<p>How do these programs compare to each other in engineering, natural sciences and business? How about quality of living and quality of students?</p>
<p>How much more are these schools after their national merit scholarships?</p>
<p>Is it worth going to one of these schools for cheap v. UT honors , but not getting scholarship?</p>
<p>I cannot tell you much about the comparative programs, but I have been to Barrett (the honors college at ASU) and was thoroughly impressed. I was not considering the school until my parents dragged me there, and it made a believer out of me. It’s now my top choice, as it really is the best program in Arizona. Barrett is like its own private college situated in the middle of ASU. It has its own dorms, its own dining facilities, its own printing and gyms, and more. It is very new and so very nice. All of the students there seemed very nice as well. (It attracts the nerds, so basically the cool kids.) Admission gets more and more competitive every year. The application opens tomorrow, so make sure to apply ASAP to ASU and then there if interested. Barrett students get special perks and a more personalized feel but also the resources of one of the biggest universities in one of the biggest cities in the country (I think ASU is #2 for colleges and Phoenix #6 for cities, but I’m not sure). Here is a scholarship calculator for the school: <a href=“https://students.asu.edu/scholarships/estimator[/url]”>https://students.asu.edu/scholarships/estimator</a>
I am in-state, so with Merit I can get get a good deal more than the value of tuition. I’m not sure how it works for out-of-state, but I think you can get at least tuition.
I’m not sure the experience you have with Arizona, though, but make sure you’re ok with the heat. 115-120 degrees in Phoenix is not too much of surprise, although the summer will probably be more in the range of 105-110 on a daily basis.</p>
<p>As an engineer, I believe all these schools are comparable for an undergraduate engineering degree.
I haven’t looked at TA&M, but for Arizona State out-of-state tuition is waived. OU’s National Scholar package is a bit complicated in the way it is presented but basically also boils down to covering out-of-state tuition and fees. However, OU’s scholarship will also cover a good portion of the tuition for a 5th year. Also be aware that Barrett has an additional $1000 tuition per year above the regular ASU tuition and the combined housing and meal plan at Barrett will be about $4000 per year more expensive than OU (and other choices at ASU).</p>
<p>My D (National Merit 2012) is at Texas A&M in Honors. She ended up with a full ride there. They don’t advertise it but they often add more money to your package as the year goes on. We showed a lot of interest and talked to people. I don’t think that hurt our effort. She got the Brown award which favors engineering students, although my D is in Chemistry. This really helped our package. We got a lesser offer from OU. Alabama offered a bunch but I’ve heard they have reduced their offers this year. My D was a very top student. She LOVES the Honors dorm. The freshman are grouped together and the dorm is very active socially. </p>
<p>I am biased but any free education at a reputable school (and those 3 are reputable) is better than one you pay for or rack up a bunch of debt. Think about grad school and save the money for that!</p>
<p>It really depends, TAMU is in the #4 for Nuclear Engineering and #2 for Petroleum Engineering. It offers a great deal of scholarships for National Merit/Achievement/Hispanic Scholars (50-100k Guaranteed)</p>
<p>We are looking at some of the same schools you are and from what I can tell, UT Austin will be around $15000 more per year than A&M and $19000 more than OU. I think that any of these schools would be a good choice academically. My daughter has always wanted to attend UT and loved it when we visited there, so that is most likely where she will go. If she did not have that definite preference, we would have encouraged her to attend one of the schools that offer large National Merit scholarships.</p>