<p>I'm trying to create a list of the top schools on the east coast (probably stick to north east) that I would have any shot at getting in. My 2 safety schools are my two public instate schools, U of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. Ideally, the schools must have a much better program than my instate options. I'm looking to major in EE or ME. Also I am looking to narrow it down to schools that have the best financial and merit aid for transfer students.</p>
<p>About me:</p>
<p>30yo (married with kids), 4.0 GPA, very minimal EC's, no internships yet but I will be trying to get one this summer. I will have about 40 credits when I transfer, and I will have done up to Calc 3, physics 1, chem 1, comp 2 and a couple others that aren't important.</p>
<p>I'm not dead set on East coast, i'm basically looking for the best school I can transfer to that I would be able to afford, and have a decent shot of being accepted, i'm not lock to any region.</p>
<p>Any help and suggestions would be appreciated.</p>
<p>OK State has a decent program and, if you are willing to be in the South long term, may have good job prospects. With kids, the area you live is important as well. I lived in Illinois for a couple years as a young kid while dad was in grad school.</p>
<p>You may want to check the rules for in-state tuition. I know some states allow instant in-state status if your spouse gets a job in the state and you change your driver’s license. Admissions can also be different based on being an adult- you may want to get in touch with the dean of the targeted engineering school.</p>
<p>Some I would target, making a few assumptions: Rutgers, UMBC and UMCP, SUNY Binghamton and Buffalo, U Vermont. Some not in the NE: NC State, U Texas, Va Tech.</p>
<p>I tried to leave off ones where the school would be ranked significantly lower than OkSt or the cost is high compared to equivalent schools.</p>
<p>That’s exactly the kind of reply I was looking for. I agree the area I live in is pretty important, which is why i’m ruling out still water, and would rather attend OSU-Tulsa if I had to choose a safety school. I also do not intend on staying in Oklahoma when I do graduate, which is why i’m looking o the better known NE schools, but am really flexible.</p>
<p>Appreciate the tip about checking about instate tuition if my wife works in the state. I had no idea that was an option at places, i’ll def have to check that out.</p>
<p>I’ll run the net price calculator on the list you gave me and see what i’ll be able to afford.</p>
<p>Just as a note, you say you’d rather do OSU-Tulsa than OSU’s main campus, but in the eyes of recruiters, those are entirely different schools, so you will not get the same kind of consideration from employers coming from a branch campus like that as you would coming from the main campus.</p>
<p>Anyway, I don’t think anyone mentioned Penn State yet, which is a bit surprising. Also Bucknell, Northeastern, and Olin would be some to look at. Without knowing a ton about their transfer requirements, even a place like Cornell might be possible.</p>
<p>I was actually wondering if a degree from OSU-Tulsa would carry the same weight as one from Stillwater, glad you said that cos I just assumed it fell under the same name, and thus had the same credibility.</p>
<p>When looking at the public out of state schools they seem to be really pricey when I run the net price calculators. I ran the numbers on numerous private schools and ivy’s for kicks and they were way more affordable. The trick is applying to the ones i’d have a shot at getting accepted. I was really hoping to not pay more than 10k a year out of pocket (not including housing and living expenses because im living off campus) for a decently better education that OSU or OU. I could prob end up going to my instate schools with little to nothing out of pocket. I’m also not looking to stay in Oklahoma, so i’m not sure how good a local degree looks in other states. </p>
<p>Maybe once I get a list of target schools down I can shoot off some emails to see if being an older student changes anything, or maybe getting in state tuition like Magnetron mentioned would be possible.</p>
<p>How many schools do people typically apply to? Obviously the better the school, the smaller the chance of being accepted. The application fees start to add up if I apply to 10+ schools, but is that just the price you pay for a chance, or is there a more efficient way of getting into one of your target schools?</p>
<p>Because your situation is unique, I would really target just a couple of these and try to speak to someone in admissions. They often have a separate process for adults vs. 18 year olds. My niece, going to college as a single mother, was an automatic admit if she met certain standards in her CC courses. My wife got her MS while pregnant with our second child, so I understand the stress of family/college combinations.</p>
<p>If you have the chance, meet with an academic advisor in Tulsa and map out your road to academic success. At age 30 with young kids, wherever you can get through a program quickly is your best choice. If you are already in the Tulsa area, you may also want to take a flyer on University of Tulsa and hope for enough financial aid to make it affordable. They have a better ranked program.</p>
<p>As for my recommendations, I left off Penn State because it is the most expensive public school in the US and State College PA isn’t exactly the center of industry. SUNY Binghamton and NC State - relatively low cost of living and real bargains if you can get in-state tuition. Binghamton itself is pretty run down, but good enough for a couple of years. </p>
<p>And listen to ucbalumnus, one of the best on these forums.</p>
<p>Thanks again for your input, I’m definitely going to reach out to a few of the colleges on my shortlist. I haven’t really given TU much thought because from my research they seem to rank even worse than our public state schools, and cost 5x the price. I would also prefer to move to the east coast, we just need a change from Oklahoma, but if I cannot get into a good program elsewhere I’ll give it another shot when I go to grad school.</p>
<p>I think i’ve decided to nail it down to schools with good co op programs. My list:</p>
<p>Dream schools with the tiniest chance of being accepted:
Cornell
Georgia Tech
Northwestern
Purdue</p>
<p>Long shot, but slightly better chance of being accepted:
Northeastern
RIT
Drexel
Ohio state
UMCP
Lehigh
U of Cincinnati
Rutgers
Kettering
NC state
SUNY schools</p>
<p>Thoughts at my chances at any of these?</p>
<p>colorado_mom,</p>
<p>My wife is a nurse and shouldn’t have a problem finding work. Cost of living is definitely going to play a big part in my decision. I’ll pay close attention to the career placement centers of the schools on my shortlist. Thanks for your input.</p>
<p>Ah, new and important information. My wife was a hospital nurse for a few years as well. Getting nursing jobs isn’t quite as automatic as it once was.</p>
<p>DON’T go to Binghamton, but add Stony Brook in. The difference in pay for nurses is huge when comparing those two areas and Binghamton hospitals are notoriously bad. </p>
<p>Since you have a 4.0 and are looking at highly rated programs, I would also take out RIT and Cincinnati, maybe Drexel, and add in RPI (plug for my alma mater) and Case Western. </p>
<p>Is there a real East Coast bias? For a bigger change, maybe come up here to Seattle and go to UW. Colorado State?</p>
<p>I’m not dead set on the east coast, but I would like a change from Oklahoma. I actually used to live in OR and loved it there. I would probably not consider CA just based on the cost of living.</p>
<p>Also, most of the public universities come out pretty expensive for out of state students when I check their net price calculator, which is why I have mostly private schools on my target list. With that said, I’m happy to move anywhere as long as I can afford it and it has a good engineering program (and co op program).</p>
<p>Looks like you already know about OSU and PSU in Oregon, but wanted to say about them again. OSU is in Corvallis which is a nice small town (a great town to raise kids but not a great place for job opportunities). PSU is not highly ranked, but it is close to Intel and other high tech companies. These companies hire a lot of ME/EE engineers from PSU.</p>
<p>If you are preferring EE more than ME, take a look at Texas universities. Austin is home to a lot of high tech companies (may be not headquarters but branch offices) and it is easier to get the internships which will pay for the cost of the school. Austin is also a nice place to raise the kids (I guess you could guess from my name why I keep saying raise the kids more often </p>
<p>From your post it feels like you are highly motivated, so I would recommend prioritizing relative proximity to companies higher than other factors. I can only speak for EE, typically internship at a company allows you to learn the latest&greatest and companies consider that as a positive.</p>
<p>Another vote for RPI her, plus university of Maryland. Both are great engineering schools. UMD is pretty inexpensive if you establish residency.</p>
<p>RPI is a REALLY GOOD CS school. The thing is as a CS major you take Data Structures by the end of freshman year, and the teacher somewhat hard but even if you get a C+ in the class, you pretty much know data structures cold. So then a lot of freshman land CS internships at the career fair because they know their data structures. Not only that, but RPI is very VERY Close with Cisco. Like you will pretty much land a job with Cisco after graduating as a Computer Science or Computer Engineering from RPI.
I highly reccommend you look at RPI more:
look at where CS and CEng end up:
[The</a> World’s Best Engineering Schools - Business Insider](<a href=“The World's Best Engineering Schools”>The World's Best Engineering Schools)</p>
<p>Texas has some great schools, don’t know why I never considered them. Thanks</p>
<p>RPI is definitely very high on my list now, they have a video on their website that explain their co op program, sounds like an ideal place for me.</p>
<p>My son is in his first year of RPI now, and really likes it. If you have questions, feel free to PM me. Also, I suggest you make contact with the school personally. If you do they will likely send you something to waive the application fee, and all of my interactions have been very positive. I think I recall your wife is a nurse, and I’ve also heard good things about Albany Medical Center. good luck to you.</p>
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