<p>Pierre,</p>
<p>You don’t realize that any school ranked in the top 100 is going to be good. There are 4000 univ in the US. If there were just a couple hundred univs, then your point would be more meaningful. </p>
<p>Schools that are ranked in the top 5 or so will probably have a lot more opps, but once you start getting past 20 or so, the differences aren’t spectacular. </p>
<p>And rankings do not really tell you where the opps are. Eng’g students attending UA-Huntsville have excellent opps since their campus is located in Cummings Research Park…the second largest research park in the nation. So, rankings don’t really tell you what opps you’ll have. </p>
<p>Yes, GT would offer amazing opps, but if the family can’t pay the $40k to go there, then that’s the final word. Right now, the student’s test scores would not get merit, so they’d be paying full price. That would be crazy with UF as an option, unless money is no object for this family.</p>
<p>I didn’t think the OP was looking outside of the SE, if she isn’t, then UMinn wouldn’t be an option. That said, even UMinn would cost a LOT more than UF. Stats aren’t high enough for much/any merit at UMinn, so likely paying full price (around $27k for an OOS student).</p>
<p>Yes, UF is a great choice for an instate student…no doubt. But if the student insists on going OOS and the family is trying to keep costs similar to what they would pay at UF, then their choices will be limited. Since the parent asked about “free rides,” it would appear that large merit scholarships are needed/highly desired for an OOS school to be affordable. </p>
<p>Affordability is a big deal to many families. You’d be surprised how many kids with ACT 32+ who live in states like Illinois with UIUC in their backyard choose to come to Bama CoE because of affordability. </p>
<p>Lastly, as you know, a good number of students start out in Eng’g, yet do not stay in that major. That’s another reason why the student shouldn’t commit to a pricey OOS school just for eng’g. The student’s best merit opps will be as an incoming frosh only.</p>