I think we will also add #14 - Virginia Tech.
Go Hokies!
I doubt that Virginia Tech will give any significant money. VaTech and GaTech cost the same OOS.
GaTech is much stronger in BME and is in Atlanta (vs. Backsburg.) Same with housing and activities. Atlanta has much more options.
I have seen where they give some money out of state depending on need. It always seems rather random but does happen. They are very stingy with any help in state.
Northeastern does have a Bioengineering major. My unqualified understanding is that there isn’t really a difference between the two, Bioengineering is just a newer term.
Also my anecdotal opinion is that Northeastern tends to give better merit aid than BU for high-achieving students.
Adding Northeastern to the initial list.It looks that we nee to head to Boston this summer :), looks like many options there. (Boston U, WPI, Northeastern, Olin)
Should we consider any of these:
Bucknell
Lafayette
Swarthmore
Lehigh
Do they provide merit to engineering students?
I am a bit hesitant with SLACS and small cities. Child is artistic but not into humanities and has independent views, plus very nerdy…
momnsearch I think you got flagged for putting in another website.
But…In my experience with some of the prediction websites from my son’s college search this year - unless your a 70% rate on probably acceptance you may have difficulty. I personally wouldn’t feel safe under 80% likelihood of acceptance since the predictions are pretty random. But I think if your 80% + based on gpa, testing, and class rank etc. then you should feel pretty good about that particular school.
In-state vs. out of state …. not really a good predictor. Just because your in-state doesn’t mean your going to have a better chance …. if they get proportionately more in-state applicants. I have surprisingly seen out of state students with lower stats get in where in state students didn’t.
You want to apply to some reach schools but you also want to have a good 2-3 80%+ prediction ones too. Honestly you should apply to a couple 90+ predicted ones.
So you cannot mention another websites on this forum? I was wondering why all other posts come through and this one does not… This is interesting rule…
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You post contained a link to collegesimply. The system flagged the post for review, which I deleted. You can repost without the link.
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May be I am missing something, but why would we need to consider “safety” for school ranked much lower than local flagship if local CC has guaranteed transfer to UMD program with 3.0 GPA? I know people hate CC and it may be not the best fit for top students, but when everyone start to panic if they are not admitted to their top choices, I just do not get it. Unless local school is absolutely terrible (not our case), what is the problem?
what I meant unaccepted to top school students (if they did not apply to local schools) can always attend CC or take gap year. I do not see it as big deal. In the end it is the same diploma with CC or without.
Will certainly see significant merit from Case Western.
Will almost certainly not see any from UIUC or Michigan - should drop them.
Did anybody used “collegesimply” or some others to see acceptance probability based on SAT and GPA ( I know it will be not very accurate) ? But probably will get some baseline.
Here are numbers that I’ve got.
I think in terms of preference in case of comparable scholarships list would be ranked something like this:
- Ga Tech (34%) - target
- Boston U (43%) - target
3 Rice (15%) - slim chance, far
4 Case Western (47%) - target, a bit far. - U of Michigan (42%) - very cold
- Olin (15%) - slim chance, but will be great in terms of fit.
- Northeastern (41%)
- UMD CP (in state) - match/safety (64% - I would say 100% since we are in state.)
- U Pitt -safety (81%)
- WPI - No numbers…
- Stevens Institute of Technology (65%)
- Rose - Hulman (79%) - far
What do you think? I suspect we may get some money from Pitt, Rose- Hulman, UMD (priority deadline), and possibly WPI. The rest will require some luck 
and very good essays.
Pitt not a safety of you can’t afford to pay for it full price. Getting merit money is no slam dunk there.
I’d add Tulane. Apply early, might get half cost scholarship with her numbers.
Tulane is great but a bit too far for us.
Thanks everyone. I think we’ve got good initial list. To me it is counterintuitive, since we initially tried to avoid private schools (due to cost) but end up with list of mostly private.
Any advice about necessity to attend/show interest in the above?
I hope that we do not need to attend Rice. I do not believe GaTech cares either. Will probably drop 2 from the list (I suspect that would be Michigan and Rose-Hulman)
She will apply EA everywhere where possible, but we obviously can’t go with binding in any of the above.
Will applying RD (or EA ) will diminish chances for scholarship so much that it would not make sense to apply to any of the above? Should I post to separate forums for each school?
I would avoid RD as much as you can. Many schools will have an early non-binding as well in addition to early decision (binding) and RD.
I don’t think EA vs RD makes any difference for most schools. My son was offered opportunities to compete for scholarships from his EA schools upon acceptance with the results coming out with the RD acceptances with exception of one award which also included the opportunity to increase it with an additional app and again, would be determined in the RD timeline.
Since you have a very strong safety, your Dd can make it easier for herself to eliminate those schools she isn’t going to want over MD. Would she attend 9-12 if accepted to them at comparable cost or less? (I still say Pitt is a reach on the money and not worth it at full price vs MD at your price)
I’m finding in some cases (Virginia Tech for example) they are using RD to fill out the class and departments where 3/4 of the acceptances are happening in the earlier rounds. Going RD only risks classes already being filled before they get to you. My son has a friend with very good numbers that applied to VT as RD and got rejected. I can almost guarantee if he had done Early Action (non-binging) he would have gotten in
In my post above, I meant to caveat my first sentence with “in terms of awards”. I certainly believe that applying early gives you an edge.
cptofthehouse, I kind of agree with you and initially told my daughter not to apply to UPitt. I strongly doubt she will go there. However, it looks that UPitt is stronger tham UMD in BME. I need to investigate it. I also know very little about WPI. Stevens probably can go too.