<p>I'm a junior right now, I'm ranked number 3 in my class (top 5%), maintaining a 3.99/4.7 GPA, have 2 leadership positions (captain of marching band colorguard and vice president of NHS), in 4 other clubs, and will have taken 8 AP's and 5 dual enrollment classes by the end of my senior year.</p>
<p>I'm in the process of choosing colleges that I'd like to apply to, considering I want to major in Mechanical Engineering and I'm relying on financial aid, and I've narrowed it down to this:</p>
<p>Vanderbilt University
Duke University
Emory University
Macalester College* (co-operates with other colleges to offer engineering major)
Mount Holyoke College*
Northwestern University
Smith College*
Trinity College*
University of Florida</p>
<p>*not sure</p>
<p>I currently live in Florida and am eligible for in-sate scholarships but I want to go out of state, so UF is a safety for sure. Academic prestige is important to me, too. Anyone have any tips on these options?</p>
<p>Would you want to go to UF it were your only acceptance? If not, then it is not a true safety, since a safety must be a school that you like in addition to being sure to accept you and sure to be affordable.</p>
<p>If you are “relying on financial aid”, do you have a price limit?</p>
<p>The University of Alabama schools have big merit scholarships for stats. Tuscaloosa will probably be about $12,000 per year if you get the top out of state scholarship for engineering (Presidential plus engineering extra scholarship), Birmingham probably about $10,000 per year if you get the Blazer Elite, and Huntsville a full ride if you get the top scholarship that needs an ACT of 34.</p>
<p>Minnesota, NCSU, Virginia Tech, Iowa State, and Cal Poly have relatively low out of state list prices (about $30,000 per year), though probably not a lot of out of state financial aid to discount the price further.</p>
<p>Berkeley does have a highly competitive full ride Drake Scholarship for mechanical engineering majors. But it will likely be unaffordable if you don’t get it ($55,000 per year and not much financial aid for out of state).</p>
<p>You can use the ABET accreditation lists at [ABET</a> -](<a href=“http://www.abet.org%5DABET”>http://www.abet.org) to find mechanical engineering degree programs.</p>
<p>Are you aware Emory doesn’t offer engineering? It’s one of the few top universities (Chicago, Georgetown, Wake, UNC) that doesn’t offer any engineering programs. It does have the 3+2 program with Georgia Tech, but then you run into the problem of OOS tuition. If you’re considering engineering, I recommend replacing it with Rice or Wash U. </p>
<p>Mac is a good school, though I suspect more students take advantage of the 4+2 program than the 3+2. Bucknell, Lafayette, Trinity U (Texas), Swarthmore, and Union are a few more LACs that offer engineering. </p>
<p>It’s difficult to give suggestions without an SAT/ACT score and a better idea of what you’re looking for, especially since your list is a little schizophrenic at the moment. Check out U Miami…many of the colleges are your list are pretty selective.</p>
<p>Assuming your SAT scores or (or eventually get) to 2200 or above, try Harvey Mudd. You obviously like liberal arts schools and this is an LAC size school with big resources in the sciences and engineering (plus the back-up of the Claremont Consortium). Also, unlike some eng’g/science programs, the first year at Mudd includes a fair amount of traditional liberal arts classes. If SATs are more in 2000 range, try Rose Hulman – another small school with a very good eng’g program and easier admissions (the difference between being located in Indiana and So Cal).</p>
<p>Vandy, Duke, Emory, and Northwestern are likely to be out of reach unless you bring your scores up substantially.</p>
<p>If you know for sure that you want to do ME, I think you should focus on schools that offer it directly. In my experience, you don’t need additional hurdles when you’re trying to complete an engineering major. Make it easy on yourself to the extent you can. Furthermore, if you’re relying on financial aid, I don’t think it makes sense to go into a program that will take 5 years to complete even if everything goes right.</p>
<p>What Hanna said. You being an Asian female severely hurts your chances at Duke, Vandy, NU and Emory with your current test scores. You need at least 2200 to be competitive as an unhooked candidate.</p>
<p>Also make sure UF is a true safety (you will get into 100%).</p>
<p>Okay so only schools that offer ME directly. My biggest issue is really the money. My dad lost his job recently and got diagnosed with PTSD and is in the process of receiving disability for his gulf war syndrome through the VA. So my 2 sisters and I are relying on my mom, who is making about $30,000 by herself. My older sister couldn’t afford to go to a big college so she’s attending community college. But I’ve been working my butt off in high school and I don’t want to go to community college like her; my dream is to attend a university. My family is not used to academic success so they don’t know how this works either. I’m so lost in this college search lol</p>
<p>Study hard for the ACT/SAT. You have a whole summer.</p>
<p>With a family income at $30k, Duke and many similar schools will offer you an education experience with no familial contribution, and many with no loans at all. Your only weakness is your test score. Bring them up and apply high.</p>
<p>With a family income of $30k, your realistic choices are:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Try for generous need-based financial aid schools. Unfortunately, these tend to be highly selective, so get those test scores up (probably 2200 SAT (minimum 700 each section) or 32 ACT minimum, but 2300+ SAT or 34+ ACT would be a more realistic, but still small, chance of admission – and then there are subjective holistic factors like essays and the like).</p></li>
<li><p>Try for huge merit scholarships. These are usually at the low safety level (e.g. Alabama schools), though Berkeley Drake Scholarship may be worth a shot if you get the test scores up (probably same range as the super-selective schools).</p></li>
<li><p>Check financial aid policies at in-state publics. As a Florida resident, you should check the Bright Futures scholarships.</p></li>
<li><p>Consider community college, followed by transfer to an in-state public if none of the above result in an affordable option next April.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>I’ve been told by numerous teachers that I’m a kicka** essay writer and that I can most likely write my way into anything, so hopefully college app essays won’t be too big of a problem for me. Also, I’m already eligible to get Bright Futures for Florida schools, but if I can help it at all I don’t want to go to school in Florida.</p>
<p>Emory is supposed to be pretty generous with financial aid - try for one of their Scholars programs. Their desired range (middle 50%) is between 2020-2220 SAT.</p>
<p>U Alabama has amazing out of state financial aid, and I highly recommend looking into their out of state scholarships. If you bring up your SAT scores to a 1400 two-part and if you maintain your GPA, you should qualify for full tuition, gift money, a laptop computer, and room/board each year for our years. UA might not be your ideal choice, but you could definitely get in with a giant merit package, the honors program, and it is out of Florida. I am not sure what concentrations of engineering they offer, but they have extensive resources available or engineering students and have really invested in the program (I toured the campus this past month).</p>
<p>Virginia Tech has a great engineering program and is in a great location. I highly recommend applying, though I am not sure how their financial aid will be (I’m a VA resident).</p>
<p>Your SATs are within the middle 50% of accepted students at Lafayette College (albeit at the lower end): [Entering</a> Class Profile About Lafayette College](<a href=“http://www.lafayette.edu/about/lafayette-at-a-glance/entering-class-profile/]Entering”>http://www.lafayette.edu/about/lafayette-at-a-glance/entering-class-profile/) Also, Lafayette also considers HS GPA and course rigor more than SAT scores, so this would benefit you. They are also generous in their need-based FA packages. Lafayette offers a Mechanical Engineering major (as well as other ABET accredited engineering majors). I would encourage you to consider Lafayette, a LAC that has about 2400 students, about 1/4 of which are engineering majors.</p>