I’m latino and want to study Industrial Engineering, I’m working on my college list and I’m currently deciding between University of Arkansas and University of Oklahoma… Which school is better (socially and academically)? Honest opinions would be of great help! Thanks!
Best would be to post your statistics (GPA, rank, ACT/SAT), what you like socially, home state etc…
I study abroad so I don’t live in the US, I don’t know my GPA on a 4.0 American scale but my average grade is pretty high and I’m among the top 25% in my class. My SAT is 1660 (590 M, 520 CR, 550 W) and I’m taking ir again in November.
Both Universities look good academically and socially, that’s why I’m trying to decide between them. OU is near a city while U of A is in a little college town (among the best in the US). What do you guys think is a better choice for me? What would be a more prestigious option when studying Engineering? Which one is more fun?
both very good schools. both good choices. either way you can not go wrong!
Any other opinions?
Apply to both 
See which one is the most affordable.
Aren’t you considering others? Do you have a special scholarship to attend these?
We thought you were deciding between Auburn University and the University of Tennessee, per your other thread?
Gandalf78, these decisions are for my college list, but not final ones. I’m deciding to apply either to Oklahoma or Arkansas but not to both. Same with Auburn and Tennessee, that’s why I’m asking for opinions here.
I really like OU but I’m very biased be cause it’s my D’s first choice. I do know they offer much support for international students http://www.ou.edu/content/cis/iss.html
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My SAT is 1660 right now (590 M, 520 CR, 550 W) and will take it again on November.
Those are my academic stats, I got very interesting and personal experiences like social services, trips, trilingual, etc…
We have to wait for financial aid to come in to determine how much my family would pay each year… I’m also planning to apply for scholarships in each university I apply to… Applying for scholarships is not hard right?
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In another thread, you mention that you’re a int’l.
And in this quote, you say that you’re going to wait to see what financial aid comes.
Do you realize that you won’t get any need-based FA from these schools?
I doubt any of these schools would give scholarships for your stats. You have a 1110 M+Cr. That’t too low for merit.
How much will your family pay each year?
Edit…
Ok…in another thread, you say that you were born in MA…so you are a citizen.
You are NOT an int’l.
However, you’re OOS for all of these schools, and they don’t give need based aid to OOS students.
How much will your dad pay for your education?
Are you applying to any MA schools?
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I'm out of state and only a 50% average need is awarded in Auburn University.
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As an OOS student, you can’t look at that “avg need met” for OOS publics. Those numbers are largely instate driven. For an OOS student with a lot of need, very little of the need would be met.
Have you run the net price calculators on these schools’ websites?
@mom2coIIegekids won’t he have to OOS in MA too? Unless his family has been paying MA state income tax while over seas?
He may be considered instate for MA
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- I would be in-stater in Massachusetts, I was born there and my dad lives and works there (he's the one I'm dependant on financially) <<<
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It sounds like his mom has custody of him, but in some states, a child can get instate rates if the other parent lives in that state. He’ll need to find out.
I’m an in stater in MA, already did my research on that. I know I’m not an international, I said that so people know I’m an american abroad/South American/third culture/etc…
I’m only applying to one MA state school, it’s the only one that interests me and offers my degree.
I will eventually try to boost my SAT scores up.
I have no choice but to apply to these schools even if they don’t give much financial aid to Out of Staters. If I don’t get any merit scholarships, I will still get financial aid eventually… I have read about their financial aid and statistics and they do give out financial aid to out of staters, some more than others, that’s what the FAFSA is for. How can many out of staters go to some of these schools without any need based aid given to them (are they all rich and don’t need money or they all have excellent grades and receive huge ammount of aid?) thats crazy… They do help you if you are in need, maybe not as much as in staters for sure but telling me that I will NOT RECEIVE ANY TYPE OF AID in all of these schools I’m considering is just crazy. My dad will decide how much he’ll pay for my education after I have received admissions responses and financial aid offers from universities. He will eventually pay part of my education, but it’s too soon to know how thats going work out.
I will call to these schools tomorrow to ask about financial aid, but I doubt they will give me 0 aid if I apply for it and early… They are state schools and maybe focus more on their in staters, but they eventually have to attract out of staters, not just reject them by not giving them ANY type of aid…
I could be wrong but I was under the impression that oos public schools were more inclined to give MERIT aid to OOS and financial aid to IS. DD is going OOS to OU but she is likely NMF. Not sure your stats will get much merit. I guess the only way to know for sure is to apply.
No. FAFSA is a complicated form you fill out in order to get $5,500 in subsidized and unsubsidized loans.
If your father makes less than $29,471, you’d also get $5,750 as a grant (and about 2,500 if he makes about $40,000). That’s it.
Yes, exactly. OU for instance offers an insane amount of money to National Merit Finalists, and as a result they have the most NMFs in the country. The amount they receive is of course factored into the average.
The ONLY public universities that “meet need” for OOS applicants are UVA and UNC-CH; in addition, UMichigan meets need for lower income OOS applicants it admitted.
Most public universities admit OOS students in order to collect the higher fees that’ll offset budget shortfalls.
(Unless the students can bring them fame, like NMFs.)
Public universities’ raison d’etre is serving their state’s residents, who have paid for them with their taxes.
They admit students, instate and OOS. Instate students get a discount due to their parents paying for the universities throughout the years. OOS don’t. But both instate and OOS studens are admitted without any consideration as to whether they’ll be able to attend. If the admitted students can’t afford to pay, the universities consider it’s not their problem.
Only about 80 universities / 3700 consider it “their problem” to ensure that admitted students can afford to attend. These are called “100% meet need” universities. Here’s the rough list:
http://www.thecollegesolution.com/schools-that-meet-100-of-financial-need-2/
Those will require higher scores than the ones listed above and tend to have January deadlines.
To see how much financial aid these two universities would offer and how much they’d cost , use these:
http://finaid.uark.edu/331.php
http://www.ou.edu/financialaid/Financial-Aid-Process/Net-Price-Calculator.html
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I have no choice but to apply to these schools even if they don't give much financial aid to Out of Staters. If I don't get any merit scholarships, I will still get financial aid eventually.. <<<
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Why do you think that you’d get FA eventually? No, you won’t.
Is your dad low income? If not, then you won’t get any “free money” financial aid.
About how much does your dad earn?
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. I have read about their financial aid and statistics and they do give out financial aid to out of staters, some more than others,
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Where are you reading this?
The OOS students are getting merit aid for high test scores.
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that's what the FAFSA is for.
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No, it’s not. FAFSA is just an app for federal aid, and fed grants are for low income and are for small amounts.
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How can many out of staters go to some of these schools without any need based aid given to them (are they all rich and don't need money or they all have excellent grades and receive huge ammount of aid?) thats crazy...
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Yes, many are the children of affluent parents and are paying all costs. Some have high test scores and are getting large merit awards. Some are veterans or children of post-9/11 veterans, and they get VA benefits that pay for most of their schooling.
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They do help you if you are in need, maybe not as much as in staters for sure but telling me that I will NOT RECEIVE ANY TYPE OF AID in all of these schools I’m considering is just crazy.
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Your stats aren’t high enough for merit.
You won’t get need-based aid beyond federal loans, unless your dad is low income and you qualify for a small Pell Grant.
Use this NPC and then copy/paste the results:
I’ll run Auburn’s NPC, and I’ll assume that your dad has an income of $50k and see what the results are.
ok…I used Auburn’s NPC
I put that your dad earns $50,000 and has no assets.
I put that you have no income.
I put that your scores have improved to a 1240 M+CR SAT (you currently have an 1110 M+CR). A 130 point jump is optimistic.
The results showed that:
the OOS costs are over $46k.
you wouldn’t get any merit scholarships.
you would get a $2400 federal Pell Grant (based on parent modest income, this is fed aid for FAFSA EFC)
you would also get a $5,500 federal loan.
so, you can see that Auburn wouldn’t be giving you ANY money at all. After federal aid, your dad would have to pay about $38,000 per year.
This was based on an income of $50k. If the income is higher, then the Pell Grant goes away.
Ok, so taking loans out a bank is the only way to get a higher education at a good university out of your state in America I guess… I’m not going to get any scholarships nor much financial aid at OOS schools according to you guys. Hope I get into my MA school. My dad doesn’t earn 50k per year by the way, way lower than that. I’m not rich nor have impressive SAT scores so no scholarships or financial aid for me! Drown myself in loans!