@mardong - I’ve heard mixed comments regarding Worchester and its safety. Any insight into the surrounding area? I can see my son wanting to move off campus by Junior year.
jdhMom: My daughter is a WPI junior. She lived in a freshman dorm and in the new Messenger Hall last year; this year she is sharing an off campus apartment with 2 friends. Worcester certainly has its share of dodgy areas, but the neighborhood around the campus is full of apartments and houses rented to students, and are generally quite safe. My kid walks home from campus on her own in the evenings and has never felt unsafe. I think the entire street she lives on is made up of triple decker houses and the landlords seem to rent to only WPI students, so it actually feels very campus-like. Her apartment is spacious and lovely, and even with expenses for a 12 month lease, we are saving a significant amount of money compared to the on-campus housing and meal plan.
Sad!
Just sad.
I know … it’s insane he did qualify in 7000 in loans … lol that really doesn’t help ugh what to do … fingers crossed he gets in to his number one school with reasonable merit.
@leapyearG _ you can always call and talk to them If you don’t ask, the answer is always NO.
We were in your shoes last year at this time so I’ll share my experience in the hopes that it will save you some stress. WPI was one of my son’s favorites but he was only offered $10.5k merit. I immediately reached out to ask about other scholarships or merit possibilities because this merit award was much lower than any others and was told very bluntly that they don’t increase merit under any circumstance. After receiving merit offers of $20K+/year from Northeastern and Brandeis, my husband emailed to see if WPI would consider increasing their merit because it was still high on my son’s list. Again, a very blunt “no.” With a net cost of $58,000 we took WPI off the table. After accepted student visits at his other two top schools, he decided on Northeastern where he is having a great first-year experience. However, on April 30th - ONE day before the decision deadline-he received an email from WPI with an offer to double his merit. They didn’t call it merit but rather some type of scholarship or award. Needless to say, I was not happy with WPI for throwing a last minute wrench into what was a very stressful time. We had already missed accepted student day, put down our deposit with Northeastern, and moved on. Son quickly put aside the offer as he was already happy with his decision but it did cause some stress at the time. In the end, it all worked out for the best and I have no doubt that he ended up in the best situation. I’m not sure if knowing this will help anyone at all but if WPI is your student’s dream, then know that there may be additional money if you’re patient- and willing to throw away your deposit to another school.
@Off2college19 - Thank you for that information. We are leaving all our options open literally until the last minute. We have actually put WPI and some others on the shelf until our last EA comes in on Feb 1, if she is accepted with a scholarship WPI will be off the list since it is ranked lower than this school. She also has some RD that we are awaiting which some are her top choices, however we were unable to apply ED because we wanted to see all of the FA/scholarships before making a final decision and they did not offer EA.
He got into NU yay! unfortunately with not much more merit than WPI, does anyone know how one goes about appealing the merit aid?
Accepted EA2 with 22K merit and 7K loans. Common Data Set for 2018-2019 shows avg need met at 82%. Ours was significantly less than that based on FAFSA EFC. Difficult to know what WPI calculates as need based on CSS profile. Also, not sure if this was final financial aid offer or there will be another package sent closer to decision day.
WPI still top 3 but awaiting other decisions and campus visits over spring break.
have other people experienced the same thing with more merit being offered at the last minute?
DD received $30,000 per year merit. We are grateful for the merit but are trying to reduce the strain on our budget as much as possible. We have another offer which is merit covering full tuition and fees at another school closer to home. Until RD decisions are released this will be our front runner.
Hi! I got accepted into WPI EA with the $25k/year presidential scholarship (with no financial aid) for biochemistry premed. I am not sure if WPI will be the best school for premed since 70% of their student body is studying engineering. Also, WPI does not have a large medical center around for me to potentially volunteer/internship at to help build a medical school resume. Yes, there is Boston however it is a far drive and I am not expecting to have a car on campus. Do you thing WPI is worth it? I do like the campus and what they generally have to offer but I am not sure if it would help me later on.
I am deciding between WPI and Stony Brook University in NY. SBU has a medical center right on campus however it is a fairly large school which I do not entirely mind. I, however, would enjoy the smaller-school feel. I also did not get into any of the SBU honors programs. Please let me know what you think about both choices.
“WPI does not have a large medical center”
Not true, they actually have a formal research student affiliation with the U Mass Med school about three miles away. See https://www.wpi.edu/research/partnerships/university-massachusetts-medical-school.
“70% of their student body is studying engineering.”
True, however of the 2019 BS awarded 240 students majored in the following life science related majors: Biology, BME, CM Biochem/Chemistry, and Bio Informatics. There were 87 BME graduates, 85 Chemical Engineering graduates and 78 other life science related graduates in the class of 2019
Worcester Mass is actually the home of the Mass funded research park largely because of the U Mass med school. Check out these resources @ https://www.wpi.edu/academics/departments/biology-biotechnology/research
Some exciting work at WPI was done by a faculty member who earned his PhD from Stony Brook. He is now a fellow at the National Academy of Sciences. He did this work at WPI. See https://www.wpi.edu/people/faculty/gaudette
WPI’s own state assisted research center in the life sciences is on the WPI campus. Gateway Park is interdisciplinary is these related fields by design so these different life science related majors work next to each other. This is cutting edge.
This is not your standard engineering college. It was just another pea in the pod 50 years ago before the WPI PLAN which was launched in 1970. The students do not memorize material for the med cats, but they research real problems to design real solutions. This is what engineers do and is employed today as a modern approach to solving medical issues.
By way of example, check out https://www.wpi.edu/academics/departments/biomedical-engineering
Some background on U Mass Medical School Hospital @ https://umassmed.edu/
Check out WPI’s Boston Project center. Most activity is health R&D related. Participants in this center commute from Worcester to Boston by train during their project work. I don’t believe they spend much time sightseeing in Boston, but it is on the Boston Harbor waterfront. See https://wp.wpi.edu/boston/