@1dadinNC - If your son is interested in Large construction work take a look at Manhattan College. Highly rates for Civil Engineering with great ties for internships to all the big engineering firms in the city. They just opened up a brand new engineering building and do offer Merit.
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Smart list.
Itās great that he already likes UNC-Charlotte.
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I agree. I was blown away by the school and programs, particularly in engineering. The AO talked about recruitment specifically for engineers (dedicated resources), internships, research, scholarships etc. She emphasized that the department and campus are both very diverse and it is one of the oldest engineering schools in the country with a great network of alums. Offered him a VIP tour if we chose to visit. Talked about a 1 week summer engineering program. Like you said, did a great job recruiting. My son will not rush so that is one cost we do not need to worry about.
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There is no ācurveā on the SAT. Each studentās score is entirely independent of the scores of everyone else, so the number of students taking the exam has no impact. You are probably just misunderstanding the grading system. Each correct answer scores a point up to a certain number for that section, and then additional questions answered correctly above that number are worth more. Have your kid take a few practice tests and grade them yourself; you will understand how it works very quickly.
They are adjusted to meet the bell curve. They call it equating. I have had kids scores vary by 100 points with the same number of correct answers. The June 2019 test will live in infamy, kids scored remarkedly stronger on the math portion only to have large drops in scores. Actually that June SAT is the reason my younger two will not take it in June again. It scares me. SAT Curve vs. Equating - Prep Expert
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I disagree. Your studentās score is not adjusted up or down relative to the scores of other kids taking the test the same day - ever. SAT Curve: Is It Real?.
I think the issue here is that your article is referring to the percentiles, while I am talking about the straight score - like 1500, 1320, 1190. Percentiles are completely irrelevant. Itās the score you list on your applications, and nobody is bothering to look up whether a 1550 for that exam landed you in a different percentile range than a 1550 on another exam. Itās just not relevant.
My understanding is that the same number of correct answers does not lead to the same score/percentile for each date of administration. There are many postmortem threads on Reddit that one can look up.
In any event, we are splitting hairs here. My kid is not going to get 1600, or even 1500. Our target is a super-scored 1400 with a lot of luck and prep.
Yes, I have 4 kids, all completed the SAT at least two times, most 3 (about 10 score reports to compare), on numerous occasions, the same number correct did not equal the exact same score.
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They are not real close to you but Ohio Wesleyan and Wooster both offer a lot of merit money. Ohio Wesleyan has a 3-2 engineering program.
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Wooster also has a 3-2 engineering program with Case Western and Wash U.
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I hope everyone is doing well. This thread has been quiet.
I was hoping @1dadinNC might have some thoughts, or @Sweetgum, given evolving Dās interests and my thoughts on being more open to options farther south.
D has recently expressed interest in Environmental Science and Marine Science/Biology.
She will definitely apply to Rutgers because she could attend for under $20K. Acceptance could go either way, but Rutgers is the benchmark in terms of quality of education and affordability.
She is interested in U Maine because she likes cold weather and it is good in her fields of interest. I thought costs would be around $30K, but I just saw their student health insurance is really expensive, maybe around $3,500 which is the cost of tuition at Rutgers!!! The UMaine website suggests going through the marketplace but that seems like a headache.
Meanwhile, I was thinking, she thinks she likes cold weather as a NJ kid, but thatās not the same as being in Maine in the winter. It might not be a bad idea to broaden her search because during most of the months of school it will be cool in any case.
Iād be interested in thoughts on
Western Carolina or UNC Pembroke which are being considered because of their low cost. Western Carolina shouldnāt be too hot during school months. It has Environmental Science, and the surrounding area seems great for nature lovers. Pembroke also has the low cost but the environment doesnāt seem like it would be as appealing to her.
App State or UNC Wilmington would be good in terms of her interests but probably tough in terms of admission and have a higher cost.
She seems willing to apply to Belmont Abbey. It has a strong biology program. They might appreciate her Catholic leadership experience. Cost is reasonable.
I also really like Roanoke. I think she would like the surrounding area and sheād get a lot of nurturing.
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Western Carolina is the best kept secret in NC. Great school for the RIGHT kid. I am personally not a fan of UNCP. They do not seem to have their act together, commuter feel to campus and pretty dismal outcomes. Our neighborās kid went there for a year and then transferred to UNCG.
$20K at Rutgers will be hard to beat. I am not an expert of TX state schools but a lot of the state schools will give OOS tuition waivers if the student receives $4K in merit. This is doable for a lot of kids. I would look at the coastal area campuses of TX A&M and such.
Finally, a couple of kids we know went to Coastal Carolina (in SC). They seem to give good merit but budget might be a bit higher.
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If you have health insurance you may be able to waive the collegeās insurance. We did that with Aetna coverage for a college in MA that cost $2k. I thought that was high so $3500 seems very high.
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Unfortunately, we have health insurance that has zero coverage out of state.
Thank you for your reply.
What type of kid do you think would thrive at Western Carolina?
Rutgers for under $20k sounds great. My son had high stats and they offered Honors Program for only $3,500/year off their sticker price for merit aid.
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Most kids that go there are overwhelmingly white, rural, and outdoorsy. They were raised that way in western NC. The campus is beautiful but quite isolated. There is a pretty heavy drinking culture on campus and some reported incidents of racism. The campus environment is quite conservative.
That said, it is attracting a lot of kids that are smart and hard working. Many from larger cities. Great facilities and faculty. The honors college is very good from what I hear.
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Itās the new FA program thatās just starting that will bring the cost down so dramatically for us.
Rutgers admission seemed tough enough this year and itās possible it will become more difficult next year. The new program wasnāt announced until February, after the application deadline for the most recent admission cycle. So that means D chances could become even slimmer.
I have a D20 taking advantage of a similar program at Rutgers Camden. It has worked as advertised, costing us about $3200 in tuition each year so far. But D23 is an outdoorsy kid and I couldnāt think of a worse environment for her.
If Rutgers could go either way then I would definitely add other NJ publics, perhaps Stockton or Montclair State? I would also give serious thought to UNC-Wilmington, Coastal Carolina, and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. At the Corpus Christi campus thereās an auto merit award of $1k/year for students with GPAs as low as 2.5, and students with at least $1k/year in scholarships are eligible to be in contention for a out-of-state tuition waiver.
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This is exactly what I was talking about but I thought it was $4K/year to get the OOS waiver. But the forum expert on college selection @AustenNut has weighed in. Thanks!!
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