Georgia Tech is fantastic, but their OOS merit is extremely competitive.
If you are going to be NMF, and are looking as far as Texas, take a look at University of Oklahoma engineering.
Usually you can find a break-down of a school’s need-based and merit grants in its Common Data Set, section H2. Various sites such as Kiplinger’s summarize this information for many colleges. For example, according to the Davidson College CDS for 2016-17, 262 of 512 entering freshmen were determined to have financial need. The college awarded need-based aid to all 262. The average financial aid package for those students was $46,079.
About 60 colleges, including Davidson, claim to meet 100% of demonstrated financial need
(http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2016-09-19/colleges-that-claim-to-meet-full-financial-need). Davidson’s numbers seem to be fairly typical for these schools. That is, roughly half of all freshmen are determined to have need and the average need-based aid package seems to be around $40K. Most of these are very selective private schools. When you deduct average n-b aid from their sticker prices, the resulting net price typically is similar to many state university flagship prices (~$20-30K).
Most other colleges meet less than 100% of demonstrated need on average. Many meet much less. Furman for example met 81.3% of demonstrated need on average for 2016-17 freshmen determined to have need. Even among the “full need” colleges, awards can vary by thousands of dollars per year for the same applicant. You can estimate your own annual cost for any college that interests you by running its online net price calculator. The estimate may not be too accurate if your family owns a business (or farm), if your parents are divorced, or if you’re an international student.
@roethlisburger @GoodGrief16 GT has been on my 6-8 school short list for a while, but I’m hesitant because I don’t see any more tangible benefits (other than name recognition) than I would have with Clemson engineering, and again competitive merit. But I’m keeping my options open!
@tk21769 I should start running some NPCs on my preferred colleges, shouldn’t I? Thank you for that explanation. I was just skeptical that some private universities gave so much!
Any more suggestions/advice?
P.S: Btw, y’all’s advice has been AMAZING so far! Thank you CC community!
For the money, especially if you will be Palmetto Fellow, you can’t beat staying in-state at Clemson or USC, especially if you get in Honors college which opens lots of doors. Both give scholarship enhancements freshman year to Palmetto to bring it up to subsequent year amounts.
D was at USC honors and had lots of engineering and STEM friends who are are doing well - good fellowships, NSF grants, internships and PHD/med schools acceptances if any of that is important. Be sure you really check these two options out and ignore anyone that tells you can’t have a good experience in-state.
I do know USC has active club tennis with competitive level and more play-for-fun level with options to play/practice several times a week.
If your ultimate goal is medicine and don’t mind not doing engineering, both Wofford and Furman have good track records getting med school acceptances.
@scmom12 CofC Honors an excellent option as well. They have a great relationship with MUSC and assist in obtaining volunteer hours and performing undergrad research.
Another vote for Georgia Tech which has the number 1 rated BME program in the country. That will translate into more internship opportunities and more job prospects with higher starting salaries. Look into the co-op program. Tech has a great program and you will not only make a good bit of income to offset OOS expenses but will also gain valuable job experience before graduation. I would think there’s a pretty good return on investment with a degree from a top-ranked program.
@scmom12 @carolinamom2boys Can’t go wrong with in state honors colleges! Been looking at Clemson, Furman, Wofford, USC, and CoC quite a bit with no small help from my guidance counselor.
@GRITS80 I wasn’t aware of this co-op program at GT… I’ll have to look into it. Thanks for the help!
Any more suggestions?
You might want to check out the latest tuition subsidy policies at Cooper Union and Olin.
These are outside the South (in NYC and Massachusetts, respectively) but they are small, tip-top STEM schools that have a history of granting scholarships/subsidies to all students (although they’ve reduced the amounts in recent years.)