I didn’t qualify for the Adams or Koplik scholarships, my mcas scores weren’t great. The umass lowell site was somewhat vague about who qualifies for merit (though not as bad as umass amherst), but the NPC includes it, and returned a scholarship that was decent, but still not enough.
Like I mentioned in another reply, community college/MassTransfer is something my family isn’t willing to consider unfortunately.
So what is plan B?
A net price calculator is an estimate including financial aid. Some privates, like Hofstra and Bradley U, will incorporate your test score and gpa and include merit.
Others, using an Alabama as the example, have automatic merit. So you know given your grade/test you will get this money. In the case of Bama you qualify for two - $28k plus $2500.
schools that have auto merit - ie you know how much you’ll get b4 applying. But these are not need based and I am not sure if neeed would provide even more. That likely is different school by school but i’d assume not. You’d have to call and ask.
In your case, your ‘reach’ schools are highly unlikely. So a community college and Umass Lowell are great but if you want the bigger or more known school experience, there are options out there for you.
I have no specific suggestions for the NE, but will say that you will need to have very good to excellent math skills to survive in Engineering. Most (not all)enter Engineering with good marks in Calc and Physics AP courses, and still struggle with entry level Physics and Calc courses.
In other words, while you may want to be a Mechanical Engineer, I don’t see that you have taken the prerequisites needed to succeed in getting through the first year without a lot of struggle. Is your decision to go into MechE a recent one?
Ideally for them, take a gap year, somehow get into top schools, and get lots of aid. Realistically, go to umass dartmouth, where I should qualify for a good enough scholarship to be affordable, though still not exactly ideal.
What will you do in a gap year that will change your academic profile?
Your biggest issue is your lack of rigor.
Nothing wrong with Umass Dartmouth
My parents think it’s a “bad school”, and have made heavily implied threats to not pay (same deal with community). I don’t think they’d really go through with it, but I can’t count it out either. At this point I’m kinda just praying I get something better than expected from lowell.
Okay. Got it.
Back to what @Mjkacmom asked then - what’s plan B. Prayer, sorry to say, is not a plan.
So there are schools - U Maine to be close. Maybe URI? Alabama and I can give you ten more.
Your list presented of reaches is highly unlikely to happen.
So what’s plan b as you were asked because your responses - gap year and then get in - are not a plan and would put you further behind math wise.
It’s time for a plan - stall and hope it works out is not a plan.
why not take calculus in a community college if calculus is the main issue here …
You need to have a discussion with your parents about realistic expectations. College applications and admissions are way more competitive than they were 20 years ago, and the application process is way more challenging.
As it stands, your list right now is comprised of reaches and without calculus (and if you are a senior it’s too late to add it), the reaches are really unlikely and honestly probably would not be the best fit for you.
You can invite them on here to discuss it with us, or just have a sit down and walk them through the acceptance rates at the “good schools” and their average SAT and GPA. It’s not impossible for you to get in, but it’s low odds and hope is not a strategy.
The good news is you have good grades and good scores, that indicates you’d be successful in a number of universities and there are a good number that would like to have you and would give you merit aid to attend. You’d get a good education, and if you stick with mechanical engineering, likely a good job right out of school (as long as you continue to apply yourself).
You really should apply to at least 2 safeties with merit aid. Reputation be damned.
She’s a senior and she’d have no grades to report in calculus for the January applications.
Your parents may think Umass d is a bad school but let me tell you - anyone who graduates from an ABET accredited school and they are (that’s the engineering accreditation body) - that’s an accomplished kid.
Engineering is insanely hard EVERYWHERE. My kid who is an academic stud got his butt kicked including in calc after getting a 5 on the Calc AP test.
I don’t even understand the course titles.
If you can get through engineering at any ABET school, both you and the school are solid. And I would disagree.
I get what they are saying but there’s name your major and then there’s mechanical engineering. As long as the school is ABET and it is it’s a fine school.
If that’s what you can afford then that’s the choice. If you can go farther away you’ll have other affordable options.
I am really sorry that your parents are putting you in this horrible Catch-22. They aren’t willing to pay for what is affordable, and expect you to get into what is unattainable.
Their understanding of college admissions is probably skewed. Would a guidance counselor be willing to have a meeting with them to explain the current realities of the admissions landscape, from both an affordability and an admissions rate perspective?
This may be a long shot, but MIT, Johns Hopkins, Cornell (and a number of other very prestigious universities) have teamed up with a number of community colleges (include Holyoke in Massachusetts) to provide a pathway from CC to their schools.
It is not guaranteed admissions, but it does increase the chances of a transfer, and you could maybe use it to convince your parents…
I know you said community college is not ideal, but it would be a solid backup plan.
I just have one more question which is not related to the main issue of finding an affordable university to attend. Instead it is related to math.
How did you do in precalculus? Why did you decide not to take calculus? The reason that I am asking is that “I do not like math much” versus “I love math, but it did not work into the schedule” are really very different things.
I attended a high school that did not offer calculus at all. However, I did really well in precalculus. I therefore showed up at university very ready to do well in calculus. My freshman year university physics course had calculus as a co-requisite – it was required to either take calculus at the same time or to have already taken it. This worked out really well. They would teach us something in calculus and then use it a few days later in physics. I also took the normal mechanical engineering course load for my freshman year. I do not recall whether this used calculus, but I do recall doing well in the course.
The point is that if you show up at university very much ready to take calculus and do very well in it, then I think that you are probably okay. If you are flaky in the prerequisites for calculus, then there might be a reason to think about how to fix this.
@zxlkmc1 I recommend you look at the two women’s colleges that offer engineering – Smith and Sweet Briar:
https://www.smith.edu/academics/engineering
Particularly, Smith can be very generous with aid and is a no loan school. Your stats will get you great money at Alabama, Florida International, University of South Florida, Nebraska, Louisville, New Mexico State. They are all good schools with accredited programs. In TX, Angelo State will be ~$12K for you.
Unless the school says Calculus is required, it is ok to just have pre-calc. It is not the end of the world.
Piggybacking on this…
OP, do you like math? Most engineering degrees are very math focused. If not, you could look at engineering technology degrees that focus more on the hands on application of engineering (vs theory and design of engineering). That’s a bit broad, but worth a look. You’d still have to do math in engineering technology, but it will be more based in practice than theory.
Purdue has an interesting program with their polytechnic school… you might want to check that out.
I’m in precalc because of the math progression at my school- I took algebra 1 as a 9th grader (didn’t test into geometry), and I never doubled up. So far precalc, and math in general, is going pretty well- I don’t enjoy it especially, but I can do/understand it well enough and my grades are good.
I’m confused- is calculus only worth it (admissions-wise, obviously learning-wise any preparation helps) if I have grades to show for it? If I was planning to take it but haven’t already started, it’s not really enough?