Michigan merit aid?

<p>Hi, I am a loyal UM alum but I have told my son, who is interested in engineering, he shouldn't apply because we would be full pay likely. It broke my heart to have to tell him that he couldn't go to my alma mater, but I need to be realistic. Now, he just got his ACT scores back and bumped it up to a 35. My question is, would this make a difference in his chances of receiving any merit aid? Or, should I stick with my original "no applying to Michigan" statement?</p>

<p>Other relevant info, he has a 4.1 W, 3.95 UW GPA, lots of music extracurriculars, a couple leadership positions. Nothing unusual about him, your typical wihite, middle-class suburban boy. </p>

<p>Thanks in advance and Go Blue!</p>

<p>He should apply to Michigan to see what he gets. Obviously you can’t be too certain what sort of merit aid (if any) he will receive, but that’s the reason why he should apply, not the reason why he shouldn’t.</p>

<p>Give it a try and hopefully UMich will be successful to raise money this year to increase the amount of financial aid next year.</p>

<p>Thanks for the input, Kron and billcsho. You helped solidfy what i was leaning toward. You never know unless you apply!</p>

<p>He should apply EARLY to Michigan to see what he gets.</p>

<p>^ There is no reason for him not to apply early.</p>

<p>UMichigan has a few nice engineering scholarships. But they are very particular about state or county of origin.
[New</a> Students - Scholarships | Scholarships](<a href=“New Students – Scholarships & Fellowships”>New Students – Scholarships & Fellowships)</p>

<p>My OOS D applied last year with a high 35, 4.0 UW, lots of AP, loads of music stuff, volunteering, other good test scores. No academic merit aid, but she did get accepted. She is not in engineering.</p>

<p>Have you thought of UIUC? They are excellent for engineering. They have a scholarship for OOS $12K/yr that covers most of OOS costs. They are kind of expensive even with that, but you might get more. D was offered that scholarship plus another one from her dept. Here is a link to engineering scholarships at UIUC- [Freshmen</a> Engineering Scholarships | Engineering at Illinois](<a href=“Majors & Minors | The Grainger College of Engineering | UIUC”>Majors & Minors | The Grainger College of Engineering | UIUC). </p>

<p>I know it’s not Michigan, but just a thought. Are you instate? My feeling is that in general Michigan gives very little merit aid to OOS, engineering and maybe music are exceptions.</p>

<p>UIUC engineering is as competitive as UMich in terms of admission scores and GPA. They also give scholarship to National Merit Finalists. It used to be 30 for full tuition. I am not sure if it is still the case.</p>

<p>For the population of incoming frosh . . . a couple of years ago U Michigan awarded 29% of the students non-need based aid averaging $6k each . . . that includes athletic scholarships which I surmised brought the “average” up</p>

<p>Our conclusion was that UM was not big on giving merit aid.</p>

<p>Thanks for the comments, everybody. He will apply early action. He is not interested in UIUC but he likes Purdue so that is a lower cost option. He also can fall back on our flagship, Ohio State. Right now he has no clear favorites ( he is applying to a couple more reach schools), I am just trying to help him maximize his time spent on these apps and see if some should be scuttled (8 schools in all).</p>

<p>Purdue would be a safety for him. Make sure he applies EA too as it would be for merit scholarship also.</p>

<p>BillC, we are aware of the Nov. 1 deadlines. I thought Purdue would be more of a match before he got his higher ACT score. Right now, he has four safeties and four reaches (if Michigan is considered a reach) and no matches in between. Any match suggestions? I guess he’s OK though because he is fine with the idea of going to any of the safeties and he doesn’t view Purdue as a safety at all considering how respected its engineering program is.</p>

<p>not sure if you’re looking for schools in the midwest. S received a nice merit scholarship at u of rochester. We were very impressed but he ended up at UM. worth a look. might also want to look at mcgill.</p>

<p>he started with four safe schools, four matches and four reaches and had UM as a match. When S was admitted EA, he dropped the four safeties and added four reaches. You might want to take the same tack (provided the EA admittance(s) are affordable).</p>

<p>Quietdesperation, do you mind sharing how much merit aid your S was offered at Rochester? I have urged my S to consider the school as I think it would be a really good fit but he seems to like the larger schools. He was into Case Western (similar to Rochester) for a while until he went to some big school campus visits.</p>

<p>it was $12k/year, the general range was $10k-$20k. Not sure how they come up with the number but my son had a 3.65/2200 so I’d guess your son might be at the higher end. On the other hand, my son had crazy rigor (6 aps and another 12 college credits), hard to know how/if that played into their calculation.</p>

<p>the person UR had talk to admitted students was brilliant and had me convinced, the opportunities for research are amazing. actually, s first acceptance was tulane with $25k of merit. If we were under financial pressure, he would have gone there or maybe mcgill.</p>

<p>what about cmu and jhu?</p>

<p>So if your original calculation was that you’d be full-pay at Michigan, does that also mean you’d also be full-pay at a meets-full-need private? Most of the top privates aren’t going to give much, if anything, in merit aid. </p>

<p>If Purdue is a safety and Michigan is a reach, then what lies between the two financially and in terms of selectivity, especially for a student who is determined to do engineering? I’d say maybe Wisconsin. It has a very good engineering school, a bit more selective than Purdue but less selective than Michigan, a better college town than W. Lafayette, lower OOS tuition than Purdue, maybe not quite as renowned as Purdue for engineering but not far back. And it’s got more strength in non-engineering fields than Purdue, so if S ever has a change of heart about majors (and a majority of students do), there’s more to fall back on. </p>

<p>With his stats he might also take a shot at Cornell, Princeton, and Northwestern. These are selective enough to be reaches but they have quality engineering programs and tremendous institutional resources across many fields. A 35 ACT and 3.95 unweighted is going to get a good, close look pretty much anywhere he applies. That, plus legacy status and strong ECs, gives him a very strong chance at Michigan, to the point I’d rate Michigan engineering a high match/low reach. And as others have said, you won’t know about merit money until you apply. Or as the ads used to say about the New York State Lottery: “Hey, you never know!”</p>

<p>He actually has Cornell and Northwestern on his list as well. But sorta in the same boat with those, if we can’t get some financial aid there they are probably a no-go. The NPC we did for Northwestern comes out lower than Michigan’s full pay ( I am not counting on qualifying for FA at UM) but Cornell is about the same. </p>

<p>I am not sure why he never considered Wisconsin. Maybe too far away for him. UIUC was also never on his radar. I think he is content with the idea of Purdue or Ohio State if none of his reaches work out.</p>

<p>May I ask why he is not interested in UIUC? It seems it is between UMich and Purdue in many ways and has very strong engineering.</p>

<p>I am probably to blame about UIUC. I had been reading about the state of Illinois finances and the complaints from residents of the continuing lack of sufficient financial support for higher education in Illinois. Same reason I didn’t want him to consider Cali schools. And I believe that Purdue is on par with Illinois as far as engineering goes.</p>

<p>Yes, the engineering at UIUC, UMich, and Purdue are all very strong (Rank 5-10). If financial support is the only consideration, your should probably still give it a try to see what package do they come up with. I have visited all of them. There are a lot of constructions going on in Purdue (and Indiana) but we like the UIUC campus much much more. If you are from oos, there is probably not much difference in financial aid between UIUC and UMich.</p>