<p>Right, ok I will do that.
Aside from that point, is there anything else I should look more into/change?</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus CMU doesn’t do merit scholarships if you qualify for substantial need-based aid. They do give two kids full rides on a merit basis every year. </p>
<p>@kei04086 Johns Hopkins also has a need-based Bloomberg Scholarship that brought it down to $3k/yr for one of my friends. If they have a ChemE program that interests you (they are a good research school), I’d check them out. And for net price, I’d also check ROI through something like payScale.</p>
<p>I can’t seem to find much info on chemE at johns Hopkins</p>
<p>@kei04086 Looks like they’ve got it mixed with the biomolecular engineering department. The ChemBE program is definitely not at the same level as the famous BME program (#1) but it’s still Top 20. I guess here it just depends on whether you’re interested in the more biological aspects of chemistry- Johns Hopkins is strongest when it comes to BME so I think that’s what spills over and defines all their other engineering departments.</p>
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<p>Harvey Mudd only offers a general engineering degree, but you can take more classes in a specialty area if you want to. One of my kids goes there, and they are pretty brilliant group (she had a 2380 superscored SAT, 800 Math II subject, 800 Lit subject), and she is (literally) working flat out and is in the middle of the pack there. She absolutely loves it. You could easily visit, as you probably don’t live too far away. Best to go when classes are in session in the fall. But I think you should leave them on your list and at least stop by to visit, it is a unique school and might be a great fit for you.</p>
<p>Wash U does have a pattern of rejecting kids who don’t show them enough love/interest.</p>
<p>@dividerofzero hmm I see… I’ll have to do some more research I suppose. </p>
<p>@intparent </p>
<p>WashU is also infamous for waitlisting kids they think are overqualified.</p>
<p>@intparent so does Harvey Mudd not have a specific chemE department?</p>
<p>And do you think WashU would consider me “overqualified”? How do I prevent getting Waitlisted?</p>
<p>Mudd is a school of about 1,000 students that is part of the Claremont consortium of colleges – 5 colleges that share a common larger campus, sort of fit together like lego blocks. The students can cross register with the other schools easily, but each school has their own admissions and graduation requirements. Mudd is the science and technology college – the other four colleges are Scripps, Pomona, Pitzer, and Claremont McKenna.</p>
<p>Payscale’s annual ROI study has placed Mudd at the top of their return on investment analysis for the past few years. About 35% of Mudd’s graduates are engineering majors. The rest are all various STEM majors (Chem, Comp Sci, Math, Physics, Bio, etc.). All Mudd students also have to complete a secondary concentration in a non-STEM subject. For example, my kid plans to do hers in Studio Art.</p>
<p>Here are some FAQs where Mudd answers questions about why they only offer a general engineering major:</p>
<p><a href=“Engineering Curriculum FAQs | Engineering | Harvey Mudd College”>https://www.hmc.edu/engineering/curriculum/faqs/</a></p>
<p>Mudd graduates do very well in the job and graduate school market. The core program is very intense. They also have great placement for research and internship opportunities. My kid is researching on campus this summer following her freshman year (and so are her three closest friends who are also freshman, too).</p>
<p>@intparent wow that sounds pretty amazing! I really didn’t know much about it before, but it seems like a really good fit for me. How competitive is admissions compared to say Stanford or MIT?</p>
<p>I ran the NPC on GTech, Minnesota and UT Austin but it seems like they’re not going to be affordable. Are there any other match-level options or should I just go full reach with UCR and UCSB as safeties?</p>
<p>@kei04086 Only thing I can find is that USC meets 99% of need but they’re unranked (like Columbia) when it comes to Chem.E specifically but Viterbi is a high-ranked engineering school.</p>
<p>I think this spring Mudd admitted 13% of their applicants. Stanford was about 5%, MIT at 9.7% this year. So less selective, but still very difficult to get into (reach). </p>
<p>@intparent Mudd has a self-selecting applicant pool, though. I’m willing to wager that applicant quality is higher for Mudd simply because not enough people associate it with prestige to just spam them with under-qualified Hail Mary’s like Stanford, Harvard, and MIT.</p>
<p>Add USC they also meet full need I believe</p>
<p>I agree that the applicant pool is quite self selecting for Mudd.</p>
<p>Ok, thanks for the suggestions. I guess for now the edited list would be</p>
<p>UC Berkeley
UCLA
UCSD
UCSB
UCR(auto admission)</p>
<p>Stanford (Early Action)
Princeton
MIT
Cal Tech
Harvard
Harvey Mudd
WashU
Cornell
Rice
USC</p>
<p>That’s 10 schools + UCs which should be manageable. Looks great!</p>
<p>If you are interested in smaller schools you might want to look at some solid liberal arts colleges that offer engineering. You may also have a good shot at scholarships for such schools. Some examples might be Bucknell and Rose-Hulman. Swarthmore - one of the best schools in the country academically, also offers engineering. Santa Clara is a small university with a good engineering programwhere you would definitely be in line for some serious merit aid</p>
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<p>Read this thread for ideas on applying to colleges for which you may appear to be “overqualified” but which use “level of applicant’s interest” in admissions:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1626043-ways-to-show-a-high-level-of-applicant-s-interest-p1.html”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1626043-ways-to-show-a-high-level-of-applicant-s-interest-p1.html</a></p>
<p>@ucbalumnus great thread, thanks for sharing.
@SummerAus My concern with liberal arts colleges is that they have poor employment prospects, or so I’ve heard. Since liberal arts education is more focused around well-roundedness and scholarly aspects, I have heard that compared to say an MIT or Stanford degree, I would have a harder time finding a job with a Swarthmore degree. LACs seem to be better for people looking at med school or graduate school, and I personally want to get a job after undergrad and return to grad school if necessary in the future.</p>