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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In reality that’s how the vast majority of college students make their decision as they just don’t have a different choice as budget is driving 100% of the decision. When you have the luxury of choice, there is usually SOMETHING that still drives the decision. For some it’s brand name, for some it’s strength of a particular program, for some location, people prioritize all kinds of things.

Extra curriculars actually ended up driving the final decision for both my kids. They’d narrowed down based on other factors, but when it came to ultimate fit one picked based on recruiting and wanting to continue their sport and one based on availability of pointe classes and performance opportunities for non-dance majors.

Considering the age of your child and the fact that recruiting is still a possibility, I’d leave everything else aside and just figure out if they want to continue their sport and what that looks like. It’s a huge decision and team fit and time commitment varies tremendously. My sophomore kid thought D1 or bust and then ultimately decided that combining D1 with engineering wasn’t what he was looking for - those are the things to really figure out.

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Agree 100%. Parents are often truly unaware of how they will fund the “You can spend 30K per year” budget until it’s April and they’re realizing that in the last 9 months, they replaced the brakes on the car, had to buy a new refrigerator when the compressor died, and the roofer told them “you have 6 months until the little leak in the master bedroom becomes a deluge”.

Reality means that appliances don’t stop breaking just because your kid is in college, and reality means that the phantom savings you think you’re getting when you are no longer feeding a teenager (and all of his friends) gets replaced by NEW expenses– an unexpected trip home because grandma is dying; another unexpected trip home when the kid has developed some weird allergy and can’t get an appointment with an allergist for 4 months so you bring him home to see his regular provider, etc. Those trips add up, whether plane, train, automobile or Greyhound bus.

So having a kid who decides “I’m happy to spread a wide net but may just pick the cheapest as long as the place works for me” isn’t a bad thing. Unless the kid is truly picking a sub-optimal choice….

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You now have a long list of possibilities and he can spend the next 2 years comparing big to small, rural to urban, $$$ to $$$$$$.

If he really thinks he wants to be an athlete, I’d look at that now and compare some types of programs. You didn’t say which sport, but since you did mention ‘ball’ in your user name, say it is baseball. Would he care about distance the team has to travel? If a school plays mostly tournaments or weekend games against one other school? Warm weather so Az or Florida schools v playing with warmers in the dug out in New England? My daughter did play a ball spring sport and her coach figured out other schools could and would travel to Florida for spring break so they played most of their games at home (traveled only one weekend in Feb every year). Makes a big difference if you are taking an afternoon off to play one game rather than a weekend with a 12 hour bus ride. Honestly, we got lucky in this area as I never thought about it when comparing schools (look at the current schedules and the travel times).

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At this point, I would focus almost entirely on the athletic recruiting. Right now there are too many variables to nail anything else down. You will know about the athletic choices before senior year, which is plenty of time to then take that variable and put it into the merit and major mix.

Since at this point you would know if he were a top D1 recruit, I would cast a very wide net, reaching out to something like 50-75 schools, and focusing mostly on D3 with some lower level D1s in the mix. Once the dust settles and the list is narrowed, your son can decide which, if any, schools are appealing. If none are that’s fine, he applies without the soccer hook.

There are top academic d3 schools with engineering that give merit aid (eg Case Western, University of Rochester). But I wouldn’t limit yourself to those – your son’s interests may change and evolve, and, for example, a LAC without engineering might end up being the best option – so don’t limit yourself now.

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From previous threads, the sport is soccer.

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Sounds like your student has a lot going for him. Kudos to him.

Some random thoughts…

How set is he on CivE? Is the driver for him CivE or working in disaster relief? If it is the latter there are many other educational paths that can get him there.

I second (or third) others here who recommend focusing on getting a high PSAT score, which brings scholarship money and/or auto acceptances at many schools.

It looks like he is way above grade level in math. Make sure he takes four years of math, even if he maxes out his HS math curriculum in sophomore or junior year. Engineering schools will require this. He may need to take classes at a local college or community college. My son filled this requirement with AP Stats his senior year.

Good luck to your student.

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How do you decide that, without knowing what not continuing with a school looks like?

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He is very set on engineering, and on doing so in a humanitarian context. He’s wanted to be an engineer since he was a tiny little kid playing with blocks. The type of engineering has changed on and off, and I could imagine him deciding he’d rather be a mechanical engineer who works in humanitarian contexts, but I really have trouble imagining him choosing something other than engineering. The fact that he’s a kid who is super flexible on so many other things, but is insistent on this one thing, makes me think it’s not going to change.

His 9th grade, zero prep, PSAT was 1500, so I do think he has a good shot at National Merit when the “real” version roles around in junior year.

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If, and I agree with you, no reason to assume, too much pressure - but if he hits NMF, then your $35K gets shattered - schools like Tulsa, Bama are near full rides (Bama for 5 years tuition, so you can get a Masters and a yearly stipend), UTD, Houston and others also have excellent deals. Some of the Florida schools too - although their quantities are limited.

It’s why these schools - at last count Bama had amongst the most and Tulsa the highest % - why they are so popular with NMFs.

Other schools give you nada or a small scholarship.

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Agreed! But if you are in a state with a high selection index, it would probably be good for him to study/prep anyhow, just to be extra sure.

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He has gotten a lot of interest from D1 schools, but he’s pretty sure that’s not what he wants. He liked the idea of playing at an Ivy, but now that it looks like that will cost a lot, he’s saying he doesn’t see a point in that.

What do places like Case or Rochester cost after merit? Any guesses on how much a kid like that would get?

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If he’s a strong D1 recruit, would an athletic scholarship be a possibility?

I think you have to go through the recruiting process, and when your son gets an offer/is close to an offer, talk with the coach about finances and any financial aid, merit or athletic money. Some schools do financial prereads.

It seems like nothing except maybe engineering, is set in stone, which is why I vote for casting a wide net at this stage.

It is probably a good idea to get clarity about playing soccer in college. Most college athletes REALLY want to play in college – as you know, it’s such a demanding path to get there, and once at college it continues to be very demanding. So you have to want it. Does he want it? If yes – go! If not, why go through the hours of practice, the travel, the angst? I don’t know any college soccer players who thought they could take it or leave it; they all wanted to keep playing, badly, and at the highest level they could.

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There have been students on here with Case that have mentioned 40s. Rochester - I never read anything aggressive.

I remember Case being aggressive - and looking at past threads, I’ve seen half off tuition, $43.5K University Scholarship (which on their website shows as merit), $15K, $28K - so it’s all over - including with kids like your getting deferred or asked to go abroad. But it seems like they can get aggressive. But someone like your son might speak to them with - he’s not going to choose us, he’s going higher.

It makes sense - their yield is really poor - I’m guessing they are aiming for those students going to the next level, so they have to pay to get them. Their non-ED yield is only 6%…it’s a school that gets a lot of love but for whatever reason, most aren’t choosing it. That might be why they waitlist everyone - because maybe they need to go deep. They didn’t publish on the 24/25 CDS but in the past, it was like 1/3 of all applicants.

Make sure you demonstrate interest if CWRU is on your list.

Also note some on this website have said their classes are large, not small - and I see examples of both in section I3 of the Common Data set - example more than 1 in 6 are 50+ kids.

Note - 1/4 of Rochester students are international vs. Case at 14%.

Very few comment on the Rochester threads. I don’t see anything about merit from posters - but the CDS says a bit less than 25% of students get $17.2K on average - but yes, no way to know the breakdown. The school’s website shows an average of $14K. That might be because - in the CDS, Eastman school of music is broken out in addition to being on hte "combined: page - it shows $42K whereas the other schools at $13K. So it seems like Eastman is getting the merit love.

Not exactly what you’re looking for but there is decent info on Case from past threads - up to mid 40s in merit but also deferring or trying to force into ED 2 kids like yours (over performers) - and Rochester has little contribution from posters but you can clean from the CDS, it won’t be a ton.

I would also note about Rochester, they don’t have ABET accredited Civil (ABET website) nor is it on their website. They do show Environmental Engineering on their website which I know some say can work for Civil - also not ABET accredited.

Good luck.

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Many of the engineering schools are D2, so might have athletic scholarship money. Colorado School of Mines is D2 and has excellent soccer. Almost everyone on the team (last time I checked) played development soccer in hs so you have to plan ahead for recruiting.

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Sounds like your son may be interested in Humanitarian Engineering. https://humanitarian.mines.edu/

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I’m not really understanding this question. If he doesn’t continue in his sport, he has a ton of options of big/small, urban/rural, greek, location etc. Being a recruited athlete or not and whether he can actually find a school that fits is much, much more difficult. The process will also probably help tremendously on whether he truly has no preference.

I mean otherwise you have a sophomore with good stats and no preference. It doesn’t really make much sense to spend a whole lot of energy on getting too hung up on anything until you have a better sense of grades and test scores to understand merit possibilities. Not to mention a lot of schools that give merit can change quickly on their offerings. Tulane is a good example where merit was pretty generous, but they’ve made an aggressive move to need based. I can tell you that my daughter’s net at Case was $35K after merit but the data is already old and will be ancient before it’s relevant. Another anecdote, Rochester was initially on our radar as they had a huge merit scholarship tied to FIRST robotics. by the time my son applied it has been trimmed to $8K a year.

He likes the flagship and it’s affordable. Figure out if recruiting is at play and if not you can evaluate merit schools with real stats and updated info in 18 - 24 months.

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Civil engineering majors typically take the following math in college to graduate:

  • Single variable calculus.
  • Multivariable calculus.
  • Linear algebra.
  • Differential equations.
  • Calculus-based engineering statistics.

Calculus-based engineering statistics is less likely to be found. Seems unlikely that a student who completes the first four before 12th grade will be penalized in engineering admissions because they have completed all of the reasonably available math courses that civil engineering majors take in college.

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He has had schools that give athletic scholarships express interest. He’s not sure that any of them are academic fit, or would give enough money to get tuition to where he wants it to be.

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Why are they not an academic fit? This is the research and understanding preferences I discussed above. If he can determine why these schools don’t fit, it will help in narrowing down merit schools when the time comes.

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Which sport has be gotten offers in?

For the PSAT, the version of the test taken by 11th graders is different from the PSAT 10. I believe the bluebook app has a practice 11th grade PSAT (also known as the NMSQT). Also check out SAT Suite Question Bank