As was mentioned, without a firm budget and home state, we can’t be of much assistance.
There is a standard format for posting this type of question too. For the life of me, I can’t find it. Someone will point you to it though and you can edit your original post.
It would be more helpful to let us know the budget. An $80k/year school that gives $20k in merit for a cost of $60k might still be unaffordable while a school that costs $40k/year and gives $5k in merit would be affordable. Also, let us know if your family will qualify for any need-based aid. (Running the Net Price Calculator at a school like Harvard or Stanford will let you know, as those are generally two of the most financially generous schools.)
If you look at the bottom of your post you should see some icons that look like these. The one that looks like a pencil on a sheet of paper is the “edit” button. Once you select that, make the desired edits, and then press save. Your edits should then appear on your post to everybody else.
If you’re interested in ME and/or AE, then mechatronics would be a good fit.
In order to advise where, home state is helpful.
Also, your posts are conflicting. You say you’d like merit, but that budget isn’t an issue.
There isn’t enough to differentiate programs that a lot of debt makes sense, even for the biggest names.
So, in order for us to give good advice, you’d be best served by providing your home state and how much your parents have budgeted without incurring any debt.
Suggestions of where you may want to apply: go to abet.org and search for ABET accredited mechanical engineering and electrical engineering bachelor’s degree programs.
Can you and your parents pay $91k per year for college? If not, then budget is a consideration, and you need to talk to your parents about what the price limit is.
RPI would be a good match. Strong in engineering and they give merit. Other medium sized schools with strong engineering programs that would be matches are Lehigh and Case Western, but both would need some demonstrated interest.
Medium sized reach school - Northwestern, but that would be full pay.
I found that I cannot edit my original post. But someone else could edit my post and added unweighted GPA in the subject line.
At the bottom of my original post, I only have three buttons: post link for sharing, bookmark, and Reply. I don’t have as many as you indicated. It is very weird. I am a new user. Did I miss something? Thanks!
You are indeed correct. The reason I pointed it out is that you said finances are not an issue. If they aren’t an issue, merit is not needed.
You can indeed have an EFC that makes you full pay, but not want to pay in full. Your family might only want to pay a portion. They may not be able to pay more than a portion. You may not see the value in spending that much for ME/EE based on any number of factors.
So, getting back to the original question, what would you like to see your budget come in at. Bringing merit into the equation automatically eliminates a lot of schools. Your stats through will bring into play not only schools that give some merit like RPI, but some that waive tuition completely like Alabama and Utah State.
I am not sure whether you are the parent or the student, but either way can you list the scence and math classes taken each year and also the list the highest level of science and math offered at your school, even if the courses were not taken.
Besides STEM, are there subject areas where honors/AP is offered but it was not taken?
What is your approximate rank? I ask because a 4.0uw and a 4.28W could be around top 10% (in a school that gives 0.5 bump to AP and honors), or around average (in a school that gives many As in regular classes and weights AP +1 or more, so the top kids are 4.0uw with a 5.2 W)
I don’t think it’s at all unusual for full pay families where budget truly is not an issue to be interested in merit schools. Particularly if the student doesn’t get into their first choice school. Of my daughter’s 11 schools, 3 were meet needs only and 2 were extremely competitive merit possibilities - the rest all had generous merit.
In building her list, most of her target and safety schools all had generous merit. Her thought was, if she can’t get into her first choice at least she’d have the ego boost of big merit.
She received substantial merit at 5 schools and was in the running for 2 full ride scholarships - when she heard back from her first choice school.
Agree. If you are the parent, please use the following template:
Demographics (location, residency, HS type, legacy, US or Int’l, gender, etc)
Intended Major(s)
UW GPA, Rank, and Test Scores (also weighted GPA for systems like UC/CSU)
Coursework (college coursework for transfer applicants)
Awards
Extracurriculars (incl. summer activities, competitions, volunteering, and work experience)
Essays/LORs/Other
Cost Constraints / Budget
Schools including Safety, Match, Reach (include ED/EA when applicable)
Do not ignore this template! You’ll get the best feedback if you include all of these details.
