Chance Me/Match Me-Motorsports engineering or MechE [PA resident, 3.85 UW GPA, 35 ACT, need merit for OOS or private]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Hi, many of you gave great suggestions in response to my post back in December. Thank you! After visiting a couple of college environments, I have updated my list and preferences a little. My top 3 environmental preferences would be urban/large town/suburban with easy access into the city, bigger in size, and with a decent amount of diversity (at least on campus). I would be okay with not being in an urban environment for the right school. Would like a strong FSAE team to join and co-ops are also of interest to me.

I have updated my stats and extracurriculars would love feedback on my chances as well as where I have a strong chance of getting merit. My parents would like to keep all in costs around 40-45K and would be willing to go a tiny bit higher depending on the school.

Demographics

  • US domestic

  • State/Location of residency: PA

  • Type of high school: Large suburban public HS

  • Special factors: Not first generation

Cost Constraints / Budget
Will not qualify for financial aid, will need merit aid for out of state/private schools (also, my sister starts college the year after me)

Intended Major(s): Mechanical engineering or Motorsports engineering

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores - HS does not rank

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.85 out of 4.0

  • Weighted HS GPA: 4.85 out of 5.0

  • ACT/SAT Scores: 35

List your HS coursework:

All prior coursework at honors level. My school has a lot of pre-req’s for AP classes, so I wasn’t able to start taking them until this (Junior) year.

  • English: AP Lang (5)

  • Math: AP Calc BC (5)

  • Science: AP Physics C: Mechanics (4)

  • History and social studies: APUSH (5)

  • Language other than English: Latin 4 honors

  • AP Comp Sci A (4)

  • Visual or performing arts: Symphonic band, Wind Ensemble

  • AP’s planned for senior year: AP Physics C E&M, AP Chem, AP Govt, Math Seminar honors (the highest level math class offered at the school, which explores higher level math and involves math research). I am also taking psychology at the community college over the summer.

Awards: Swim - Coaches award 2025; Crew - Coxswain of the year 2026, National Honor Society

Extracurriculars: (will not be pursuing sports recruitment)
HS crew team (every Fall and Spring since Freshman year) - qualified and placed top 5 at nationals this year

HS swim team (every Winter since Freshman year)

Technology club since Freshman year – placed at regional and state level comp. Qualified for nationals this year, but unfortunately could not attend due to a time conflict.

Summer camp counselor (every summer) - promoted to Head Counselor this summer

Lifeguard (every summer)

Local summer swim team (every summer)

Volunteer hours at the food bank, coaching and teaching for Special Olympics swim team

A good amount of time assisting with driving and babysitting my younger sibling (not sure how to categorize that)

Schools - MechE major

Penn State and Pitt (In-state)

Purdue-West Lafayette - would prefer this over Indy for the campus life

Purdue-Indianapolis (Motorsports Engineering)

UNC-Charlotte (Motorsports Engineering concentration)

Cornell

Georgia Tech

U. Illinois- Urbana Champaign

Clemson (MechE/Automotive engineering)

UConn

Ohio State

U of MD - College Park

Case Western

RIT

Viginia Tech

U. of Alabama - Huntsville

U. of Kentucky

U. of Cincinnati

Oregon State

Drexel

Northeastern

Cooper Union and Stevens - maybe. I really liked the location, but a little too small for me

If a scholarship is necessary for affordability, indicate that you are aiming for a scholarship and use the scholarship chance to estimate it into the appropriate group below; also, for colleges that admit by major or division, consider that in chance estimate.

  • Assured (100% chance of admission and affordability):

  • Extremely Likely:

  • Likely:

  • Toss-up:

  • Lower Probability:

  • Low Probability:

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Just a note that you can’t apply to both WL and Indy for Purdue so you will have to choose one. That said you can choose WL Mech E as your first choice major and indicate Indy for Motor Sports as your second choice.

Purdue will just hit your budget.

I think this is a good, well balanced list, but I also think it’s too long and that you could pair it down. Lots of the out of state schools won’t hit your budget so that’s a good way to pair it down.

Have you run the net price calculator on some of the expensive schools on your list like Cornell? They don’t offer merit so unless you qualify for need based aid, it won’t come close to budget.

Lastly, be sure to apply early to Pitt and any school that offers rolling admission and also hit the EA deadlines for Purdue, UIUC, UMD and any other that fill the bulk of their class in the EA round.

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The list was actually 15 schools longer originally :laughing: , but I am still fine tuning it. A couple of the schools, like Case Western and RIT, my friends were able to get a lot of merit from with similar stats. Especially the ones who waited until the very last minute to make their decisions. I know Cornell is both unaffordable and probably unattainable, but I was allowed 1 super dream application in case I could secure outside scholarships.

For the schools with EA, does it make a different how early in the EA period I apply? For example, will an August application make it easier to be admitted than an October one?

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No, it will not for EA schools.

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Since you really like the Cooper Union location and it is an extreme bargain financially (currently half tuition for all students, tuition free for all students, starting in 2028-29), here are a few things to consider:

  1. It is tiny. Only about 900 students.
  2. It is in a neighborhood in Manhattan with lots of other college students within a few city blocks - NYU (30,000), Parsons School of Design (4000), New School (2000).
  3. It provides housing only for freshmen. After that, students can opt for privately run dorms in the neighborhood. Not being affiliated with CU, that means that they are open to students from any college, including some which are nit in the immediate neighborhood.
  4. There’s lots to do in the area and many places to run into other college students.

Cooper Union is designed more on the European urban model where there is not necessarily a gated campus with student dorms. But as a student in Edinburgh, Scotland, who was working in a coffee shop, told me, “If you knock on any door in this neighborhood, half the time it’s going to be opened by a college student.”

Going to college in Greenwich Village, the East Village, the West Village, and on up the West Side of Manhattan (Pace, Fashion Institute, Fordham LC, Juilliard College of Music) is real city living. You have to like urban life to thrive here, but if you do, there’s no place better. It’s not like you’re isolated in a tiny college of fewer than 1000 students, removed from everything else. You’re in a busy, bustling place with lots going on around you, including tens of thousands of other college students.

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My uncle went to Cooper Union and suggested it to me! My parents are from NYC, so we are there a lot and it’s a fun area for sure.

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those are very different, even from each other!

I can see Stevens fitting with the rest of the list, but not Cooper Union (having visited both, recently). I would definitely visit and talk to people before applying….

Is Kettering an option? Coops, in MI, very mech-e focused would be a likely.

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I hadn’t look into Kettering. Will take a look!

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It started as ONLY automotive engineering:)

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Run the NPC for your schools. You might get some merit from Drexel or Northeastern but probably not enough. Same with Cinci or UConn. UNC Charlotte used to be more of a commuter school.

I’m assuming Pitt and Penn State are locks. Great options. Which schools wouldn’t you pick over those two? Drop schools that don’t make the cut. Why waste the time?

Georgia Tech will be over budget BUT you might be able to graduate in 3 years with enough AP/DE credits. We’re from PA and S20 graduated in 3 years. Did an internship and co-op too so was on-campus 4 years.

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I used College Transition’s Dataverse Merit Aid aggregator (last updated November 2025) to pull these numbers for the schools on your list in terms of the percentage of freshmen without need receiving merit aid and what that average award was. The list is sorted from lowest post-merit COA to highest.

School Cost of Attendance Percent of freshmen without need receiving merit aid Average merit award (freshmen without need) COA after Average Merit award for freshmen without need
Pitt $40,904 9% $8,027 $32,877
Purdue-West Lafayette $42,254 22% $5,821 $36,433
U. of Alabama - Tuscaloosa $55,886 36% $19,109 $36,777
UNC-Charlotte $40,122 14% $3,231 $36,891
Penn State $43,146 6% $5,764 $37,382
Cooper Union $70,442 NR $24,225 $46,217
U. of Cincinnati $53,744 26% $6,387 $47,357
Clemson $54,150 24% $4,905 $49,245
U. of Kentucky $58,778 36% $8,345 $50,433
U. of Maryland $60,809 21% $7,827 $52,982
Uconn $64,100 25% $11,091 $53,009
Oregon State $62,541 42% $9,250 $53,291
Ohio State $61,815 26% $7,425 $54,390
Virginia Tech $61,088 11% $3,288 $57,800
Rochester Institute of Technology $81,354 27% $22,755 $58,599
Case Western $92,750 37% $30,499 $62,251
Drexel $86,243 25% $23,607 $62,636
Stevens $87,926 29% $24,345 $63,581
Northeastern $94,137 13% $16,112 $78,025
Cornell $96,268 0% $0 $96,268

For the schools’ whose COA is higher than $51k, then I’d look and see which ones have scholarships for which you would be eligible to compete that can get you below the $50k mark, and then also try and determine the likelihood of getting it. U. of Maryland, for instance, has the Banneker/Key scholarship which can be half tuition or full ride. If you were to receive either, that would make UMD affordable. U. of Oregon has the Stamps, which would provide free nonresident tuition, but not Oregon State. Those scholarships are extremely competitive to get, but there’s a way forward.

Some schools, however, may cap their merit scholarships at $25k or $35k or something else. Schools that cost $90k and give a max of $30k in merit won’t come in as affordable, so there’s no use applying to those. If the website doesn’t list a max award, reach out to your admission officer to see if they can do a merit aid pre-read or share the maximum amount of merit they offer.

As already mentioned, Cornell doesn’t offer merit aid. How many scholarships would you have to apply to in order to get $50k/year in outside scholarships? Is it really worth it in order to apply to Cornell?

Of the schools on the bottom half of the list, I’m particularly concerned about Virginia Tech, RIT, Drexel, and Northeastern meeting the price via merit aid, though schools like Stevens and Case would still be challenging to meet budget, but more likely than the others, IMO. Paging @OctoberKate who might have some perspective to share, particularly with Clemson and Virginia Tech.

A few notes about the table: I pulled the Tuscaloosa rate rather than the Huntsville one because it didn’t have Huntsville’s, and one site I read mentioned the strength of Tuscaloosa for motorsports/SAE. Additionally, the COA has some issues (see this short thread), but as a blunt tool it’s fine for right now.

Edited due to misstatement about Oregon State having the Stamps.

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Oh wow. Thank you! I ran some of the NPC’s but not all of them include merit or it asks me to input the merit scholarship amount, so it was hard to tell what the true cost could possibly be.

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At least when I last checked this, they only have Baja, not Formula SAE. (My son ended up crossing it off his list because of this.)

Given that you are very interested in FSAE, you may want to look at all the schools and see if their specific teams fit your interests, as some teams are electric only, some are combustion only, some are both, some teams also do driverless, etc.!

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I think you are thinking of University of Oregon, as far as I know Oregon State doesn’t have Stamps?

Oregon State has a fantastic and unique FSAE team given their German partnership, but honestly according to my son, Pitt’s team is nearly as good (he was VERY impressed by them at competition this year!), the school is great, and the price is right for a PA resident! Not sure Oregon State is worth it at the OOS price, comparatively.

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Doh, I even linked to U. of Oregon with the Stamps! Off to correct.

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Embry-Riddle University offers both mechanical engineering and the Center for Motorsports Engineering at their Daytona Beach FL campus. Embry-Riddle offers some merit scholarships. You may need to also seek out external scholarships & other sources of funding.

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Happy to chime in re: VA Tech and Clemson! My older child, HS class of ‘22, was a MechE major and applied to Va Tech. My younger S25 applied for construction management at Virginia Tech (in the engineering school) and Clemson (in the architecture school).

Virginia Tech only very very rarely gives merit aid, particularly to Engineerinf students. We are VA residents and we talk about VT a lot - we suspect that because the engineering school is the most well known and respected out of state, that the school uses out of state admits to engineering to help balance the books by bringing in more money there.

Clemson has gotten more popular in recent years and, as such, merit aid money is more competetive. Without it, the all in cost is about $53k. My S25 received $10k in annual merit which, if I’m judging by the parents posts on the parent Facebook page, seems like one of the larger merit aid awards.

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I was surprised when I checked for another student earlier this year that it’s now up to $56,600 out of state. The board has approved a 3.5% increase, so it should be up to $58,600 next year.

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Yes, our daughter graduated last year and even with $10,000 a year merit, it seemed higher. She did get some random alumni scholarships on her account which might’ve offset the $1000 a year cost for honors, but I believe it’s approaching $60,000 oos. Clemson has been freezing in state tuition so the gap between oos costs are increasing.

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I sat down with my parents to fine tune my list in the order that I like the schools for each category. I prefer the weather to be cooler rather than warmer, so removed any school further south that I wasn’t absolutely keen on. I think I might have too many target schools? OSU and UMD have historically given kids from my school good merit, sometimes bringing it below PSU/Pitt prices.

Reach

Purdue - W. Lafayette (MechE 1st choice) / Purdue - Indy (Motorsports 2nd choice)

Georgia Tech

Cooper Union (have live with family option if needed)

Target

UNC - Charlotte (Motorsports Engineering concentration)

Penn State (In-state)

Pitt (In-state)

U of MD

UConn

Ohio State

Drexel (live at home option to cut costs)

Safety

Iowa State - Already submitted application. Can re-evaluate/cross off others depending on results. NPC came out to 33K total COA.

U. of Kentucky - Will try for presidential/Otis A. Singletary scholarships. Have local friends there, so can split drives home instead of flying.

West Virginia University

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