Match my kiddo - NASA/Engineering in Ohio, scholarship hopeful [3.85-3.90 GPA, 30 ACT, Aero & Mech, <$25k parent contribution]

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Would love suggestions of schools to look at for my rising senior. We have a small list- but want to know what we are missing and where else to look.

US citizen, live in NE Ohio. Would like to be within 6 hours from NE Ohio. A bit further might be okay for the right school.
Currently attend a large public high school but also part of an Engineering academy with the 6 schools in the surrounding area. Kiddo takes 4 classes at another HS (Calc, Physics, English, and Engineering) and the rest of the courses at the home campus. Engineering courses lead to Career Tech College Credits (electives).

Looking for a school that is LGBTQ friendly

Wants Aerospace Engineering but with the potential for Mechanical Engineering (we have been reading up on the pros and cons of both- and would like a school with both options).

Weighted GPA- 4.1, UW- probably around 3.85-3.90. A few B’s, mostly A’s
Class rank- not available but estimate top 10% (class of 350)
Honors- weighted .5, AP- weighted 1

ACT Superscore 30 (MATH- 29, Science- 30, Reading 35, English 25)

AP Physics in JR year (3 on test)
AP Calc in SR year
Honors pre-calc in JR year
Through Spanish 3
Several honors, but no other AP

Awards
None that I am aware of

Extracurriculars
Marching Band
Concert Band
Jazz Band
Orchestra
Science Olympiad
LGBTQ club
Book club
Works at a grocery store PT
did a leadership retreat SOPH year
2 years volunteer work at ASP (Appalachian Service Project)- week long service project
Volunteer at church- VBS, Sunday School, Special Needs support

Essays/LORs/Other
Will likely have fairly strong LOR from ENG teacher and MATH teacher that they had last year and SR year. Teachers see my kiddo as hard working and someone who will put in the effort but that work is not effortless
School counselor doesn’t really know my kiddo
My kiddo is not the best writer (ACT in English was a 25) but knows what they want to write the essay about and it will be passionate, heartfelt, and authentic.

Cost Constraints / Budget
I’ve looked at some Net Price Calculators. We likely would not qualify for much aid - particularly at an in state school. Looking for options where scholarships will help supplement the cost. Some estimates are 30-40,000 cost for us- this would be difficult for us. I’d say our absolutely max contribution is 25,000/year and that would be pushing it. Hoping for scholarships…

Schools

  • Safety (certain admission and affordability) Kent State, WVU, Wright State (not sure about $ at Wright state- just have not explored yet)
  • Likely (would be possible, but very unlikely or surprising, for it not to admit or be affordable) ?
  • Match Univ. Cincinnati, U Dayton
  • Reach Purdue, Case (we know its unlikely, but my kiddo wants to try- this is the dream)

Want to research- U Buffalo, U Wisconsin

Would love other recommendations!

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I also forgot Tennis! Not sure how I forgot that! 3 years HS Tennis.

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Have you consider Akron? They have a unique major in Aero systems engineering, as well as mech e. Great co op opportunities and would be in budget.

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My kiddos visited. Would like more of a campus/community than they experienced here.

And on a very personal level- my husband and I combined have 3 degrees and soon to be a 4th from a rival school … not that it’s a reason not to choose a school.

But it does meet our needs…

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Are other Ohio public universities desirable and affordable?

The following not on your list have AE and/or ME:

Cleveland State University
Miami University
Ohio University
The Ohio State University
University of Akron

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Thank you!
My kiddo really wants aerospace and most of these listed don’t offer it…
OSU has both but we visited and I don’t think they are interested in attending there.
I think my kiddo would love OU or Miami but is insistent on Aerospace… maybe we’ll apply and see what happens.
(And I realize the same goals can be achieved with mechanical engineering, but my kiddo’s not there yet)

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You have to see what will be affordable. UAH is a top aero school, located in NASA area part two after Houston and will be under $25k with auto merit

Huntsville is rated a top spot post graduation for all grads. It’s loaded with defense companies.

Is the school lgbtq friendly. I imagine so but you can research. Is the state ? Likely not but many say the same about Ohio. Indiana is worse although campus pride gives Purdue a perfect score.

Huntsville is 2 hrs south of Nashville. So not horrendously far depending on where in Ohio. If the Cincy area, 7 hrs.

A budget friendly closer to home and places fine is W Michigan. I think you can get close to $25 with merit. Another is SIU Carbondale which is $30k b4 merit. They have MechE with an aero concentration. So it’s certainly possible.

Wright State or Ohio U don’t have aero. Wright State doesn’t mention ABET accreditation that I see but ABET says they are for MechE. For the state if Ohio, in addition to OSU and Cincy only Akron and Kent State are ABET accredited for aero.

Have you run the NPC for CWRU ? If not, run it. If it’s higher than $25k, why bother ?

I’d say why bother with Purdue which also has a $2050 engineering surcharge on top of tuition. You have no chance, even if accepted to get to $25k. So apply to say I got in but don’t go or don’t apply. The former would be a real heartbreak if accepted.

If you’re going to reach, reach for a school that you can get to $25k. It’s not close and there’s others but an example is Rice. If your income is under $140k, tuition is covered. Find a school like that to reach. Under $75k, all is covered - full ride. .

Will you get in? No.

But it’s a smarter reach than Purdue if you’re hard on $25k and CWRU depending on what the school says you can afford. Ohio State would be a smart reach btw. I get it. He didn’t like but then why Purdue. OSU is bigger but both are large and at least there’s a chance.

Like Rice, other elite privates offer big aid to those who qualify. Rice is just one example.

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The good news is that all schools with ABET accredited AE, also have ME. The list is small, roughly 60, so you could vet every single one.

As for dream schools, no school is perfect. I’d caution against building it up to an unrealistic height, for fear of disappointment if they don’t get in, or worse, let down if they do.

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If your student is willing to consider schools that don’t have aero majors, that opens up a lot more options to get to budget. The budget + aero major combo will be the hardest thing to satisfy (aside from your in-state safeties).

Purdue almost certainly won’t come in at budget; it came in at $25K for my son as in-state and they don’t give much merit. Case is tough to predict for admissions – be sure to show tons of demonstrated interest. They are generous with aid, but their sticker price has gotten really expensive and they’ve have had steep tuition hikes the last few years.

Dayton is on your list, and it’s a great choice and they give good merit. But they don’t have an aero major because they only do bread-and-butter engineering majors, as a matter of principle. They have tons of minors.

Your kid would get an automatic merit scholarship at the U of Louisville that would put their total bills at ~20K.

I know they’re dead set on aero at this point. However, there are other posts on this forum that go into detail about why you don’t need to major in AE, or maybe even want to major in AE, to have a career in AE. The tight budget constraint might sway them to consider another major if they want a bigger list of school to choose from.

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@katiemeg1: Wondering if an Aero minor or a cluster of courses added to MechE would work?
Have you been able to compare the 2 side by side?

Ofc there’s Embry Riddle but I doubt it’ll be within budget.

What about emailing NASA, Boeing, Airbus RH or engineering, explaining “am a rising HS senior, I want to work for your company after college and I know I want to major in Engineering, what majors would you recommend?” +checking out where any engineer listed on the website went to college, what they majored in.

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To this point - you don’t need an aero major. My son majored in MechE, interned at automotive two years, had two aero offers and now works in aero for a Cleveland based company, spending his first 6 months ( he hopes longer) in Utah, having gone to college in Alabama.

He didn’t pursue NASA but many do, including their intern program.

Funny - my old sales vp in the car industry was an aerospace major.

Majors don’t necessarily portend careers.

That said UAH would be an admission and financial safety for this student and perhaps short of Rice, one can’t get better access to NASA itself.

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Yes, you don’t need an aero major to work in aero. Just like you don’t need a biomedical engineering major to work in biomed. I wouldn’t recommend my kid major in either, but rather do a more fundamental major like MechE or EE. But when a student is set on that, it can be hard to talk them out of it. For example, if I had my way, no one would major in neuroscience. But it’s often difficult to get people to see things from that perspective.

IF their student is open to the conversation, perhaps they’ll entertain the discussion of other majors. Especially if schools they like don’t have aero, and/or they have trouble with such a constrained budget. However, they can certainly go to Kent State or Wright State and kick butt in aero for cheap, and have an excellent outcome if that’s what they want. They did mention that they’d like to stick pretty close to Ohio and those schools are great options.

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My kid was a ME with a heavy fluids background, and a MS in aerodynamics. He had aerospace offers and has ME friends at both SpaceX and JPL. That said, there are system level things MEs won’t likely be exposed to.

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I think Western Michigan could get close to those costs. Engineering is on a separate campus a short bus ride away. We have not visited the engineering campus yet, but my daughter really liked main campus.

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Depending on where in Ohio you live, Clarkson (NY) could be worth considering. They give generous merit and it’s definitely a residential campus. Students can also cross-register at SUNY-Potsdam for additional course options.

If Case’s NPC comes back as affordable, then you may want to try Illinois Institute of Technology, as they are also generous with merit aid.

I think that U. of Wisconsin will be highly unlikely to come within budget, but U. Buffalo would be well worth a look. Ditto with Western Michigan.

I would see about arranging a convo with some engineering students at Akron. Oftentimes a particular department/field can feel very different than the rest of the college.

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OP – regarding Purdue, here is a link to the Purdue Data Digest: https://www.purdue.edu/datadigest/. If you do the interactive link at “Applications, Admits, and Matriculations,” you can get some idea of how your child compares with other OOS applicants. The link to “New First-Time Beginner Profile” gives objective information on recent first-year students; it is a way to compare your child’s stats with those of recently matriculated Purdue students, and perhaps get a rough estimate of your child’s admissions chances.

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Thank you for this information.

I just re-ran the NPC for Case with our latest info and it shows our responsibility as 24,891 (strange how close that is to the 25,000 I mentioned!!!). Since they meet need- it makes it a bit more possible.
But I agree 100% about Purdue- with likely no aid or merit- it probably doesn’t make sense.

We will look at UAH but nearly 10 hours away so we’ll see if I can get some interest there! SIU- worth exploring too.

I will double check Wright state. If I remember correctly- they have a BS in Mech and a MS in Aero- which peaked my kiddo’s interest. Not our top choice but an option.

We had looked at WMU- I honestly forgot about it. Its not a bad option as a safety/likely.

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Thank you for this. Yes I understand there is no perfect school. My kiddo knows that it is unlikely they will get in- but wants to try. We’ve visited twice, it is right across from where my husband works, and my kiddo just feels comfortable there…

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Otterbein has a long history of serving diverse groups, has a great location, the music department is lovely but their engineering programs are just getting started. That might be an advantage in terms of the particular financial aid package they would offer. They do allow cross registration with OSU, so that may be something to ask about.

Their Systems Engineering degree is abet accredited. I’m not sure where they are in the process for their ME, but perhaps Systems would be better for an aspiring NASA engineer.

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I wouldn’t rule it out. Both Embry Riddle (FL) and Florida Tech have a lot of scholarships and allow stacking. My daughter went to Florida Tech and while some of her scholarships and grants were because she was an athlete and a Florida resident, there were many others that she didn’t apply for - the astronaut scholarship, some federal science scholarships, some from industry sponsors (Northrup). And it is a lot of fun to be near NASA and watch all the launches, be on a campus with astronauts walking among you, listen to all the guest speaker about the latest space news. There are tons of internships and jobs available during the school terms at the companies near Cape Canaveral.

My nephew was in Mech E at CU, a school that does have aero. He never took an aero class, didn’t intern in it, and yet his first (and current) job is in aero (Northrup). He started with them in Northern VA, but then covid happened and he moved back to Colorado and now they let him work remotely. I don’t know if being near the aero stuff while in college helped him get the job or if Northrup doesn’t care what the undergrad major was. My daughter majored in civil (although was also around all the aero stuff at Florida Tech) and had an interview with Martin Marietta for an internship. I think the companies have a holistic approach to hiring.

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