A number of colleges allow students to create their own major, and that would be a great way to have a cohesive major that spans multiple departments that doesn’t already exist in name. The coursework that gets included as part of the major is generally with the agreement of an advisor.
I think you are officially merit hunting at this point. If you search on the strands for merit hunting you will get lots of great tips. You need to be open with your child about the budget.
This merit aid list provides some helpful insight to create realistic expectations: Merit Aid by Institution – College Transitions
Duke is an extreme example, but they spend time pushing out they offer merit, but it goes to a mere 2%. Families are surprised when they are offered nothing in merit when accepted.
You will note, many meeting full need give zero merit or a very low percent of merit.
Some colleges will have additional rounds of scholarship applications for large amounts of merit which are more selective than the Ivy League. Do not underestimate the amount of time and executive functioning skills it takes to execute this successfully. At the most intense level, 3 to 4 scholarship applications and interviews may be the limit to realistically complete. Look at the Park Scholars at NC State as an example.
Some colleges have Stamps, but nationally across about 36 colleges they are selecting less than 400 total and amounts vary.
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Certainly, as any student with a tight budget, there has to be at least one if not more (two, three) schools that will 100% hit budget (and that the student will be excited about).
Having schools like WUSTL or even an RPI - schools that only get you there with need - is a recipe for disaster.
But even for those kids, in a normal year, there’s always time if they err - because schools like Alabama, UAH, MS State and more - are honoring their auto scholarships up until May 1.
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I would advise creating a spreadsheet with all the financial info. @UTmeritseeker has talked about how their family created one and may have some suggestions.
This is what I would probably do when considering different colleges:
Since the image isn’t workable for those using text readers, I’ve pasted the chart in below. But it helps to keep track of the factors involved in figuring out how much a school is likely to cost, whether it can get down further in costs via merit, etc. I also highlighted the box that shows the likeliest cost for a student, particularly when comparing the profile of a student to the rest of the school and what percentage of a school receives merit money.
| Loans in NPC | Auto Merit | Average Merit | Enrolled Students Profile | Additional Merit Considerations | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| School | Tuition, Room & Board Costs | NPC | Did NPC include loans? | If yes, amount in loans included. | If yes, add amount of loans to NPC as actual cost. | Did NPC include merit aid? | If no, automatic merit amount | Cost of T, R&B minus Auto merit | % of students w/o need receiving merit aid | Average merit aid award | Cost of T, R&B minus average merit | 25-75% SAT range | 25-75% ACT range | % of students who submit SAT | % of students who submit ACT | % of students in 1st year class who have a higher GPA than your kid | Does Merit stack with financial aid? | Do merit awards stack on one another? | Maximum award available | Guess as to likehood of Receiving merit |
| A | $87,654 | $54,321 | Yes | $5,500 | $59,821 | No | N/A | $59,821 | 7% | $70,000 | $17,654 | 1450-1550 | 33-35 | 60% | 30% | 40% | No, but replaces loans | No | Full Ride | Highly Unlikely |
| B | $87,654 | $54,321 | No | N/A | $54,321 | No | N/A | $87,654 | 0% | $0 | $87,654 | 1450-1550 | 33-35 | 60% | 30% | 40% | N/A | N/A | N/A | Impossible |
| C | $65,432 | $59,932 | Yes | $5,500 | $65,432 | Yes | $15,000 | $50,432 | 40% | $7,500 | $57,932 | 1150-1250 | 23-26 | 50% | 50% | 10% | No | Yes, up to tuition | Full Ride | Guaranteed |
| D | $65,432 | $59,932 | Yes | $5,500 | $65,432 | No | N/A | N/A | 97% | $33,210 | $32,222 | 1150-1250 | 23-26 | 50% | 50% | 10% | No | Yes, up to tuition | Full Ride | Highly Likely |
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Oh wow! This spreadsheet is incredible and illustrates just how much work I have to do! Thanks so much for all the great ideas and suggestions here ….I appreciate the time everyone took to respond. I’m looking into all the suggestions, considering accredited programs, NPC numbers and merit, and putting together a new list!
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I would join Road2College (free) to see people’s actual merit awards by school vs state, GPA, SAT/ACT
You have to put in data to see others data. So enter schools then blank awards
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My daughter really loved what this program would offer at U Tulsa. It became her top choice and if she was a NMF, I am sure she would have picked it early on. We thought Tulsa was a nice size with plenty to do. A little hard to get to without direct flights from Michigan. But that’s a program worth looking at for sure.
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That does sounds like a wonderful program, @Luanne. Thanks for mentioning it. From what I can tell online, they don’t have environmental engineering - just petroleum engineering and engineering physics…
@Wall2Wall this is the Tulsa NMSF award. It’s the best I’ve seen! It’s very possible your daughter could reach her career goals there.
Award
- Full tuition (excluding summers) for five years or until an undergraduate degree is earned. Students must maintain a minimum of 15 hours of coursework per semester. The National Merit Semifinalist Package cannot be stacked with other TU funding or scholarships…
- Tier I Housing (upgrades are available at your expense)
- Tier II Dining (upgrades are available at your expense)
- Standard Student Fees
- Textbooks (all incoming students receive free textbooks for the entirety of their undergraduate years)
- Secured spot in Leadership TU led by President Brad Carson
- A minimum $750 scholarship for National Merit Finalists from the National Merit organization. Renewability is based on the type of National Merit funding received.
- $6,000 monetary gift per year (funded by the Oklahoma Regents or the TU Board of Trustees)
** A portion of your supplemental scholarship paid for by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation and Oklahoma State Regents will be applied to your student account within the first six weeks of each semester.*
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I am not sure what your D’s specific interest is within environmental engineering, but the majors listed on the page for International Engineering and Language/International Science and Language include
biochemistry, biology, biology pre-med, chemical engineering , chemistry, computer science, computer simulation and gaming, cyber security, electrical engineering, computer engineering, Physics, B.S., geosciences (geology option), mathematics, mechanical engineering, and engineering physics.
Looks like it includes all the Tulsa engineering majors except for energy engineering and petroleum engineering. (Maybe it’s not a complete list though, and it may be possible to include the other science and engineering majors offered at Tulsa)
Yes, on one of our visits to Oregon State, I remember talking to a student who said he had switched out of environmental engineering because it was mostly about wastewater, into the ecological engineering major which was broader in focus.
I was curious about this so I looked on ABET. Oregon State seems to have the only ABET accredited ecological engineering major? Purdue has an ABET accredited environmental and ecological engineering major.
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I know this is another reach but since your D likes Wash U, has she considered Rice? They have somewhat similar “vibes” and it seems a lot of students who apply to one, apply to the other. Rice has the Rice Investment and meets full need so it’s worth running the NPC. The residential college system is the big draw there if that is something your D is interested in. All her majors are available there and it’s very easy to double major, major/minor, and switch majors if needed. My D had a friend there who switched from English to Engineering his sophomore year.
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So there are a few CC threads on accreditation for engineering. But there are two topics to be aware of.
Accredited programs are obviously ideal and schools put a lot of effort into making sure they remain accredited. There are some schools that have non-traditional engineering programs like a general engineering degree that may not have accreditation
But, in certain engineering fields - especially (but not limited to) civil, environmental, structural, and architectural - it is also valuable to pursue a professional engineers license because you either have to sign off drawings/design yourself or your are part of a government/municipal contract that requires someone at the firm to be a licensed PE.
So, ask schools both about accreditation and how they prepare students to pass the PE exams.
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My daughter ended up poking for engineering and animation as her two main interests and then just made sure they had enough of languages that interested her. She may minor in a language but more likely will just take as much of the language as she can. The minors often include classes on the country’s customs and traditions, life and professions, etc. all good and interesting but she wasn’t sure she’d really have room so a minor isn’t a plan anymore. Just learning to speak and read/write.
Just something to consider.
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@thumper, the Tulsa MNSF award does look great, thanks. The program there doesn’t feel like a great fit - D25s engineering interests relate to climate science (this seems to be just emerging in undergrad), sustainability, and water purity. She is not really interested in civil engineering – bridges, roads, wastewater etc (could always change her mind.) She loves applied math, maybe data science, so these are areas she could explore if engineering doesn’t stick.
Thanks for the rec, @prdMomto1. D has added Rice to her list to explore! There seems to be some interesting research happening there and the NPC puts it right with WUSL (high end of affordable.) It’s just hard to add another <10% admit rate to the list tho! And not having an EA option, just ED……
@tamagotchi I love Purdue with the ABET accredited environmental and ecological engineering and the more reasonable admission rate. D25 would need the trustee scholarship or STAMPS to make it affordable as the NPC puts it out of budget.
I’ve started going down the extensive rabbit hole of generous merit awards/big/full ride scholarship competitions at specific places and am learning so much from others who have shared their experiences here. Thanks for taking the time to offer your knowledge and insight. I’m looking into UNC and UofSC (South Carolina), as well as a couple others. I understand the application process for these full pay awards are a lot of work, so D25 will limit these, but she is excited about adding a couple to her list.
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Sounds like you may want to find a school with a climatology and/or atmospheric sciences degree - in addition to the engineering - in case engineering falls through (as it does for 40-60% of the students, depending on the study).
It might be a great back up or minor possibility. Some schools may include this in geography if they don’t have a separate degree.
UNL has great scholarships - so with a $46K total cost, maybe a school to look at. They have a formal climatology program.
There may be a few more but many schools have atmospheric sciences…Purdue for one.
As you’ve been building a list from all the schools below, you might add a column on your check box for it as a major, going one by one.
2 hours down the road from Tulsa…U of Oklahoma is one of the top atmospheric science programs in the world, is relatively low cost, a gorgeous campus (although atmospheric science is a short drive), and has engineering.
Like others, you’d need a decent chunk of merit but they do have good merit.
FSU would be another - also a top atmospheric science school - and if you get the OOS waiver (with a good ACT score), you’d be well in budget. I don’t like that engineering is off campus - but they have many students (shared with Florida A&M) and they can support the climatology interest too. So this would actually really work well if the ACT is 32 or higher (I think that’s the recent cutoff) - you’d be well under $30K-ish.
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If it’s not too small, Lafayette has this program. I believe they meet need.
https://inte.lafayette.edu/environment-energy/
Maybe it is just me, though I think it would be safer to look for civil engineering programs with a concentration in environmental/climate/sustainability. Until recently, areas such as environmental and sustainability fell under a civil degree - not degree programs on their own. Perhaps this is just an old civil engineer speaking, but I think you could limit your employment opportunities by “specializing” that much in undergrad.
You could always get a civil degree undergrad, then get a masters in a specialty area. I realize that it could be tough to convince a HS kid of that, though much of the advice DH and I have given the kids in their younger years, which was brushed off as “outdated old people advice”, the kids have since admitted that we were correct.
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Or at least look for schools that also have an ABET accredited civil engineering program (that would be possible to switch into), in case the student decides later that a civil engineering degree would align better with their interests or career plans.
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It’s been a bit and I thought I’d update. Thank you again for the great advice upthread. We’ve done a ton of research and have come a long way in putting together a list, and creating that spreadsheet suggested upthread by @AustenNut.
At the moment, D25 is considering applying to Yale SCEA – it’s affordable, and hands-down her current dream school for what it offers academically (including research) and socially (she loves the res housing). Altho somewhat of a detail, it’s a bonus that D25 loves its geographic location - middle of the northeast with easy access to siblings - and finds it an ideal size.
If she goes that route, she is thinking she will apply EA to
Georgia Tech
NC State
UNC Chapel Hill
U of SC (South Carolina)
URI
(unfortunately, UConn does not offer EA)
All the above EA schools offer compelling academic programs in D25s fields of interest (including engineering) and the possibility of an Honors College experience (although URI does not seem to have the same type of honors experience as far as we can tell). Not all are equally affordable, however, and she would need to receive some merit aid at several.
This plan eliminates applying EA to MIT, RPI, Northeastern and (possibly) Purdue and U Richmond – other schools currently on D25s list. At this point, RPI (no French), Northeastern (required coop?), Purdue (location), and U Richmond (no engineering major - would need the 3-2 option here) are not favored above the others – and D25 would also need merit at these places to make them affordable. If somehow magically affordable, my intuition is that D25 would have a wonderful experience at these places, which is why letting go of EA at the above is something to think about. Also, based on the NPC, MIT is so amazingly affordable, significantly more affordable than Yale NPC. (lol I know this point is a bit ridiculous given their admit rates.) But I’m under the impression that MIT does not have an EA advantage the way other places might. So maybe nbd letting go of that.
Of course this plan also eliminates the option of applying ED somewhere else to gain the ED advantage. As her favored school is Yale, I haven’t really encouraged her to seek out a different school for ED. And this is where I’m really questioning. The LACs feel a bit small - many are quite remote for her and most do not offer engineering if she decides that path – many are also not affordable so they didn’t make the list. We have really put in the time combing through the many options here. All of this to say that if she were to ED somewhere, it would likely be at another teeny tiny admit rate place in the northeast and I’m thinking her odds would be equally as small as SCEA at Yale. She could ED (or ED2) at WUSL, but she reallllly would rather stay in the northeast, so I don’t want to push that. D25 has indicated, tho, that she would pick WUSL over all of her EA schools listed above (exception only to the SCEA).
Any advice/input or general things to think about regarding the above is greatly appreciated. I know D25s odds are so very slim at the single digit admit rate schools – so just want to make sure we have thought it all through. My D25 goes to a public hs and has received no guidance thus far. Her gc was out for personal reasons last year, which didn’t help. I am grateful for the wisdom and experiences shared here, and hopefully this thread will help others with similar considerations 
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I think you have thought this through very well. Good luck with the SCEA application. Will she be doing a RD application to UConn?