After digging through the forums, it looks like no one else has started a thread for those looking at Tuition Exchange schools for the fall of 2020 – so here goes!
Next up for me is S20 (son graduating from high school in 2020). He’s a super strong math student at a suburban public school currently leaning toward mechanical engineering. Solid ECs (extracurriculars) with leadership in marching band and in multiple varsity sports sports each year.
We’re currently sorting out the cross section of TE and ABET-accredited engineering programs, with a focus on mid-Atlantic and northeastern schools; looking at other TE and/or out-of-state public schools a little further afield, such as Case Western, James Madison, and NC State that also offer ABET programs.
I also have a D20 so I will be in the grind again next year! I’m not certain if DD will end up at a TE school as athletics plays a part in her search. She does have a couple of TE schools on her target list though. Then I have a D22 following shortly thereafter.
It seems S19 is being pulled from from the Bucknell wait list so I need to call tomorrow and see the details. He’s likely staying put but I’ll post the info on whether TE is offered.
following this thread. i have student 20 who will be sending in a list of 5 TE schools to our home institution in early September. or maybe even August. one of them is Syracuse. we’ll see how that goes…
Following. I have a TE/CIC kid, but the other factor is that he is also seriously thinking about collegiate sports. The twist in all this is that he is being a recruited by a TE school.
@carlson2 my D20 is also a recruited athlete and I’m not certain how the TE will play out. Most TE schools do not offer awards until April, which of course would be too late in terms of committing to play a sport.
I’ve been told BU offers 10 total each year - that’s a lot of NOs. Villanova offered none this year as they are giving them to sophomores who didn’t get it last year. I know of a family whose son did not get it at Conn College and he would have been an impact athlete. Competition is fierce at UPitt and USC I think. Casting a wide net is key!!
I have a couple of colleagues whose kids got TE from UDel but I couldn’t tell you the percentage. You could try emailing the FA office of interested schools. Pitt readily gives you the stats.
I am also the parent of a D20 chasing merit. Her 3 favorite schools we have visited so far are Butler, Wooster, and Pitt. We will visit some DC area schools this summer. We are trying to cast a wide net beyond just TE, but she doesn’t want to do more than 10 applications, and I don’t blame her. She is a likely National Merit kid, but she hasn’t loved any of the NMF full ride schools.
The comments on school choice have already started. She asked a teacher for a letter of recommendation last week, and the response to her top 3 so far was, “Those are great schools, but I expected you to be looking at places with more name recognition.”
Her response was that the “meets needs” schools are too expensive. (She will be our only one on college, and we have only recently had two decent incomes.)
She also said, “We toured xxx (a very well known school whose net price is just a little beyond our budget and seemed worth visiting when we were nearby), and my mom said if I really liked it, I can go there for graduate school.”
The teacher said, “I can see your mom saying that.”
She comes by her super practical approach to life naturally.
@realmmom If you haven’t looked a USC (Southern Cal) in case you didn’t know they stack TE with the 1/2 Tuition Presidential for NMF to the point of full tuition + 8K a year for room and board. They then give you another 2K a year for the NMF and possibly smaller departmental awards so you could get full tuition + 11Kish a year for room and board.
Of course it’s hard to get accepted and there is some debate on whether they offer TE to everyone. When my D applied the opinion was that everyone accepted got TE as they had more going out than coming in but since that time they have a new TE Liaison and their policies may have changed.
@wallyworldjb My D17 received a TE offer from UDel and I have a colleague whose daughter is there on TE now. The colleague’s daughter also was in the running for another large merit scholarship there in addition (I asked and she said they told her it would be in addition to the TE), but I don’t remember how that turned out.
The TE Liaison had said that they typically have 18 TE spaces to award each year and they receive around 200 applications.
We liked our tour of UDel a lot - great programs, a pretty campus, and cool little town. And people seemed down-to-earth.
@mageecrew We did a quick drive-through in February and UDel did not seem to throw a big-school vibe, even with 15K+ undergrads. It is definitely on D20’s list for further exploration, maybe a full visit this summer.
TE is stressing me out! We are in the process of compiling a school list for our D20 and touring this summer. She has a 3.75 GPA, 8 APs and a 1280 on the SAT. She is certified bi-lingual in Spanish with good ECs. From what I am reading on the forums, she will have a tough time getting TE with her scores at her first choice schools. Does anyone have a kid with similar creds who was awarded TE? Any advice to share? Thanks!
A good rule of thumb @RiaMcQ is to target schools where your daughter’s stats place her at or above the 75%. Additional elements, such as athletics or say a girl in stem, might tip the scales. My S19’s stats were beyond the 75% and he received it at all but two schools.
I just saw that the TE webpage has a downloadable spreadsheet of schools that still have TE seats available for 2019. That information may or may not be useful for next year, but it is interesting and may help some students craft their list.
