<p>I've already been accepted to U Iowa for Chemical Engineering and awaiting a probable acceptance from FSU. Both are affordable with Iowa giving lots of Scholarship and Florida having instate tuition the difference in cost is negligible. My plan is to move to NY/Texas/Florida to find a job in my field after college. Which program would give me the best education for my buck? I love both schools (minus the cold weather in Iowa). I want this to be an assessment based solely on strength of program and which school would give me more job opportunities 4 years from now granted I do internships throughout my college career for experience.</p>
<p>FSU/FAMU may be an arbitrage situation, in that FAMU appears to be less expensive, with an automatic full ride scholarship if you stats are high enough. So if you are considering FSU for engineering education, also consider FAMU for the same engineering education at a lower price.</p>
<p>The choice is simple and complicated at the same time.</p>
<p>Start with the premise that you’ll get a good basic ABET-approved education at either engineering school. The truth of the matter is that neither U of Iowa or FSU/FAMU are especially notable in engineering. FSU/FAMU is stuck in the very contentious issue of separating the joint engineering school. To get to the specifics of your question, you’ll have to hustle to find a job in Florida, Texas or New York coming from relatively unheralded programs at Iowa and FSU/FAMU. So make your decision based on which school impressed you more in terms of comfort/student life.</p>
<p>Here are the criteria for FAMU’s full ride for Florida residents:
<a href=“Page Not Found”>Page Not Found;
3.50 HS GPA and either 27 ACT or 1800 SAT.</p>
<p>Don’t know much about FSU/FAMU but Iowa is a great place to be a student. As far as state schools go, it’s not that big, and it’s known for a pretty nurturing environment. It might be good for you to get a taste of winter, too, especially if you are thinking of looking for jobs in NY after graduation.</p>
<p>If your parents aren’t paying for any of your college, how can you afford to go to either FSU or U of Iowa? How will your costs get paid? You can’t borrow much.</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>Does it help that my CR+M score is 1170 because I hear that colleges value those two sections to more weight than the writing?
<<<<</p>
<p>Merit awards aren’t usually based on super scores. What is your M+CR from ONE sitting?</p>
<p>How much did Iowa give you in merit “per year”? It’s hard to believe that Iowa gave you enough to get costs down to instate FSU. </p>
<p>Something isn’t right. Were you looking at the per semester cost at Iowa or the full year? I looked over Iowa’s scholarships and your stats, and I don’t see how you possibly got awarded enough merit to bring costs down to a FSU instate.</p>
<p>Iowa
Tuition and fees $27,409
Room and board $9,614<br>
Books and supplies $1,040<br>
Estimated personal expenses $1,444<br>
Transportation expenses $684<br>
Estimated Total $40,191 </p>
<p>You would have to have gotten a $20k per year award from Iowa to get costs down to about instate FSU. Iowa doesn’t even award that much for higher stats. Iowa has a $10k per year award for a 1330 M+CR and 3.8 which is much higher than what you have.</p>
<p>Either way, if your parents aren’t going to help you at all with costs, I don’t see how you can pay for FSU or Iowa.</p>
<p>Plus, the estimated travel cost for a Florida resident to attend Iowa is very low. It will likely cost you at least twice that much.</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids I’m glad you pointed out the money situation because it is very important to me (especially since I’ll be on my own) so I’ll break it down:</p>
<p>Iowa awarded me two big scholarships, Iowa Advantage ($8,000 each year for 4 years) and National Scholars ($4,910 each year for 4 years.) Also, after filling out the net cost calculator with my parents on their website, it computed $17,548 in financial for my freshman year. Plus, I qualify for the Air Force Aid Society Grant for $2,000 each year (I’ll have to apply every year) And after a phone call to the organization the money is virtually guaranteed as long as I submit all my paperwork on time. So I’m working with $14,910 in scholarships freshman year and $17,548 in financial aid which comes to $32,458 . Leaving me with 7.8k in student loans. I feel like that’s manageable? Over 4 years say I have 31.2k plus intrest in student loan debt with my engineering degree I should be able to pay it off right?. Oh, and by graduation I’ll have 13 semester hours of transferable college credit from taking 4 Gen Ed’s at my local CC this year so that should save me a bit of money as well. </p>
<p>I have yet to see how much merit Ill receive at FSU but I doubt there’s much. And yes I do qualify for the medallion scholarship.</p>
<p>@Lakewashington I’m sure U of Iowa and FSU arent highly sought after engineering schools but I’m sure the degree alone and a good amount of internship should land me a descent job in the city of my liking. Am I wrong? Honestly, does it really matter how “prestigious” your engineering program is after your first job anyway?</p>
<p>@UCbalumnus I really dont think FAMU is a great fit for me. Historically black colleges are a no for me. But great suggestion nonetheless. If I didn’t mind going to a HBCU I might really consider FAMU</p>
<p>Can you copy/paste the results of the NPC calculator? </p>
<p><<<
So I’m working with $14,910 in scholarships freshman year and $17,548 in financial aid which comes to $32,458 . Leaving me with 7.8k in student loans. I feel like that’s manageable? </p>
<br>
<br>
<p>Something doesn’t sound right. Are you saying that they’re giving you over $17k in GRANTS plus those two scholarships? That doesn’t sound right. </p>
<p>I have a feeling that some grants will be subtracted once those 3 merit awards are figured in.</p>
<p>OP you misunderstood me. You’ll will get a solid engineering education at U of Iowa. My point is that a lot of the recruiting/ hiring regarding engineering is regional, especially in the traditional engineering disciplines like Chemical Engineering. My guess is that Iowa has less of a base of alumni at engineering firms in Florida, Texas and New York, so an Iowa alum will have to network and hustle to get an interview in those states. For example, some petroleum companies EXCLUSIVELY recruit at a specific set of schools, so if you don’t attend a school in that set, it will be hard to get an interview at companies that do so. Other companies have exclusive co-op arrangements where again certain schools feed interns to the company. Lake Jr. confronted such a situation at Parker Hannifan Company, a major oil and chemical manufacturer. It seemed like most of PHC’s internships/ co-ops were associated with specific engineering schools.</p>
<p>Iowa is fine. Take the money! Be prepared to hustle in class and in your job-seeking endeavors.</p>
<p>One of the awards (Advantage Iowa) has the ability to raise to full out of state based on financial need.</p>
<p>This is Copy/Pasted directly from the net price calculator (besides my comments in parenthesis)</p>
<p>Estimated Grant/Gift Aid</p>
<p>Estimated Federal Pell Grant $1180
Office of Admission Awards $12,910 (pretty sure this is the 8k + 4,910 scholarships i mentioned)
Office of Financial Aid Awards $17,548
Estimated Total Grant/Gift Aid $31,638</p>
<p>Estimated Net Price: $8134</p>
<p>Since my Office of Admission Awards are listed with my Financial Aid (even in the same section) it would only make sense that the calculator would have factored that amount into the determination of how much financial aid I’d receive.</p>
<p>@LakeWashington ohhhh I see. Valuable info right there. There’s so much more to picking a school than I had thought. Any other tips on maybe overcoming that struggle or am I bound to work in the region I get my schooling? That’s primarily why I figured maybe FSU would suit me better because of the petro jobs down in FL? Even if Iowa’s engineering school was better maybe FSU has more opportunities for internship/employment </p>
<p>Now that think about it, the alternative fuels/energy research at U Iowa (think biofuels) is probably pretty good. ExxonMobil and others have substantial alternative energy/ sustainable energy departments.</p>
<p>First, contact FSU and ask to speak to someone about increasing your financial aid award. If it’s a no-go, then if you think you’ll be happy In Iowa City, then by all means accept the offer from U of Iowa. A graduate school classmate of mine many years go was an Iowa alumnus and had nothing but good things to say about the place. Once you get to Iowa, become active! Join the Chemical Engineering society and other academic groups. It will help in networking and making your way back to Florida or to Texas for internships and a permanent job. Good luck.</p>