Would need to keep min 3.5 at Nebraska & Miami, as well.
2 Likes
I would avoid the secondary selection process at TAMU, unless OP is truly 100% fine switching from MechE to civil AND is ready for a super stressful freshman year (which would likely involve decrease less time for the sport except as stress release so I leave that aside as a criterion). Right now, OP is a top student but TAMU will be filled with Texas’ top students too so the stress level will be unpleasant.
Nebraska with the 3.5 requirement, tough in Engineering, as well as MiamiOH would both make me hesitate but they seem to be the “compromise” options that are liked enough, work for his chosen major, and offer his sport.
3 Likes
If we have the criteria of:
- No parent loans.
- No very high GPA to keep scholarship or get into the major.
It looks like Alabama and Tulsa are the remaining choices.
What did you tell the student about the cost constraints before applications were made?
2 Likes
We appreciate the summary, and your help, but we only brought Nebraska, Tulsa and Alabama into the conversation when someone asked where the student got full tuition/full ride other than the three we were comparing, and why we crossed them off the list.
We are only considering UIUC, Miami (OH) and TAMU. We are considering reputation, environment, prestige, cost, etc. No parent loans would be amazing but the kid should go somewhere they feel they might do well. There were other schools accepted as well, but they are not financially attainable despite merit and need offers so these are the short list.
As for what the student was told, we said to apply wherever you want. You never know how much merit you might get until you try. We have x amount saved and we’ll sort it out when you get financial offers. With no FAFSA available to even look at during application season, we had no idea what they’d say we qualify for based on need. We ran some net price calculators and intentionally had our student applying at places with big merit opportunities, in addition to a few “shoot for the moon” options. Very high GPA, very high test scores on both SAT & ACT, sports, the arts, volunteering, and kid works. We took a shot. Kid got into some very “name brand” schools but then of the accepted options, we narrowed it down first on cost.
2 Likes
Forgot to add that we only put our interested three schools in the title, somebody else added the others into the title. Maybe a moderator was helping for discussion search tags.
1 Like
Then the summary of choices would be:
- UIUC: $26k/year parent loans.
- Miami (OH): $7k/year parent loans.
- Texas A&M: no parent loans unless student gets <3.5 college GPA; needs high college GPA for ETAM if wanting a more competitive major like mechanical engineering.
Correct?
2 Likes
It seems Miami OH would be the only one even remotely possible after TAMU.
7k parent loans would not be ideal but if it’s still on the table it means you consider it doable and Miami a better fit than Tamu and/or better than ETAM and the associated risks&stress.
Would that be a fair assessment?
3 Likes
The valedictorian at my D’s Ohio high school did engineering at TAMU and had a great experience. Wonderful opportunities there for research and internships.
IMO, TAMU is much stronger than Miami for engineering. My D had plenty of friends stay in OH for school and not one went to Miami for engineering.
My only concern for your child is the 3.5 GPA requirement. That’s not an easy ask of an engineering student.
6 Likes
^ it’s even harder - they need to have a 3.75 to choose their major, which makes for a stressful and very competitive freshman year; if they don’t have that GPA, they need to list a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 5 majors and will be ranked against others and be assigned to the major their rank sends them to.
Hence the appeal of MiamiOH, I think.
4 Likes
Weren’t decisions due May 1st?
With the FAFSA fiasco, many colleges delayed to June 1.
(Some students still haven’t been able to file and many more haven’t received their FA packages yet.)
4 Likes
Basically, yes. There might be a few thousand in parent loans at TAMU because housing isn’t figured out yet. But if we can keep it under $20K-$25K in parent loans over 4 years ($5K-$6K a year plus fees?) it’s fine. We’ve got about $10K saved per year, per kid, with more college plans on the horizon. Cost really affected the final list here, and the final choice. The savings were the cushion to allow some choice.
2 Likes
These ended up being the final two, yes. It was an incredibly difficult decision, with the student and family completely torn between the two choices right until the final hour.
2 Likes
So…which one was chosen?
2 Likes
Yes, we’re definitely worried about that.
But hopefully it will be a great fit and all this concern will seem unwarranted a year from now. Fingers crossed! And thank you for the Ohio perspective. This senior was fairly enamored with Ohio State, as well, and got quite a nice merit scholarship there, but the OSU package was too low when compared to these other two colleges. Being anywhere in Ohio would have been driveable in a day, it’s too bad that didn’t work out.
1 Like
Yes. Plus much easier to get there via car, supportive sounding program, being accepted to Honors with guaranteed housing, a few friends heading there in other majors (some familiar faces if needed). A number of factors to love with Miami-OH. It was a really tough call. Really complicated discussions at home. Exhausting discussions.
1 Like
Whatever you choose will be great.
A&M is Bama so not sure how it would be a good fit for you. Miami is definitely not but I do think the depth of engineering at A&M is far greater. Miami is like a huge William & Mary, with engineering.
Once you decide don’t look back !!
1 Like
May 1: Only for one school of all the schools kid was accepted to.
It’s now June 2 and we never did get the final financial aid package from two schools. Our FAFSA was done within 9 days of the form going live in January. It’s been awful for decision making. For those two we had to decide based on estimates.
Miami’s (for us) came out after May 1 as did numerous others.
Most of the schools moved the date to May 15 or June 1 without us ever asking.
2 Likes
@DecisionStressed has this student chosen a college yet? If so…which one?
3 Likes
And the winner is Texas A & M!
Wish us luck!
Thanks to all who gave us perspectives to think about, it did help. Both Illinois and Miami were hard to give up, but kid said they think they’re up for the challenge of the coming semester and year.
ETAM is daunting, certainly, and playing a sport may be the casualty. We know not one person heading there, and hope the common engineering experience will inspire new friendships.
And if the culture doesn’t work out as well as we hope, we won’t consider it a failure to have tried something new and difficult. We’ll help our kid transfer, if needed, but we are going in with optimism and the belief that trying something very different from the familiar can be an exceptional growth experience. This kid is brave and adventurous, smart, and so compassionate. Those are great qualities to have when navigating a new place. We are hoping the Aggie spirit and reputation for being a friendly place (in addition to a well known engineering career launchpad) makes this a good decision!
Again thanks for everyone’s help & send good luck!
13 Likes