Match me: RI resident(female) with 4.0/1540, under $50K for Electrical/ComputerEng

Chance Me / Match Me!
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1

Demographics
US citizen
state - RI
public high school - suburban
South Asian/Female
Intended Major(s) - Engineering yes. but not set on a major - Electrical/Computer Engg or Biomedical(converging interests in math+bio+phy)

  • Other special factors (first generation to college, legacy, athlete, etc.): NONE

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
Unweighted HS GPA: 4 unweighted
Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): ( not sure )
Class Rank: 5
ACT/SAT Scores: 1520 SAT(superscore 1540)
very good PSAT score - very likely semi-finalist of NMSQT - her score this year is last years cutoffs for semifinalists
Coursework
2 AP classes in Sophomore year
Human Geography(5)
Calc AB(5)
4 AP classes in Junior year
Calc BC
AP Chem
AP Seminar
AP Spanish
5 AP classes in Senior year
AP Physics 1 (also enroll self-study for AP Physics C - 1 mechanics)
AP Computer Science A(Java)
AP Research
AP Statistics/AP Biology
AP Psychology

9 honors classes in freshman,sophomore,junior

University course - precalculus - freshman summer (A grade)
University course - physics(mechanics) with lab - junior summer

Project Lead the way(PLTW) pathway program

Awards
Math awards in freshman/sophomore/junior
Math team captain(junioryear), member - freshman & sophomore/junior
PLTW program - award for highest scorer in sophomore year
Extracurriculars
100+year of hospital community service in sophomore year,60+hours in junior year
Debate team in sophomore and Senior year(JV award in sophomore year)
work experience - tutoring for math

Essays/LORs/Other
Good letter expected from math dept head
working on essay
Certified Entry-Level Python Programmer(PCEP) planned for junior summer
Cost Constraints / Budget: <50K. Leaning towards optimal school with minimal costs.
Schools
Safety -
UMass Amherst(Honors program preferably) - Electrical/CompEngg
URI - Electrical/CompEngg
UConn(Honors program preferably) - Electrical/CompEngg
WPI - Electrical/CompEngg
RPI - Electrical/CompEngg
Reach :
Boston University : Electrical/CompEngg/Biomedical
NorthEastern : Electrical/CompEngg
Case Western : Electrical/CompEngg
Cornell : Electrical/CompEngg
Carnegie Mellon(CMU) : Electrical/Computer
Georgia Tech: Electrical/CompEngg(?)
Any recommendation on SUNY schools ?
Targets - No idea

Looking for some potential recommendations for target/safety schools in Electrical/CompEngg with maximal merit scholarship.
(leaning away from Biomedical since daughter is not sure).
Is it worth applying early action to any of these colleges ?

Looking for undergraduate program with potential to do 5 year integrated Masters for better job opportunities). some state schools provide AP credit that can take a semester load off.

Not sure if her lack of extracurriculars would be a negative factor.

Colleges preferably in the states of Mass,Conn,NY,NJ,PA,NH,VT,Maine,Ohio,RI

2

Congratulations on her achievements!

Do you qualify for need based aid? If you aren’t sure, check the net price calculator on the websites of some of these schools.

I’m not sure her CE/EE career prospects will significantly improve with a Master’s.

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3

The easy answer - is you can go for a lot less than $50K.

Arizona, Alabama, Kansas State, Iowa State, Ms State, Florida, Florida State, and many more.

But most your schools are the NE.

You might try Delaware, etc.

Your reaches are definitely possible but might not be affordable - unless you have need.

But if you want to chase merit, then you have to find the right schools. URI could work or a U Maine. As for SUNY, Buffalo would be the call.

You’ve given yourself a lot of financial flexibility given your strong profile.

Good luck.

4

I doubt that your daughter will get much if any merit aid from the reach schools that you identify.

While not in one of the preferred states that you list, your daughter might want to look at Purdue University, which has excellent academics and is reasonably priced: tuition and housing costs have been flat for the past 10 or so years; and when my OOS son graduated there last year his annual COA was under $50K. Perhaps @momofboiler1 can weigh in on recent costs and academics, as her daughter just graduated this past May.

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5

Maybe look at Canadian schools? Toronto, Waterloo, or McGIll? Lehigh came to mind.

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6

Impressive student!

First, CWRU is not a reach for your daughter. My son’s stats were not as strong as hers (far fewer APs) and he was admitted for MechE with a merit award equal to 50% of tuition. Case is a target, or even a safety for her. CWRU engages in yield management, however, and they have a history of deferring very strong candidates they think are using them as a safety, so be sure to demonstrate interest with campus visits, Zoom info sessions, essays, etc. When my son applied to Case the CC boards were filled with stories about students with similar stats to your daughter being deferred with invitations to re-apply ED II. On a happier note, Case is #12 in BioMed Engineering and has close ties to both the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospital.

While CMU is a reach for everyone, she might have a stronger chance of admission than you think. CMU has a policy of gender parity in its STEM disciplines so the acceptance rates in their engineering school are higher for women than men.

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@hardworkpays, where I’m going with this is: if you don’t qualify for substantial need based aid, you should take all those private schools off your list*. You won’t be able to afford them.

(* except maybe CWRU which does offer merit aid although I’m not sure if it’ll bring you down to $50k)

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8

COA at Purdue has been frozen for the past 12 years so the cost is well under $50K/year. I think the most expensive year (because of the dorm), we paid $42K.

Purdue has an amazing program for EE/ECE.

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Merit aid brought down our cost at Case to the $50s. She is a strong candidate and my be offered a more generous package.

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10

I think, to OP, the real question is - do you want to spend under $50K (and Purdue is a fantastic choice) but you are looking for target/safety and it’s neither.

Or you do you want to spend $30K or less?

And if so, how important is geography?

Lot’s of great schools will be targets/safeties under $50K - from a Delaware to a Florida, etc. Maybe even an RPI with merit or an RHIT - or a Colorado School of Mines. Or Michigan State or Minnesota.

Or do you want to go a notch lower in price? But again, a trade off is geography.

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Purdue would be a target for the OP. Our son was accepted there with stats that were not as strong.

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Perhaps. It’s an easier get than a Michigan or Illinois and my son got in as well but in general terms I think Purdue is a reach for near all. And it has barriers to the major althiugh for most it might not be too hard.

In other words if OP is looking for a likely shoe in, I wouldn’t call it that. I’m sure there are kids with similar stats to your and my son rejected too.

But we can agree to disagree on terminology a bit. And it is a wonderful program at a great price. I’m so impressed by how @momofboiler1 has described it over the years.

The other thing to remind OP - outcomes from big time names to less prestigious names are likely not as different as most think.

My son chose a lesser perceived school over Purdue with merit and I’m guessing his outcome was likely similar.

So you do have a chance at lower cost if you desire. If the school is ABET accredited it’s good to go.

Best of luck.

13

I’m surprised nobody’s mentioned it yet, but Clarkson is well-respected and offers generous merit aid.

I’m unclear whether you’re trying to find “top” schools that could become less than $50k via merit aid, or whether you’re willing to spend up to $50k but are really trying to find a school for half of that.

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14

Hi,
Thank you for the feedback. This is very useful information for us. We did plug in the numbers at various college website using their netprice calculator and it shows very generous financial aid. But I was very skeptic of interpreting it.
For example -
Case western shows tuition + fees = 62.5k,housing/food = 17k (total 83k)
gift aid - 57k(we attended a case western admission session in east coast and the counselor said the largest merit aid offered last year was around45k).
remaining direct expense 15k(campus employment 2.5k,federal direct student loan 5.5k)
RPI shows : tuition+fees=60k,housing/food=17k(total 80k)
rensselaer need based grant 29k
rennselaer scholarships 22.5 k
net price $28k
uconn storrs campus:
estimate total cost of attendance $59k(tuition 40k,housing/food14.5)
estimate total grant aid 26k
total net price after grants and scholarships 34k.
in this forum template there was not much mention of net price calculator and at this point a bit lost in interpreting the scholarship and need based numbers that comes up there.
The net price calculator is very useful as it sets an upper limit on how expensive the school can be over 4 years.
thanks again

15

thanks! will check out delaware. yes, we looked at alabama; but it is a bit far to our liking(coming home for vacations or short breaks will be a challenge, if kid falls sick it will be difficult to get help from far.

16

Havent thought at this option. MacGill is very good though. very few peers have taken that route so hesistant on this.

17

correction with GPA - daughter says it is 4.0 on a 4.33 scale. so, if we scale it down to a 4 scale, the GPA would be 3.75ish. weighted GPA is 4.6.

18

yes, a bit of both - top schools that could become <50k (not sure how much aid/scholarship they will throw in) and also a good engineering school that will be worth the effort put in. For example, UMass Amherst, we have heard the honors college is a good bet because of smaller class sizes, priority in classes, better dorms etc. Looking to apply to 9-12 maybe and then take a call based on what comes back from various colleges. Daughters senior recommended to apply to as many as reasonably possible. Thanks to all the feedback on this forum, we have gained valuable insight on how our thought process should be.

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My son chose a lesser perceived school over Purdue with merit and I’m guessing his outcome was likely similar.
– very much agree with this insight. Most kids with good work ethics will do well in college and perception needs to be taken with a grain of salt. that is why she is taking college courses(to get used to that pace of studies and get an idea of what college education is). That is why we took off all ivies and many selective schools(but for cornell since they take a student or two often from her school and we heard one of them get a final 25k bill(after aid). using this feedback to draw a final list of 9-12 colleges.

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If you’re a NMSF or NMF there are schools that offer generous merit and full-rides. Only issue is that it might be outside your geographical area. That said, saving a $150k buys a lot of plane tickets.

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