UTD’s AES not being “automatic” may be a good thing for a student that has a lower than average listed SAT but near perfect GPA or a student that has a less than near perfect GPA but higher than average SAT listed for the scholarship.
I haven’t heard of any students with great GPA’s and the average listed SAT scores not getting the AES scholarships.
It’s also valuable for students to be able to focus all their time on study and to not have to need to work long hours to earn money for their tuition. This will help students with focus and academic success, which in turn enables them to go on to graduate school or a great job. This more than makes up for the nebulous concept of prestige for many students.
UTD is more reputed than UA for some types of engineering, particularly EE.
@Jpgranier
I am happy for you to call me out because I am very familiar with finance/investment banking. Yes, a first year undergrad (analyst) might make $150K, a first year MBA graduate, depending on the firm could make $240k (this is a median number) or more… again a lot depends on the industry one covers… some years are better/worse and the bonus numbers are a reflection. I am not sure if I can post a link but you can google wallstreetplayboys and search for first year associate salaries.
@cheetah786 if these jobs are real, the most definitely are not common. Just looked up a statistic of a first time investment banker:
I don’t doubt the salary; I doubt the “250k bonus” for a fresh out of college MBA graduate.
At an elite quant hedge fund (D.E. Shaw, Citadel, Renaissance, AQR, etc), a second-year fresh out of undergrad can make >$100k with a 50-100% bonus. They don’t recruit at Alabama, but then, neither do they recruit at UMass or Rutgers or any other non-super-elite place. Of course, if you do your undergrad at Alabama and your PhD at Princeton
@Jpgranier
To be clear… I will not belabor the point after this post… traditionally a “fresh out of school MBA” starts in September and depending on the investment bank and their schedule for bonus compensation… is paid in December, January, or Feb. So the “stub” year is less… but the “first full year” compensation can definitely be more in line with my original post on compensation.
Again everyone has their own set of priorities when it comes to college choice, degree plan and cost… I was just throwing out my experience as it relates to getting an MBA. And was curious about those who decide to pursue engineering/MBA at the same time… because I do not know much about this for an engineering student. For sure, doing a 5 year BS/MBA program definitely has advantages in other industries as others have pointed out.
Sounds like you have some great options for school!
H who graduated in EE, had a test engineering project in school which got the attention of his first employer who interviewed him early in his senior year of college and gave him a very good job offer. Friend who graduated from GaTech in industrial engineering also got her first job because of a school project that gave her some experience in what the company was looking for.
That is why engineering internships and co-op are so important for students to get some relevant engineering work experience.
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This seems like the only school that has people paid to promote it.
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@ClarinetDad16 How do I get that gig???
@mom2collegekids I would say you need to be posting all through the evening across threads, including new ones you created, boosting Bama. But you would need a persona that claimed not to be an alumni, parent or current student.
And Roll Tide, don’t give up, never give up. Because deep down everyone will love the school so deeply that visits, they will give free tuition to all. You got this…
Bama is a good school and for the right kid a good deal. But fit needs to be more than cost.
To touch on the STEM MBA some more: I don’t think I’ll be going through the whole program (maybe apply and go through the first two semesters to get a feel for it).
I think it will increase the difficulty to get engineering jobs because it would show the employer you’re not dedicated to engineering.
" I’ll admit that I think UA is a good school and offers a great scholarships but I’ve alway been a bit puzzled why other schools that give even better merit based scholarships don’t get as much mention on CC. "
@3scoutsmom - I think it’s because the moms of kids at the other schools aren’t on CC.
I think @clarinetdad16 is referring to the ultra secret M2CK department on the third floor of the Ferg. It’s existence is officially denied by the University but insiders have confirmed that it is indeed staffed 24 hrs a day with the sole purpose of publishing pro UA propaganda on CC.
@Britchick1 I think @ClarinetDad16 was referring to me. I got a bit carried away with my enthusiasm for this great school. Suspicion is that I’m a paid still to post on CC. It’s fairly humorous, offense to him (-:. I think the Alabama Presidential Scholarship is one of the great values of higher ed. Of course other schools are great too.
Folks in CC already seen aware of this (the scholarship of course 
largely because of M2CK and her great advice) though and I think my time was a bit strong and marketing like. Being unaffiliated, I think it’s a great school but have no emotional appeal to this place, though I’m glad they are giving full rides to deserving middle class students.
Roll tide
So many typos. iOS, was typing this stuff on my bus ride home.
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referring to the ultra secret M2CK department on the third floor of the Ferg. It’s existence is officially denied by the University but insiders have confirmed that it is indeed staffed 24 hrs a day with the sole purpose of publishing pro UA propaganda on CC.
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I guess I can come out of the closet, er 3rd floor, now.
@frontpage I currently have a freshman at UA shamelessly taking advantage of the Presidential Scholarship. Hence, our family is emotionally invested although also not affiliated.
I can honestly say that we owe M2CK and a lot of the other ‘propagandists’ on CC a huge debt of gratitude for helping to steer us through the maze that is the US college education system! Our enthusiasm for this site, its contributors, the school itself and the wonderful people of Alabama cannot be exaggerated.
Roll tide!
We live in Virginia – a state with excellent choices for public universities. My D16 attended an academic magnet program for high school, and many of the students end up at three of our great schools – UVA, W&M, and VT. It’s worth noting that the majority of the money awarded by our ‘big 3’ is need-based. We knew that she would not qualify for any need based money, so we set the cost of VT (the least expensive of the three, and the only one of interest to our D) as our cost limit.
D was awarded the Presidential scholarship at UA, and ultimately UA was D’s 2nd choice. She is currently attending a different university that we all considered a better fit for her. But it was very close! A meeting with an absolutely incredible professor in her area of interest made the decision harder than she expected. Scholarships she earned at the school she currently attends brought it into our price range, and we were fortunate enough to be able to make that choice.
Four students from D’s graduating class are currently attending UA with the presidential. I do know that, for at least one of them, it is to keep costs down with the intent of attending med school. As far as she is aware, all of them are happy with the experience so far.
We made D apply to our local directional university just in case. If for any reason we needed her to be close to home, I didn’t want her to not have the scholarships they would give her as an incoming freshman. If she lived on campus at the local school with the maximum scholarship they award, it would cost her more to attend than it would at UA – a much ‘better’ school by really anyone’s accounting.
We tell everyone we can about the great scholarship possibilities at UA (and are not paid for it!) Because we consider it to be an incredible opportunity, particularly for middle-class kids who will not qualify for need-based aid, but who can’t afford sticker price at some other choices.
I’ve been to M2CK’s office. That’s where we drop off the empty tuition envelopes.
I have been through this process twice but I actually have a question for my fiances daughter. She was recently admitted to UA. We are OOS. What does the average OOS student end up paying for COA? Being from NY I was very surprised she wanted to go there.