<p>I have above a 4.0 gpa and had a 29 act got into engineering but I'm a little disappointed I didn't get a scholarship is there still a chance I get one</p>
<p>29 is too low to expect anything.</p>
<p>What’s the ACT cutoff?</p>
<p>My son has a 3.95U 4.25ish Weighted and a 31 ACT and also hasn’t heard anything.</p>
<p>Hopefully they are just taking time to go through all the apps, otherwise that free tutition at 'Bama is looking a whole lot better.</p>
<p>Each college has up until mid-February to send out all the scholarship notifications. They started sending out letters in mid-December and, from what I hear, send them out in two more waves; one in January and one in February. So don’t give up hope yet! I’m also waiting for an engineering scholarship, 5.34 (out of 5) GPA and 33 ACT.</p>
<p>I contacted the school two weeks ago because my daughter had to make a decision on a ROTC scholarship. I was told that the engineering department had not been through all the files yet and that scholarship notifications would continue to be sent out through mid-February but not to expect any news until mid-January if I had not received notification before Christmas.</p>
<p>My son has a 3.9 (UW) gpa and 760M, 760cr,720W Sat and got a “Presidential” Scholarship of $4000 a year. Engineering major.</p>
<p>We’re waiting also for scholarships. Have 2 kids apply and accepted. SAT scores 2250 & 2350 with ACT of 35 for both.GPA W 4.36 and UW 3.98. One is Engineering and other is Science. With 2 in college next year, scholarship money woulde be really nice.</p>
<p>We got notification yesterday though our D got $10,000. But, since we’re OOS, that still leaves $30,000. Don’t think that’s going to happen. </p>
<p>Alabama has given her full tuition for 4 years plus another scholarship from the engineering department. So far, that’s the best offer she has received.</p>
<p>Mckinna
I know money in this economy may be the primary factor- but Alabama’ engineering program is not that strong. OOS pays a 10K premium at least for most public schools. The best buy will always be your home state for a public U- and hope the have a strong program. The job pops after undergrad at Purdue are very solid- and that should be a huge factor. Private schools that meet significant financial need can be the best choice is you qualify. Tough situation these days. I face it myself with my own son. Tuition free instate- pay full bill for top schools where he has been accepted out of state.</p>
<p>Good luck</p>
<p>Mckinna
I know money in this economy may be the primary factor- but Alabama’ engineering program is not that strong. OOS pays a 10K premium at least for most public schools. The best buy will always be your home state for a public U- and hope the have a strong program. The job pops after undergrad at Purdue are very solid- and that should be a huge factor. Private schools that meet significant financial need can be the best choice is you qualify. Tough situation these days. I face it myself with my own son. Tuition free instate- pay full bill for top schools where he has been accepted out of state.</p>
<p>Good luck</p>
<p>itsme123</p>
<p>a 29 is not too low for a scholarship. My D received her $10,000 notice on Saturday. She had a 29 and was admitted into pre-pharmacy.</p>
<p>congrats on your daughter’s scholarship! My son is waiting to hear from the College of Science with a 34 ACT, National Merit, 12 APs, etc. and we live in IL too. Nothing yet on scholarship monies, but he was invited to Scholar’s Day so maybe he’ll be in the Honors program.</p>
<p>Good luck nuum83</p>
<p>My daughter will be attending Scholar’s Day also…that is if her cheerleading squad doesn’t make it down state!</p>
<p>good luck to her and her decisions!</p>
<p>computerDad
Your argument is the same one my D gives for wanting Georgia Tech (her 1st choice). And, I’m not saying it’s not valid. However, I can’t at this point justify paying $30,000/year ($40,000 in the case of Georgia Tech) when at Alabama we’ll only be paying $8,000-$9,000 at the very most. We’re from TN, and haven’t heard from UT Knoxville yet, so we haven’t completely decided where she’ll be going for sure. </p>
<p>I didn’t think much of Alabama, until we heard about their generous merit-based scholarships. When we visited, we were very impressed with the Honors College, especially with the large number of NM scholars there and they have great research opportunities.</p>
<p>I don’t want this post to turn into a rah-rah for Alabama. I just feel that wherever she goes, if she applies herself, gets an honor’s degree, does undergrad research, and either co-ops or does an internship, she will be in a good place to land a job. And, she’ll graduate without any debt.</p>
<p>I’ve read too many news articles about kids these days coming out of school with loads of debt and it really holds them back personally and in their careers. My D really liked Purdue when she visited, and she was very impressed. Unless something else comes our way, unfortunately, I don’t see it happening.</p>
<p>I think I’d have to agree with McKinna regarding debt. We are leaning towards the solid honors university program in-state instead of stretching for Purdue because paying zero dollars has a lot more appeal than $30K/year, especially since we have been paying private school tuition for 20 years. Two things to consider:</p>
<p>1) At my older daughter’s university a little less than 50% of students who started on scholarship finished on scholarship due to a number of reasons including not maintaining required GPA. Engineering students typically have lowers GPAs due to the rigors of the coursework. If your child loses their scholarhship can you still afford the college you have chosen?</p>
<p>2) At some point your student will want to pursue a master’s degree and “resume-wise” it really is only the last university that counts. Have you thought about going to a solid, affordable program for the bachelor’s and saving $$'s for the master’s degree?</p>
<p>D was notified that she got the $16K scholarship. We are OOS however so face the same situation as Mckinna. D has the Alabama scholarship and we are going to have a look-see this weekend. She also has a $32.5K scholarship to Case Western. She got accepted to Co. School of Mines but haven’t heard anything about scholarships yet from them. We live in Co so CSM is in state but unless D gets a good scholarship, CSM is third in line financially. Or close to par with Purdue. I also worry that with Purdue, she’s likely to have large classes her entire academic career there, with their large number of Engineering majors. I’m not so sure THAT’s worth the cost.</p>
<p>“I just feel that wherever she goes, if she applies herself, gets an honor’s degree, does undergrad research, and either co-ops or does an internship, she will be in a good place to land a job. And, she’ll graduate without any debt.”</p>
<p>We feel the same way about our D too. I know she will work hard and apply herself. </p>
<p>But she still has other applications out there that she’s waiting on. It’s going to be a loooooong spring.</p>
<p>I know money in this economy may be the primary factor- but Alabama’ engineering program is not that strong. OOS pays a 10K premium at least for most public schools.* The best buy will always be your home state for a public U- **and hope the have a strong program. The job pops after undergrad at Purdue are very solid- and that should be a huge factor. *</p>
<p>ComputerDad…you’ve got a few assumptions going on…</p>
<p>A person’s “best buy” is NOT always his instate choice. I can think of many instate publics that would be more expensive to attend than Bama with its tuition plus engineering scholarships. </p>
<p>And, if you’re a NMF, you get free housing (including honors housing with private bedrooms) and other goodies as well.</p>
<p>Heck, I’d be hard-pressed to think of an instate choice (that requires housing) in any state that would be cheaper than Bama with those scholarships (which Mckenna mentions will only cost her about $8-10k - depending on meal plan/dorm choice).</p>
<p>My H is a Purdue engineering grad and he’s very impressed with Bama’s engineering program and facilities. And as for jobs, the state of Alabama is home to the second largest research park in the nation - Cummings Research Park…so STEM majors don’t have a hard time getting jobs here. Even the eng’g students from UA-Huntsville typically graduate with jobs.</p>
<p>There’s little reason to pay OOS rates for any public unless money is no object in your household. If your instate school is cheaper and decent, go there. If you can snag large merit or FA elsewhere, go there. </p>
<p>Your salary won’t be higher when you’re hired if you graduate from Purdue, UIUC, UMich or wherever. That’s a sad reality some find out after racking up big debt to attend schools that they think will net them higher paying jobs. Imagine their frustrations when they find out that their debt-less colleagues from much cheaper and lesser ranked eng’g schools are being paid the same.</p>
<p>I come from a family of engineering management (Northrop Grumman, Boeing, Canon, DirecTV, etc). They do not pay new grads higher salaries for coming from various schools. Small exceptions are sometimes made for MIT and Cal Tech grads (and we’re talking small differences). Everyone else gets the same starting rates.</p>
<p>m2ck & mckinna are right on the mark - We are in-state for Purdue (my wife and I are both alumni as well) but with the merit scholarships + extra $2500, Alabama will easily be $50K less than Purdue, not to mention the numerous brand new facilities, Honors College, and Dorms at Bama that Purdue cannot match. Is Purdue more highly ranked in Engineering than Alabama? No doubt about it… but is the education different enough to warrant a $50K difference, or much more for an OOS student? At the end of the day, you are still taking the same classes from a major university in either case, and its difficult to argue that you are getting more personalized attention at Purdue given the size of its Engineering program and the enrollment. The classes are very large, even sometimes at the Graduate School level. Its not a simple matter of paying an extra $10K/yr for a higher ranked school. There are many other factors to consider in the cost/benefit analysis before you can really declare one school superior to another. Its a very different equation for each individual but ultimately, as was said before, its up to the S/D to put in the work and make it happen regardless of the school and its ranking.</p>