What mid size schools that are high ranking for engineering, specifically electrical and computer engineering, that also have a robust liberal arts program offer generous merit scholarships?
This is for a white male, ACT 35, writing portion 12, GPA 4.0, all AP classes, EC’s active with some leadership but nothing extraordinary, however overcame major reading and writing learning disabilities.
Income varies year to year, last year was low but don’t rely on income as it can change year to year, due to commissions.
High ranking schools for engineering don’t need to buy kids with good stats, if you need merit you need to leverage your stats in places where they are at the very top of the applicant pile. Look for ABET schools and consider the usual suspects on the automatic tuition list like Alabama et al and make sure your reaches for merit vs admission are options you can walk away from if they don’t come up with the merit you need. Have you run NPCs to endowment schools (most generous) for ballparks?
What is your home state? Rank? NMF?
So merit opportunities exist for high stats students who understand they need to not chase prestige.
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High ranking schools for engineering don’t need to buy kids with good stats,
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Exactly. High stats students are a dime a dozen at top ranked programs.
For eng’g, it’s NOT NECESSARY to go to a top ranked program. There are just too many very good eng’g programs in the US for rankings to matter. Whe the country has over 200 very good eng’g programs, what would a ranking mean to you??
This country and each state has a vested interest in having very good enng’g progras, which is why there are so many very good ones. In Calif alone there are over 25 very good eng’g programs.
Alabama has new and state of the art eng’g facilities…over 1 million sq ft of new STEM space. You’d get a lot of merit there/
I would recommend you look at Rowan University in NJ. They have an excellent ABET certified engineering program, small class sizes and brand new facilities. They give outstanding merit aid, my daughter was given 11,500 a year on a 30,000 cost of attendance school. (in state cost, out of state students have higher cost)
Let me change that, with an good engineering program doesn’t have to be top ranking. We are looking at our state school also in Missouri but their liberal arts program is not that robust. he also wants to continue taking Literature, History, and Philosophy courses. He is also looking at the Honors Programs, a smaller college had a Honors Program that he was interested in but the engineering program was very small. His school doesn’t rank but he is in the top 10% so that’s unofficial. Private competitive high school, takes all AP courses. No NMF.
It depends on how high ranking of the school you are looking at. You may get a scholarship at Purdue for instance. Most of the other top public schools with strong engineering are quite big. Private schools mostly offer only need based aid.
Is he hoping to get rid of core freshman eng classes with APs to have time for these other classes? Have him look at a 4 yr plan for engineering in competitive schools and see how that actually fits.
Alabama is a big enough campus to have plenty of liberal arts. My D17 applied OOS to UMD, which is not known for big merit, and was offered 15,000 / year via two different scholarships. She ended up at UAH, though. Your son’s stats would automatically qualify him for a scholarship that covers tuition and housing for four years. The school has around 8,000 students so it’s not going to have the same variety as a state flagship, but the honors program would be a great option for someone who wanted to add liberal arts. My D is taking two music classes this semester, including one performance class. She’s an aerospace engineering major.
Another possibility might be Kansas, if I remember correctly.
I would be looking at a different question- based on your review of your finances, what can you actually afford? Start there. Finding dozens of schools which will give you 10-15K of merit leaving you with a huge bill you cannot pay even with the student loan and working does you no good.
What are your actual financial parameters?
Look at Kansas State. They have really good merit, a new engineering building, and a growing program. S’s best friend is an engineering major and loving it!
Washu, Vanderbilt, Rice, JHU, CWR, U of Rochester, Pitt, BU?
Some of the schools you have listed give very little in merit aid…Rice, Wash U, Vandy, JHU.
Case is a good suggestion. What about RPI or RIT?
UT Dallas?
Not sure if it would be the right fit, but the Coast Guard Academy may be worth looking at, as well as other service academies.
If you want to go to a top ranked engineering program, look at the particular engineering degree you want. Then take a look at the rankings for that particular major, sure, you’ll see the usual suspects, but you’ll also come across great programs that are highly ranked in that particular area, but otherwise not a top ranked university (e.g. Penn State is top 10 in Materials Engineering). These schools are more likely to give merit aid then overall top 10 schools.
Take a look at Valparaiso. They are more traditionally a liberal arts school that added engineering and they have several ABET accredited programs. While they don’t have the facilities of a large research institution, they do have lots of hands-on opportunities and offer a lot to the student who wants more than just STEM courses. I was very impressed by the strength of their Honors program. They offered great aid to my S who had a 32 ACT.
U of Alabama? It appears he qualifies for their largest scholarship that only covers tuition. Are there other scholarships that I am not aware of. Spoke with Purdue, the scholarships are highly competitive, sounds like he would be in the running for one. He visits there next month. We were encouraged to apply ASAP.
So I’m not up on the abbreviations. Yes, really feels like he fits at Wash U., going to Case Western in a couple of weeks. Most likely everything will be covered at MUST, but am looking at other options too. Electrical and Computer engineering. Sorry, I was referring to U of A not UAH. What are the abbreviations for the other schools?
The problem with having a robust liberal arts program is that most engineers don’t have a lot of time in their schedules to take those courses even if they are offered. Your student may have a few more electives than my daughter did if he’s already taken the required writing and social science courses, but really even then there aren’t many. I had a friend in engineering in the olden days, and she made the decision right up front that she’d go to college for 5 years because she wanted to take all those ‘fun’ classes like mythology and piano and some rock sciences. Of course, college was a lot cheaper then, so adding a year was about $2000. If I added a year to my daughter’s college life, it would cost about $50k, and all her financial aid would be gone as most is limited to 8 semesters.