<p>I’ve added Vanderbilt to my mental list of schools I’m interested in and plan on visiting at the same time as my visit to U of Alabama.</p>
<p>Diversity fly-ins for rising seniors: <a href=“2014 Diversity College Weekends: Free Fall Visits for Rising Seniors | Get Me To College”>http://getmetocollege.org/hs/2014-diversity-college-weekends-free-fall-visits-for-rising-seniors</a></p>
<p>Carleton, Grinnell, and Oberlin are interesting choices. In addition, to what intparent mentioned about merit scholarships and the nice bang for your buck that state flagships provide, I know Carleton and Grinnell tend to promise to meet 100% of need. If you can get into Carleton, they have a fairly generous FA for students of low income seen here: <a href=“https://apps.carleton.edu/campus/sfs/prospective/aid_chart/”>https://apps.carleton.edu/campus/sfs/prospective/aid_chart/</a></p>
<p>The best part is that not much of it is covered through loans. But yeah definitely run NPC at each college you plan to visit. I don’t know about the strengths of the departments, but you can always ask professors and students currently attending, good luck!</p>
<p>Im actually at a coffee shop near Carleton right now and I absolutely love the campus. My only issue is that I want a job after undergrad, not more school. Computer science seems like the best option to do that at Carleton, but LAC graduates are “suppsoed to” go on to grad school, no?</p>
<p>Bump</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Mudd provided my kid with a voucher for a flight to accepted student days. I am really saying don’t apply ED there if you aren’t able to visit (or anyplace else for that matter), and do visit before making a final decision.</p>
<p>I doubt this student would qualify for a diversity fly in.</p>
<p>Bump</p>
<p>Most LAC graduates do not go to grad school. Pomona College has an annual report that shows where recent graduates go. In the 2012-13 report I don’t see any Computer Science grads that went to grad school. But I do see some who started working at companies like Microsoft, Google, yp.com, etc.<br>
<a href=“http://www.pomona.edu/administration/career-development/students/life-after-pomona/where-grads-go.aspx”>http://www.pomona.edu/administration/career-development/students/life-after-pomona/where-grads-go.aspx</a></p>
<p>Thats really encouraging to me. I’m touring Grinnell tomorrow. Carleton, Grinnell, and UW Madison all would be about the same price according to their net price calculators.</p>
<p>If your family income is under 50K, why are you looking for merit-based aid? I’m going to wager that UW-Madison’s fin aid package will come close to if not beat 'Bama’s scholarship offer.</p>
<p>And I understand at 18 not wanting to go to the in-state flagship that everyone else goes to, but 20 years later, that will seem like a stupid reason to you when that flagship is quite good in your major (and Wisconsin is very respected for CS).</p>
<p>Also, most of the elite need-blind full-need privates will be very generous with fin aid.</p>
<p>BTW, if your parents can’t pay anything at all, how is Alabama a safety when you’ll have to cover most of room & board there?</p>
<p>PurpleTitan has some good points here. UIUC is a more highly regarded school and may be less expensive for you.</p>
<p>UIUC doesnt have reciprocity as far as I know. U of Alabama has an additional $2500 from the College of Engineering that’s guaranteed for 4 years, and a recruiter told me that some receive up to $8500.</p>
<p>I think Alabama can be a safety because with the cheapest dorm option (triple for less than $2000/semester … not honors housing) and required meal plan, the extra $2500 scholarship plus federal loan of $5500 would cover all of the room and board costs, and the student can work for book and spending money and the fees that the tuition scholarship does not cover. </p>
<p>Also, my family income before taxes is 65k. Thats obviously more than I thought it was. I did run calculators with that and Carleton and Grinnell both would be in the neighborhood of 20k</p>