I’ve been looking into colleges to apply to this fall, and a few of my dream colleges are just so expensive. I’d have to pay OOS tuition. I’m looking for a civil engineering program that links with environmental engineering. How generous are these schools considering scholarships for OOS students??
I’m looking at the following schools:
Stanford
UCLA
UT Austin
I’m a girl
4.0+ GPA
33 on ACT
Completed architecture career pathway
County Key Scholar
Georgia Governor’s Honors Program participant, major in Engineering and Design minor in Science
Varsity letter in community service
The reason i’m looking out of state and not in-state is because I’m trying to get away from the Georgia weather and Atlanta culture. I need new experiences!
UCLA – you’re unlikely to get a significant scholarship from UCLA as an OOS student, and admission to UCLA Engineering is very, very competitive.
Stanford - does not give merit scholarships at all, but their financial aid is excellent. Ask one of your parents to run the net price calculator to see how much it might cost for you. Stanford is an even more competitive admission.
These are both very hard admissions. If you’d like to go OOS, you should expand your list to include some engineering programs that are either less expensive in general or that give good merit scholarships with students who have stats like yours. Have you taken Subject Tests in Math II and either Chemistry/Physics? Some of the more selective engineering schools specifically look for this.
40 Acres recipients are tippy top students who are likely being poached from ivies.
How much merit do you need? What do your parents need the net costs to be? You will get free or near free tuition to a GA school, so I’m guessing that they’re not going to want to pay much for an OOS public.
You have a 4.0 GPA, and a 33 ACT score. Why aren’t you applying to Georgia Tech? It’s a fabulous school and would be instate affordable most likely for your family.
There is nothing magic about going OOS to an engineering program. The school needs ABET accreditation.
Georgia Tech is extremely highly regarded. Hope it’s on your application list.
It is likely the three schools you have listed will be extremely costly for you to attend…unless you have financial need…Stanford will meet your full need.
UCLA will expect you to pay the $23,000 differential between in and out of state costs plus your student contribution plus your EFC.
I seriously doubt that UT Austin will provide you with enough need or merit aid to attend. Just my opinion.
Per our HS counselor, don’t bank on the “girl” applying to engineering being that big a bonus anymore. When that press leaked a couple years ago, applications from girls started pouring in so it is not the advantage it may have been. Companies hiring women engineers still need to catch up, but at good schools they are getting their share of female applicants.
I would definitely consider schools in your own state, also maybe some schools where being a girl in engineering could be an advantage. You could see what they could offer you and compare bottom line.
Some examples Lehigh, Lafayette, Bucknell, maybe University of Pittsburgh
There are many times in life that patience will be required. One of those times may be now. College is 4 short years. After my son graduated he looked back and wondered where the 4 years went, they seemed to have flown by. You can wait 4 years to escape the Georgia weather, the Atlanta culture and to get new experiences if the finances don’t work out for OOS or expensive privates.
Generally you are going to have to take a step down in name brand for an OOS public. For privates, if you can’t qualify for a lot of need, rule out need-only focused schools like UCLA and look at the ones that give some big merit awards. In CA that would be USC. Right now I have a girl in CA wanting GA Tech. Too bad you can’t sell your instate privilege on the secondary market or swap.
@BrownParent The key words are “big”, “merit”, and “top 50”. ACT 33 is only within the mid 50 or around 75th percentile. Sure someone may get a music or athlete scholarship with ACT 33.
Another vote for considering Georgia Tech. And for a list of schools with Civil Engineering, you can go to the Abet site and search on it - I just did and got a list of 239 schools. With a 33 ACT and no outstanding ECs, Stanford is probably too much of a reach. For private schools, you may want to look at Bucknell, Lehigh, Lafayette, Villanova, where your ACT is above the 75th percentile and would qualify you for merit aid. As a previous poster mentioned, though, you need to find out how much your parents can contribute and then run some Net Price Calculators to find out if you’re eligible for need-based and, if so, how much,
Scholarship possibilities from OOS publics need to be investigated school by school. A couple of examples - your ACT score would get you full tuition at the University of Alabama. Michigan State has Civil and Environmental Engineering and has, I believe, a good honors college and scholarships for OOS kids.
Are you likely to be a National Merit Finalist? Michigan State offers room and board and a $4,000 stipend for OOS NMFs. You will probably get an invitation to the Honors College, which would offer a grant to equalize tuition to in-state and another $3,000. At that point, you are looking at $7-8,000/yr. They might offer even more money if you ask and your stats are at the very upper level of incoming freshmen - the CoE has some money available for incoming freshmen and they sometimes match scholarship offers from other AAU members.
The Honors College invite also offers a Professorial Assistantship to some candidates, which would essentially be a guaranteed research opportunity that paid another $2500/yr.
OSU also offer good scholarships to OP’s stat even without NMF status and from OOS. The options are actually wide open if OP aims a bit lower than the schools on his list.