<p>Hello everyone this is my first post here on this website though I've been reading the forums for a little over a year now. It's finally about to be the beginning of my senior year so it's time to nail down exactly which colleges I should apply to. As the title suggests, I would like to get into computer science and computer engineering, electrical engineering would be a fine substitute if CE isn't available, as would software engineering etc. If it sounds highly computer based, both soft and hardware wise I'm probably gonna be fine with the name of the major. Anyway, I know for certain that I will be applying to MIT, Columbia, and Stanford. Obviously these are big name schools and I personally feel none of them are guaranteed to any applicant. I would like to hear what you guys think would be some other great schools offering my desired major that I should apply to. Some other things I'd like (not required, but desired) would be aspects such as good study abroad programs (I'd love to spend time in Italy while in college), financial aid (both merit and need based), if a public college/university an honors program would be great, and finally I live in Florida right now so something more urban and northern would be great (:
If it would help at all my standardized test scores are a 36 on the ACT and a 2250 on the SAT, I believe I should be a NMF, I'm a white male who has lived in the U.S. my whole life, and I'm heavily involved academically but no sports or extravagant talents. I would be happy to answer any other questions though and appreciate any and all feedback :D</p>
<p>Cornell, UIUC, Purdue, U of Michigan, CMU.</p>
<p>Texas A&M would auto admit you and you would get a big scholarship for NMF</p>
<p>@DrGoogle,
I have looked at Cornell a bit and definitely will continue to do so, it just also feels like one of those colleges where no one seems guaranteed in or out. I should have written CMU in the original post, I will be applying there as well the only problem being that with their financial aid I may not be able to attend even if I am accepted :/</p>
<p>In regards to UIUC, Purdue, and U of Michigan, I have heard of all three of these schools and know that they are excellent academically. Is there anything extra special, significant or amazing about them though that I should definitely know?</p>
<p>@barrk123 would I have to make Texas A&M my first choice school when that time came around and how much would the scholarship cover for someone out of state? Like just the OOS tuition, full tuition, full tuition + room and board, or something magical and extravagant I have yet to concieve?</p>
<p>In addition to the schools already mentioned, look into RPI and Case Western Reserve, both likely to offer good merit scholarships and are strong matches if not safeties for your stats.
RE: Cornell - the acceptance rate for the College of Engineering is less than 10% I believe (don’t be deceived by the overall acceptance rate which is higher due to some of the other colleges), but the engineering facilities and campus are awesome!</p>
<p>Yes it is for first choice
<a href=“https://scholarships.tamu.edu/SCH_Opportunities/tamu_scholarships/freshman/national_merit.aspx[/url]”>https://scholarships.tamu.edu/SCH_Opportunities/tamu_scholarships/freshman/national_merit.aspx</a></p>
<p>splosions, those 3 schools are ranked very high in engineering and they have rolling admissions(at least for Purdue and UIUC), U of Michigan is EA. They also have very high acceptance rate >36% for all three. UIUC and Purdue require no LORs, so that is a plus. Cheap application fee as well.
So that makes them amazing in my book. :D</p>
<p>What is your net cost limit?</p>
<p>The usual “big four” for CS are MIT, CMU, Stanford, and Berkeley. Note that for Berkeley, you can apply to either Engineering EECS, or L&S to declare CS after completing the prerequisites. The latter is considered less selective, although it is not ABET accredited (which is rarely an issue in CS, except in niche areas like patent law).</p>
<p>But note that most out of state publics like Berkeley, UIUC, Michigan, etc. do not give much need-based financial aid to out of state students. So if cost is a constraint, you need to check for merit scholarships (like the Texas A&M National Merit and other scholarships that come with out of state tuition waivers, and other big scholarships like President’s at Georgia Tech, Park at NCSU, Morehead-Cain at UNC-CH, and Robertson at UNC-CH and Duke).</p>
<p>Will University of Florida be on your application list?</p>
<p>Lower cost out of state schools include University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, NCSU, Virginia Tech, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and Stony Brook. These are about $30,000 per year for out of state. Even less expensive are “Mining” schools in South Dakota and New Mexico.</p>
<p>If you want to study abroad (although not in Italy), there are places like Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and various universities in Canada like UBC, Toronto, Waterloo, and McGill. Even at list price, their costs are lower than the list prices of many private and out of state public universities in the US.</p>
<p>While many schools have EECS programs, standalone CompSci and Software Engineering programs at most schools are not really going to give you the well rounded education you’re seeking. You’ll get some courses on organization, architecture, and operating systems (hierarchy, i/o, assembly, systems programming, multi-threading, etc). But overall, especially in a Software Engineering program, it’s far from 50/50. You might have to take an electricity/magnetism/light calc based physics course, but your understanding of the physical world, materials, and circuit to circuit operation will be significantly less with either of those degrees.</p>
<p>And that’s perfectly fine. You can angle your education however you’d like and it’s all fascinating if you enjoy computation and technology how you seem to. But look for EECS or CompEng if you’re really looking for a very well rounded hardware/software curriculum.</p>
<p>@DrGoogle
Thank you for that, I shall definitely give them a closer look (:</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus
While my EFC is 0, the most my family could possibly pay out of pocket would be about $9,000 though I am not sure if that could be maintained for four years. One of the reasons I’m not applying to Berkeley is because it seems they don’t give out very much financial aid and I simply would not be able to get close to the funds necessary to attend. I’ve found a few out of state schools with great financial aid, I just don’t know how great their computer programs would be. For instance UVA would meet my full need, so everything, I just don’t know how their program would compare to other schools.</p>
<p>Some schools I’ve been possibly thinking about due to scholarships are, as you mentioned, UNC and Duke, along with Clemson. The only issue is the incredibly high selectivity of the scholarships so even that’s a sort of shot in the dark.</p>
<p>I will not be applying to UF, or any other colleges in Florida. I have nothing against them, UCF, FSU, UF and Rollins I think would all be fantastic schools, I just can’t stand living down here. I’m originally from New York and southern hot humid weather I swear will be the death of me. So since I’m applying out of state, I’m basically depending on financial aid grants/scholarships I suppose. I’ll look at the out of country schools you mentioned but I’m guessing their international financial aid will probably be too little/nonexistant. I appreciate all of the ideas though!</p>
<p>@SRyJohn
I was worried that might be true, I would definitely prefer the rounded hardware-software education of an EECS degree so I’ve been trying to focus on colleges that offer them. Thank you for that info though, I will definitely keep that in mind!</p>
<p>Your constraints make it very hard to find safeties. Typical safeties would be:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>In-state public universities, if they are generous to in-state students with scholarships and need-based financial aid (Florida Bright Futures?).</p></li>
<li><p>In-state community college, then transfer to a four year school to complete your bachelor’s degree. The usual transfer target four year schools are in-state public universities.</p></li>
<li><p>Schools with <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html</a> . Of the full ride schools in that thread, only Alabama - Huntsville, Louisiana Tech, Prairie View A&M, and Howard have engineering. Some of the full tuition schools like Alabama - Tuscaloosa may be affordable if you really have $9,000 every year and are willing to take Stafford loans each year (subsidized loans are limited to $23,000 for four years).</p></li>
<li><p>Schools with <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/649276-nmf-scholarships-updated-compilation.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/649276-nmf-scholarships-updated-compilation.html</a> . Texas A&M will be about $12,500 per year after the National Merit scholarship, which is doable with $9,000 per year and Stafford loans.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>You can certainly apply to reach schools with generous need-based financial aid (e.g. Stanford) and reach for the big merit scholarships (e.g. at Georgia Tech, NCSU, UNC-CH, and Duke), but you need to have a safety plan. Note that most of the “meets full need” schools that are not in-state public universities are very selective ones.</p>
<p>University of Virginia is a respectable school for computer science. So is UNC-CH (although it does not have EE or other engineering), and it also has generous financial aid policies: <a href=“http://admissions.unc.edu/Aid_and_Scholarships/default.html[/url]”>http://admissions.unc.edu/Aid_and_Scholarships/default.html</a></p>
<p>While my EFC is 0, the most my family could possibly pay out of pocket would be about $9,000 though I am not sure if that could be maintained for four years</p>
<p>If your EFC is 0, then it’s not likely that your family could pay $9k per year. That’s about $800 a month for 4 years. Unless your family has been hiding cash under the mattress, I don’t see how they could even do this beyond one year (if that’s even possible.)</p>
<p>Typically, a 0 EFC family has little money leftover at the end of each month. Unless your family is low income, qualifies for Auto 0, but has lots of assets, paying that much doesn’t sound right.</p>
<p>Are your parents actually SAYING that THEY can pay $9k per year or are you guessing that? </p>
<p>Do you have a non-custodial parent? If so, then the top schools will likely include the income/assets of the NCP’s family. </p>
<p>As mentioned above, Alabama would give you free tuition PLUS 2500 per year. Since you have an ACT 36, there’s a good chance that Bama will give you more money. Also, if you make NMF, you’ll get more (housing for a year, iPad, study abroad money, etc). </p>
<p>All of Bama’s engineering and CS programs are ABET accredited. Bama does have CE. Bama also has a new mega-sized Science and Engineering Complex…all state of the art and amazing. It is over 800,000 square feet, bringing the total sq ft of science and eng’g academic space to about 2 million square feet.</p>
<p>Don’t bother applying to any OOS publics unless you’re certain or nearly certain that they will award you a LOT of merit money (more than free tuition).</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Actually, it is entirely reasonable for the OP to apply to schools like Georgia Tech, NCSU, etc. as reaches (not safeties or matches) in order to try for the full ride merit scholarships (with the understanding that the goal is the full ride merit scholarship, not merely admission).</p>
<p>Also, University of Virginia and UNC-CH may provide sufficient need-based aid to out of state students, unlike most out of state public universities.</p>
<p>You should apply to Northeastern, with NMF you might get free tuition.</p>
<p>Free tuition is guaranteed for NMF at Northeastern. You do have to name them your first choice, but the deadline is the end of April, when you will have to have decided where you are going anyhow. Drexel also guarantees full tuition for NMF, and you don’t have to name them as your first choice. I’m not sure if either one would give you additional need-based aid to cover living expenses. Both are co-op schools and as an engineering student you could make some decent money on your co-op terms.</p>
<p>Some other schools to consider as financial reaches: Johns Hopkins offers an engineering scholarship that is close to a full ride on a very competitive basis; UMD College Park also has a competitive full ride scholarship available. University of Pittsburgh offers merit scholarships up to a full ride on a competitive basis as well.</p>
<p>RPI and WPI would not give you enough merit to be able to afford them; RPI guarantees to meet need (FAFSA/Profile) – WPI does not but I’m not sure if they would meet more need for a desirable admit</p>
<p>University of Alabama offers a full ride plus for engineering students who are NMF. They have a strong engineering program and could be a great financial safety for you.</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus
I know I have pretty bad constraints, which is why I came to ask for your guys feedback 
Bright futures no longer covers full tuition at Florida schools, they dropped it down to $101 per credit hour, which is still pretty helpful but only amount to about 2-3 thousand a year. If I was planning on staying in state and couldn’t find a college to pay for me, I’d definitely go the community college-transfer route though. I’ll definitely look at Alabama (Tuscaloosa) as they seem to have a pretty awesome deal for NMF along with a good engineering program.</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids
I’m only giving a maximum estimate of what my family might be able to afford since they won’t have to pay my car insurance or other expenses and my brother, who has had to move back in with us, recently got a job. $9000 is probably a high estimate even with that but I honestly don’t know for sure how much they could pay. I shall definitely look at Bama though!</p>
<p>@DrGoogle
Just the free tuition by itself wouldn’t be enough sadly.</p>
<p>@mathmomvt
I’ve considered Drexel as well before so I’ll look back into that. In regards to John Hopkins and UMD, I’m already hoping for highly competitive scholarships at other schools so I should probably focus more on safety schools. Also, I was under the impression RPI didn’t meet full need? Am I wrong about that?</p>
<p>NJIT might make a good safety for you. NMF would get you a full ride there:
[NJIT:</a> Financial Aid: NJIT - Merit-based awards](<a href=“http://www.njit.edu/financialaid/typesofaid/scholarships/meritbasedawards.php]NJIT:”>http://www.njit.edu/financialaid/typesofaid/scholarships/meritbasedawards.php)</p>
<p>Alabama’s NMF scholarship has been reduced. It’s not a full ride, but it’s still a good scholarship:</p>
<p>[Scholarships</a> - Undergraduate Students - The College of Engineering - The University of Alabama](<a href=“http://eng.ua.edu/undergraduate/scholarships/]Scholarships”>Scholarships – College of Engineering | The University of Alabama)</p>
<p>Auburn’s NMF scholarship is actually better, and Auburn is the flagship for engineering in Alabama, but the Auburn scholarship is not guaranteed for OOS:</p>
<p>[Office</a> of University Scholarships - Auburn University](<a href=“http://www.auburn.edu/scholarship/national-scholars.html#NMF_NAF]Office”>http://www.auburn.edu/scholarship/national-scholars.html#NMF_NAF)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Find out a more realistic figure; use a worst case figure* when doing financial aid and cost calculations, so that anything more will be a pleasant surprise, which is better than assuming a high number and then being forced to drop out when it does not materialize.</p>
<p>Subsidized Stafford loans can be up to $23,000 for four years (limit per year does increase as you progress through class levels in college). You may get a few thousand in summer jobs, perhaps better in engineering internships at higher class levels, although jobs cannot be guaranteed.</p>
<p>*If your EFC = $0, then the worst case figure probably is $0, or at most the incremental food and utilities cost of you living at home.</p>