Then RHIT should be out. Tiny and isolated.
You will be cheap at Ms State and ole Miss too and might want to check LSU and Arkansas. Not sure how the last two will fare. Always use direct costs, not the non direct as an apples to apples.
Good luck with UIUC.
The good news is outcome wise, any ABET program will put you in good position.
If OP is seeking an HBCUâŠsure.
Tuskegeee is in the sticks.
But be careful UAH is automerit.
Alabama A&M is competitive - you have to apply. What if you donât get ?
OP did not indicate whether being an HBCU or HWCU like University of Alabama or UAH matters to them, so putting out options that meet the price and major criteria makes sense.
Yea except one is auto, one is competitive.
If the COA is under $25k then itâs ok. If not, itâs a risk.
I believe at least some of their merit is stackable, so that sounds promising.
âWorth itâ is very personal. But I think various rankings sometimes struggle to really capture the possible value of prominent private engineering colleges like Case. If it helps, though, you might want to check out this study of Engineering PhD feeders:
Obviously you donât have to want to do an Engineering PhD, but this gives you some idea of at least some of the colleges where undergrads get the opportunities they need to distinguish themselves to such programs, if that is something they do want. And that usually involves things like good undergrad research opportunities and other experience opportunities.
Anyway, the totals list on the right has a lot of large publics, but among privates it goes MIT, Cornell, BYU (sort of a special case), RPI, Hopkins, and then Case. Not bad. Per capita is on the left, and that favors smaller colleges. But among private research universities, it goes Caltech, MIT, RPI, Hopkins, Rice, Clarkson, Princeton, and then Case. Again, not bad.
Notably, Case is the only school I named so far that is in the Midwest. Northwestern and WashU eventually make the totals list, and IIT, WashU, Northwestern, and Notre Dame make the per capita list (again, this is only private research universities in the Midwest). But Case, by these measures at least, is in rare company.
Case is also a good university in general (which is relevant if Engineering doesnât work out, and it doesnât for a lot of kids).
Just to be clear, I am not making a hard pitch for Caseâtotally up to you. But in my circles, there are in fact Engineering and other kids who target Case, particularly if they can get merit, because they see it as having a lot of value.
Thanks for all of your suggestions and replies.
At this point Iâm just wondering, would there be any affordable schools that are a match or target from an admissions standpoint? I feel like I have a lot of safeties which give enough merit to afford them and a few reaches which would give enough need-based aid.
For high stats students like yourself, this is a common pattern. Itâs easy enough to find safeties that are affordable because they give big merit for your stats. And itâs easy enough to find reaches that are affordable, because most reaches are private schools with lots of money to give for need-based aid. But matches/targets that are affordable are much harder to find, because by definition they are a âmatchâ for your stats and therefore they have no incentive to throw merit money at you, and because most of them are OOS publics (e.g. Purdue, Madison) which reserve their limited need-based aid for in-state students.
So, long story short, your only affordable match/target may end up being UIUC. But thatâs ok. Itâs perfectly fine to only have 1 match, or even zero, as long as your list has some quality safeties. And yours does! The great thing about engineering (as opposed to other majors) is that it has ABET accreditation, so even schools with overall high admit rates provide reliably excellent educations. So you just choose a few affordable safeties that you like. From lots of snow and outdoor adventure at remote Michigan Tech, to the Big Southern Football experience of Alabama, there is something for everyone.
The $27,000 total over four years federally funded Direct Loan is not an onerous loan. In my opinion. And it makes some of the colleges being discussed affordable. The ones in the region of the country that this student prefers.
@thumper1 he doesnât need loans even in his region - and heâs not shown a desire for those where it might work - Kansas, Missouri Science & Tech, Iowa State, etc. and itâd still cost more than the others.
Back to OP - OP - you are missing the point. You donât need safeties, targets and reaches. You need one school - the most important school on your list - thatâs an assured and affordable school that youâd be happy to attend. You have to take that last part with a grain of salt in your case - because you have a budget.
So as an example - Purdue is a target for you. But in reality itâs not. Itâs a high reach. Why? Because you have zero chance of achieving budget.
Hereâs the other thing - it doesnât matter if itâs Minnesota or Wyoming or Alabama. Short of maybe 3-5 schools, as long as you have ABET accreditation, youâre good. Itâs in many job listings - ABET required.
You have to take rank with a grain of salt. Itâs not based on any statistics at all - but peer review. Other colleges tell US News how they rate competitors. Thereâs zero behind it.
So my son turned down Purdue for Bama - and I was a bit incensed. Purdue was overcrowded with housing and at Bama he got a single room as would you (in Honors). He told me ranking was irrelevant and companies donât care. Given he had 19 interviews in the Fall and 5 offers with a 6th int he spring from his intern company, he wasnât wrong.
He works in a leadership program that hires 150 a year - engineers, safety people, and supply chain. In the engineering group - you have Michigan, Ga Tech this year, Cal Poly, Purdue, Case Western, and yes Auburn, Alabama, NC State and then you also have Buffalo, Akron, W Michigan, UC Riverside and others. They all make the same - so yes W Michigan and Michigan together.
When my son interned in the summer, he lived with and was grouped with 2 Ga Tech kids. Neither received an invite backâŠthe Bama kid did.
So donât get hung up on rank.
Get hung up on affordabilityâŠthatâs what is key.
And thereâs many names - more than were mentioned - to get you there - but you have Midwest suggestions and Southern suggestions and there was a hail Mary attempt at Delaware.
So donât worry about a target - Purdue, Ohio State, Wisconsin, etc. because they are high reaches in reality - when you canât afford them.
If you apply Illinois, a couple highly selective if the NPC looks good, and then a couple guaranteed to hit $25K schools, you could be done.
Good luck.
Rice
Consider RPI (Rensselaer). For high stats students, theyâll usually match your in-state flagshipâs cost, and if you got merit there, theyâll match that, too. They might even match your best offer.
One of the good things about RPI is that there is plenty of room in the car clubs, to do mech E projects right off the bat. I have heard that at some schools one doesnât get to do that until junior year. Also, their co-op program virtually guarantees that youâll have at least a couple of offers after graduation, from your co-ops.
So holding aside region and affordability for a moment, with numbers like yours I think Targets would normally include public engineering powerhouses like Wisconsin, Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan State, Minnesota, Virginia Tech, Colorado, and so on. They would also include privates like Case, RPI, WPI, RIT, Lehigh, and Rochester.
Unfortunately affordability may knock out all those publics. The privates, though might be more promising. Maybe not with need aid alone, but if they stacked some meritâwhich they might with your numbers, if they have stackable meritâthen maybe!
So far the only of those privates I mentioned was Case as it is the only one in the Midwest. But if you were willing to look farther east, you could take a look at more NPCs, see if any more look close, and then look into whether they have stackable merit. If so, those could be some Target applications.
Or you could remain uninterested. Totally up to you. But these are the sorts of colleges that at least might count as Targets, if you were interested.
Riceâs acceptance rate is around 8%. Itâs another reach and definitely not Midwest.
Being in-state, I think you have a good shot at UIUC. Did you choose a second major which is less competitive?
Tell us something we donât know,Mom.
At an 8% acceptance rate, Rice is of course a reach for anyone. BUT with his grades and test scores it is also a match. And he said that heâs open to considering schools from outside the Midwest.
Given the excellence of its engineering program, combined with the financial support automatically available to an applicant with his SAI, Rice is an opportunity that he should most definitely not pass up.
UiUC is of course a no brainer and a school to which he has already applied.
Another that might be a good fit, a bit less selective than Rice, is Lehigh.
Assuming your family meets this # - this is a match. But as a need aware school, they may turn down someone based on their finances.
We are proud to offer the Lehigh Commitment, a pledge to make a Lehigh education even more accessible. For undergraduate students from families with a family income of less than $75,000 (with typical assets), Lehigh will provide a full tuition grant (the family will pay no tuition), reinforcing our commitment to enrolling talented students regardless of family income.
As a further favorable note on Lehigh, its students rated its science lab facilities a notable first in the nation based on survey results:
Something seems to be amiss here because CWRU meets full need. So either the SAI calculator was wrong, or CWRU NPC is missing something/treating something different than the SAI calculator.
OP, certain situations can cause SAI calculators and/or NPCs to be inaccurate, for example, divorced parents, parents own real estate beyond a primary home and/or parents own a businessâŠare any of these the case for you?
Run this SAI estimator: 2025-26 FAFSA Student Aid Index (SAI) Calculator â College Money Method
A school canât be a reach and a target, and because of the noted discrepancy above, we donât know that Rice would be affordable.
OP, run Riceâs NPC here: Net Price Calculator
Obviously people use different definitions, but I tend to start with the definitions here:
If you look through the definitions, it is not possible for a Target to have under a 25% accept rate.
That said, in practice at our HS we would then adjust these definitions based on our own internal data as well as college counselor experience. Iâm not sure it would be possible to get Rice all the way to a Target that way, but for some it would count as something we might call a âsofter Reachâ.
And I do think there was some value in keeping track of such colleges. Indeed, that ended up being the source of all the offers my S24 seriously considered (colleges identified as softer Reaches during his list formation process).
Sorry for not responding in a while. I was a bit busy yesterday however I was finally able to fill out the FAFSA which puts my SAI at about 17k
Here is the net price I got off the calculator for these colleges:
Case: 29k
URochester: 33k
Lehigh: 39k
RIT: 39k
WPI: 43k
RPI: 48k
From what I could tell, Case primarily uses the CSS profile and meets what they think is your financial need. In their NPC results, they also consider student loans and campus employment as âother aidâ which gets the remaining cost down to 20k (which might be what they then consider meeting full need). I used the values in my CSS profile to fill out their net price calculator. According to usnwr, the average for those in 75k-110k income (parents is about 90k) is 32k which seems right with the estimate of 29k that it gave me.
Yes, my parents do own some real estate beyond the primary home.
Rice would probably be great but its low acceptance rate makes me want to avoid putting it as a âtargetâ
How much do your parents make. Lehigh has free tuition for under $75K income. Now usually thereâs a stipulation about assets on that too - and perhaps thatâs driving up the cost.
You note additional real estate - and that and home equity might be the culprit - but itâd be worth the call based on the $$ they put up for income.
Your parents should call - they know the #s.
But it is true, if you have assets, schools expect you to spend or as Cornell told me, invest in your children.
Back to where you should apply - pick one or two - Bama, UAH, Grand Valley, check the NPC for Central Michigan, W MIchigan, and the Illinois DirectionalsâŠthe first two definitely hit cost and someone else verified Grand Valley.
Get 1-2 in for those that you know will work.
Then from the list above you just showed the NPC - decide if any are worth it and if so, apply.
You can only go to one - so if you wasted some (like you did with Purdue, Ohio State), no harm no foul.
But something is amiss in what youâre entering (your parents should do, not you) or they are in a much better position financially (yes, via CSS) than you thought. When you have assets, schools assume they can be mortgaged or sold, etc. to help pay. They are businesses.
But because Lehigh has the $75K income thing, assuming your parents make less (maybe they donât) - itâd be worth a call to financial aid to find out why youâre coming so high.
But more important than this last list is those guaranteed and assured - which is where this started with Bama, UAH, MS State and then the others that likely are (GVSU, CMU, directional Illinois).
Thatâs the most important - than you can add the CSS schools if you desire from there.