<p>Hi. My son is a junior planning to major in Aerospace or Mechanical engineering. We have visited three schools so far: Case Western, Ohio State and Purdue. He liked each one he saw but prefers a bigger school. I would like him to check out some medium schools. We are also searching for merit aid since we likely won't get any need aid. Can you all suggest a few medium schools that might fit the bill?</p>
<p>Some details: GPA 4.0, 4.5; ACT 33; Class rank, top 5%.
ECs: a variety of music groups, likely field commander for marching band, Scouts, Academic Challenge, Rocket Team, very little community service though. He would like to continue his music in school as well as be in the marching band.</p>
<p>We are in Ohio and he has no limit on distance although I would like him in driving distance. He also would a school that at least has an Aero concentration if he decides to go Mechanical.</p>
<p>Miami University(has undergraduate focus)
Cornell University
Iowa State University(great for engineering and low tuition)
University of Alabama (not really known for engineering, he will get a full ride )
Penn State(might be little expensive)
Rutgers
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities (one of the best for chemical engineering)
University of Michigan</p>
<p>Competitive large merit scholarships include:</p>
<p>Berkeley (Drake for mechanical engineering students only)
NCSU (Park)
Duke (Robertson)
Georgia Tech (President’s)
various ([Partners</a> - Stamps Foundation - Stamps Foundation Blog](<a href=“http://www.stampsfoundation.org/partners/]Partners”>http://www.stampsfoundation.org/partners/) – many are full ride or full tuition, but not all of them are, so check carefully)</p>
<p>Depending on where you live in Ohio, here are some non commuter schools smaller or medium sized schools which offer MechE (couldn’t find anything for Aerospace engineering which fit your preferences)
-Bucknell
-Kettering University
-Miami University
-Lawrence Tech
-University of Dayton
-Valparaiso University
-Villanova University (not sure about merit possibilities though)</p>
<p>UCB, I think he meant that he wanted his son to consider medium sized schools in conjunction with the huge ones like OSU. I can’t imagine anyone considers Ohio State University small.</p>
<p>Ucb, by “prefers bigger” I meant that after visiting Purdue & OSU, he realized he likes a bigger school as opposed to Case’s size. My husband and I are looking to keep out of pocket costs at about $30-$35K.</p>
<p>For medium sized schools where you might get some merit aid, you can consider Lehigh University, Villanova University, Carnegie Mellon University (all in PA), University of Rochester (NY). Some good smaller schools to consider would be Bucknell or Lafayette (also in PA), Union (NY) and Trinity (CT).</p>
<p>^ OP would not get merit aid from Lehigh or Carnegie Mellon. In general, merit aid is only given to those significantly above average for that school. OP would be average at both of those schools (which rarely give merit anyway). </p>
<p>Add Maryland to your list. Not too big (26K), they have aero engineering, most aerospace and defense companies are nearby, COA about 40K, some merit available but don’t count on it OOS. Alabama would be your best value. After scholarships, net COA would be about 10K. They also have aero, big aerospace presence in the state (major Airbus and NASA centers, Huntsville AL is called Rocket City USA).</p>
<p>Chardo, we are considering a visit to Alabama but keep hearing mixed things on these forums regarding the engineering program. I have Maryland on my list, but have not been able to convince him it’s a good option. I will try pushing it again as I think it meets a lot of his criteria.</p>
<p>Xtreme, you have Michigan on your list. I heard they are very stingy with merit. Have you heard otherwise?</p>
<p>That opens up a number of possibilities of out-of-state public schools whose list price might be doable within that limit (or that limit plus Stafford loans). Examples:</p>
<p>Minnesota
NCSU
Virginia Tech
CSUs (e.g. the Cal Polys)
SUNYs (e.g. Stony Brook, Buffalo)
Iowa State
Kansas
Wichita State</p>
<p>Chardo, point taken on Alabama. Will just have to take a visit to see for ourselves.</p>
<p>Here’s another question to throw out there. When we visited OSU I was impressed with all it has to offer and the overall quality of its facilities. Barring some really great merit from some private schools, it will probably be our low-cost option (other than Bama). Are all the other OOS schools mentioned worth paying more?</p>
<p>^ Are those mixed things coming from people with actual knowledge about Alabama engineering?</p>
<p>Very good point. The “mixed things” are likely from people who: </p>
<p>A) have never stepped foot on Bama’s campus
B) know very little (or nothing) about what Bama has in regards to its College of Engineering.
C) wrongly assume that unless a school is ranked within the top 10, then it can’t be very good. lol
D) Have no idea that the state is home to the second largest research park in the nation (Cummings Research Park). </p>
<p>A poster named Montegut who has a son majoring in ME at Alabama has been posting that recruiting there is mostly regional, with opportunities heavily biased toward the automotive industry.</p>
<p>Montegut’s concerns are valid, but to the best of my recollection, he’s the only one with actual knowledge that has posted specific problems. Might his son’s problems have been individual and not prevalent there? As for regional recruiting, that is generally the case at most schools outside the elites, including most of those suggested in this thread.</p>
<p>It is true that just about every school will show a regional bias in recruiting, although some schools may attract more out-of-area recruiters than others. It may be that Montegut’s son is less interested in the automotive industry than in other industries that are less well represented among those employers that recruit at Alabama.</p>
<p>Since the OP’s son is interested in aerospace, proximity to aerospace employers would be something to consider. (Alabama - Huntsville probably benefits from its proximity to the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, for example.)</p>
<p>New York University! Yes, they now have a new engineering school (it’s going to be called Polytechnic School of Engineering) It was formerly called Polytechnic Institute of New York University… On the NYU application for 2013-2014, there will be a choice on there for NYU school of engineering.</p>