<p>Hey im a Junior in high school in Naperville, IL researching colleges i want to apply to this fall. I wish to major in civil engineering. My unweighted gpa is about a 3.4 but about half of the classes ive taken thusfar in school are weighted (Honors, AP, PLTW). I think I could get accepted to Purdue, which is where I've wanted to go since Freshman year, but I don't think I can afford the tuition. What schools would you recommend I look into? I don't want to be near the city and if at all possible I'd like to go to a school where I can enjoy the sports in addition to the school itself.</p>
<p>Purdue fits your description well. Although not a big school (and mostly male population), Rose Hulman has a *fantastic *reputation (and isn’t very expensive).</p>
<p>if tuition costs are a concern, look at your in-state options, especially the schools with stronger engineering (not just CE, you may change your mind about majors) programs. Also look at neighboring state’s public universities, especially if they have reasonable tuitions for OOS or neighboring states.</p>
<p>Don’t give up on Purdue until you see what kind of FA package they offer you.</p>
<p>Hard to know without seeing your ACT/SAT scores, but a 3.4 probably won’t get you into UIUC, your in-state flagship with an outstanding engineering school, one of the nation’s best. Minnesota is a strong (top 25) engineering school with reasonable OOS tuition, but your 3.4 won’t help you there, either, unless your test scores are strong. Iowa State is a pretty decent engineering school with reasonable OOS tuition, worth a look.</p>
<p>Also consider Bradley University in Peoria. It’s private, with tuition that’s roughly the same as Purdue OOS, but they may be more generous with FA. Another option is to start out at another in-state school, like Northern Illinois in DeKalb, and try to transfer into UIUC if you do well in your first year or two. I have a nephew who did that; the UIUC degree looks just as shiny to employers as if you spent all 4 years there. The reason I suggest NIU is that it’s got a pretty decent engineering program in its own right, so even if you’re not accepted as a transfer student, you can still get a solid engineering degree.</p>
<p>All these schools have had a pretty big-time college sports scene in various sports at various times.</p>
<p>University of Michigan has a reputable engineering program, but you would definately want to bump up your GPA or land some awesome test scores to get accepted.</p>
<p>University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign seems like the perfect school for you. It’s very possible to get in there with a 3.4 GPA, and it has one of the best Civil Engineering programs. Not near the city at all, good athletic programs, and in-state tuition too.</p>
<p>It will help you a lot if you pull that GPA up to 3.5+</p>
<p>I forgot to post my ACT scores on here. I haven’t taken an official ACT yet but I’ve taken a couple practices ones through my school and got a 28 and a 29. 34 and 35 in math, high 20s in science and english, and about 24 in reading. I’m taking a 3 day Reading & English ACT prep class in a couple weeks to get that reading score up. So I should be getting a 31-33 on the ACT. </p>
<p>It also doesn’t hurt that I am in a school district that is considered one of the best in the country (District 204) and I am in an engineering program through my school that is also widely known (Project Lead the Way). </p>
<p>I’m not going to give up on UIUC and Purdue yet. It will be tough, but I think it’s definitely possible.</p>
<p>A school that is somewhat of a hidden gem is Missouri university of Science and Technology. It has about 5000 undergrads who are mostly engineering students. They have excellent job placement. They are very well priced for oos and give good merit scholarships which are very numbers driven and transparent.</p>