Schools offering Merit Scholarships with decent Computer Science Programs?

Looking for advice in my son’s search for colleges with a good computer Science Program and a school he will qualify for their Merit Scholarships. He has been drawn to University of Alabama due to their amazing Merit Scholarship. Just want a couple other options. We live in Illinois which leaves U of I on our radar but we know he will be offered nothing in scholarships. He is a white male who has a 4.5 weighted GPA, 33 ACT, works 10-20 hours a week, involved in many clubs and a lot of volunteering regularly. Thanks in advance!

My S was in the exact same boat 2 years ago.

We cross referenced good merit scholarship schools with Tier I Computer Science programs.

Some suggestions:

Denison outside Columbus
Trinity U in San Antonio
Furman in Greenville SC (although their Merit has decreased to some extent)
St Olaf in Northfield MN

My son had similar scores and grades and received sizable merit at all 4 of these schools, selecting Trinity based on social fit and desire for warm climate. He loves it, and is learning a ton.

Good luck!

Look at UT Dallas if your son is National Merit it’s just about a full ride and tons of internships available in Dallas. They have other merit available for high stat kids too (AES).

Missed another one: Santa Clara, right in Silicon Valley.

Regarding UTDallas, please visit this school before enrolling. Huge commuter enrollment may not be a good fit for an OOS student.

UTD has just added a huge amount of additional on campus housing, it is much less a commuter school then it was in the past few years. But do agree that one should visit before enrolling, it is not a typical college, it stated as a graduate research school by the founder of Texas Instruments and then added undergrad so it is very heavily focused on research and the students tend to be more academically focused i.e. they have world class chess team but no football.

Northeastern and USC both offer good CS programs and good merit, though not at the level of Alabama. Even in the best cases, the cost will still be 30-40K. What is the budget?

What is his unweighted GPA?

We are looking for the same thing. So far, Trinity U, Santa Clara, UTD, USC are all on the board. We are also researching RPI, WPI, Stevens, IIT, and U of Tulsa. Anyone can comment on these school’s CS strength and merit aid?

Another school right next to UTD: SMU. It’s strength seems to be in business, but is its CS OK?

In CS, there are more or less 3-4 tiers:

  1. Top schools
  2. Schools known for CS
  3. Sufficient CS schools
  4. Schools with insufficient CS schools

Most schools listed here will fall into category 3. They will do just fine, but no one will stop and say “oh yeah they have a good CS program don’t they?”

Of the schools here, a few of those mentioned fall into the category two: RPI, Northeastern, WPI, Stevens, USC, and Santa Clara. There’s an argument that UTD could be on the border of category 2 and 3.

I’m less familiar with aid, so hopefully others have more info to help there. I know USC and Northeastern well - both have about half cost NMF scholarships, in addition to other merit scholarships that are competitive but can get up to 25K or so.

What net costs are you aiming for after merit??

How much can you pay each year?

There are publics and privates that will give merit for those stats, but the net costs may still be too high. I think for Santa Clara, the merit would be about $28k, so net costs would probably be about $30k per year.

<<<He has been drawn to University of Alabama due to their amazing Merit Scholarship. Just want a couple other options. We live in Illinois which leaves U of I on our radar but we know he will be offered nothing in scholarships. He is a white male who has a 4.5 weighted GPA, 33 ACT,


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Along with the Presidential, he’d also get an add’l $2500 per year for CS major.

I don’t think there would be a higher ranking school that would come close to this, if that’s what you’re looking for.

@TheJFamily, WPI is an outstanding for CS. Fwiw, a close friend and MIT alumnus (CS) helped my D when she was researching colleges that had good CS departments. WPI was one of the colleges he strongly suggested she consider.
Fast forward 7 years. My friend’s son is a freshman at WPI and so far loves the college.

However, merit or need-based aid wasn’t a deciding factor when our respective kids chose where to attend.

I’m very fond or Denison, Trinity and Northeastern as well.
Does your son have a preference of size or location?

@bogeyorpar IIT offers substantial merit aid and has excellent CS and engineering programs. Their grads do well.

UIUC is a top, top school for CS. Looks like it will cost 32k. No merit at all? I don’t think WPI is better, cheaper or as well known as UIUC for CS.

They say that they hold 100 seats for instate students for UIUC CS. Last year they had 5000 applications and accepted only 400. That is an 8% acceptance rate with an average ACT of 34 to 35. You need a true safety for him. Maybe Alabama is your safety.

@TheJFamily

That’s a shame you might have to leave your instate option. So many people here are trying to get in. I don’t think Northeastern, RPI or WPI would be cheaper and you’d have to pay travel.

@PengsPhils Which category would you put UIUC for CS?

@Gearmom it was 25 years ago but my dh turn down MIT for UIUC for CS/EE because he thought they were about equal and he was in state for UIUC. He still thinks very highly of the UIUC CS program.

@3scoutsmom Well at the grad school level, UIUC is #5 just behind the top four which includes MIT. That was a good assessment. I’m just not sure he gets into CS with a 33. His instate status will help.

Here are the 11 ABET Computer Science and Engineering programs for BS:

Bucknell University >

Lewisburg, PA, US

Massachusetts Institute of Technology >

Cambridge, MA, US

Santa Clara University >

Santa Clara, CA, US

The Ohio State University (Formerly The Ohio State University) >

Columbus, OH, US

The University of Toledo >

Toledo, OH, US

University of California, Berkeley >

Berkeley, CA, US

University of California, Davis >

Davis, CA, US

University of California, Irvine >

Irvine, CA, US

University of California, Los Angeles >

Los Angeles, CA, US

University of Connecticut >

Storrs, CT, US

University of Nevada, Reno >

Reno, NV, US

I know University of Toledo gives OOS $15,000 auto merit aid for ACT33/gpa3.4, so net cost of OOS tuition is $3k plus the school has competitive stackable scholarships, some are full rides with $3k stipend for summer enrichment programs and they allow students to bring in outside scholarships without reducing institutional aid (up to full CoA per federal guidelines). The College of engineering has mandatory co-ops and great placement record. All first and second year students living outside a 25 mile radius are required to live on campus.

http://www.utoledo.edu/admission/freshman/scholarships/2018/out-of-state.html
http://www.utoledo.edu/admission/freshman/tuition/2018-tuition.html
http://www.utoledo.edu/Programs/undergrad/Computer-Science-and-Engineering
http://www.utoledo.edu/campus/tour/

@BuckeyeMWDSG Some of those don’t give merit. MIT, all the California ones, UConn doesn’t give high merit.

Toledo looks like a deal though.

The ABET credential requires specific core curriculum and learning objectives. The other programs are listed to show Toledo’s peer group per ABET.