Stats:
-Unweighted GPA: 3.83
-Weighted GPA: 3.28
-ACT: Two sittings, 35 composite both times
-Not NMF nor NMSF
-EFC about 50k, parents comfortable giving ~20k (could give more, but would be problematic for them)
I definitely want to go into an engineering field -- I feel I'm strong enough in math/science to do well, and I love the (relative) job security that comes with the field. However, I've reached a conundrum: I could either go to a school like the University of Alabama (or University of Alabama Huntsville) for free tuition and discounted/free room and board, or I could go to a better school like Case Western / Colorado School of Mines for ~25k tuition + room and board. The former would be entirely covered by my parents' contributions from their 529 account, but the latter would put a significant financial strain on them, and would more than likely force me to take out at least the 5.5k Stafford loans.
While this might be the typical spiel of anyone with fairly high test scores going into college, I'm confident I have the abilities to perform very well anywhere I go, especially if I end up putting more effort in than I did in High School (which I certainly will). I guess my overall question is whether or not it's worth the additional financial stress to go to a school where I have a better chance of attaining my full potential, compared to a lower-tier school where I might be limited. My worry is that since I only have one chance to go to college and get a degree, it's pretty important to not squander any opportunities I might have, regardless of the short-term financial impact.
Wasting your potential? You will rise to your potential if you push yourself. In engineering that won’t be a problem to matter where you are. And how can your weighted GPA be lower than your unweighted GPA?
For engineering, probably not. If you want to go to graduate school, you’ll have the opportunity to go somewhere better if you do really well as an undergraduate. However, I go to CWRU and got a lot of merit aid with a 35 on the ACT. An unweighted GPA of 3.28 is not ideal, but I think you should apply and see what happens, especially since (last time I checked) the application is free and there’s no supplemental essay.
Its not worth the financial stress. And your parents deserve a break, they worked hard for what they have. And you should avoid debt in undergrad if you at all can, you will appreciate it afterwards. You can be a great engineer from Bama and shine there.
Wow, sorry for messing that up. My weighted GPA is 4.28 (doing full IB, IB courses weighted as A=5.0, B=4.0, C=3.0, etc.). The unweighted is as listed in my original post. Can’t edit original now, unfortunately.
I was a EE at Cornell - agree with the above that you will be challenged just fine in engineering wherever you end up. Personally I think high school is a layup compared to a rigorous engineering program so choose carefully. Assume you got your weighted and unweighted mixed up in your post - if a 3.28 unweighted I would jump all over the Alabama full tuition option and get the most out of that program. Engineers are fully employable in a nanosecond and earning potential is comparable across all decent programs. Nice job on your ACT!
You should be able to get a full ride to Case Western with those stats. Apply and see. Run - away that is from Bama. It’s not a terrible engineering school, but there are simply put a number of better schools out there that will garner more options later down the road.
The full-tuition [url=https://admission.case.edu/affording-cwru/scholarships/scholarship-competitions/]scholarships[/url] (only one includes room and board) at CWRU all require separate applications. The highest scholarship you can receive automatically is a $30,000/year University Scholarship. With a 3.28 unweighted GPA, it’s not clear that the OP would be accepted to CWRU, let alone with merit aid. I agree that he has nothing to lose by applying.
@njturner Are you from Alabama? If not, what is your state flagship?
Might you get Harvey at CSM? You should be in the running? The offer you have is just the 14K a year? You must have other schools other than Alabama and CWR? What kind of engineering? What reach schools do you have? Are you a senior? And yes, where is your home state?
You have the standard conundrum of kids who won’t get any FA. I don’t think the answer always has to be Alabama LOL. IS your state flagship not equal to Alabama?
The research I’ve seen (such as the Krueger & Dale studies) on balance suggest no significant earnings differences can be expected from attending a more selective/prestigious college (unless perhaps the difference is very great e.g. Stanford v. unranked random directional state u.) Engineering majors do graduate with very marketable skills. One way to look at that fact is that it enables you to take on a little more debt than would make sense for a random liberal arts major. That might buy you a more satisfying college experience, but don’t expect you’ll necessarily earn back the difference very quickly from a higher early-career salary.
@njturner I have a very advanced student who is attending Bama. He is a gifted young man who took his first alg class at age 10 and graduated from high school having completed 5 of his in major physics courses and 3 post-cal 2 math classes. I share that info bc I strongly disagree with @stevensPR. (Fwiw, our ds was accepted to CWRU and received their top university scholarship and we were left with a huge financial gap.)
No, he is not wasting his potential. He is running with every opportunity the university offers. He is taking grad physics classes which are covered with his scholarship. He has been actively involve in research since his freshman yr. He has great mentors in his professors. He has wonderful friends who are his academic peers. Last summer he applied for 6 competitive REUs. He was accepted by 3.
Our Dd is a high school sr and her college applications are following a similar pattern. She is also having to look for scholarships bc we cannot afford to help as much as schools expect us to. She is as advanced as her brother just in different areas. We know she will equally excel no matter where she lands bc that is her personality.
I think @Mom2aphysicsgeek makes great points. There’s no such thing as “wasted potential” if you head into a school determined to get a great education. It’s so much more about you than the school, period. Personally I wouldn’t go into debt over some perceived name value (nor would I consider my kids to do so).
Do you know what your parents’ EFC is? Does it correspond to what they are willing to pay? Are you eligible for need based aid as well as merit aid?
An honors program in a state flagship will provide enough challenge and stimulation for just about anybody. There will be plenty of bright students who matriculate for financial and academic reasons. If Alabama isn’t your ideal, you can look into other public options but many have Dec. 1 deadlines for merit scholarships (or earlier) so you will have to scramble.
What schools have you already applied to? Please apply to U if Alabama if you haven’t already. December 1 deadline I think. You can plan a visit later, and applying doesn’t commit you to attending there.
Safety schools are an important part of the mix. They give you options to explore over the next few months.
@halcyonheather My unweighted GPA is actually 3.83 – see my above post. My weighted is 4.28. I don’t think Case would be particularly difficult for me to get into, it’s just a matter of whether or not I get sufficient merit aid.
@Sybylla I’m assuming all I’ll get about 14k from CSM, but I haven’t gotten anything concrete yet. Maybe I’d get more, maybe less. My preference would be chemical engineering, but I’m now looking at ME/EE more. I don’t think I’d do any other tipe of engineering than those three. My home state is Oregon, meaning my state engineering flagship is Oregon State University. It’s probably a bit worse than Alabama, and it would end up being 3-4k more per year than Alabama.
@mamaedefamilia My parents’ EFC is about 50k. They are willing to pay about 20k, but would be able to stretch to 30k if the school is worthwhile. DO you know about any publics w/ good engineering who have a Dec 1 deadline? I’ve been looking, and couldn’t find any. The only ones I found were the ones I missed, like GATech, OSU, Purdue, and likely more.
@powercropper I’ve applied to UA already, and have received my acceptance as well as my scholarship letters. I will fill out the Dec 15 scholarship application soon. I’ve applied to a few schools already, including CSM, UMN, Tulane, Oregon State, U Alabama.
So why HAVE you missed deadlines? I think you have applied to the free and easy apps (tulane, CWR, CSM). I can’t imagine why UMN wouldn’t be a lock, they used to have a top 10% scholarship for OOS kids, and Nat merit with a pretty good COA close to 30K even with no scholarships . You should hear soon enough. you do have WUE, So the U of Utah is a good potential for you on WUE and scholarships options (maybe either or, in state is easy to get). I don’t know what other WUE schools would be applicable.
Among the better picks are Colorado State, Washington State, Arizona State and U. of New Mexico. UNM offers a full ride scholarship that your stats would qualify for (the Regents scholarship) but the deadline is tomorrow! It has engineering but I don’t know how well ranked it is. At a minimum, though, your stats would qualify you for in state tuition (about 7K per year) with a total cost of attendance at about 20K. The honors program is well regarded. That said, Alabama may well be higher ranked, either in your major or overall.
You might also consider applying to Arizona State’s Barrett Honors program. A friend of my daughter’s attends there and is having a great experience - she’ a very smart, high achieving student from a top private HS. She got either full tuition or a full ride, not clear on which. Barrett is like a liberal arts college within a large state university with its own dorms, dining hall, etc. Check deadlines!
For your information, I’m probably not going to hire you in Silicon Valley until you get your MA in CS or EE. I couldn’t care less where you went for your Bachelors, but I do care where you got your MA. I don’t have time to train your for three years so your a usable engineer, thus I’ll only hire MA graduates. So get a 4.0 at a decent school, and get into one of the top ten engineering graduate programs. Now this is only for software engineering. If your going into civil engineering, or chemical, I can’t offer any guidance there.