GPA: 4.0 Uw
1530 SAT
Asian male from CT
Going for CS (1st) and Aerospace (2nd)
13 AP classes, all 5s on AP exams.
I’m looking for schools in the northeast that offer lots of merit aid for my stats. I want a school where I can get lots of merit aid for my academics.
I’ve got Umass Amherst, Fordham, BU, RPI, and UConn as ideas. I’m looking for ideas for more schools that offer lots of merit aid, are in Northeast, and offer a strong CS/Engineering program.
What’s your budget. A target cost matters. Some schools are cheaper full price than others with merit.
Clarkson is generous with merit and allows for stacking of scholarships.
How much is “lots”? Schools in the northeast aren’t typically known for huge amounts of merit money.
I suspect that you are interested in top competitive schools with merit. They do not exist…
You can look into UMBC, it may be generous.
For merit, consider South or Midwest.
The best bargains in the Northeast for Engineering are Olin College of Engineering in Needham, Mass and The Cooper Union in NYC. Both schools are highly regarded and at both schools every admitted student receives an academic scholarship - without exception. Admission at both is highly competitive.
You cannot study aerospace engineering at either of these schools, but computer science/engineering is strong at both. RPI is strong in aerospace engineering and they do offer non-need based scholarships, so you have a shot at reducing costs there as well. It’s worth exploring. Start with the net price calculator on their website.
Another way to save money is to take advantage of flagship match programs which allow you to attend out-of-state public universities for the cost of the instate tuition at your state’s flagship university - UConn in your case. As a CT resident, you are eligible for such programs at both SUNY Albany and the University of Maine, both of which offer computer engineering.
UConn has a history of being very generous with grants to in-state students who graduate in the top 10% of their high school class regardless of financial need. My GS is at UMass Honors in engineering out of state. He graduated in the top 10% of his high school class with 1370 on his SAT. His family has no demonstrated financial need. UMass gave him a grant of $25K, making his cost comparable to in state.
So CS is all over the place these days, and MechE is at least pretty common among engineering colleges, but a full Aerospace major is way less common–and usually at big publics with little or no merit, and not in the Northeast.
Like in New England, I think your one option would basically be WPI (MIT has it, but no merit).
Adding the Mid-Atlantic, I believe you are looking at RPI, Syracuse, and Clarkson.
And then if you do get merit–will it actually be enough to make them less costly than an OOS public program? Not necessarily.
The good news is if that level of net cost would be affordable, that means you could include Maryland, Penn State, Buffalo, and Rutgers too.
If not, though . . . I am not sure the offer you would need to do Aerospace would exist in your regional footprint.
But again if just CS + MechE would be good enough, that would at least generate a lot more options. Although same problem–in your footprint, it may be hard to get enough merit to do much better than the OOS public level.
Which brings me to UConn. Depending on your budget level, in-state at UConn might well be your best option for a good CS+MechE school that would be on budget. And there is nothing wrong with that! States subsidize these programs to make them highly competitive options for their residents, and taking such a deal often makes the most sense for students on a budget.
UConn has an Aerospace Concentration within the Mechanical Engineering major. This also means that there are Aerospace electives available for a Computer Science/Engineering major.
An advantage to studying in Connecticut for a student with an interest in aerospace is that Connecticut is a major employer in the aerospace industry. This should mean access to internships and post-college employment opportunities.
That’s a really good point and what I would think the OP could look for outside of the few school with a full Aerospace major.
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