What kind of engineering?
Looks like the state of Maryland only has one state university with many engineering majors (UMD), two with a smaller selection (UMBC with chemical, computer, and mechanical; Morgan State with civil, electrical, industrial, and transportation systems), and two with general engineering (Frostburg State; UMES).
He is not totally sure, so a place that has a wide variety of options, and where transferring between engineering options is easy is important.
There’s not another good MD instate option.
I note it is my understand that is why some great Maryland engineering kids end up at publics like Delaware or Pitt. If UMD doesn’t work out, these are at least very good options not too far away, and they sometimes offer OOS merit.
Of course you can (and should) cast a wider net than that. This is more just reinforcing that your son’s situation at this point is not that unusual, and that’s OK because there are a variety of alternatives out there.
I like your suggestions, but just one nitpick.
The Albany-Schenectady metro area is slightly larger than the Allentown metro area (915,000 vs 887,000) and the city of Schenectady (62,000) is twice the size of Easton, PA (28,000).
I love a good nitpick!
And you are right, if I included Allentown, I should not have excluded Albany, which then means the size of the local metro area is in fact not a distinguishing factor in favor of Lafayette.
Does anyone know much about Minnesota? Other than locations it seems to hit all the things he wants: all the engineering options, urban, merit aid, safe state.
The NPC came back at $40K, but thinking of it as a safety if he doesn’t get into UMD, that could be doable. It also looks like they are generous with AP credit, so he might not need 4 years.
I have a friend whose son is at Minnesota in Engineering and he loves it (we’re from MA). I don’t know how much they are paying (or whether he got merit) but from an academic and social perspective it’s been a win.
If you are looking at Minnesota, I would suggest you also look at University of Massachusetts which does give merit aid to OOS students. And University of Maine.
Cooper Union is really good for engineering and would definitely fit your budget. Currently every student at Cooper Union receives a half tuition scholarship automatically. But by the 2028-29 academic year their plan is for Cooper Union to be tuition free (!) in keeping with the intent of its founder Peter Cooper 167 years ago. So, all you would pay is fees (about $2000) + room & board (currently less than $20,000 on campus).
Although Cooper Union is tiny (900) nothing screams NYC and trans friendly more than its East Village neighborhood. It’s small size is mitigated by the fact that is in a neighborhood with a number of other colleges within a few city blocks (NYU, New School, Parsons School of Design) and they all operate on the European model with students living in neighborhood apartments more so than in college dorms. After freshman year, the dorms available to Cooper Union students are privately run dorms, accommodating students from a variety of different colleges and thereby connecting Cooper Union students to a larger number of college students and their friend groups from the other colleges. Cooper Union does have a soccer team but there are also opportunities to play in rec leagues in the city. That’s really an opportunity to start getting into adult life where people go to work and then play their sport evenings & weekends, choosing their own level of intensity as their other commitments allow.
Cooper Union is an incredibly good option for the right student. Since your son loves NYC, he just might be that kid
He will want four years at Minnesota. Fantastic faculty, wonderful friendly student body, tons of stuff to do whether the cultural/urban stuff or hiking/boating/outdoors. It has become very popular in my corner of the Northeast and nobody seems in a rush to leave!
@aunt_bea can you please add info here about Buffalo?
People were pretty high on Minnesota way back when I was going to college out of Michigan, it was definitely on the radar at S24’s feederish private HS in Western Pa, and to this day it seems very appealing to me for all the reasons you named.
Just to briefly elaborate, Minnesota is a way better research university than some people seem to realize. I don’t always think that is the most important thing for undergrads, but it doesn’t hurt.
Second, it has a nice campus in a nice location in a fantastic city to be a student. Sure, you need to understand what winters in Minnesota are like, and for some that would be a dealbreaker. But otherwise the Twin Cities are just so diverse, so globally connected, so cultured, so nice (yes, it is a thing) . . . just a cool city (or two, to be precise).
And then yes, it has OOS merit, which it reports in its NPC.
AND it basically practices rolling admissions.
So if that is the sort of college and setting you are looking for, and the NPC checks out, it is a great choice for an early application. Hopefully you then get an early offer, and if nothing else it establishes a great floor.
Or just ends up being your choice!
Yes! Great point.
My GS is an out-of-state engineering student at UMass and he gets a financial package of $25-30,000.
My entire impression of Allentown comes from a Billy Joel song, and I know nothing about Albany, so it sounds like we should visit Union and Lafayette. Lafayette offers a full tuition scholarship and I think he’d have a shot at it, so it’s particularly tempting.
He likes the gritty kind of city, which fits my stereotype of Allentown, which is based 100% on Billy Joel portrayal of the city in 1982.
Schenectady is gritty! It’s still on the rebound from the days when it was abandoned by GE. Easton is a small town which feels almost rural and Lafayette is on the edge of that small town.
Both Union & Lafayette are great schools who have both been doing engineering for a long time. Both have lovely campuses.
Responding to @thumper1’s request:
My high rigor, high GPA, high SAT-scoring daughter attended the SUNY Buffalo for (originally) premed and then switched to engineering, specifically electrical engineering with computer software double major.
At that time, she was offered a full ride but what I think you really need to consider is what your son will come out with after four years of coursework.
I’m repeating myself here often because Buffalo has a phenomenal engineering program. It’s large enough that it can provide the experiences necessary, yet it’s small enough that you can tailor an individualized approach for your future employment and success.
We are from California. She got into all her UC’s and several ivies. But the program at Buffalo was attractive because of the funding and the premed offer of later med school admission ( along with “living in the tundra”.)
She’s been back in California since graduation and currently works as an EECS manager and popular trainer for an international engineering firm. She is constantly head-hunted by former colleague referrals.
Engineering students at Minnesota enter as CS&E undeclared. They need a 3.2 technical college GPA to assure declaration of their choice of major. However, most majors have space for all interested students, even though some do not.
Some other schools have a similar setup, but how full the various majors are varies.
Pitt has full ride scholarships available and GW has full tuition scholarship available. I’m unsure about UVM, WPI, and TCNJ, but I strongly suspect they would try and make themselves as competitive as possible for your son, with the publics at least trying to get to your in-state flagship price (and potentially WPI as well).
The number that NPCs spit back out is the Cost of Attendance (COA). I prefer to look at the billed costs (tuition, fees, and room & board) from the COA rather than just the COA because different schools are more generous in defining the same types of costs (books, allowance, travel, etc) than others. So two schools might both come back with a COA of $40k, but one would have direct costs of $38k with $2k in other expenses, while another might have costs of $34k with $6k in other expenses, which is really not the same financial cost.
This short thread may be helpful: Understand What the Cost of Attendance (COA) Means
While Indiana may not meet the comfort level for visiting sibling, Rose Hulman might be a likely/financial fit.