Match my dandelion child who wants to be a civil engineer, to schools with excellent merit aid [4.0 GPA, 35 ACT]

Chance Me / Match Me
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My S28 is very much a “dandelion kid”, meaning that he seems to bloom wherever he is “planted”. He’s my youngest so he’s tagged along on a bunch of college visits and at every school he says “Oh, I’d like it here. Maybe I’ll go here.” Because of that, he’s decided that he wants to go to our state flagship. His logic is that if he’s happy to go anywhere, why not go somewhere cheap? I have to admit that this logic makes sense.

I’d like him to at least look at some other schools for a variety of reasons, among them the fact that I hear that our state flagship isn’t a safety for anyone. Since he is very focused on this idea of a less expensive school, I’d love some thoughts for schools where a high stats kid might get merit aid to bring the cost down to the range of our flagship, which is about $35K.

It looks like we will be able to afford a more expensive schools. The $35-40K limit comes from him. So, if there are schools that offer something that justifies paying more, we’re open to suggestions! (Or I am, dandelion might not be)

Demographics

  • US citizen
  • Feeder type private high school (i.e. reputation for high rigor, sends a high portion of kids to Ivies and similar)
  • Recruitable athlete, but not sure he’s going to pursue that.

Cost Constraints / Budget
Kid would like to stay under $40K, and likes the idea of an even lower price. I am willing and able to pay more. Finances are very in flux right now, so don’t want to count on financial aid.

Intended Major(s): Civil engineering, particularly interested in solving water related problems. Would like to study a non-Western language in college, maybe Arabic or Turkish? Wants to work in disaster relief or international aid.

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores (note: He’s a 10th grader, so I’m going to add what we know now, and what he plans.

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 4.0 (current) He hopes to keep it there. Who knows?
  • Weighted HS GPA: HS does not weight
  • Class Rank: HS does not rank, he has the highest possible GPA and rigor, but I do not know how many other kids have that profile. My sense is not many
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 35 ACT (taken in 9th), PSAT 1500 (taken in 9th) plans to take SAT in 11th, and maybe retake ACT

List your HS coursework

(His school does not designate courses as honors or AP. They do have tracks in math and science. He has taken the AP for some of his classes, and plans to continue to do so.)

  • English: English 9, currently taking English 10
  • Math: Currently taking a course similar to BC Calc. Plans to take multivariable calc and linear algebra.
  • Science: Took Physics in 9th, scored 5 on Physics 1 and Physics 2 exams. Currently taking Chem, and plans to take the AP Chem exam. Future plans include Biology, and Calc based physics, and post AP level Chem class.
  • History and social studies: European History (5 on AP), Currently taking a World History class, and planning for another AP
  • Language other than English: Spanish IV (5 on AP Spanish Lang) Currently taking Spanish V (plans to take AP Spanish Lit). Might continue with Spanish, might switch back to Mandarin which he took in middle school. Might drop language to allow more sciences. Neither language is a heritage language.
  • Visual or performing arts: 1 year of studio art, currently taking technical theater class
  • Other academic courses: None, because school only allows 6 courses. He did self study for AP CSA (5) last year, and is currently studying for AP Psych, because his brother is taking the class.

College Coursework (Transfer Applicants)

None, and probably won’t take any before HS graduation, as his school makes that difficult.

Awards: None: His school doesn’t do any awards, and he doesn’t like academic or athletic competitions

Extracurriculars
Lots of athletics: Summer swim, multiple varsity sports, club sports, recreational sports etc . . .

Robotics team

Technical Theater

Coach for younger athletes with disabilities

Volunteers to cook with and for the residents of a home for elderly, previously unhoused women

He very much wants to be an EMT and to join our local volunteer rescue squad but has to wait till he’s 16

Summer job working landscaping

Attended a bunch of college ID camps for 2 sports (got lots of interest)

Attended a somewhat competitive summer science program

Skilled woodworker

Essays/LORs/Other
My guess is they’ll be strong, but of course they aren’t written yet.

Schools

That’s what we need help with!

He likes everything. Big/small, Urban/rural, etc . . . He’ll go to some giant school and be ready to sign up because they have great football, and then if the next school has 900 kids and no sports he’s like “Oh this is nice, I don’t care about sports”. The only schools he’s ever said anything negative about were Service Academies. He also complains that many schools are too expensive.

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If he wants merit schools then he needs to take the PSAT to qualify for the national merit scholarship program. They take it junior year.

I think if he likes the in-state flagship then you should respect that. I know you want him to have more options, but this should be student driven. That’s not to say he won’t change his mind once he starts taking more courses in high school.

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Just to clarify, this is the PSAT/NMSQT test, typically taken in October of junior year.

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Your son won’t be graduating from high school for 2 1/2 years. A lot could change during that time.

At this point, I think I would suggest dropping discussions of colleges for the most part. If he asks a question, fine. If you are on a family vacation and you are near a smaller college, go visit. But for a class of 2028 student, I’d put less emphasis on college options/choices now.

He very well could do a 180 and decide he only wants to apply to small schools.

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I don’t disagree with the previous responses with the exception of figuring out recruiting. The timeline for that is very different. If he wants to play in college, he does need to figure out the type of team and team fit.

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First off, your kid sounds awesome.

Second, he might be able — when the time is right — to use the list of student chapters of Engineers Without Borders to look for schools. If he goes to https://ewb-usa.org/Find-a-Chapter and selects “Student” to filter the list, he should see ~147 groups. He might also find the terms “Development Engineering” or “Humanitarian Engineering” to be helpful as he looks around for schools (in general; not on that list), though undergrad programs are often more general, and those terms might just be more for graduate programs. I know that doesn’t really help you bring the merit-awarding schools to the surface, but the list and map there might help him uncover some schools to look into. Good luck with it!

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I am a bit torn between asking what state you are in, versus just suggesting that you wait a year before thinking about schools that might be reasonable options.

Once you get to thinking about universities, which state you are in will be one piece of information that might be useful. Another issue is the extent to which your son would either thrive or hate it if put into a relatively high stress university. Engineering is in general not easy, but there are some variations in terms of how stressful a school may be.

At least to me Civil Engineering does seem like a job that would be hard to move abroad. If you want to build a bridge, you need to look at where it is going to go. If you want to do do maintenance on a building or a bridge, then you need to look at it in person and on location. Of course engineers from any one country could work in other countries, but presumably on problems that occur in the location where they are working.

Are you or your son thinking of something like marine engineering? This is a somewhat specialized field and there are some universities that are particularly good for it.

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Does your state participate in any reciprocity programs like WUE or MSEP? This can be another source of affordable options besides those in-state.

You could put U of Utah on your list regardless of where you live, as they offer a path to residency after the first year and also offer merit scholarships. Additionally, the Middle East Center offers both Arabic and Persian languages (not Turkish though), and the Praxis Labs offered by the Honors College engage with societal problems that might be of interest to a kid who’s interested in relief/aid work. The CivE department seems to have a lot of water-resources-related research.

Would he be any less averse to the Coast Guard Academy than to the other service academies? The Coast Guard is very involved in disaster relief efforts, and the Academy offers CivE, and he could take Arabic via cross-registration with Connecticut College, which is basically right across the street.

If he becomes a merit semifinalist, the scholarships and Honors College at UCF could be worth a look, as they not only have CivE but also an Emergency Management major that leads to a Certified Emergency Manager credential, and an Emergency & Crisis Management Certificate program for undergrads in other majors… and also an accelerated BS/MS in CivE/Water Resources Engineering. They offer both Arabic and Kurdish.

I agree that it’s early yet to be getting super-invested in specific programs, but it doesn’t hurt to see what’s out there, in a proof-of-concept kind of way.

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Not related to college lists, but there is a mentorship program for HS students that someone suggested to me when my D expressed an interest in civil engineering:

I don’t know if it is of interest to your son, just something to look into!

Edited to add: I did a quick search and it looks like @Knowsstuff’s son did this program, so they may be able to say more about it, if your son is at all interested.

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My son did this as well. Highly recommend! He majored in Civil Engineering.

He received excellent merit from Manhattan College, Clarkson, UMaine, and Quinnipiac.

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It’s a fantastic program and I suggest it for any students that want any type of engineering. Plus… it’s fun…. Great connections also.

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He’s taken the PSAT twice. He got a 1500 last year, and of course doesn’t have his scores from this year back.

I’m not disrespecting his choice. It’s a great school, and a great match. It’s also a school that’s not considered a safety for anyone, so he should apply to more than one school. I’d like to find schools that meet his criteria that he can add to the list.

Part of the issue is that he needs to sort out what to do with recruiting, because that timeline is much earlier. He doesn’t think he can play and do engineering at our flagship. The commitment is too much.

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No, he wants to work on problems like providing drinking water to refugee camps and disaster zones. His dream job would be with something like Doctors Without Borders.

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I will definitely look into this.

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If he is interested in Arabic, Chinese, Korean or Russian, this program for high schoolers might be of interest to him.

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Thank you for all the suggestions. We will definitely look into all of them.

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Texas A& M is well known for many engineering disciplines and has scholarship money for National Merit Finalists. Your son’s PSAT scores indicate he’d have a good shot at that. Very big school, but you said he’s open to anything.

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He should look into each schools civil engineering curriculum, particularly whether the general education requirements allow for the number of foreign language courses needed to gain proficiency. At some schools, the general education requirements require enough specific subjects that taking several foreign language courses may not all be allowed to count as general education courses.

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Cost aside, WPI sounds like a great match for your son, due to the project-based learning,the junior and senior projects, and the ability to take Arabic. He would have no problem getting in (it would seem silly to be looking at schools that weren’t a sure thing if the issue is that he might not get into your flagship). The nice thing about their athletic conference is that most schools are within a short drive, so travel times are cut way down.

If he’s specifically interested in water issues, schools out west are a great choice.

Colorado State has strong programs in both civil engineering and water resources. Slightly over budget with Green and Gold merit + Honors Program. It’s a WUE School if you are from a WUE state.

I believe UMN and Utah should come in on closer to budget. All would be safeties.

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I agree with @thumper1 noting this is way too early - in part because you don’t know what will happen with costs next year and you are a few years out..

But to answer your question on $35K or less today and if there was a geographic presence, I missed it so sorry:

Alabama is the most obvious - with current stats you’d be under $20K with $30.5K automoatic merit. Get a 36 on the ACT (up from 35), you’d get four years tuition, one year housing, $1500 each year and $2K for a study abroad or research.

So we always say, you have a 35 - no need to retake except for a few schools. If interested in Bama, that’s one to retake for.

Who else - and I’m giving some schools but there’s more but would have to go through the list of 300+ ABET accredited. If any interest you, you can check for language. I found a website with turkish - none of these are on - but Arabic will have more - I looked at Bama just because it’s the typical low cost flagship - and they have Arabic.

Arkansas (likely)
FSU (with OOS waiver)
UGA (if get the 1/2 OOS waiver or more)
Iowa State
Kansas
Kansas State
Louisville
Marshall
Memphis
Mississippi State
Nebraska (potentially)
New Mexico
Oklahoma
Ole Miss
Tennessee Tech
Texas Tech
UT Chattanooga
UAB
UAH
UNCC
WVU
Wyoming

Hope that helps some.

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