<p>My son wasn’t as highly qualified as you are, but what I learned from his college process is that if your stats are in the top 25% of students, some schools are more likely to offer substantial merit scholarships. And they key difference is that you don’t have to pay the money back - it may not seem like a big deal now, but after you graduate, it will matter.</p>
<p>He was interested in Business, not engineering so I am not sure about engineering at some of these schools</p>
<p>Some schools that were on the list we considered because of that were:</p>
<p>Ohio State
Miami University in Ohio
University of Miami (Florida)
University of Pittsburgh
American University (good business school, no engineering)- that’s where he ended up
Northeastern University (has both) </p>
<p>He also applied to SUNY Binghamton, didn’t get money but its a pretty good value. He got accepted to Rutgers (we are from NJ) but wanted to go further away from home (Rutgers is rated as one of the best values based on average salaries 10 years out of college versus cost.)</p>