<p>As I read through this thread I was going to suggest Pitt - and now someone has. I second lvvcsf’s suggestion - check out Pitt. Good merit aid. Close to home.</p>
<p>Some good schools on her list. I gather U of Cincinnati is the school that is “close to home”? Cause they have a great co-op program & good merit aid.</p>
<p>Case Western is good for chemical engineering, generous with scholarships for high scorers, and she will be able to play in the student orchestra.</p>
<p>University of Illinois is a great engineering school & also friendly for non-music major musicians.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t expect merit aid from CMU. Great school but merit scholarships are hard to get.</p>
<p>None of the schools I mentioned have true 5-year co-op programs, though you can always do summer internships and I understand at Case there is an “optional” co-op program.</p>
<p>One hint–apply EA to schools for the best chance at merit scholarships. These deadlines tend to be November…something.</p>
<p>We visited UC, I liked it, she didn’t. She felt it was too much of a concrete campus. They do seem to have everything she indicates she’s looking for including an orchestra for non-music majors that she can participate in when ever she would like. I’m curious when this all washes out if she’d reconsider if she were unable to afford other schools.</p>
<p>UC is a very “urban” campus. They won an award for their buildings but it certainly isn’t bucolic or even traditional brick/ivy. There is, however, a LOT of construction and urban renewal going on to the south & east of campus, so the area will soon look as good as it can.</p>
<p>And sometimes when schools start throwing money at you, it weights the scale!</p>
<p>I am bumping this merely because yesterday ended the admission process. D ended up applying to 7 schools. 2 we deemed reaches WashU (waitlisted) and NU (not admitted), 2 matches Purdue and CWRU (she was accepted to both) 3 safeties Kentucky, University of Toledo and Ohio University (the last two we considered financial safeties) of course she was accepted to all. We will now wait for the final financial aid packages and she will make her decision.</p>
<p>I want to thank the many people of CC for your education on the college admission process. Things worked out pretty much exactly how I expected them to based on the information learned from this websight. While it didn’t alleviate any of the anxiety during the visiting, choosing, waiting etc. it did give me (us) a realistic expectation and assured our D the opportunity to have good choices in the coming month. I believe the advice and information will also assure that the choice made will be affordable if not comfortable over the next 4 years. Thanks again. I’ll probably post her final decision just because I’ll want to.</p>
<p>Thanks for the update. We are in ohio with a possible engineering student also. A lot of the schools mentioned are on our list also.</p>
<p>Thanks for the update. Always appreciate when someone takes the time to let us know outcomes. Good luck on the visits and with the Financial Aid. I am sure she will do great wherever she lands.</p>
<p>When you post her decision, give a run down on the packages that she rec’d. At least in general, i.e. merit aid, met need, gapped.</p>
<p>Smith College is well outside the 500 mile limit and is completely different from the universities listed by the OP. Does Smith pay posters to suggest it?</p>
<p>I would just note that Washington U in St. Louis and Northwestern are on the less generous side of the spectrum when it comes to actual need-based FA offered, while Vanderbilt is way over on the generous side.</p>
<p>Thanks for the update.</p>
<p>Thanks for the update. Sorry I missed this the first time around. I must have seen your D in Planet X last week. I’m a little surprised you didn’t put in an app for tOSU, UD or Wright State. Maybe too close on the last two?</p>
<p>austinareadad, many posters have favorite schools they suggest frequently whether it meets the suggested criteria or not! Google maps says Smith is 564 miles from Cleveland, so it’s not that far out of range.</p>
<p>The <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-16.html#post15557250[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-16.html#post15557250</a> may provide some safety candidates, but they are mostly in the south.</p>
<p>mamabear, Cleveland is ruled out as a possibility because the OP stated that the hometown was ruled out while Case Western (in Cleveland) was not ruled out. Also, Vanderbilt was not ruled out, though it is over 500 miles from Cleveland or any of Northeast Ohio. That would imply that the OP is considerably more than 500 miles from Northampton.</p>
<p>Also, the OP had not said anything about preferring a women-only school, when that is a very important characteristic, not one likely to be accidentally omitted. </p>
<p>Anyway, it is just annoying when people push their own alma maters or those of their kids when they don’t appear to fit an OP’s criteria at all.</p>
<p>Erin’s Dad:Yes you did see her in Planet X. I enjoyed it but I liked last years Firebird with the Zoot Theater better. D had a donut and schools inside an hour away were in the hole so to speak. Wright State does not have ChemE but UD might have been an option had she been willing to live at home. We required that she apply to one state school and to my surprise she chose UToledo over tOSU. Later I made her apply to OU because her stats gave her full tuition. So far we have three schools that are options financially. I really do not expect that to change. Case would require her to borrow the maximum she can borrow but mom and I would be able to pay without borrowing. The other two she would probably only have to borrow money if she wanted to go overseas to study. I’ll be curious which route she chooses.</p>
<p>Depending upon where in Ohio you live, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa is just on the edge, or just outside of your 500 mile radius (as the car drives), or might be in it (as the crow files).</p>
<p>In the past few years, UA has dumped a lot of money into expanding their STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) program, as well as the rest of campus. They are well on their way to becoming a top university. In order to achieve that status, they are dumping a lot of money into scholarships to attract high performing kids.</p>
<p>If she can improve her ACT score to 32, or her SAT score to 1400 combined (reading and math only), then she would qualify for full out-of-state tuition scholarship. In addition, the engineering college may have additional scholarships for $3,000 or so per year.</p>
<p>[Out-of-State</a> Scholarships - Undergraduate Scholarships - The University of Alabama](<a href=“http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out_of_state.html]Out-of-State”>http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out_of_state.html)</p>
<p>This is a great backup school option.</p>
<p>Posters, this is a revived year old thread in which the OP is updating results of admission. I don’t think the OP needs any more recommendations now.</p>
<p>Last time I’ll be bothering anyone with this. D has made a decision. She will be attending Purdue University. Purdue made it affordable for the family and Mom and Dad are very happy and proud.</p>
<p>So happy to hear this! This is a good thread to show “new” parents how to approach the process, and what the outcome could be.</p>
<p>bhmomma: I’ll give you a run down of our top choices.</p>
<p>CWRU:scholarships 25500
Inst. grants. 9450</p>
<p>Purdue scholarships. 26900
Purdue sub. Loan. 2000</p>
<p>Ohio University Gateway scholarship Full tuition
Russ Engineering Scholarship 8000
(this was an excellent offer, it would have required no loans for her to attend)</p>
<p>U. Of Toledo Scholarship 6500
Engineering sch. 1000</p>
<p>Un. Of Kentucky. 4500</p>
<p>In the end she’ll need to take out about $15000 in loans and we’ll be able to cover the rest. It will require her co-oping.</p>
<p>In the end D has always liked Purdue and their offer made them affordable. Ohio u would have been the least expensive and CWRU gave her the most in total aid. She liked U. Of Toledo too and if they had been able to give her a financial aid package closer to what OU had made then she would have seriously considered it.</p>