My son is very high stats (770 math, 770 verbal not superscored), 3.97 unweighted gpa, NASA summer intern, Robotics Capt, Sailing Capt, Engineering team Capt, Eagle Scout, Summer employment, tons of volunteer hours, Multiple summers of Astronomy camp with hands on research. Already accepted to U of Arizona. However…he is REALLY into F1 racing and now in his senior year his interests are focused on racing. He and a couple of friends just bought a clunker car and are working on it to enter it into a race called the 24 hours of Lemons- where you race a “junker” car for 24 hours. His passion and “hook” has been Astronomy but now he’s not doing anything with it at all (had been working on a research paper after getting radio telescope time but his interest has diminished in finishing it and free time filled by this new hobby) Now he is talking about an idea of double majoring in mechanical engineering. Obviously this is a 17 year old and it’s ok to not know what you want to do for the rest of your life. I want to be sure that he is at a school that would offer both majors so he can easily change his major. (he will have tons of AP, Dual Enrollment and CLEP credits going in)That being said, I think there are schools that may be better at Mechanical Engineering than U of A? Also, their out of state merit has been sharply reduced, so I don’t know if I’m ok paying the out of state tuition for a school that is ok at engineering (it is really tops for astronomy) and feel there could be other options that I would like for him to have. He really wants to be a part of a Formula SAE team so that is a requirement (also Formula SAE team that is open to non-engineering majors in case he doesn’t decide to switch majors)
What is your home state and what is your desired budget?
Does he have a list of all colleges with Formula SAE teams? He will have to cross reference those schools with ME/astro but there probably is a lot of overlap. Likely best to apply for ME and change from there, if need be. I haven’t heard that some teams are limited to only engineering majors, but something else for him to research.
What schools are on his list so far? What has been eliminated? It would be helpful to know college budget, and other priorities…size of school, geography, setting, etc.
Congratulations on the U of A acceptance. It would help if you share what is lacking in U of A’s ME major…curriculum? outcomes? something more specific to U of A rather than ME major? Is U of A affordable?
If your son is interested in Engineering, he should apply to engineering programs. At most schools, it isn’t possible to switch INTO engineering if you are not admitted as an engineering student - switching out, on the other hand, is pretty straightforward. There are lots of schools with both astronomy & ME, if you provide a budget we can make some recommendations.
Disagree. But there are schools that are harder admits.
You want ABET and short of a few he can shine. U of A is now $40k-ish best case.
What are you able to spend. Purdue could work - similar price.
Better - can’t say. Harder admit - yea.
Alabama - where mine chose over Purdue and Arizona - with top stats - under $20k. He had 19 interviews and 5 offers by Xmas.
As he told me when he turned down Purdue, rankings are for selling magazines. Companies aren’t looking. Given he works with Michigan, Purdue, U Wash but also Akron, W Michigan, and other similar at the same $$, at least at his company he’s not wrong.
He interned in auto but turned down his intern company as they came late (Feb) with an offer. He was done by xmas.
Arizona is a great school. If your son will be happy there, it’s great. Boulder is great too in space but will be more. Purdue, Iowa State, UMN would all be sub $40k (Purdue maybe a tinge over with the engineering surcharge).
Ms State and Bama all sub $20k Both have ecoCAR too. UF mid 40s.
Personally if he’s happy I think your hypothesis is off base.
Good luck.
Purdue would be worth exploring.
I would be looking very carefully at the feasibility of this. S23 is doing astrophysics, and while many double major in math, it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to complete both the required physics sequence and the required engineering sequence in parallel because there just isn’t much overlap and you can’t miss any courses because some are only offered once a year and everything is highly sequential.
Connecticut…but UConn is in the middle of nowhere and we already live in an area that it takes 30 min to get to “stuff” so he wants a school with plenty of things to do. Budget is $40k/yr all in.
How about UMass Amherst? They have an outstanding marching band and a strong Engineering program (I cannot comment on astronomy). They often offer high stats OOS students enough aid to bring it down to the $40k range. It is rural, but Amherst is a cute college town and there are several other colleges nearby. If there is any interest, though, I’d make sure to apply EA - most of the impacted programs like Engineering/CS are nearly filled during the EA round (this is true at a lot of the flagships).
Purdue will be close but slightly above your budget (mid 40s). But they have a competitive racing team:
However, it’s also in a rural location.
Another school you might want to consider is UMD. Like Purdue, they too have a strong mech engineering program as well as astronomy. But they’re in a suburban area just outside of DC, and they also have racing teams:
Although their COA is much higher, your son may get merit based on his profile that could get the cost down to the mid 40s (if you can stretch a bit).
@tamagotchi do you know if Oregon State would be a good fit?
Using College Navigator, I looked for schools that had both mechanical engineering and astronomy majors. I then cross-referenced that list with these two SAE lists (one and two). Then I considered which schools had the possibility of getting to budget via merit aid. This is the resulting list:
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Baylor (TX): Would be likely to give your son significant merit aid to bring the price within budget.
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Case Western (OH): If they think your son is seriously considering them, they can be very generous with merit aid.
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Lehigh (PA )
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Ohio State
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Montana State
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Union (NY)
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U. of Delaware
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U. of Florida
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U. of Georgia
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U. of Iowa
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U. of Maryland – seconding
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U. of Pittsburgh – get the app in ASAP if he’s interested in merit aid
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U. of Southern California
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Yale (only if your family qualifies for sufficient need-based aid)
Please note that when I was using College Navigator, I only looked at schools with astronomy. If their major was listed as astronomy and astrophysics, other, or physics and astronomy, or planetary astronomy and science, it would not have popped up. Same thing with any schools where students major in physics with a concentration in astronomy. But with the methodology and resources I provided above, you should be able to replicate the activity with those other majors. (Make sure you select the box for “Only find schools that offer ALL these selections.”)
Don’t see it getting to $40k. The Oregon schools are not good with aid.
The concern was - is Arizona good enough. Oregon State is not going to be seen as an upgrade.
Oregon State has the top formula SAE program, so maybe an upgrade from that perspective? My son did SAE at Auburn, which has a very good team that is open to non engineering majors. Auburn might not be seen as an upgrade from Arizona either, but it has a good engineering program and would be within budget after merit aid. Astronomy isn’t a separate major, although courses in astronomy and astrophysics are offered in the physics department.
Oregon State won’t hit budget and Auburn likely won’t either. Merit isn’t what it was. Fine schools both of them. Both substitutional to Arizona.
All I’m saying is most MechE programs are substitutional - and they want a great astronomy program. U of A is one of the tops in the country.
When factoring in what OP said - are there ‘better’ than U of A, I don’t think so. Higher ranked yes and they are noted above. Purdue would check a lot of boxes at a similar price. There’s other strong schools at half the price.
Oregon State will cost more than Arizona. Auburn has better merit than OSU but unlikely to get to $40k. This student gets $30500 off at Bama and will be below $20k.
Is Bama better than Arizona ? Nope. Like the others, it’s substitutional.
Arizona will be better in space topics.
UTK is strong in space topics. Not sure if can get to cost but may be worth a look.
But the main point is - Arizona is a GREAT engineering school. When someone says better, I’m not sure there is.
There are more selective universities - a Purdue for example which would also be a GREAT choice given the dual interests with space topics.
But at every school, engineering is hard and nationally half don’t finish in the major. At less selective schools, maybe.
But the parent/student should be proud with a MechE degree from Arizona…similar to other schools mentioned above and will be premier in the astronomy side too.
Are there cheaper - yep - but not sure they are better - K State, Miami, Iowa State, Bama, Ms State, and more. There’s also fine niche schools like Missouri Science & Tech, Tennessee Tech, etc. All equally great names.
Btw I’d be less concerned with a top formula SAE team and more concerned with how students are assigned and what they’re allowed to work on. I’ve heard many a story about kids not getting to work on areas that interest them. You’re a part of a team and there’s a leader. So it might be good to connect with the club leader at each school to see how hands on one can be at an early stage.
Auburn should come in at under $40 k with the presidential scholarship. Out of state tuition is $35k, housing and food if living on campus are about $17k. Last year with a 35 -36 ACT the highest scholarship was $17k. I’m no mathematician, but that would come out to $35k plus whatever is needed for travel and other incidentals… And because I know you are going to say it - yes, tuition will likely increase next year. Yes, the amount of the scholarships for next year have not been confirmed yet either. That’s why I said it “should” be within budget. I would also note that most students live off campus after freshman year for much less than on campus housing costs. My son paid $600 a month including utilities for a place within walking distance of campus. He also had smaller departmental scholarships that stacked with the presidential. Definitely not as cheap as Bama and maybe not as prestigious as OP would like, but as I said Auburn does have a good formula SAE program and is a little higher ranked and probably less expensive than Arizona so it might be of interest because of that.
Edited to add: Purdue should absolutely be considered but will most likely be over $40k. Georgia Tech might be another one to look at as a moon shot. It would only come within budget with the Stamps scholarship. My S22 has several friends involved with the formula SAE team there.
I would recommend looking into UMN (U Minnesota) Twin Cities. Their formula SAE team is excellent!!! Check it out: https://gophermotorsports.com
If he visits UMN, he could contact the team beforehand, and ask to visit their facility and talk with them during his visit. My son visited Formula SAE teams at each school he visited, and this was one that impressed him a lot. They are friendly and welcoming to new members, well managed, have great support from the university and have a great team space in the center of campus. They have been increasingly successful in competition!
UMN has better merit aid than Oregon State and many other schools. Your son can apply right now and they have rolling admissions in the fall. He would apply to the CSE (College of Science and Engineering) and although there is secondary admission to majors, it is not an overly competitive process. The majors for astrophysics, physics, aerospace engineering, and mechanical engineering are all in this same college, so he could explore his interests. https://cse.umn.edu
I can recommend other schools with Formula SAE teams, but this is the one that comes to mind based on the strength of their team, overall quality and value of the university, and your budget.
I just ran the NPC with 3.97 GPA and 1540 SAT and no financial aid eligibility, and the estimated OOS cost after merit scholarship came out just below $40k. When my son applied a couple of years ago, he actually received a slightly higher merit scholarship than estimated, so it may work out the same for your son.
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I asked bingchat and these were the schools it listed that were within budget for out of state tuition. These schools have an astronomy major and formula SAE racing teams.
- University of Texas at Austin: $41,070
- University of Arizona: $37,355
- University of Maryland, College Park: $39,469
- ** University of North Carolina at Charlotte**:$21,388
I believe these are OOS tuition costs, they don’t include room and board which usually runs about $15,000 a year. My higher stats daughter was offered $3000 merit from UMD.