Advice for southern school for D21 who is interested in engineering and math

College Search & Lists
1

I’ve been on this site for a couple months trying to read up as much I can regarding college choices, applications, aid, etc.

Covid-19 has put D21’s visit plans on hold, and she is tiring of the virtual visits. We are looking for advice for potential schools to add to the list. She would like to stay in the south (loves the warm weather) and somewhere not too, too far from home (Mississippi).

I’m from a northern part of a midwest state, but she is not interested in anywhere above the Mason Dixon line. She’d rather not be in a big city. She loves the college town feel.
She is wanting to study (likely mechanical) engineering with a possible double major or minor in math.

Student info -

white female, rural area, public school
Probably will not qualify for financial aid (we are willing to spend up to $10K but hoping for merit aid to cover as much of COA as possible. We have two more girls ('23, '24) to send in the next few years and are trying to prepare for that.)

GPA: 4.0 UW (4.15 W, only three AP classes taken so far. School doesn’t offer many. Will take two or three more senior year.)
ACT: 34 (English 35, reading 35, math 34, science 33) (Will take for second time in July)
Rank: top 5%

Possible National Merit (within range for our state, but she will not find out until Sept)

Varsity sports: basketball and soccer (captain on both, also plays club soccer) Could potentially play D1/D2 soccer but unsure due to her desire to study engineering and math

Clubs and activities: National Honor Society, Rotary, science, tutor

She’s toured Ole Miss and Mississippi State and while they offer engineering, she isn’t sure she wants to stay in-state. We also toured Alabama since she has a cousin there, but she thought it was way too big.

Currently on the list in no particular order - she’s only done virtual tours of these:

University of Oklahoma (only if she gets National Merit)
Oklahoma State
University of Arkansas (grandfather attended, so she can get instate tuition)
Texas A&M (she knows it’s too big, but she wants to see it anyway)
Baylor (can’t afford unless she gets a competitive scholarship)
University of Alabama in Huntsville
Lousiana Tech

Thanks!!!

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I would not expect any merit aid from Texas A&M. Your daughter’s stats are impressive, but there will literally be thousands of students at A&M with similar or better stats.

You could possibly receive a very nice merit package from Baylor, but it can still be quite pricey even with the merit discount.

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Oklahoma State is a more manageable size for a state university and has a good engineering program; plus Stillwater is a very nice college town. Your daughter would most likely receive a nice merit package there.

Keep in mind Louisiana Tech is on the quarter system instead of the semester system. To some that might be a positive to others that might be a negative.

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You will need to check if merit at these places can get her down to $10k per year… I’m not sure it will… and not sure if some of these would meet her southern location preference!

Auburn
Clemson
South Carolina
Miami OH
Arizona
Arizona State
Utah

NMF would open up more options…

I think you’ll find that Ole Miss is going to work out the cheapest without NMF and it’s not too big. Oxford is a great town. Plus Honors College is v good. New student wellness center just opened.

Texas A&M will give no merit and will Baylor give you enough to get down to $10k?

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If she is NMF, it opens up all the Florida publics plus UMiami and Emery-Riddle (the two privates are not full ride, but they both give a lot of scholarship money too).

However, for $10k, she probably won’t do better than staying in-state.

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She doesn’t really want to go to TAMU. She said there’s like 20,000 engineering students. WOW!! I think she just wants to see the new facilities. Do you know anything about engineering at Baylor?

7

National Merit Finalist would open up many more scholarship opportunities. For example:

Florida public universities (Benacquisto)
University of Texas - Dallas

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If you are trying to get the total cost of attendance down to $10K/year, unless your daughter is a NMF, your best bet will be Mississippi State. Realistically, she could qualify for merit scholarships at many schools, but few cover the cost of room and board. That alone can be in excess of $10k/year. So, if you are set on that number, you really ought to focus on State (which has an excellent Honors program in Shackouls). If she is a NMF, then obviously look at 'Bama and the Florida publics. Other southern universities with good scholarships are:

'Bama – Huntsville (I lied, you can get the total cost here down to about $12K/year)
Texas Tech (everybody forgets this one)
South Carolina
'Bama

9

If she is a NMF, Alabama will provide a full ride, a stipend, and more.

TAMU may not have merit money, but for an NMF, Texas Tech has a full ride scholarship.

Would she consider U New Mexico?

10

Our neighbor got a great deal in engineering at Arizona State. Getting down to $10,000 is hard with room and board. Crossing fingers for NMF for her. Look at Texas Tech too. We have several friends that graduated from there in engineering. Baylor’s school is good but I think the cost will be too high. We have hired a lot from UAB Huntsville lately too.

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Missouri Uni of Science and Tech?

1 Like
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Merit aid doesn’t cover room and board, and $10k doesn’t cover room and board these days. If that is a hard budget number, will realistically need to target options with full ride opportunities for NMF in the event that comes through. If it doesn’t, will need to seek options with significant transparent merit levels based on stats (like Alabama Huntsville) and figure out how to cover the gap between the remaining COA and your budget.

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Some merit scholarship packages (“full ride scholarships”) do cover room & board in addition to tuition & fees.

14

Rose-Hulman. Yes, it’s north of the Mason-Dixon line. Small tech school in small town in IN. Does offer some good merit packages, particularly for high-achieving women like your daughter. Would possibly be able to play her sport(s).

15

UA—Huntsville is in northern Alabama, closer to Tennessee and Georgia.

It is smaller and more personal than the Football Giant U of A main campus in Tuscaloosa.

U of A Main Campus has some incredible merit scholarships, research programs and overall more reputable Honors College. It has a beautiful campus but is a huge population.

UAH, in the booming city of Huntsville, is tech, space, and defense company headquarters for many great companies.

Campus is literally in the middle of a huge research park. U.S. Space and Rocket Center, Marshall Space Flight Center, Redstone Arsenal, new FBI center, new automobile plant, etc.

UAH Honors College is more basic, but very personable. (My son attends UAH as Honors Aerospace major.) He loves the smaller size, the open green space, trees, and the fellow quirky stem students.

UAH currently has incredible merit scholarships for OOS students. But they have been so successful in recruiting OOS students, there is now a housing shortage. With Covid costs eating away at their budget, I would bet that UAH required GPA/Test Scores to receive merit money will increase. And not sure if they will even offer a Full Free Tuition Scholarship for 2020-21 year.

We were able to tour UAH in person. This was not a first, or even second choice school for my son. But he ended up making it his first choice, even before he got results from all his applications.

He said he had “found his people”.

I will warn you that Huntsville gets a ton of rain, and students have to walk a mile or more to get to some of their classes, depending on which dorm they are in.

I am glad to answer questions about UAH. You are welcome to PM me.

16

Try USC (University of Southern California) she may qualify for a full ride.

17

Actually did forget about Texas Tech. Thanks!

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I’m afraid that would be too far. I checked and it’s about 15 hours from home.
Thanks though!

19

She is very interested in UAH. Hopefully they will open tours soon.

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@southern55 …I can not speak directly to details about Baylor’s engineering program, but Baylor is a solid school and will certainly open opportunities for your daughter, especially in the South. I also believe Baylor would be especially interested in having a young woman who wants to study engineering; that might equivocate to more merit money for your daughter.