Match Me-Computer Engineering near OH [OH resident, 4.0 GPA, #1 rank, 1550/34, "probable NMSF"]

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Hello. We are starting to plan out visits for this summer.
S24 is US and OH resident, white middle class male interested in Computer Engineering (also interested but not currently considering majoring in Computer Science, Mathematics, learning Mandarin)

Attends a small high school that does not offer AP classes. He will have some Sophomore and Junior year dual enrollment credits from Chinese language courses.
Unweighted GPA 4.0, school does not weight
Current class rank 1, only students tied for 1st will receive ranking

Probable NMSF
ACT 34, SAT 1550 (both of those scores were first test attempt, he doesn’t plan to retake, but maybe I should encourage Sept retesting?)

Volunteers for park district about 10 hours a year
Active in speedcubing competitions, community youth orchestra, Chinese club at school
Did an 80 hour internship with a computer focus
Will do summer engineering camp experiences at Univ Dayton, Univ of Cincinnati, and Purdue

Leadership is weak, but stage manager for a youth orchestra

Essays are going to be weakest part of application.

He would like to be in OH, IN, PA, MI, IL, KY region.

I am too new to this forum to understand how to assign Reach, Match, Safety designations. I just want to make sure we visit places that could be a good fit. Budget is still under discussion, depends on timing of some other purchases (new roof or vehicle). I will have him apply to CWRU but probably too expensive. I don’t know how to guess where merit is available. I know a student who wanted to attend Univ Cin but will attend Univ of Dayton because it has better financial offer which surprised me.

Thank you.

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Can you give an approximate range for the budget? Difficult to suggest schools without that piece as it is obviously a very important consideration.

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If you need a lot of merit, have him apply to U of Akron - they have rolling admission so it is a true safety. Your son should receive a full tuition merit award and honors college.

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Not necessary. Those scores are high enough that a small bump up won’t make much difference.

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Do you know if you may qualify for some need aid or do you need to reach budget with merit?

Run NPCs at a selection of OH publics, OOS publics (which typically are not generous with need-aid to OOS students… so not worth applying unless there is the possibility of merit), and privates. That will help determine the type schools your son should target.

Suggestions for NPCs: CWRU, tOSU, Miami-OH (auto-merit, see the table on the website), UAkron, CMU, Lehigh, ULouisville, UI-C, Western MI, Wayne State

Cross posting with @DadOfJerseyGirl … agree there is no need to retake ACT/SAT with those scores.

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I think your son will be a much stronger applicant than you think he will be. Very selective colleges will look at students holistically, meaning that if your son’s school doesn’t offer any AP classes, he will not be dinged for that. They are looking for students who took the most rigorous classes available to them.

I would run the Net Price Calculator (NPC) at U. of Pennsylvania and either Northwestern or U. of Notre Dame as those are some of the most financially generous schools with your son’s interests in the designated geographic area. If the NPC provides an Expected Family Contribution (EFC) that is affordable, great! Make sure you continue to run the NPCs at other schools of interest. If not, then I would eliminate schools like Carnegie Mellon that will not offer merit aid.

The schools I’m mentioning below seem to offer an opportunity for additional Chinese studies beyond a couple of courses (the biggest limiting factor) along with computer engineering. They are sorted by my very fallible sense of what your son’s chances might be at these schools.

Extremely Likely (80-99%)

  • Drexel (PA ): About 14k undergrads. This school has a coop focus, so students tend to have lots of work experience by the time they graduate.

  • Michigan State: About 38k undergrads.

  • North Central (IL): About 2400 undergrads

  • U. of Kentucky: About 22k undergrads

  • Valparaiso (IN): About 2500 undergrads

  • West Virginia: About 20k undergrads. I believe that Ohio residents get in-state tuition at WVU, too.

Likely (60-79%)

  • Ohio State: About 47k undergrads

  • U. of Pittsburgh (PA ): About 24k undergrads

Toss-Up (40-59%)

  • Lehigh (PA ): About 5500 undergrads

Low Probability (20-40%)

  • Case Western: About 5800 undergrads. Depending on where in Ohio you live, Case does have special scholarships available for residents. Also, make sure to show lots of interest to Case for them to take your application seriously.

Lower Probability (less than 20%)

  • Northwestern (IL): About 8800 undergrads

  • U. of Notre Dame (IN): About 9k undergrads

  • U. of Pennsylvania: About 11k undergrads

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Also check out the University of Toledo. Here is a link to the tuition and scholarship page: Freshman Tuition, Scholarships and Financial Aid

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Is there a worst case and best case parental contribution limit?

Current SAT score 1550 is higher than current ACT score 34, since the concordance table shows the latter as 1490-1520. It is unlikely that a retry will be helpful, unless targeting a specific scholarship that wants a higher score.

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U Tulsa for nmsf. Free. And it’s small.

UK will be a great deal too.

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Have you considered the upstate NY schools? Not on your list of states, but Buffalo is less than 2 hrs from the Ohio border, and SUNY Buff is an excellent engineering school that’s quite affordable for OOS students. They also offer a minor in Chinese. Another hour or so past Buffalo, Rochester has both URochester (which has a very large population of Asian international students, and excellent course offerings in Asian languages & cultures, in addition to very strong STEM - also a great school for an orchestra kid) and RIT.

Lots of excellent options in Ohio, though, and the other states you mentioned. Cincinnati for a strong co-op focus (they basically invented co-op education). OSU, Purdue, etc. as others have enumerated already.

If participating in music is important, tOSU has a great music school that is more non-major-friendly than most. Strong Chinese program too, with extensive undergrad offerings and a grad-level language flagship program. Seems to me that tOSU has everything he’s looking for, for a great in-state price.

OTOH, if a large public doesn’t appeal and a small, hands-on school would be better, look at Rose-Hulman in IN. No Mandarin at RHIT though.

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The Ohio publics offer tuition guarantee (a frozen amount that won’t increase for each new cohort) and sometimes that price freeze also includes room & board. Here is the net price calculator for OSU. Dr. Drake expanded need based aid, so even if you don’t qualify for federal aid, you may qualify for an OSU grant. If you are Pell eligible, then the FA packages cover at least tuition and fees, if not total CoA. Highly competitive merit like the full rides or special scholarships your student might get won’t show up on the net price calculator. The NPC only shows federal aid, osu grants, Maximus, Provost or Trustee and for oos applicants National Buckeye (the merit scholarships are competitive and not guaranteed but there are lots that will be offered). In other words, even if the net price is out of range, your student should still apply as long as they are willing to also apply to the full rides and other special scholarships.

OSU’s merit page is below. Note that other than the Land Grant, the full ride scholarships (Eminence soon to be renamed Stamps* and Morrill) require an additional application. It is important to submit by the EA deadline to maximize merit at OSU. OSU also has department scholarships. ECE is one of the few departments that has a full ride to offer, so it will be important to also apply to that special scholarship portal, too once it opens (they will send an email, usually my kids did it over winter break).

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Usually, merit can be found on the college’s website. There is a very large merit package only open to central Ohio students for Notre Dame. It was funded by Glenna Joyce (Woody’s neighbor). If you are in central Ohio and the very generous NPC at Notre Dame doesn’t come in budget you can still throw a Hail Mary.

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