Low-cost [<$30k] (with merit?) schools with engineering [MA resident, 3.91, 1500, not NMSF]

College Search & Lists
101

Midyear update! He should have all As for his fall dual enrollment classes (A- for Biology). I think his AP lit teacher is totally spacey, and I have no idea what his grade is in that class. He’s gotten high A’s on all the work he’s done that is graded, but she has a ton of things ungraded, and her syllabus is a mess and doesn’t line up with what she actually has them do, so it’s a bit hard for him to keep track of whether he has done all the work or not.

Admitted
Kansas State (accepted to IE; needs to apply to honors; OOS tuition waiver plus $3000 Engineering scholarship makes it about $21,000/year)

Mississippi State (accepted to IE & honors, merit makes total cost ~$9000 first year, and about $17,000/year after)

Slippery Rock (accepted to IE; no word on merit; would need to apply to honors)

SUNY Oswego (admitted to Elec Engineering; 2 merit scholarships make it $26,000/year)

SUNY Binghamton (admitted to IE; $15,000/year merit makes the cost ~$33,000/year)

SUNY University at Buffalo (admitted to IE & Honors; no word on merit)

University of Rhode Island (Admitted to IE & honors; $15,000/year merit makes it ~$36,000/year)

Match
UMass Amherst (decision end of Jan)
Rochester Institute of Technology (decision in March)

Reach
Case Western Reserve University — deferred He will go into the RD pool with the decision in March. They want academic and EC updates, which he won’t have anything of note for. And they also want a “Why CWRU“ essay. He does like CWRU, but its location combined with the likely much higher price tag compared to his other options is making him think it might not be worth it.

Georgia Institute of Technology (decision end of Jan)
Northeastern University (decision mid-Feb)

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute — applied EA but he’s running into a bit of a problem and I’m afraid he’s going to get pushed to RD. They require first quarter or trimester grades to consider you for EA. However, he is doing all dual enrollment classes and does not have first quarter grades. He emailed his AO and they said to just send his semester grades and that hopefully he will have them before the end of December. It’s not looking promising that he will have them by the 31st, unfortunately.

Lehigh (App not finished, due Jan 1 for RD, with decision in March)
Tufts University (App not finished, due Jan 5 for RD)

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102

Going great so far - congrats!! Honors at Buffalo is excellent (not sure if there was any doubt he’d get Honors, but nice to have it nailed down) - fingers crossed for the merit piece! You’d hope the merit would be at least as good as Bing, but I guess you never know.

CWRU sure does demand to be fawned on! I can see how the fawning might not feel worth the trouble given the likelihood that they won’t be competitive on price, and the fact that he already has good and affordable options.

So far, so good! :tada:

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103

Congrats! Sounds like he has some good options already, especially with the merit awards.

Good luck to him on the remaining ones as well!

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104

You could also look at URI. My oldest went for the international engineering program (a 5-year program with one year in abroad). Ended up with an almost 6 figure starting salary.

If he is interested in industrial engineering, URI is where Professor’s Boothroyd and Dewhurst developed their Design for Manufacture and Assembly processes.

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105

Yes, he is interested in URI!

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106

When we started this process, S24 was completely visionless about what he wanted to study & what he wanted in a college. Since he thought he would get NMSF he was happy to just choose one of the inexpensive options that would provide. With some distance, I can see that not getting NMSF and needing to engage with the process more deeply has been very good for him. I’ve been very proud of the ways he has grown, and think that he is in a better position to take advantage of his college experience than he would have been otherwise.

And thank you to everyone who suggested Industrial Engineering! It is not a field I was familiar with, but it fits S24’s interests very well. Even if he ends up moving in a different direction eventually, it is a great place for him to start and it has given him energy and helped him develop some vision for his next steps.

S24 really likes at least some characteristics of each of the schools he applied to, so he is having trouble letting any of them go. Here is how things stand after the EA round.

Admitted
After looking more into the following 2 schools, he has decided they aren’t as good choices as others because they have fewer options for ABET accredited majors.

  • Slippery Rock (accepted to IE; no word on merit; would need to apply to honors)

  • SUNY Oswego (admitted to Elec Engineering; 2 merit scholarships make it $26,000/year)

Hates to let this one go, but in the end he thinks UMass beats it in every category.

  • SUNY University at Buffalo (admitted to IE & Honors; $15,000/year merit makes it ~$31,000/year)

He really likes the vibe of K State and the cost of MS State, but he feels a bit uncomfortable with how far away they are. He’s still considering them.

  • Kansas State (accepted to IE; didn’t apply to honors; OOS tuition waiver plus $3000 Engineering scholarship makes it about $21,000/year)

  • Mississippi State (accepted to IE & honors, auto-merit + $3K/year engineering scholarship, plus first year housing scholarship makes total cost ~$6000 first year, and about $14,000/year after)

  • SUNY Binghamton (admitted to IE; $15,000/year merit makes the cost ~$33,000/year; recently got word he was invited to the Scholars program & to the First Year Research Intensive)

  • University of Rhode Island (Admitted to IE & honors; $15,000/year merit makes it ~$36,000/year)

  • UMass Amherst (Admitted to IE & Commonwealth Honors College; $2,000/year merit makes it ~$33,000/year since he is in-state)

  • Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Admitted to Industrial & Systems Eng; $35,500 in scholarships & $4,100 in grants makes COA ~$43,000, the most expensive but also the curriculum he likes best so far of admittances)

Rejected
Georgia Tech (This wasn’t a surprise)

Deferred to RD

Case Western Reserve University — After thinking it over, he wanted to continue to pursue this. As part of their “update us” they asked for what was basically a “Why CWRU?” essay and I thought he wrote a nice one.

Northeastern University — as of today, he says he is still interested but doesn’t see the point of sending a LOCI, which they don’t ask for but some people say is valuable if he wants a chance in RD

Regular Decision Apps
Rochester Institute of Technology
Lehigh
Tufts University

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107

Congratulations to your son on his great acceptances and merit awards!

My son’s favorites are Bing and RPI, also for engineering (still waiting on Purdue and GT in RD, but know they’re long shots). The culture seems so different at these two schools - I think Niche has party scene rated A+ at Bing and B- at RPI - it would be nice to find a happy medium.

Good luck to your son as he makes his decision!

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108

Congratulations! At UMass the cost would be around $31k with the $2k merit award - also, because there is flexibility in choosing a meal plan you could save a little there too. And you can waive insurance if he is on a family plan . . .

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109

Wonderful results! Thanks for the detailed update.

He’ll get in at RIT. They offered my kid a good aid package. Not as good as some others, but it was within our budget. RIT was a family favorite.

Your son is doing a great job thinking through this stuff. Mine also had kind of a hard time figuring out his preferences and his processing sounds similar to yours. We had to get a little creative with our questions to help him figure out what he wanted.

He’s a combination of cautious but also not picky, so it feels weird to do something as big as choosing a college when you could just have someone tell you what to do, or pick the cheapest one. He had so many options within budget, and it helped him to realize they were all great choices and he couldn’t go wrong.

It was a gradual process, but it worked well, and has continued into college. It’s been so neat to see him figure out himself and his place in the world.

Good work! Remember that he has lots of time to make a decision, and there’s no rush. My kid picked the last offer that came in, and didn’t make a final decision til mid-April. If you need to make a deposit to be guaranteed housing at a public that’s okay – he can always change his mind. It will be exciting to see where he ends up!

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110

Fantastic - the title notes $30K or less - obviously the two further away schools meet this - but then you have to get there :slight_smile:

Why does UMASS beat Buffalo in every category? It’s a bit more in budget…

Do you think the lower cost makes a K State or Ms State worth the “gamble” - or you are ok with the low to mid 30s of the others?

Will he have a chance to get to either or budget wise, it’s hard to make happen?

Has great acceptances - hopefully you find that happy medium!!!

Best of luck as you start to head toward the finish.

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111

When we were deciding on colleges to apply to, we could contribute $35K/year. He could take out the federal loans, and he has about $30K saved. So, total cost per year could be ~$50K. But he really didn’t want to spend any of his own money, and he wanted some cushion on that, hence the $30K target.

Now that it is becoming more real, he isn’t sure whether he’d rather pay less but be further away, or pay more and be closer to home. The exact curriculum of each school is also becoming more of a factor as he thinks more concretely about what college will be like.

(Also, my husband got a promotion at the end of 2023 that quite significantly increases his compensation, so he wants to put part of that toward S24’s school if it will help S24 find a better fit. That isn’t something we’ve agreed on yet, though, and not something we’ve mentioned to S24.)

UMass is closer, weather at least as good as Buffalo, they are similarly large (S would prefer smaller), UMass slightly more prestigious. He prefers UMass campus. He does need to look at curriculum at each a bit more to see if Buffalo beats UMass there. (So far UMass has his least favorite program of studies for the IE major.)

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112

Congratulations to your son on all of the offers! It sounds like he’s really been maturing and is being very thoughtful about this process. Did he end up not applying to Brown? I know it had been something of an ideal for him.

I know your family had doubts as to whether he would be accepted to the honors college at UMass, so double congrats on that! Sounds like Binghamton is also trying to woo him with different academic honors, too.

As your son digs through the curricula at the different schools, it might be helpful to others if you share his thoughts as to why some are preferable to others.

Thanks so much for the update and look forward to hearing how your son’s thinking continues to evolve!

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113

My kid took a risk (big for him) by choosing a far away private instead of closer publics. Almost all of his friends stayed in-state. We knew he wanted to make the leap but was apprehensive. We told him: you know if you hate it, you can transfer to [closer X or Y publics] at any point, right? He was so relieved when he heard that and it gave him the peace of mind he needed to make the leap. He hadn’t realized that was even an option, we explained that transferring isn’t ideal, but it made a difference since he’s not very tolerant of risk. Just want to mention since it sounds like our kids have a lot in common.

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114

Congratulations for your son on getting through the application process, and for really digging in to figure out what’s going to make the most sense for him! Just hearing how he worked through thinking about what he wants and needs is great, as is hearing what kinds of responses he got from different schools.

Looking forward to hearing where he lands! It sounds like he’s got some great options to think about. Good luck, and there are lots of people cheering for him – and you!

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115

We told all of our children this explicitly as well. I think knowing that where you go to college is a choice you can remake if it turns out to have been the wrong choice is very reassuring (D20 and D23 both found they love their schools).

I also think this is the kind of thinking that can be hardest for 17/18 year olds - they just don’t have any much practice with flexible thinking. This is where scaffolding helps.

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116

And I have to say, it is nice to see “Slimy Pebble” listed here …I don’t see a lot about Slippery Rock usually, so it is nice to have the name get some recognition!

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My son has been at K-State 7 years (3 undergrad and 4 vet school) and has loved it. He is 10-12 hours from us and it has never been an issue. Many of his friends live nearby and he found plenty of people to help if he needed it. The school really is like a family. The engineering building is nice and a lot of his friends went through it and got great jobs. Tell him to really consider it!

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118

He did not apply to Brown. In the end he decided the very low chance wasn’t the best use of his time. Given his extra life experience and maturity, he might make a different decision if he was making it today rather than in October. But I think it was a fine decision for him.

(Although he thinks he might be interested in doing management consulting & he felt like Brown was his best chance for that, IMO he has the type of personality & maturity level where he would be better off getting his undergrad degree and working at something else for a few years. Then, if management consulting is still what he wants, he can pursue an MBA and go from there. ETA: because, while I think he would be good at management consulting, I don’t think he would like the lifestyle. In five or 10 years, he’ll have a better idea what he really wants out of life than he does now and can make a more informed decision.)

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119

Congrats on the great results so far, and especially on Commonwealth Honors! As I recall, that was the wild card that could make UMass an attractive option in spite of its size, so now the in-state flagship is looking like more of a contender. An advantage of the size is that there’s such strength there across the board in his areas of interest, if he changes his mind about IE.

Has he visited RPI? Great school, but the “vibe” - including both the “grind” ethos and the gender imbalance - is not for everyone, and most of his other schools are less tech-focused.

Sounds like some nice opportunities at Binghamton, and nice to know that the merit profile did end up being similar to Buffalo and matching his in-state costs.

And some great bargains at the farther-from-home schools. And some interesting options still pending. Tough decision ahead!

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I have concerns about both. He doesn’t mind working hard when he understands the purpose and he has a clear goal in mind, but I wouldn’t describe him as a kid that thrives in a “grind” environment. Also, he has had regrettably little exposure to females in his life. He is homeschooled in a house full of brothers and, somehow despite my efforts, every group we’ve been a part of has also been much more heavily male than female. He probably wouldn’t be uncomfortable with the gender imbalance, but I think a different environment would be positive for him.

He did visit in the fall, and said he liked it. He felt very similarly about CWRU, Lehigh, & RPI. Since I have heard those schools have such different vibes, I’m a little concerned about his read on them. He did all those visits with his dad, who himself doesn’t pick up on vibes much. Their post-visit reports were mostly about the programs & facilities, and nothing about the students except “they seemed happy and nice” at all 3 schools. So we will definitely revisit (with me!) any before he commits.

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