My son is still trying to narrow down his list of schools. He wants to do engineering though he’s not sure what kind yet. He does not want to small school. Also, a strong honors program would be ideal. Needs to consider schools where there is potential of decent merit aid. I know Alabama and Oklahoma are generous if he makes National Merit Finalist. Any thoughts on the other schools listed below or any other suggestions? We live in Missouri and have only visited half of the schools on his list due to his drum corps commitments. We are trying to get to a couple more this fall. Thanks!
34ACT,
3.95 / 4.38W
4 AP’s - 5’s on all and 3 more this year
Black belt, Eagle Scout
Marching band, Winter Percussion, Summer Drum Corps - huge time consuming passion
National Merit Semi Finalist
Purdue - top choice though we know very little merit aid
Wisconsin
Iowa State - visited and liked
Minnesota - visited and liked
Michigan State
Alabama - visited and on the list though not his top choice
Oklahoma
Arizona State - maybe - very far away though Honors program looks strong
He’s not looking at ANY colleges IN Missouri? Why?
Your son has great stats, but all of those OOS public universities are expensive, as you know. Their first mission is to fund instate students.
However, since you have a ton of OOS schools on the list, I would suggest he add Ohio State. They do have some merit aid for OOS students.
How much can you pay per year? Your merit aid would need to fund the difference…and while your son might receive merit aid at some of these OOS publics…it might not be enough…as noe guarantee to meet full need for all accepted students.
Re: Alabama…your son would get pretty decent merit aid even if he doesn’t get NM status. @mom2collegekids could you explain? Also, that application is live now…so have him submit…and he will have a decision…with aid…within a few weeks.
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Needs to consider schools where there is potential of decent merit aid. I know Alabama and Oklahoma are generous if he makes National Merit Finalist.
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Alabama would be generous to him even if he didn’t make NMF. With his stats he’d get free tuition plus 2500 per year if he didn’t make NMF. Did he look into Bama’s CBHP program (it now has a new name…Randall Research Scholars Program https://honors.ua.edu/programs/computer-based-honors-program/ It’s for high stats students.
When he toured Bama did he get an eng’g tour set up? Or did y’all just do the regular tour?
However, since his grades aren’t an issue and I assume he’ll do the NMSF forms and he’s not a trouble maker at school, he’ll make NMF.
WHAT do you want the net costs to be? “Decent merit aid” doesn’t tell us much…$20k per year at a school that costs $70k will still leave you with a $50k per year bill, which you may not want.
Is your son dreaming of a high ranking school? If so, then merit won’t likely happen. An ACT 34 at a highly ranked program is par for the course.
What is your budget? If your budget is $25-$30K he could create some great choices.
My D had the same stats as your son (34 ACT, 3.98 UW GPA) and she was applying for engineering also.
Clemson gave her $15K/y
Purdue gave her $10K/y
Pitt gave her $17K/year
Alabama- full tuition
Northeastern - $21K/year
She got about $4K in local scholarships also so her total cost this year at Pitt = $22,000/year plus a thousand or so in travel costs. The next few years it will be $26K per year unless she gets some departmental $$ (not counting on it!). She chose Pitt and so far is very happy and we are impressed. Engineering majors get to choose their major after one year—they don’t have to re-apply, commit ahead of time without understanding their major or compete for their major.
Hopefully he has already put in most of his applications?
Thank you! He’s not looking at Missouri schools. S&T is too small for him and not interested in Mizzou. We would like to get tuition down to in state for all of the schools he is looking at. This is all very helpful information!
Even though he is not looking at Missouri schools he should still apply. A lot can change in senior year and getting those instate applications in will give more options when comparing award letters in the Spring. It doesn’t hurt to apply, and doesn’t take much time, so why not try?
UM-TC gives pretty good scholarships to NMF. My D was offered a total of $16500 per year in a combination of several scholarships which was more than 50% of CoA for OOS.
Purdue also has a lot of scholarships according to their website, but the amount seems to be less than a few years ago. https://www.admissions.purdue.edu/costsandfinaid/freshman.php
My D was offered $20k/year from them in two scholarships a few years ago.
For Wisconsin, my D was also admitted, but the scholarship requires separated application there after admission. We do not have the final final aid package from them as my D had decided to go to another school and did not apply for the scholarship at the end.
I think UM-TC may be the cheapest for your son after merit aid. They should send you a Golden Gopher application invitation which waives the application fee and essay requirement. My D applied to it mainly because of the little effort.
Oklahoma’s NM scholarship is nice. not near a full ride; but just about full tuition bringing your costs to 6-9k including housing/food (though many have outside scholarships to help with those costs). What distinguished it from others, though, is the exceptional community of scholars-- about 300 scholars each year; and most live on one of the designated scholar dorm floors- they become a very close community. Also- social and academic events through both the scholars program and the honors college are a regular part of life. My sophomore D, now lives off campus with a group of scholars-- yet still hangs out at the honors college for fun and for studying. Research opportunities are available and encouraged-- she was involved in a lab as a freshman and presented her work at 2 on-campus research days. This year, she’s working for an engineering professor for some a small stipend. The study abroad opportunities are also nice for engineering majors (Ochem in Italy; engineering classes in France… sign me up!) And if he’d like tg continue with band… there’s the Pride of Oklahoma. Be sure to contact the scholars office (tell Tyler we all say hello!) and they will set up a personalized visit. They usually have a Scholars2Sooners event in February (a Sunday - Monday overnight- they’ll pay your hotel) that may be of interest to you. Boomer!
Colorado School of Mines has good merit aid and with his numbers, it looks like he would get $14k/year, which would bring his tuition down to in-state! Great engineering programs. My S18 is looking there currently as are several of his friends also interested in engineering.
Just a slight correction but Alabama changed their merit scholarships and now a 34 ACT gets you:
Presidential Scholar
A student with a 33-36 ACT or 1490-1600 SAT score and at least a 3.5 GPA will be selected as a Presidential Scholar and will receive $100,000 over four years ($25,000 per year). Students graduating with remaining scholarship semester(s) may use these monies toward graduate school and/or law school study at UA.
Yes…but I believe at Alabama…engineering majors get an additional $2500 a year. So that brings it within a spit of full tuition for engineering majors.
Alabama seems to have a new policy for the engineering scholarship and National Merit:
“Should a merit scholarship recipient be named a National Merit Finalist, their Engineering Leadership Scholarship will be replaced by the National Merit Finalist Scholarship Package.”
This student is a likely NMF, so while they wouldn’t get the eng’g award, he’d still get free tuition plus more.
Value of tuition for up to five years or 10 semesters for degree-seeking undergraduate and graduate (or law) studies
One year of on-campus housing at regular room rate* (based on assignment by Housing and Residential Communities)
$3,500 per year Merit Scholarship stipend for four years.
One-time allowance of $2,000 for use in summer research or international study (after completing one year of study at UA)
$2,000 book scholarship ($500 per year for four years)
I would not worry about honors programs if he is applying to Engineering.
Generally speaking, honors programs have required liberal arts classes, and engineering students
have a more rigid curriculum than other majors, making it difficult to squeeze in extra specific classes.
Also Engineering courses are generally very challenging, and engineers generally are glad to have an easier liberal arts class to offset the intensity of engineering classes, why make them more labor intensive in an honors program ?
My 2 cents, all engineering students that succeed are top students and could be considered “honors students”. You don’t the label, it’s redundant, and you’ll have smart peers, especially after freshman year when some are weeded out of engineering.
The honors label may be useful if it comes with perks like nicer/quieter housing, scholarships, or early registration for classes. That’s why I put up with the extra requirements for mine (research, thesis, certain number of honors classes).
