*Flordia A&M University or Temple University or Trinity University
Prarieview A&M University
University of Alabama
I’m a junior going on to senior year. I’m from Texas and my dream is to major in mechanical engineering and graduate with some research experience and working experience. I am in top 25% of my class and i have a 30 on the ACT (I’m retaking it this september with the goal of a 32 or 33) and a new SAT score of 1290. 3.59 gpa.
I’m involved in Academic decathlon(president - 4-6 yrs), my church youth group (president 5-7 years), reel Owl Film Cinema(Member - 3 years), technology student association(President - 3 years), GHS book club (founder and president - 3 years), GHS mighty Owl band - Color guard (Music composer, Officer, varsity- 2 years), National Honors Society, and Theta Nu Sigma Step Team .
MY Question
Can you help me narrow down my list? (I think 9 applications seems like too much to manage well since I will be applying for university honors and paying housing deposits and stuff) Any schools that I really don’t have a decent chance at?
Can you recommend me a college?
Can you give me some advice? Since I plan to apply to some of these schools Late August / early September (Tamu, USC, UoA, Ttu and UT)
Sit down with your parents, and run the Net Price Calculator at each website. Find out which (if any) will be affordable for you. I see that you have some of the places with automatic scholarships from the yolasite list (good work!!), but be sure that those will be affordable after the automatic scholarships. Then eliminate every place that you would not choose over one of those.
@happymomof1
I actually ran into Prarieview because of my church members!
My issue with the NPC calculators is most Texas public schools redirect to collegeforalltexans and then it tells me I could pay anything from $0 to $22000. so i don’t know how reliable they will be for me. But the non-texas ones (like Famu and UoA) have merit aid scholarships that I should get IF i get my desired ACT scores (32). And USC meets full need for all students. So I can’t cut any out for financial aid till i get my actual award.
Maybe I should post why each school is on the list, and you can tell me if it justifies an application.
University of Southern California - ultimate reach, guaranteed job while i'm at school, have alot of engineering contacts in LA, 5 year fast track BS/MS, Diversity
*University of Texas (@ Austin) - A 2nd reach, guaranteed job while i'm at school, great job finding career center, 5 year fast track BS/MS
Texas A&M University - Dream school, Aggie network, 5 year fast track, location, Out of School engineering projects for credit (e.g. EPICS), high student retention / graduation rate, undergrad research
Texas Tech - Guaranteed Merit Aid, 5 year fast track, location, Out of School engineering projects
University of Texas - Dallas- Merit Aid, 5 year fast track, location, free housing (its near my home), Guaranteed job while I'm at school, have a few of engineering contacts in dallas.
*University of Houston - high intern / co op placement, location, and Merit aid
*Flordia A&M University or Temple University or Trinity University - All are schools whose NPC says I would pay little to none, merit aid and location.
Prarieview A&M University - Safety, Alot of my friends are going, high Nigerian population, high job placement rate, Gateway to College Station, out of school engineering projects, high intern / co op placement(And I guess I qualify for a full ride if that GPA requirement uses a weighted scale)
University of Alabama - Safety, If I get the 32 that I'm aiming for, I get full tuition, and engineering students get even more, and thats before counting for financial aid... so this one is just for merit aid.
Looks like you’ve done your research and have solid reasons for each school. :-bd
As you likely know, at FAMU you’re qualified for FAMU’s non-resident distinguished Scholar Award.
FAMU shares it’s engineering school with FSU; classes are given in the same facility, taught by the same faculty, are ABET accredited degree programs, etc. In recent years we’ve had some drama around the school (should they be separate or stay combined), but the end result is they will continue to share the engineering school, with additional state funding being used to improve and grow the program.
If, for some reason, you are thinking of applying to FSU, a 30 ACT has, in the past, qualified students for the OOS tuition waiver. That brings tuition down to the in-state rate of $6,500 or so a year (but it would be hard to pass on FAMU’s deal, when engineering students end up taking the same classes!).
when you retake the ACT and SAT , post your actual scores.
You may have to rethink/ change your list of colleges based on those new scores. Including adding new colleges, instead of narrowing your current list.
Until then, we have no additional advise to offer.