My Daughter's Application Strategy

My daughter is interested in Engineering, but like many others, she is not 100% sure she will end up in this discipline, so we’ve eliminated all of the pure Engineering Schools. We live in PA and she has narrowed her search to Pittsburgh in the West, Boston in the North, Duke in the South and the ocean to the East.

Here is her current list where she wants to apply:

Reaches
Duke - self-guided visit and she liked it
Princeton - liked it, but did not love it (it was weird, lots of people wandering around campus playing Pokemon Go)

Possible Reaches/Matches
Johns Hopkins - visited and was extremely impressed (financial reach)
UVA - visited and really liked it (financial reach)
Swarthmore - likes the campus, but needs to delve a little more into the Engineering program

Safeties (she is applying to the Honors Colleges for these three, which may not actually be safeties?)
Pittsburgh - visited and liked it a lot
Penn St - multiple visits and through science competitions has small scholarships to both the science school and engineering school
Temple - visited and to my surprise she liked it

Visited and Will Not Apply
Georgetown, Lafayette, George Washington

Considering Visiting
Carnegie Melon, Lehigh, Penn and Villanova

Academics
1570 SAT/35 ACT
3.975 GPA Unweighted (1st in Class) - weighted she is 3rd in class
4 APs (Scored 4 or 5 on each test, planning on 4 more APs her senior year for a total of eight)

Main ECs
Sports: Lacrosse(3), Soccer(3), Indoor Track(3) - not a recruited athlete
Music: Choir(3), Orchestra(3)
Science: State Science Competition (3)
Leadership: Girls State(1), Thon Captain(2)
Volunteering: Co-Founded Non-Profit in 2013 to run yearly fundraising event and 500+ volunteering hours through her participation in Mini Thon, Buddies Program and Church

Awards
Samsung Scholarship through American Legion
Rensselar Medailist
Science: PA Regional 1st Award (3), PA State 1st Award(2)
Indoor Track Effort and Dedication Award (2)
National Merit Commended (221 score will likely make her a semi-finalist since PA cut-off last year was 219)

Family income is $115,000/year with a budget of $20-25,00/year, so we will be dependent on merit aid at some of these schools if she does not win any additional outside scholarships. Any other good engineering schools we should consider in this area? We thought about U of Maryland and Virginia Tech, but why pay OOS rates when Pitt/Penn St/Temple are solid in state options?

Exactly. There is no reason to apply to any OOS publics that will not have a good change of giving her the merit-based aid that she needs.

Since she likes Swarthmore, she might consider some of the other small LAC-type institutions that offer engineering. If she’s willing to consider a women’s college that would add Smith and Sweet Briar to her list.

Since you’ve already set your budget limits go to each school’s web site and search for the Net Price Calculator. Run that to see what your bottom line might be.

Purdue is not in the immediate neighborhood but might be close enough. Two National Merit level students in my son’s high school class went there, both were leaning towards engineering but not entirely sold on that major. One has since changed to CS, not sure about the other, but both are enjoying the school tremendously.

JHU, Swat and UVA are not matches for anyone, except maybe a VA student with very high stats.

Not sure how affordable it would be, but Tufts makes it easy for students starting as engineers to switch out of the ptogram.

Union in NY is similar in that regard and offers nice merit. Definitely smaller but if Lehigh is on your list, it might be worth a look.

Be careful applying to colleges where you apply directly into a school/major. For example, I understand that at Carnegie Mellon, it’s very difficult to transfer from one school to another. This would make it, in effect, like a pure engineering school, which you are trying to avoid.

Thanks @happymomof1, I am pretty sure she wants to go co-ed (even though she’s shown very little interest in boys>) With her schedule, I don’t think she’d have time for a boyfriend!

We’ve done the NPC for most of the schools she is interested in using ballpark numbers, but we definitely need to go back with some exact figures.

We drove past Purdue this summer and I suggested visiting, but she didn’t want to stop. I guess I shouldn’t be too upset that she doesn’t want to get as far away from us as possible.

Check out Case Western Reserve University…they are known for merit scholarships. They have a strong engineering program but also a liberal arts college. they also have a Single Door Admissions policy so once you are admitted, you can major in anythign you want and also can switch majors if desired (there is no applying to get into the engineering or business school).

You’re probably right that JHU, Swat, and UVA are reaches too, I guess that’s why I put them as possible matches/reaches, but with a 1570 SAT and solid overall credentials, I assume they would give her careful consideration.

Good advice @mjrube94, we’ll make sure we ask that question about transferring majors for all of her schools because she will certainly be doing that at Pitt, Penn St and Temple, as well as trying for their Honors Programs.

Hey @Bopper, I’ve heard a lot of good things about Case Western, but just like Purdue, she wanted to pass on a visit when we drove by this summer. Maybe I’ll have her take a closer looks since her GC also recommended it.

IMHO she should be spending time this summer talking to engineers, finding more out about the career, etc. Being an engineering major in college isn’t going to be as much help in deciding if its a fit or not as many might think.

Much of the 1st 2 years (and the 1st year especially) will be spent taken math, physics, etc. Of course if you can’t stand these classes its probably not worth going further. Nor, at most schools, will there be any exposure to the many branches of engineering during this time; as a lower-div ChemE (for example) there will be a few classes in that but nothing in MechE, Civil, etc.

So entering junior year (the time by which it would have been a good idea to switch) the typical student will not have much better understanding based on their courses of whether some branch of engineering is a fit than when they started college. And even the classes for the major are meant to teach the foundation of the discipline. Daily or weekly life as an engineering student bears little relationship to what working engineers do.

She doesn’t have to be 100% sure now (who is?) but I’ll suggest by the time someone applies to college for engineering they ought to have a well-grounded belief engineering may a fit, not just a “let’s give it a shot and see how things play out” approach. I’m not saying it’s your D’s approach, just making a general comment.

OP, my son swore up and down that he wanted to study engineering at a university in a big city. I made him take a visit to Purdue anyway (we had some extra time at the end of our Fall Break perambulations), and he loved it – despite himself! He has matriculated there now as an entering FYE.

My point is, just because your daughter thinks she wouldn’t like something doesn’t mean that it will work out that way in the end. If you get the chance again, take her to Purdue and CWRU – and maybe some more places that might not appeal to her at first glance.

Also, to the point made by @mikemac, both Purdue and CWRU have strong academics in other areas; so if your daughter decides that engineering really isn’t her thing, she will likely have other options at those schools.

Check U of Kentucky in Lexington when UK updates the scholarship page for next year’s incoming class. If your D gets any of the big merit awards, the COA will come in well under your budget.

We have a rising junior there. Although not an engineering student herself, she has fallen in with a group of friends who are engineering students. Those kids are very bright and I love hearing about their internships and projects.

@mikemac, helpful post. Unfortunately, she just doesn’t know so she falls more into the “let’s give it a shot” approach. She has not spoken with a lot of engineers, though we have encouraged her to do so. Right now she has kind of latched onto the idea that it is easier to transfer out of an engineering program rather than trying to change her major and get into an engineering program in her 2nd or 3rd year.

I will put in another plug for Purdue. They have a first year engineering program so students can explore different disciplines before declaring a major. Yes it means the transition to major is competitive but honestly if a student is struggling with a 2.7 in intro courses, engineering is probably not for them. Very easy to transfer out of engineering.

Case would be a good option for merit money.

Lehigh would be another good option and Bucknell is worth a look if she doesn’t mind a smaller school.

UMD College Park gives merit money. Might be worth a look.

I also agree that JHU, UVA for OOS, and Swat are reaches for everyone. Yes your daughter’s stats put her well in the ball park but the acceptance rates are still very low, even for highly qualified students.

@gandalf78, the challenge is finding the time. Soccer has started, she’s in the midst of her summer work for her APs, she needs to study for her SAT Subject Tests that are just around the corner, she needs to start planning the fall activity for her non-profit, and of course completing college essays and applications while trying to win outside scholarships. What she really wants to do is just read some old Nancy Drews out on the hammock!