Hi everyone, I was wondering if I could get some suggestions for more match/safety schools. I live in Illinois and I’d prefer to go somewhere in the Midwest or on the East Coast. I am planning on majoring in Chemical or Electrical Engineering. I’m looking for more private engineering schools, as they’d be more likely to give adequate aid.
•32 ACT (32 math, 35 English, 35 reading, 30 science) - hoping to increase to a 33 or 34 in September
•3.8 unweighted GPA (4.43 weighted)
•2120 SAT (will lost likely not use)
•Will be taking Math II and Physics subject tests in October.
•5s on APUSH, Calc BC, AP English Language, and AP Seminar. 4 on AP European History.
Extracurriculars:
•National Honor Society
•Key Club (volunteering)
•Student Council Treasurer
•Regular Library Volunteering
•Math team
•STEM club
•Will be doing a research project at Argonne National Laboratory starting next month.
Colleges I’m applying to:
•University of Illinois (Urbana)
•Iowa State
•University of Chicago (might eliminate, too much of a reach)
•Northwestern (might eliminate)
•Stanford
•University of Alabama
•University of Wisconsin (probably too expensive)
I’m sure there are a lot of posts like this, so sorry about that. Thank you!
Stanford had a 5% acceptance rate last year; I would eliminate it. I would also go ahead and eliminate U of C and Northwestern, given your statistics.
Not knowing how much you/your parents can afford to spend, here are some other schools that come to mind as potential matches:
Bradley University
Lafayette College
Lehigh University
Drexel University
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Northeastern University
Missouri University of Science and Technology (a public school, but good engineering programs)
What about Rose Hulman? RPI? They are more competitive but also small and prestigious. And just a note, Stanford is WAAAY more competitve than UChicago or Northwestern.
But I can’t help but be biased and say Iowa State is amazing and you should go there. (I am legally obligated to point out how much I’ve enjoyed my STEM education there the past three years and how far I’ve gotten because of the education they’ve afforded me. This summer I’m an Amgen Scholar at one of the 2 Boston locations and I am 100% equal to the kids actually going to Harvard and MIT. The quality of faculty and classes I’ve accessed have been mindblowing. Just sayin’. )
@biochemgirl67, U of Chicago acceptance rate has gone from 40% in 2005 to 7.8% this year, I would not say they are “WAAAY” behind Stanford at this point.
Thanks gandalf78, I will definitely check those out. I know that Stanford is basically impossible, the only reason I’m applying is because of the free tuition for families making less than $125,000. It’s too good of an offer to not at least try!
I’ll look into Rose Hulman and RPI for sure, biochemgirl67. Iowa State is definitely one of my top choices! I didn’t realize how good their engineering was until recently, and I feel like I would definitely be happy there. Congrats on being an Amgen Scholar!
How much can your family afford to pay? If $125K is your income your EFC will be somewhere in the range of $30-40K. RPI’s aid is highly competitive and I don’t think Rose Hulman offers much.
No chemical there, but Trinity College in Connecticut is a full needs met quality LAC with electrical engineering and might be a good choice, especially on the financial end. Check it out.
Erin’s Dad: Yeah, just from my research today, Rose Hulman seems a bit too expensive for me. My family makes about 100k, but they most likely aren’t paying for any of my college education, so the debt will be all mine. I will investigate RPI a bit more.
U of Chicago doesn’t even offer a Chemical or Electrical Engineering major, so that is another reason to take them off your list. You personally can only borrow $5,500 freshman year, $6,500 soph year, and $7,500 junior & senior years. So you need to consider that in your search. You might want to research some schools with guaranteed scholarships for your stats. Take a look here:
They might not have been the schools you have been initially thinking about, but if your parents are not paying ANYTHING for your college education, you need to look at these.
Don’t discard the private engineering schools just because of the sticker price. A number of them offer generous merit aid which will make it more affordable.
Thanks intparent. I’m not sure how I didn’t realize that about Uchicago, that is embarrassing. I might be completely ignorant, but those amounts are only for federal loans, right? I was under the impression that I could take out a much larger amount of private loans. I’ll definitely take a look at the list, thank you!
Why would you want to take out more private loans at a higher interest rate? Your parents would have to cosign on those loans which means if anything happens they are on the hook to repay them. I would never recommend going over the Direct Loan max.
I guess I was naive about private loans. If I only take out federal loans than my options are seriously limited. Even somewhere like University of Alabama, which would give me free tuition, would be too expensive. I’ll need to convince my parents to take out parent plus loans then, and just pay those back myself. If not, I guess I would have to take community college courses.
Don’t give everything up for loss. I’m sure @mom2collegekids will help you understand how to whittle down the Alabama costs. Your shortfall is ~$7750/semester or $15.5K for the year. Take off $5500 for a direct loan and you’re below $10K. Don’t get the full up board or best room and that number goes down. Buy used books instead of new and it goes down even more. Then get a job over the summer to see how much you can pull in. That doesn’t even count what your parents can chip in themselves.
Thank you, that makes me feel a lot better. That definitely seems doable, and I’ll have a more in depth talk with my parents about what they’re willing to do.
Given your cost constraints, I’m not sure it makes sense to apply to UIUC. We’re in Illinois, and my daughter did not apply to UIUC last year because we knew the scholarship money wouldn’t be there. She applied to Alabama instead, and loved it, though she’s ending up attending elsewhere. There are many kids from Illinois at Alabama for the same reason.
Another option that can help fund an engineering education is cooperative education. Engineering co-op students can make quite good money while alternating between work and going to school. At a university like Alabama you might make enough to reduce or eliminate your loans. You gain work experience, get your degree and make a good wage. Good luck.
Hs2015mom: Yeah, UIUC has always been questionable, it is so expensive for a state school. It’s my top choice but my expectations are low. I’m glad to hear that she liked Alabama!
Ivvcsf: That is a great idea. Hopefully I will be able to budget my time well enough to do that.
^^^ It usually adds an additional year, however you are still only paying for 4 years of education. All of the people I know who have co-oped have good things to say about their experience. It definitely presents new challenges/opportunities, but on the whole it’s something to look into.
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