<p>“as a female URM applying as a CS major at an engineering school she is quite rare!”</p>
<p>Indeed…some admissions officers might call her a unicorn applicant. (You’ve heard that they exist, but you’ve never seen one.) I think it is a nice plus that the OP is looking at schools in the South and Midwest that may not see a lot of applicants from Massachusetts, period.</p>
<p>I agree with the Clarkson recommendation!</p>
<p>This website has great info on merit scholarships. You need to look at both the percentage of students receiving them AND the average amount. You can sort the results using the columns…
[Best</a> Values in Private Colleges, 2011-12](<a href=“Kiplinger | Personal Finance News, Investing Advice, Business Forecasts”>Kiplinger | Personal Finance News, Investing Advice, Business Forecasts)=ALL&id=none</p>
<p>Do you think it’s better to apply to public colleges or private colleges for the maximum amount of aid? And I checked that list and it’s very helpful!</p>
<p>For need-based aid, look at the net price calculator at each college, and check its merit scholarship pages.</p>
<p>There are some generalizations, like that the best need-based aid may be found at highly selective privates and in-state publics in some states, while out-of-state publics are usually poor at need-based aid, and the best merit aid is often at schools which are safety-level for admissions, but there are enough exceptions to the generalizations that you need to check each school individually.</p>
<p>Agree about Clarkson! </p>
<p>Also suggest RIT (NY) [Rochester</a> Institute of Technology](<a href=“http://www.rit.edu/]Rochester”>http://www.rit.edu/)</p>
<p>ComicStix–private schools have more merit aid, but their price tag is higher too. In our case we are finding that most private schools are coming in quite a bit lower than most state schools based on merit aid offerings alone.</p>