For small engineering focused schools, what about the Mines schools in SD, NM, and CO? The first two are relatively inexpensive even for out of state students (and WUE may help also).
CMU techy/nerdy, yes (just like all the other schools I mentioned), but 6000K is going to feel nothing like your HS.
Not sure why you brought up the internship point; kids from everywhere do internships during the summer. The courseload at a school like CMU (or the other tech institutes) won’t allow you to work anything but part-time during the school year anyway.
@PurpleTitan I don’t know why we’re getting so literal with the numbers. Or why a couple of people in this thread are trying so hard to convince me that it’s not the right school for me or something. Of course 6k undergrads isn’t going to feel like 450 students at a small high school. It’s still on the smaller end. Like I said, it’s small enough so that I’m not overwhelmed, but large enough so I don’t see the same people everyday. And sorry, I just thought different schools had different opportunities for internships or something, but I guess not. It just seems like it would be hard to go intern at SpaceX from a small college of 80, but what do I know?
@ucbalumnus Not interested in SD or NM. Someone from my school went to CO School of Mines, but the male to female ratio overall is insane. Although, my school is 2/3 male. Mines in CO isn’t a WUE school.
@betaeridani, considering that you’ve never been in a school of 6K undergrads, how would you know that? As I mentioned before, you would be attending a bunch of large lecture classes at CMU as well.
It just seems that you’re operating off of a lot of preconceptions that aren’t as true as you seem to think.
And obviously you wouldn’t go to SpaceX from Webb as their only major is naval architecture (I did say that Webb, Olin, and Cooper Union have limited majors), but you also didn’t indicate what engineering you were interested in.
People want to help, but you’re not being straight with people. First you said you didn’t like UW because of the size, so people pointed out small schools (and that CMU has large lectures as well), but then you denigrate small schools. You also say you want to escape your family, so a lot of options far from WA were thrown out, but you seem lukewarm to almost all of them. In the end, it’s your life. If you want to pine after CMU, go ahead. If you want to give up because your parents say CMU is too expensive, that would be fine too. But I don’t feel a need to put up with your snark when you would be the only one who could potentially benefit from this exchange and I not at all. People don’t actually have to give out suggestions on how to achieve your goals (whatever they may be), you know.
@PurpleTitan
Sorry if I wasn’t being clear enough earlier. I went from overwhelmed to confused. Some people thought that I totally couldn’t afford college, which is not the case (my bad). A lot of people were helpful in posting scholarships though, those are cool. I bookmarked them all. Anyway, it wasn’t until this morning till my mom was clear about paying up to $50k. Yesterday she just told me everything was too expensive and my dad wouldn’t let me go.
I did my research on CMU. I think it’s a good fit, but thanks for the concern. I want to go to a school with a lot of options because I’m not quite sure what exact discipline of engineering is right for me (I mentioned biomed, electrical, and mech in another comment) so I’ll only apply to schools that have more options. I’m pretty sure schools that have more options in engineering are bigger, but I don’t mind 6000. I know this because my option if all else fails is going to be 28000 undergrads.
I think you’re making a lot of assumptions with me being “lukewarm” to suggestions. Maybe I am to some, but going out of state doesn’t seem worth it if the school isn’t competitive. To me, at least. I already considered a lot of the schools people suggested and I’m already applying to some (like WIT, UW, Seattle U, and Western WA). Some people assumed that I knocked UW for being too big. UW is the only school I know I’m definitely applying to other than Carnegie Mellon. I think there was some miscommunication on my part…
And no, I’m not being snarky. I’m just saying that I like CMU. Sorry if I came off that way. Thanks for the help though!
Good luck.
CMU is a good fit, but it’s a reach for everyone in engineering. Apply, absolutely, but keep expectations in check.
To give you some perspective about college sizes, a 1,500 student lac would offer ~500 different classes for you to choose from every semester. At colleges this size it’s important to choose the right fit but you’d not see the same people because you’d all have different classes on different parts of the campus. It’d feel different from a high school because of the number of buildings and their size. Apply to medium schools, of course, but don’t cut yourself off excellent colleges because they seem a bit too small. And if you’re admitted to an honors college, a very large university will feel larger.
Then you have Harvey Mudd, which is the engineering college of the Claremonts. The Claremonts have about 8,000 students total, and 5,000 undergraduates. Look into it 
If your mother says, one day, that she would not pay more than 35k and our father won’t let you go, and says, the next day, that it’ll be okay and they’ll pay 50k, it means she hasn’t thought college finances through. It’s okay - most parents don’t. But this makes you vulnerable to parents 'changing their minds’once it’s time to pay. This happens every Spring. So, you need to find a place which you could pay for yourself with your savings and the 5.5k federal loans + scholarship.
A few quick thoughts, besides UW which is a great choice:
- As others have mentioned, try RPI - they give merit aid to attract top students, and while they're not known by the guy on the street they have excellent industry reputation (which is what matters). Also very nerdy, like CMU, and undergrad-focused. A good choice if you
- CMU is arguably the top in CS, but while it's very good in engineering its not as outstanding as CS (that shouldn't deter you from applying there of course). The flip side is that it's (relatively) much easier to get into engineering there than CS. They're also not as generous with finaid as some other schools (my D applied there last year, but they only offered her half as much aid as RPI so she went to RPI).
- GTech would be a great choice - hard to get into, but not super expensive, and excellent quality
- CalPoly, Colo School of Mines, Bama, are all good options that aren't too expensive
- I honestly wouldn't bother with UC-Berkeley, no aid for OOS and increasingly hard to get into, and its real strength is grad school. GT would be better.
Oh, I couple more things:
- CMU will match RPI's financial aid offer (and those of a select few other universities--it's somewhere on their website); so if you apply to both places you might be able to use that to get to CMU at a lower cost. (My D discovered this after she'd already committed to RPI and lost interest in CMU.)
- NCSU is another good choice that's within your budget.
I just completed the engineering college search with and daughter and started with my son. You need to visit CMU before you even consider the school. Although the program she sought was actually the best fit for her (great professors/interdisciplinary approach) , the student body would not be a healthy environment for her. Mixing the two eclectic student bodies of art/drama/music and engineering together is a very different environment than any of the schools mentioned in previous posts. You will need to be happy about working on your robot and simultaneously reciting poetry at 2 am. CMU understands this and highly suggests a fall overnight before applying. Their student body is nerdy but also extremely eclectic. Some of the women engineers told her that they go to PIT to socialize. Pittsburgh is not a great city, and you are in the heart of the city. I noticed that the diverse student body did not integrate. The library was filled with only Asian students and students walked across campus in clusters of different races. Our previous stop was Lehigh (not as diverse, more low key, students not power houses, Bethlehem is run down), after CMU was UPenn (diverse and all working/socializing together, student body very impressive, university policy to take classes in all schools)
You mentioned that you thought you might not like Stevens where you live on a closed in campus overlooking a gorgeous view of NYC, where you can explore at a moments notice or just walk into Hoboken, a great college town/city.
Applying ED will not allow you to compare schools. A large university will not play ball with an engineering school and public universities serve their own populations with aid. Apply to a number of engineering schools and also some of the less expensive public options (not CAL schools, UVA, Michigan that all add $30K for non-residents). See what happens. THEN VISIT!!! You are too focused on websites and reading information.
The best way to determine a best fit is to tour the school and the specific department(s) you are interested in choosing. Meet the professors and students. Don’t focus on the overall class size, focus on the class size in your major. Engineering is a tough road, not a liberal arts degree, and your department is where you will spend most of your time. If you thought you worked too hard in HS, you may want to think about the work and competition ahead for an ABET engineering degree. Just wait till you meet the ‘C’ curve or the savant who can perform even while parting. The specialties you can explore under each department, minors, co-op or internship opportunities are all important to research.
Son attends Case Western Reserve University and plans on EE. Initially he considered CS and CE. What attracted him to the school was that he didn’t have to choose which branch of engineering before matriculation. Our flagship university expected you to make a definitive choice and made it rather difficult to transfer between programs which we found very restrictive.
CWRU is very flexible and is heavy on STEM though is also a liberal arts school due to the Western Reserve part. He finds it nerdy in a very good way. He enjoys the humanities as well.
You mentioned you liked Andy Warhol so I assume you like other artists. There are plenty of museums nearby. The art museum is free for CWRU students. Plus CIA (Cleveland Institute of Art) is there. I think you can take some classes there too.
The campus is in a beautiful area and my son likes the feel of urban and campus. Looking at Google maps you can see what I mean but better to plan a visit to get that feel. When on either quad you feel like you are not in a city but step away and uptown is there and many cool neighborhoods.
Merit aid is great so it could be very affordable for you. Need to show interest.
CWRU is worth checking out considering your criteria.
@betaeridani: Cal Poly SLO is not offering ED this year, only RD.
Look at Cal Poly. Great value even at OOS prices, just a tad over where you want to be but each college offers their own merit offers and you may get a small amount, it will not show up in their calculator though. It’s big but not UW or Cal big and SLO is a great town and will definitely feel “away”
If your scores are high, try Olin. They give half tuition to everyone they accept. Getting in is the hard part.
I know you want to go out of state, but UW is nothing to sneer at. You will get an excellent education there.
Also I think Cooper Union students get half tuition. The school’s policy has recently changed so double check. Other options where you could qualify for merit aid might be WPI, Clarkson, Manhattan College (I’m from the east coast – I’m sure there are other great options I don’t know about).
On a side note, just because your mom said she could go up to 50k…doesn’t mean you “need” to. Some of these schools (Clarkson, others) will offer fabulous merit at your stats. I would also caution you about being overconfident for UW engineering. Yes, you should be fine for an admit, and for pre-engineering status. For direct admit it’s wickedly competitive and it’s a pretty big pool. I personally know several kids surprisingly waitlisted this year and one admitted, who should have been a shoe in, I’d have thought, for direct admit into engineering and did not get it.
Granted, you aren’t an eastside male (the waitlists) but the female who didn’t get direct admit (got pre-engineering) had very similar stats to yours, including school “prestige”. You seem pretty hung up on the #1 HS school in WA (which I hope you realize is subjective, as both a UW grad and an area parent, several schools think they are #1 around here and various rankings move a few up and down each year lol) but at UW it can work against you at times, see note about Eastside males above. You may be fine, but I wouldn’t consider direct admit a safety by any means. There may be little risk to you to make it into the program as you may not struggle those first 1-2 years but a lot of students do not make it in if not direct admit. Hedge your bets. Personally I’d pick Western over WSU as an in-state safety back up but that’s the Husky in me and an environmental choice (Bellingham versus Pullman lol). But…the engineering options are far more limited at Western. Central would have everything but at that point, I’d suggest Oregon State as a far better back up safety. You’d get nice merit, very affordable, away and a solid engineering program with a ton of options, decent college town.
Cal Poly may be too restrictive for you, you need to apply to the major and it is difficult to switch, not to mention adding time as it’s upside down (core first, then gen ed). Cal Poly would be a match though, not a safety. Another safety to consider (I know you are asking about reach schools but if you want safe back ups to UW, you need to have a few) would be Colorado State. Solid Engineering, great merit and a wonderful wonderful college town.
You might also want to look more closely at Honors programs within less selective schools. Some of them have excellent reputations with grad schools and local employers. You will have a group of peers who are on a similiar academic level, the best of the faculty, and smaller class sizes.
OP, you should consider schools that do competitive merit/preferential packaging–you have some budget, which is lucky–it’s enough that if you found a school that offered you something close to full tuition based on merit, your parents could pay the rest. That’s a gift! Schools I’m thinking of: Boston University, Northeastern, GWU, Tulane. All would satisfy your itch to get away from WA… YMMV–you’ll need to look at their engineering programs to see if they have what you want, and see if you like any of them in particular. A little demonstrated interest + thoughtful application could potentially net some merit aid (though the trick with these schools is you could get a good amount… or nothing. But it can be worth the gamble for many students, and you have good stats). With your GPA and ACT + being a female engineer, I feel BU or Northeastern might potentially work well–you might net at least a half tuition award, or more, if they really want you.