<p>OK, my son is at the really difficult part: he's down to the following four schools and is intending to be an engineering major. Here are the pertinent facts:</p>
<p>Overall:
* None of the schools would require any loans on our part or his part (we set a budget of $30K per year and any money leftover would be available for grad school)
* We are NJ residents
* We have toured each of the schools at least twice and he states he could see himself happy at each of these schools
* Son loves the ethnic diversity of the student body at each of these schools
* Son has ADHD, does not need any special accomodations, but struggles with organization and time management at times
* Son likes the likes the instant student network that the honors / scholars programs provide
* Friendliness of the student body (always tough to judge that on a tour) is important</p>
<p>Stony Brook:
* Accepted into University Scholars program (needs a 3.0 gpa to maintain)
* Offered full tuition out of state scholarship (needs to stay in good academic standing to maintain)
* Accepted directly into Computer Engineering
* Estimated 2013 COA: ~13K</p>
<p>UMBC:
* Accepted into Honors College and offered Premier Scholarship (needs 3.25 gpa to maintain)
* Estimated 2013 COA: ~10K</p>
<p>NJIT:
* Accepted into Albert Dorman Honors College and substantial merit scholarships (needs 3.0 GPA freshman year, 3.2 GPA thereafter to maintain)
* Estimated 2013 COA: ~1K</p>
<p>Rutgers:
* Accepted into SOE Honors Academy (needs B or better in all Honors classes to maintain)
* Received Scarlet Scholarship (needs 3.0 GPA to maintain)
* Estimated 2013 COA: ~24K</p>
<p>Would love some feedback or even clarifying questions from anyone familiar with these schools.</p>
<p>Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>Stony Brook looks the “safest” in terms of keeping the scholarships; would any of them be unacceptably expensive if the scholarship is lost?</p>
<p>^ no – it would however limit the amount we could contribute for graduate school, assuming he has to pay for it. Obviously, my wife and I would like to minimize our cost 
, but all schools are within the budget we set, even without the merit.</p>
<p>Actually – I just got a correction on that as Stony Brook has fully posted their merit scholarship info online – minimum GPA to maintain the the Provost Scholarship is 3.0.</p>
<p>Perhaps you and he should check the following:</p>
<ul>
<li>If he is interested in working in CS&E, what companies come recruiting at each school’s career center, and typical post-graduation employment destinations.</li>
<li>If he is interested in PhD study in CS&E, how well graduates succeed in getting into PhD programs.</li>
</ul>
<p>Thanks – very helpful. Would love to have additional feedback, so keep it coming!</p>
<p>My son is a freshman at UMBC – chemical engineering enviornmental track. The first thing we noticed about UMBC was that they had the most polite student body I’ve ever encountered. It is an amazing school – #1 up and coming 4 years in a row! The Shriver Center gives students help in obtaining internships; writing resumes. The professors have excellent office hours. It is a safe, inclusive, diverse campus. The housing is great. Research opportunities are amazing.</p>
<p>@proudmom: I really appreciate your comments and showed it to my son. Nice to get a confirmation about the attitude of the students. We spoke to a number of students and faculty on campus and they all emphasized the strength of the Shriver center and the access to research early on.</p>
<p>good luck. UMBC has lots of different sites on Facebook – Shriver Center, UMBC SEB, etc. That might give you an idea of stuff that is going on there.</p>
<p>Stony Brook or Rutgers. NJIT cannot be compared to those three. Go with Stony Brook as its the cheaper one.</p>
<p>@xtremepower – tell me more about why you feel this way.</p>
<p>We are talking about engineering.</p>
<p>At Baltimore County, he will feel like a second hand student as it is a division of University of Maryland-College Park. College Park is better academically, athletically, reputation-wise etc. UMCP is the flagship campus where the higher stats students go. UMBC is just a commuter campus for college park rejects. </p>
<p>Rutgers is the state flagship with a good engineering program. It competes with Maryland-CP, Penn State, Virginia Tech etc. </p>
<p>Stony Brook is more known for sciences rather than engineering but its still a top SUNY. It competes with SUNY Binghamton which is the best SUNY for everything. </p>
<p>NJIT is tier 2.</p>
<p>Wow…do some research. UMBC Engineering program is very selective. It is not for College Park rejects. It actually has better statistics for those going on to get graduate degrees. Many students pick UMBC OVER College Park. It is an honors university.</p>
<p>Who picks an engineering school based on athletics? I would be more impressed over UMBC having a chess team and not cutting their swimming team than College Park’s athletic program.</p>
<p>Bumping for additional points of view …</p>