Small schools for Enginnering with good merit money available

<p>My son is a Junior. After doing some college visits, he's narrowed down his parameters a bit and finds that he prefers a smaller school (up to 10K students), where profs know the students and love teaching. He likes a project-based engineering curriculum. He prefers the school not to be in a big city, but that's not necessarily a deal-breaker. He also likes schools with fun traditions (like rubbing a mascot for good luck etc.) He wants to stay in the Northeast. He really liked Lehigh when we visited, but he would need significant merit (half tuition or more) to be able to afford it, and I don't think he'll qualify.</p>

<p>Stats:
likely NMF
SAT 1440 M+CR / 2160 total (first shot, waiting on ACT score and will probably take one or the other again if the ACT isn't at least 34)
800 SAT Math 2
3.6 UW GPA
most rigorous classes (all honors where available, 3 APs this year, will do 3 more next year)
nothing outstanding in the EC/community service/leadership department
AMC-10 best in school and AIME qualifier in 10th grade </p>

<p>What would be other schools similar to Lehigh with strong engineering programs (he's interested in Mechanical, leaning toward mecahtronics/robotics, possibly a minor in electrical or a concentration in some relevant area) where he might qualify for big merit awards?</p>

<p>We have Drexel and Northeastern on the list for their NMF awards and he did like Drexel a fair bit when we visited (haven't visited NEU yet) so that gives him at least one very solid affordable option, and he does appreciate the benefits of co-op. (I wish they were still doing rolling admissions -- it was really nice for DS1 to have that acceptance in hand early on!)</p>

<p>We also have WPI on the list, but I'm not convinced they'd offer enough merit to make it affordable either.</p>

<p>RPI and Stevens were the first two that came to mind, but I fear that you might not get enough merit money at either.</p>

<p>If he could get the RPI Medal, that would mean a minimum of $15,000 a year. Maybe he would get something higher, enough to do the trick.</p>

<p>(My S also applied to Drexel when they had rolling admissions. It was very nice to have an acceptance in his pocket by the end of October. A shame that Drexel has now added Early Decision and ended rolling admission.)</p>

<p>Our HS will only recommend a student for the RPI medal if they agree to go there if accepted, so kind of like a super-ED in Junior year. My DS2 is not ready to make that commitment, although we did visit and like RPI also. My DS1 was awarded very nice merit (more than 15K) from RPI even without the medal, but his GPA and class rank were higher.</p>

<p>Stevens doesn’t appear to offer any “regular” academic merit aid, do they?</p>

<p>WPI?</p>

<p>10char</p>

<p>I think Stevens does. On College Navigator, it shows that 95% of entering students a few years ago got grants or scholarships averaging over $22,000:</p>

<p>[College</a> Navigator - Stevens Institute of Technology](<a href=“College Navigator - Stevens Institute of Technology”>College Navigator - Stevens Institute of Technology)</p>

<p>Also, their web site says that:</p>

<p>Approximately 90% of our students get some form of financial aid. </p>

<p>I assumed that must actually include merit scholarships, as I have not heard of a major school giving 90% of their students financial aid.</p>

<p>[Tuition</a> and Fees | Stevens Institute of Technology](<a href=“http://www.stevens.edu/sit/admissions/finaid]Tuition”>http://www.stevens.edu/sit/admissions/finaid)</p>

<p>Also, here is a thread where someone states that they were told everyone (except international students) get either financial aid or meit money:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/stevens-institute-technology/1263874-merit-scholarships.html?highlight=merit[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/stevens-institute-technology/1263874-merit-scholarships.html?highlight=merit&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I wish that Stevens issued its Common Data Set. That would make things easier.</p>

<p>It took me two visits to the Stevens site to find it, but they do indeed offer some merit scholarships as described here: [Financial</a> Aid](<a href=“http://www.stevens.edu/finaid/merit.php]Financial”>http://www.stevens.edu/finaid/merit.php)</p>

<p>Hard to tell what kind of credentials would be necessary, though, or how many awards there are.</p>

<p>For DS’s HS, WPI (Worcester Polytech) gives an average merit of $15k-$20k. I believe the $20k is guaranteed for NMF. Most of the non NMF kids had a higher UW GPA had a bit lower SAT. We also know one girl who received more money in her 2nd year (not certain if it was a fellowship or a scholarship). </p>

<p>Stevens gives great money for NMF.</p>

<p>My son prefers small colleges, but he did look at some Universities that had smaller Engineering programs. Some had Engineering dorms. Swanson at Pitt was promising to son for a while. After a lot of reflection, my son decided it wasn’t the school size so much as the class sizes and feeling of community within the Engineering dept or college. You might want to have him consider why the small school.</p>

<p>Also, does he plan to go beyond a Bachelor degree? Juniata has competitive full tuition for NMF. They have a non-ABET general engineering program. Some kids do a 3/2; some do 4 yrs and then into a graduate program. Doesn’t meet all your requirements, but wanted to let you know it was out there. </p>

<p>Haverford now has a 4/1 program with U of Penn. Haverford doesn’t have merit, but they have aid that is similar to the Ivys. This is a new program and I am unclear as to what money is available for the 1 yr at Penn.</p>

<p>Both Case Western and Rose Hulman are highly ranked and will give large merit awards.</p>

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<p>Do they offer a guaranteed amount for NMF, or is that just a general observation? Can you give me a ballpark number?</p>

<p>I think what appealed about the smaller school (especially at Lehigh) was the very friendly profs who clearly knew their students, and clearly enjoyed teaching. But he also felt overwhelmed by the huge size of Stony Brook and UMDCP when we visited those schools (even though he liked UMD a lot otherwise). </p>

<p>He definitely wants a 4-year ABET-accredited degree. No 3/2s or anything like that. We are only willing to pay for 4 years.</p>

<p>Thanks GeekMom – I think Rose Hulman is farther than we’re wanting to look (ideally, anyhow) but we do have family near Case, so that’s a possibility we should look into more.</p>

<p>Cooper Union? But it is in a big city.</p>

<p>However, your constraints (particularly location and size) make finding safeties difficult. Many of the best automatic for stats or NMF scholarships are not in the northeast, or are at larger schools. The same goes for low cost schools (e.g. South Dakota Mines).</p>

<p>In Maryland, University of Maryland Baltimore County has about 10,500 undergraduate students.</p>

<p>To follow-up on Longhaul’s comment, yes, WPI offers NMFs who designate WPI as their first choice a minimum of $20,000 a year:</p>

<p>[Undergraduate</a> Admissions: WPI Merit Scholarship Overview - WPI](<a href=“http://www.wpi.edu/admissions/undergraduate/apply/merits.html]Undergraduate”>http://www.wpi.edu/admissions/undergraduate/apply/merits.html)</p>

<p>Good suggestion by GeekMom63 on Case Western. Case Western has been known to give very big merit awards. The only reason that I didn’t mention it earlier was because of your comment that your S wants to remain in the Northeast.</p>

<p>If you’re willing to look outside the Northeast, consider University of Tulsa. Virtually a full ride for NMFs, smallish school with a science/engineering emphasis. Seems somewhat similar to Lehigh in that it has D1 sports, a fairly high percent of students in greek life, and a suburban location.</p>

<p>The student’s stats would produce an automatic full ride or close to it at Louisiana Tech and Prairie View A&M, but those are also outside of the northeast.</p>

<p>Texas A&M, considered a top engineering school in the country, has a good NMF scholarship (remaining cost of $13,000 per year), but size and location do not match the constraints.</p>

<p>I’ll just throw RIT out there as a safety.</p>

<p>NMF is guaranteed a minimum of $18,000 a year:</p>

<p>[RIT</a> - Office of Financial Aid - Scholarship & Grants](<a href=“http://www.rit.edu/emcs/financialaid/table_merit.html]RIT”>http://www.rit.edu/emcs/financialaid/table_merit.html)</p>

<p>With tuition and fees being only $33,000, that would get it down to $15,000 a year or less for tuition.</p>

<p>Yes, RIT is on the list too but it’s hard to compete with full-tuition at Drexel and Northeastern, which seem to me to be peer schools (both in terms of quality and their co-op opportunities), although their overall costs are on the lower side as you note, and it is less of a city campus than the other two.</p>

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<p>I think we already do have two safeties in Drexel and Northeastern. Neither is perfect but we’ve visited Drexel and he would be happy to attend there, so I feel like safeties are covered. </p>

<p>So now we’re looking for schools that do fit his parameters better that still might be affordable. The money can be more iffy as long as it’s a reasonable possibility with his stats.</p>

<p>Lafayette Marquis Scholarship. If he can pull off a 34 ACT and keep other stats up there, he would be in the running. At $20k annually, it would still be pricey but they would provide need based aid beyond the Marquis, if eligible.</p>

<p>Thanks all, lots of idea here. Any thoughts on Bucknell, Villanova, Swarthmore, or Union? Any of them known to offer good merit?</p>