<p>Since you’re California residents, another top engineering school with some (very limited) merit aid is Cal Poly SLO. The top soccer player in my area couldn’t even get a tryout for the team; he comes back home to play on his club team on weekends. </p>
<p>Many Jesuit colleges have good engineering programs and offer generous merit aid. Santa Clara was already mentioned; there’s also USD, University of Portland, University of Seattle, Loyola Marymount, Gonzaga. Most are D-1 schools. University of the Pacific (not Jesuit) has (had? you’d need to ask) a guaranteed 4-year graduation program in engineering. Most of these schools are FAFSA-only, which means they won’t be looking at home equity (an important factor for Californians). Santa Clara requires the Profile.</p>
<p>With interests in engineering or med school, perhaps you should look at biomedical engineering programs. UCSD has one of the best although has similar issues as noted for UCB and UCLA above. Boston University offers merit awards.</p>