<p>Sharp,</p>
<p>We will be driving Teen Boy to school next week so I will fill you in on the actual experience later. He wants to study mechanical engineering / physics.</p>
<p>My son’s stats were almost exactly the same as yours. He attends a magnet school where the valedictorian’s GPA was 4.7+ and therefore his class rank was not high enough for the engineering school at UT. He had no interest in applying to A&M. He really wants to spread his wings and get out of Texas - loves to ski, hike, kayak and thought Colorado would be a great place for all of that while getting a great education. </p>
<p>My primary piece of advice would be for your son to apply early. Your son would almost certainly get the $12K per year scholarship and they have (or at least had) grant money that they can award on a discretionary basis on a first-come, first-served basis. We learned that in our visit last summer. My son ended up getting an additional $2K CSM grant from the school - I think his application was in by October. Work-study ($1,500)
and Stafford loan also. </p>
<p>Very few of son’s classmates that are attending UT received any financial aid. Kids with near perfect SAT’s, GPA and national awards in academic competitions - nothing.</p>