 100% demonstrated need is irrelevant.

Chance for OOS merit at UIUC, Mich and Purdue is low and don’t seem to meet geography requirements anyway. If you end up considering midwest, look at Miami Ohio for merit.

Your criteria seem restrictive (biomed engineering, medium size, east coast but warm, not rural, $25K max/year).

Engineering is a competitive admit at all of the schools on the list, make sure you are looking at engineering acceptance rates when categorizing schools…you definitely need to add more matches/safeties schools to this list. Consider U Delaware, TCNJ, NJIT, U Maine Orono, and Stevens Inst of Tech.

Does the Maryland NPC show the school to be affordable (meets your $25K constraint)?

10

UMD Tuition and R&B for 2019-2020 is about $23,500 That does not take into account the 1/3 tuition scholarship that is available.

11

I would suggest considering Ohio State before UMich, Purdue, and UIUC. Very good shot at enough merit aid to bring cost down to $25k per year, and outside shot at Eminence full cost of attendance.

Good shot at even better merit aid at Univ. of South Carolina and Univ. of Kentucky, though safeties from admittance standpoint. Better weather and driving distance for you.

12

None of those seem to meet the medium size criteria though @ohibro It would be good to hear from OP again, and get feedback on the posts upthread.

13

Assuming that you will apply to a few financial safeties:

Focus on the average annual starting salary for biomedical engineering majors at each school in order to place amount student & family are willing to spend per year. (I think that a limit of $25,000 per year is unreasonably low in light of the tremendous earning potential right out of college for one with a degree in biomedical engineering.)

If focused on biomedical engineering, consider spending more than the planned $25,000 per year so that your daughter can apply to all top 5 programs.

If tuition is $57,000 per year, the one third tuition scholarship reduces the cost of tuition by $19,000 to $38,000. Add in $17,000 for room & board & total COA per year at Duke University or MIT would be about $55,000.

At Georgia Tech it would total about $39,000 for an out-of-state student.

Johns Hopkins total annual COA would be about $53,000 after the one third tuition discount.

Case Western Reserve in Ohio might run about $50,000 after the tuition discount.

Carnegie Mellon University would be about $53,000 after applying the one-third tuition discount.

Rice would be about $47,000 per year COA after the discount.

UCs would run about $45,000 per year.

Top Biomedical / Bioengineering Programs: JHU, MIT, Georgia Tech, Stanford, UCSD, Duke, UC-Berkeley, Penn, Rice, Michigan & the University of Washington.

I don’t know about any additional scholarship merit awards, but for one with such impressive numbers (1550 SAT & 3.9 / 4.5 GPA) she deserves a shot at the best schools. If admitted, then focus on affordability. I know that this is backward reasoning, but some undergraduate degrees in biomedical engineering are worth more than others.

Basically, I have ignored almost all of your parameters. But, some of these schools may offer merit money or co-op programs which can reduce costs & greatly increase job placement.

14

RUN the NPC’s for each of the “?” universities.

Using the projected 2019-2020 net cost for WPI as published on their website and matching it up to the FA data from the class which entered in the fall of 2018 can be helpful, but not reliable. We do not know what the award levels will be for the class entering in the fall of 2020. One can assume they might go up modestly to allow somewhat for the annual increases in total cost of attendance. The award level used here reflects only the AVERAGE merit award granted to matriculating first year students in Fall of 2018 who did not demonstrate unfunded financial need.

Of 1,124 matriculating first year students, 203 who had not demonstrated ANY financial need were granted an average “merit” award of $16,235 in the fall of 2018. The TOTAL budget forecast for Fall of 2020 is $69,812 . Deducting 1/3 of the $51,604 tuition (i.e., $17,201) and another $25,000 from your affordable family contribution, there is a remaining deficit of $11,376.

Remember, none of this math reflects any increase in award levels from WPI between 2018 and 2020, but it does reflect the increased cost. Also note that off campus and overseas research costs also receive an additional $5,000 discount for the seven week research costs at 53 locations around the world.

With the quality of the average matriculating students at your listed Universities, your daughter would be another outstanding student.

The BME programs at WPI, JHU, U of PA, Columbia, Case Western, UC San Diego and Duke are among the very best in the country. This can be demonstrated by the graduate school placement and the employment records of these Institutions. Program Quality is not reflected by the percentage of students rejected.

UMBC is a rapidly climbing University in the BME field. Their president, Freeman Hrabowski, just spoke at the WPI Graduate School commencement. You are fortunate to have this leadership at your University.

15

@Publisher @momsearcheng

Go to the following website and download the WPI employment and graduate school placement for BME in the class of 2018. Although not yet published, the 2019 year is even better. They do a lot of joint activity with the U Mass Medical School in Worcester. (no pun intended)

See https://www.wpi.edu/student-experience/career-development/outcomes

Go to page 13 for BME

16

If work can pay 1/3 of tuition and they are willing to pay $25k then even top BME schools like MIT, JHU, Rice, CMU should be affordable for OP. If they get any merit from either, that should seal the deal.

17

@Publisher and @Riversider I am sorry but that is not on target advice for the OP.

Publisher - the 1/3 tuition and 25k won’t cover the tuition at most of the toppy top schools. You also have to live somewhere. You have to eat. You need books. You need travel. You need some spending money.

No financial aid and 25k means = merit chase. Even with a 1/3 tuition discount.

Most top schools only have need based awards or the absolutely smallest number of merit opportunities.

Riversider. If you only have 25k to spend, no matter the great post grad outcomes, who’s writing the checks? As the student is outstanding it would be wise to search for the excellent but not so super selective that merit isn’t widely available.

OP. There are many schools where you will be well within your budget and quality measures.

Tulane and the like are great starting points. Some flagship unis also are known for merit.

Search for the thread here “schools that have great merit”. It’s a very long and detailed thread.

Best of luck. Your student sounds amazing and there are literally dozens and dozens of schools that would be great places to consider.

18

Ole Miss? College of Charleston (depending on major)? Good merit scholarships for high scorers.
UTK has a new Honors College, as does UArizona. Worth looking into.
You’ll have to apply to a lot of scholarships.

19

OP here. Thanks for response everyone!
Initial reasoning was based on this:
MIT and CMU do not provide merit (CMU just stopped it, it was on our list before) - off the list.
JHU and Duke chances for merit are close to 0 and very high ranked. For all private cost of attending is around 75K.
Ivy schools do not give merit - not considered. No way we can swing that much even with 1/3 scholarship. CA is way too far and too costly to fly. Same goes for Washington state.
EFC would be around 40-45K. Unless she will get merit, her 1/3 scholarship will be factored in. So no Financial Aid.
Family has several kids and some significant medical needs - money are tight.

Definitely will apply to following:

  1. UMD is match and will be almost free, if she will live at home after 1st year. However their BE is not that strong but OK. (Possible some small scholarship too)
  2. Pitt is safety- not sure that will attend, unless full ride or cheaper than UMD at the end. However, they have better BME than UMD.
  3. Ga Tech (dream/target) - if not admitted has a way for two separate guaranteed transfer options (legacy and CC agreement) - can do coop and study abroad. However, does it worth extra 39K and jumping through hoops with coop, study abroad and possible transfer compare to UMD? With BME you need at least MS if not PhD. GaTech has only 50 Stamps scholarships, so do not expect merit.
  4. Rice (dream) -will work only if there would be some merit.
  5. Boston U (dream) - again need some merit.
  6. Case Western (dream/match) - I hope that she will have some shot at merit.

After that we are not sure. Want to come up with list of 10 schools, but do not want to apply if there is no serious chance for merit.

What do you think about Olin and Cooper Union for her (both are crap shoot, since they are very small)?
Olin seems to be perfect (can take classes in other schools too), but very low enrollment. Need to live on campus all years.
Cooper Union - should we consider ED for it? Does not have BME but has strong engineering. Can do BSE or BME there. Housing is not necessary (have close family near by). However has limited options in terms of classes.

Michigan is very strong, but quite expensive (15K more than GaTech) and very popular among strong Maryland students. I am not sure that there is a chance for any scholarship. Plus I think it would be too cold.
Should apply or drop from the list?

Sounds that WPI is not bad option. (Are they really max at 16K for scholarship?)

Should we remove for sure Purdue and Urbana- Champ? I think Urbana can go of the list - no strong BME, no money.
What about RPI? (looks that they are good with BME)
Should we add Stevens? ( Does it give some merit?) Would not need housing for it. Is it worth over UMD for BME?

Ohio State was interesting suggestion. I am not familiar with it. It looks that they have BME, but not that strong.
I am not sure that would make sense, since goal is good BME program.

Not looking for more safeties. Can always do one semester at CC and guaranteed transfer to UMD. (Strongly doubt that would be rejected by UMD in state anyway with such stats.)

20

http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/2142775-have-we-missed-any-engineering-schools-that-should-be-on-my-kids-list.html#latest

This is a great thread for engineering and stem types. I would peruse throughly. So many awesome options and the right mix. Super high quality and reputation at the right price point for your family. Maybe even less than you could spend and use toward the medical needs.

Best of luck!!