Advice - Friend Butchered his College plans

College Search & Lists
21

<p>Yep- I would suggest trying Drexel and transferring if he wants to do so after a year- although merit aid might be nonexistent then.</p>

22

<p>**Since he’s a NMF, he can still get the big NMF scholarship to Bama. The Dec 1st deadline does NOT apply to NMFs or NAs. **</p>

<p>*This is for one of my best friends, asking for advice. Needless to say, he is one of the smartest kids I know (National Merit Finalist, 2190 SAT, 4/213 rank at prestigious school).
We warned him all along about his applications but today, he came to the sad realization about next year. So far these are his colleges:</p>

<p>MIT: rejected (not expecting much here)
Carnegie Melon: rejected this morning
Northwestern: Rejected (first choice)
Washu: Waitlisted (along with a billion others)
Drexel: Accepted with 20k a year. </p>

<p>He is interested in engineering, but does not want to go to Drexel. Today he said he felt “as if the past 18 years of his life were pointless…” What should he do? Gap year, transfer, apply to any more schools?*</p>

<p>OK…here’s a safety for him that will give him a huge scholarship for being NMF.</p>

<p>If he applies NOW, to Alabama, he’ll get free tuition and free housing plus other goodies…new iPad3, study abroad money, etc. This is assured. And, for being in engineering, he may get another 2500 per year. I know for sure he’ll get the NMF scholarship, I’m not certain about the other 2500 since he’s a late applicant. I’ll find out. For the NMF scholarship, he needs to apply NOW. He will get it…I called Bama and they assured me that he would still get that. </p>

<p>Bama is gorgeous, it has an amazing and brand new mega-sized Science and Eng’g Complex (SEC)…all new labs, equipment, etc.</p>

<p>Bama has 600 National scholars on campus and students from all 50 states. Over 50% of the freshman class were from OOS this year. </p>

<p>The app is super easy and fast…no essays, no recs needed. He’d also get accepted to the Honors College. </p>

<p>VIDEO of the College of Arts and Sciences to give you an idea of what the school is like. The first phase of the new SEC (Shelby) can be seen in this video…there are 4 phases, and 3 are complete.
[YouTube</a> - Broadcast Yourself.](<a href=“YouTube”>YouTube)</p>

<p>In the below pic is an aerial shot of Phase I and II of the new SEC. Phase 3 and 4 are out of the pic to the left. Phase I is the pentagon shaped building and Phase II is the U shaped building attached. Bama has over 1.3 million square feet of engineering academic building space. It will have over 1.5M sq ft of eng’g space once Phase IV completes in a year.</p>

<p>[Redirect</a> Notice](<a href=“http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&safe=off&biw=1192&bih=490&tbm=isch&tbnid=c9dV3kxxMABbeM:&imgrefurl=http://cw.ua.edu/2011/09/28/noaa-to-build-water-center/&docid=DK5p_CeRHGNfoM&imgurl=http://cw.ua.edu/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/G-Aerial_Massing.jpg&w=806&h=605&ei=U3lET6mkJNKGsALRsJjDDw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=283&vpy=148&dur=234&hovh=194&hovw=259&tx=177&ty=120&sig=102091795904736765518&page=1&tbnh=135&tbnw=175&start=0&ndsp=12&ved=0CEoQrQMwAQ]Redirect”>http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&safe=off&biw=1192&bih=490&tbm=isch&tbnid=c9dV3kxxMABbeM:&imgrefurl=http://cw.ua.edu/2011/09/28/noaa-to-build-water-center/&docid=DK5p_CeRHGNfoM&imgurl=http://cw.ua.edu/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/G-Aerial_Massing.jpg&w=806&h=605&ei=U3lET6mkJNKGsALRsJjDDw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=283&vpy=148&dur=234&hovh=194&hovw=259&tx=177&ty=120&sig=102091795904736765518&page=1&tbnh=135&tbnw=175&start=0&ndsp=12&ved=0CEoQrQMwAQ)</p>

<p>At a minimum, your friend should apply to have this option. He would also need to fax a copy of his NMF letter to Bama…</p>

<p>Amber Capell * <a href=“mailto:amber.capell@ua.edu”>amber.capell@ua.edu</a>
Scholarships fax number 205- 348-9046</p>

23

<p>I would not suggest transferring if financial aid or merit is needed for affordabiltiy. Aid/merit for transfer students is minimal. A few elites do give need-based aid, so that might be possible. </p>

<p>your friend has fine stats, but they’re rather average for elite schools where the top students have 2300+ SATs.</p>

24

<p>Your friend, although very smart, had relatively sub-par math scores for an engineering applicant. My son is an aerospace engineering college sophomore, and when he applied to schools, he had a Math score in the ACT of 35 and a SAT II subject test score of 800. In engineering they really look at those math scores, and also getting straight A’s in the math courses in high school. I would strongly recommend he go to Drexel. The scholarship money alone is worth going there, it has an excellent engineering program, and he will do well there. A friend of my husband’s graduated there eons ago and he has done fine in his engineering career with a degree from Drexel.</p>

25

<p>Interesting – a friend of our family’s applied to Drexel-ED even though if one went purely by statistics she should have applied to so-called ‘better’ schools. She fell in love with the place.</p>

<p>Be that as it may … for where your friend is now.</p>

<p>I’d say go to Drexel for a year and then transfer to another school. I think that’s the best way to stay on track.</p>

26

<p>

</p>

<p>Not necessarily – it depends on the college.</p>

27

<p>True…I did note that some of the elite schools do give FA for transfers. </p>

<p>*A few elites do give need-based aid, so that might be possible. *</p>

<p>However, those schools often don’t admit many transfers and some are “need aware” for transfers. :(</p>

<p>I think it’s just too risky for this student to attempt the transfer route. His stats are good, but not elite quality…especially in math/sciences (modest grades/scores for math/sciences for an eng’g student).</p>

<p>For the above reasons, a school like Bama would work well. In engineering, he won’t be the top student, but he won’t be the bottom either. His stats put him in the upper half for engineering, which improve his chances for program completion.</p>

28

<p>Drexel has an automatic 4 year full tuition scholarship for NM finalists. It won’t show up on his initial award but if he calls his admissions counselor and faxes/emails a copy of his finalist letter it is an automatic award (we just did this.) Also, did he get into the Pennoni honors college? He could apply for that–gives you special dorm and first choice at course selection. Perhaps that can make a difference! With that kind of aid it may make sense for him to start at Drexel and then if he’s unhappy transfer after the first year.</p>

29

<p>Does he need merit aid, or can the family afford full-pay?</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/192395-no-acceptances-one-kids-story-year-later.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/192395-no-acceptances-one-kids-story-year-later.html&lt;/a&gt; is the classic tale of an admissions year gone horribly wrong, followed by a gap year and rethinking of the college list, followed by success. Old but worth reading. Yes, it can be worthwhile to spend a structured gap year with new insight into admissions. But it requires a great deal of insight into what went wrong, and also being willing to take the chance that things won’t go right the next time round. Not sure that the OP’s friend is going to be a good candidate for that. </p>

<p>This is the only year to take advantage of any NM scholarship opportunities…though I’ve heard a rumor that USC (!) keeps the NM offer open if someone wanted to transfer, or apply after a gap year. That’s one fine engineering school. I would absolutely not rely on my hearsay comment; if the OP’s friend might be interested in USC, I would contact them directly and ask if he would be eligible for a USC NM award if he applies next year or as a transfer in subsequent years. U Arizona and ASU are also still accepting applications, and they offer nice NM money. Alabama, obviously.</p>