Match my son - engineering or bio

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Demographics
White male, upper middle class, college graduate parents

  • US domestic (US citizen or permanent resident) or international student
    US Citizen
  • State/Location of residency: (state is important if you apply to any state universities)
    Virginia
  • Type of high school (current college for transfers):
    competitive public high school in a competitive area (Northern Virginia)
  • Gender/Race/Ethnicity (optional):
    White, male
  • Other special factors (first generation to college, legacy, athlete, etc.):

Intended Major(s)
Engineering (mechanical or biomedical) or Biology

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.73
  • Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): 4.14
  • College GPA (for transfers):
  • Class Rank: unsure
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1420 (720 math, 700 verbal)

Coursework
(AP/IB/Dual Enrollment classes, AP/IB scores for high school; also include level of math and foreign language reached and any unusual academic electives; for transfers, describe your college courses and preparation for your intended major(s))
Latin 4, APUSH 5, World Hist 5, Biology 5
currently taking Physics, Calc AB, Government, and one other I can’t remember

Awards
nothing of note

Extracurriculars
(Include leadership, summer activities, competitions, volunteering, and work experience)
nothing super strong… he volunteers feeding homeless people on the streets with our church, tutors freshmen in geometry and Algebra, participates in TSA (technology student association), D&D club, travel soccer

Essays/LORs/Other
(Optionally, guess how strong these are and include any other relevant information or circumstances.)
His essay will be moderately strong - he’s pretty self aware and a good sense of humor, but he’s had an easy life and is pretty go with the flow
His LOR from his STEM teacher and AP Bio teacher will be very strong. They like him a lot and he was active in their classes
His LOR from school counselor will be pretty generic since he didn’t interact with her much

Cost Constraints / Budget
(High school students: please get a budget from your parents and use the Net Price Calculators on the web sites of colleges of interest.)
Will not qualify for financial aid. Would prefer to keep costs under $45K per year after any merit aid (if any)

Schools
(List of colleges by your initial chance estimate; designate if applying ED/EA/RD; if a scholarship is necessary for affordability, indicate that you are aiming for a scholarship and use the scholarship chance to estimate it into the appropriate group below)

  • Safety (certain admission and affordability)
  • Likely (would be possible, but very unlikely or surprising, for it not to admit or be affordable)
  • Match
  • Reach

He’s looking at VCU, George Mason and ASU (applying EA) as likelies/safeties
Other schools he’s interested in right now are Virginia Tech- ED (likely a reach given where he’s coming from and his interest in applying to engineering), WPI (applying Early Action), RPI, Michigan State maybe?

Major reaches - UVA, University of Michigan

Looking for potential matches. He’s not really concerned about the name brand of the school, very laid back, but when it’s a subject he’s interested in he works hard and gets high marks (biology and now physics). No strong preference on type of school or location… generally prefers the look and feel of schools like UVA and University of Michigan. Does not prefer urban campuses, but it’s not a major concern of his.

Thanks!

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WVU should be very affordable. The have a scholarship matrix. They also have some for engineering that stack.

App State?

It’s going to be tough to get under $45k unless you look south or west.

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Unfortunately, I don’t think WPI, RPI or Michigan will be in budget.

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Yeah, that was my thought but when I used WPI’s net price calculator and put in my son’s gpa and test score they listed he’d likely get merit based grants bringing cost down to about $38k per year. Obviously that’s an estimator and not real, but it made seem feasible for now. It is weird though because my kid’s profile is basically the average kid there so if he gets a merit based scholarship then just about everyone does, so why not just lower the tuition cost?

Also, I should add if by some chance he gets into a top program, I’d consider paying more. I’d have to figure out relative value…

He has a great value fall back of doing two years at a community college here and then gets guaranteed admission to Virginia Tech as a junior.

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Does that $38k at WPI include room and board?

It will be hard to top your in-state options. I’m assuming he’ll also apply to W&M? Crazy not to.

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For a Safety school, you can look at Iowa State. Iowa State is a very good engineering school that is commonly underrated. I have hired many Iowa State grads through the years and they have all been very well prepared for the “professional world”.

For Match: Missouri S&T and Michigan Tech (MTU). Both are respected, mid-sized public engineering/STEM-focused schools that are vary affordable for OOS. I know and have worked with multiple grads from both school. Mostly mechanical engineers, generally fairly positive.

Likely to Match: RPI and Illinois Tech (IIT). Both are small to mid-sized private schools that typically offer generous merit and need aid. Note that RPI is an IM school so you will need to do a little more than just file FAFSA. FWIW, I am an IIT grad and my daughter is currently attending IIT. I have hired many IT grads over years. Again, positive experience with the graduates that I have hired. I have not worked with many RPI grads (though my great grandfather is one).

I agree that WPI tends to be a little stingy with their aid. WPI is also an IM school. I do not know any WPI grads though one of my daughter’s best friends is currently added WPI.

I would apply EA to all that offer it and get your RD applications in at the same time. Puts your son in a better position for merit aid and helps you to get your acceptance and aid offers sooner.

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Awesome, thank you for the suggestions!

One of the things I’m learning is there are a lot of well regarded regional schools I would have never heard about unless someone lets me know about them

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One thing to really look into as you consider smaller and/or regional engineering schools is what companies and industries generally hire their graduates. These types of schools tend to exist because they are a strong pipeline for specific companies and industries. For example, if your son knows that he wants to go into the automotive industry then Kettering could be an option but If he wants to be a civil engineer then I would look elsewhere… There are some real gems out there if your son has a decent idea of what he wants to do with this degree(s).

On the flip side, if you son is not 100% sold on engineering or specific discipline, make sure that you apply to some larger, state schools. They will offer more flexibility for your son if he decides to go in a different direction.

Just a few things to think about beyond rankings and public name recognition.

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@chmcnm Well, Not crazy at all with William & Mary . For one thing, they don’t have engineering. My instate kids went to UVA and VT for engineering. . Totally different vibe from William & Mary and they did not apply . And I don’t think they’re “crazy” for not doing so! It’s a wonderful school but not the right fit for everyone. Good luck to the OP’s son!

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The elephant in the room is Bio v Engineering.

Engineering is a big fork in the road: at pretty much all of the places people have talked about in this post, engineering is a direct admit. The usual advice is to apply to engineering b/c it is easier to transfer out of engineering than to transfer in. So, is your son ready to do that?

(edited to fix a typo)

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OP said biology was also on the table so W&M would be an option. Plus it’s in-state and a fantastic school. Certainly worth the app fee. Lot of things can change before May that might make it a great option.

Whether it’s a great fit is TBD but OP should be looking at all options right now and covering all his bases. Might not be crazy for Va residents but for other students in states with average state schools it would be crazy not to apply.

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That would be very surprising. My son had a 4.0 and high SAT. He got $20K per year at both WPI and RPI, and he was a Rensselaer Medalist. An award bringing the total cost down to $38k, would essentially be $38K per year. I’ve never seen an award that high with the exception of the full ride very few get.

I fully agree with Iowa State and Missouri S&T. Both great schools.

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Hi chmcnm - it does include room and board, but again, this was off the net price calculator and not an actual offer.

William and Mary is a great school and my son has friends that go there, however, it does not have an engineering major. They do have a combined program with Columbia’s Engineering program where you get a degree from William and Mary in 3 years (usually in physics) and 2 years at Columbia where you get a bachelor’s in engineering. So you do get 2 bachelor’s degrees, but it’s obviously more expensive (5 years, including 2 at Columbia).

He might still apply b/c it is a great school, but according to most chancing calculator’s he’s got like a 25% chance of getting in.

It is crazy competitive… he’s got a 4.15 gpa and 1420 SAT and he’s not likely to get into any of the top 3 state schools.

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So biology is off the table?

The consensus is 3/2 programs typically are a bad idea. I would agree.

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Hi collegemom - yeah, engineering is his first choice. That’s what he’s been interested in since freshman year, particularly robotics, but he recently started really liking biology, he did really well on his AP and he’s taking another biology related class this year (Human anatomy and physiology)…

So, I think in some ways his best bet is to get into an engineering program at a larger school and if he doesn’t like it switch to a biology major.

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I wouldn’t say biology is off the table - in some ways I think that’s a better choice for him, but at the moment it’s his second choice.

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That makes more sense b/c my son’s averages are not exceptional by WPI’s student profile averages (and they’re test blind which hurts him a bit, b/c his test score is slightly above his gpa) – he seems to be about the averge. I would be curious to see what it actually ends up being.

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Just as a follow on - I did the net price calculator at WPI and it agains says a net cost of $32K. However, it’s not a very thorough calculator – they only give an option of household income of $99K and above. I suspect that my price would go up if I put more detailed financial info in there.

So, good to know that the cost is likely going to be much higher.

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It’s a great school. The only thing you’d be out is the application fee if he doesn’t get in or it’s not in budget.

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Penn St, Wisconsin and Ohio State have good engineering programs. They might come at the high end of your price range without any merit.

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