Smaller School, Great Academics in Astrophysics/Aerospace Engineering, Good Merit Aid and Swimming

College Search & Lists
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My son, 2018 grad, is a good competitive swimmer with an interest in physics, particularly astrophysics and possibly aerospace engineering. He intends to pursue graduate school and possibly a PhD. 4.875 weighted/4.0 unweighted GPA, IB Diploma candidate, 34 ACT, 1490 SAT, 1470 PSAT. He may apply to a few highly selective schools, Cal Tech, MIT, Princeton, but we are not sure right now about the wisdom of attending these, financially speaking. He is somewhat introverted, so we would like to see him at a smaller school and in a swim program if possible to make sure he has some friends who will make him leave his room from time to time. He couldn’t likely swim D1 or at a top 10 D2 or D3 program, but could likely make the roster on many lower tier D3 swim teams. We are looking for a very good academic program, but will not likely qualify for need-based aid, so would like to know about schools with great academics in these areas that might have good merit based aid. And if it is a smaller school with a swim program, all the better. Assuming he could swim club rather than NCAA, we have looked at some big school honor colleges, but aren’t sure those would give him the smaller school feel in which he might do better since they tend to focus on community only in the first or second year.

Thanks for any insight you may have.

2

What state are you in? If by any chance California, definitely look into the elite College of Creative Studies at UC Santa Barbara, “A graduate school for undergraduates.” Big-school research opportunities in a program with a small school feel.
https://www.ccs.ucsb.edu/

3

The biggest decision he needs to make right now is whether or not he wants to consider aerospace at the undergraduate level. There are only about 60 ABET accredited AE programs in the nation. They will all almost certainly offer physics too. You can search them all here: http://main.abet.org/aps/Accreditedprogramsearch.aspx.

4

Check out the University of Alabama - Huntsville. A 34 ACT plus 4.0+ GPA appears to qualify for full tuition plus housing – seems like a free ride. This includes non-residents.
http://www.uah.edu/admissions/undergraduate/financial-aid/scholarships/merit-tuition-scholarships

UAH is a small state school (about 6400 undergraduates) with a strong reputation for aerospace engineering. They also offer a degree in physics with a concentration in astronomy/astrophysics. Huntsville is nicknamed “The Rocket City”; NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center is there, and many aerospace firms have R&D facilities there as well.

UAH does not play football and is not as well known to the general public as the flagship University of Alabama campus in Tuscaloosa, but it has a strong reputation in the engineering community. According to the latest Common Data Sets, UAH actually has higher Composite ACT scores (25-31) than the flagship campus (23-31).

UAH downside: no swim team.

5

Here’s the problem you are going to have:

Aerospace engineering is a rather specialized technical discipline. Most programs are at large universities, which by definition are not small, and which typically do not have Division III sports.

There are plenty of small liberal arts colleges with Division III sports, but such schools typically don’t offer engineering at all, much less a specialized discipline like aerospace.

6

Colorado School of Mines

7

RPI and WPI would both seem to be fits. Have aerospace programs and d3 swim teams

8

Here is a list of D3 swim programs…https://www.collegeswimming.com/division/3/teams/
Here is a list of colleges offering aerospace engineering http://www.findengineeringschools.org/Search/Majors/aero.htm

Go through the lists and seek out schools that appear on both lists (MIT, WPI, Case Western etc. )

9

I would go through the member list of AITU (Association of Independent Technological Universities). There are about 20 AITU schools, they are all engineering-oriented, and many of them are small with Division III athletics. RPI and WPI are examples. Clarkson is another, with aerospace engineering and DIII swimming. Stevens Institute of Technology has an aerospace minor and DIII swimming. Some of these schools are not highly selective and might give good merit aid to a student with high stats.
http://www.theaitu.org/about.html

The AITU is only for private schools, so it would not include state schools that might be of potential interest, such as Alabama-Huntsville, Colorado Mines, or Missouri S&T.

10

Also look at schools that offer aerospace classes within the mechanical engineering department. These will not be on the ABET list for aerospace (but they will be for mechanical) so a little harder to hunt down. For example New Mexico Tech has an aerospace sequence within mechE.

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Thanks everyone for the info! I will look further into all of these. We are from Tulsa, Oklahoma. We have toured Colorado School of Mines. He loved it, but their merit scholarships are pretty limited ($14K max on $45K OOS COA if memory serves, so it’s hard to tell if the cost is worth it over a potential full ride State U. It’s a DII swim program, and he would probably be a stretch to contribute significantly there in swimming if he could even get on. We have also toured Wash U. He wasn’t as crazy about that one. We toured Arkansas and he liked it, but the honors college program seems like it may be just a slightly trumped up version of the general population, and of course no swimming. With possible NMF and his current stats, he will probably have a few full ride (or close) opportunities, including Tulsa, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. Right now, we’re trying to figure out the levels and if it is worth it to shoot higher and pay a little, or a lot, or worth it to try to put him in a smaller school. Tulsa University isn’t very large and is a good school, but I don’t think he is crazy about staying home after all of the work he has put in with IB. On the other hand, shipping him off to New York or California to a school I’ve just heard about is also a little daunting, especially if it’s going to cost $200K. The swimming thing is more of an afterthought. It would be nice, but may not work out. Truth be told, if he improves scores through re-testing, and applies well, and gets accepted and wants to go to Cal-Tech, MIT, Princeton, etc., we will probably try to make it happen. The question we are struggling with is what schools that are demonstrably “better” than the safety schools for his interests should we be looking at that at least have some significant merit aid available to help justify a decision to send him there. Thanks again.

12

Rose Hulman in Indiana might be a D3 swimming option, with merit, but they do not have aerospace (from what I can tell, though I am a non-STEM person so many not be appreciating what I am seeing on the website).

13

Illinois Institute of Technology has D3 swimming (or will soon be D3) and aerospace and gives merit scholarships. Your son’s stats would put him in the mix for the competitive full-tuition and full-ride scholarships at IIT. @xraymancs is a physics professor at IIT and can give you more information on the physics program.

14

Yes, we have had a D3 swimming program for several years now and starting in 2018 we will be in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference for a number of sports but swimming is not one of them. For swimming, I think we will still compete in the United States Collegiate Athletic Association.

Illinois Tech is an AITU school which offers BS degrees in Physics, Astrophysics, Applied Physics, and Aerospace Engineering plus MS and PhD degrees in Physics and Aerospace Engineering. If you have specific questions about the physics programs, I would be happy to answer them.

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You should be able to find a good school that is much more affordable than $200K, but it may not be at a famous “elite” university such as MIT or Princeton, since many of them offer little or no merit money. UChicago is very strong in physics and does offer some merit money, but probably not as much as you’d like. Duke offers bigger merit scholarships but getting one would be very tough. USC, Vanderbilt or Rice might offer somewhat better chances for significant amounts of merit money.

If you’re willing to consider very small schools, check out Harvey Mudd College (which is like a mini-MIT), although it might be tough getting as much merit money as you need from a school that selective.

In addition to the tech/STEM-emphasis schools mentioned above, if you’re willing to consider schools without engineering programs, then also check out:

Grinnell College
Oberlin College
Lawrence University (Appleton WI)

These are all small liberal arts colleges that seem to have strong STEM programs and offer fairly large amounts of merit aid. All are among the top 50 for alumni-earned STEM PhDs per capita (Harvey Mudd is in the top ~5, with Cal Tech, MIT, and a couple other LACs.)

Cooper Union and Olin are two very strong STEM/engineering schools that in the past have awarded scholarships to all entering students (although these have been cut back in recent years and I don’t know how much they’re offering for next year).

I don’t know about the swimming programs at any of these schools.

16

@Crashthepunisher If your son is NMF I believe there are a number of schools that will give good aid. For instance, I know USC/Viterbi gives decent money (1/2 tuition) but be forewarned, even then you’re still putting out 40k per year in “real” money, including Room + Board etc. If your son is a particularly strong student, they have more robust scholarships too. The nice thing about USC applications is they don’t do Early anything, but their big scholarships have an earlier Dec. 1 (or so) application deadline and let you know early, but they aren’t restrictive. If he at all think USC might be interesting be sure not to miss that deadline.

As far as size and swimming. Swimming would likely be out - USC recruits strongly for all sports. He might be able to be “on the team” perhaps but their slower mens swimmers are putting in sub-20 50-free and sub-10 1000’s so it’s very competitive.

Size is a pick-em. Viterbi has a pretty “small school” feel inside the huge University. My kid is there, they are moderately introverted, but have made tons of friends, been exceptionally active, gotten lots of support (and scored a few private scholarships to help fill the financial blackhole.) There are living options that are well-suited for meeting other (more serious) students if you’re not into the Greek/party scene.

And USC’s aerospace major (which is partnered with ME) is small and pretty tight, according to my ME student. But again, it’s still a whack of cash even with good merit aid. One thing in your son’s favor, esp if his stats are high is USC is big on getting kids from all over the US, they are rumored to have a “50 state” mandate. Don’t know how many Ok apps they get, but probably less than CA or FLA!

Harvey Mudd is exceptionally small and the 5 colleges and Claremont in general has a “small town” feel. The swim team includes 3 of the “5 colleges” - Claremont/Mudd/Scripps. They have a more DIII level - no sub-20 50’s and no sub 10 1000’s. My kid found Mudd way to small, but they were looking for a “big school” feel.

Caltech is also tiny and Pasadena has a relatively “small town” vibe, with the benefit of downtown LA just 30-40 mins away. As far as swimming, if he can complete a 100 without drowing he will anchor the relay! (ok, kidding, but they do not chase athletes at all and if he’s a good HS swimmer they will be happy to have him.) They have a few standouts - there’s a breakstroker there who is close to a sub-minute swimmer but they also have had guys who swim 30 for the 50 compete for them as well. Mudd swims against Caltech and CMS almost always has better swimmers overalll. I have no idea if Caltech give much in the way of merit aid. Obviously, admissions is competitive. Also, it is very tech/science centric, so he would have to be ok with that.

Those are the only three schools I have much info about fwiw.

17

Caltech does not offer merit aid, nor does MIT or Princeton. The real question for schools like that is…is any undergraduate degree worth a quarter of a million dollars?

I don’t know how good he is in swimming, but Cal Poly is worth considering. They compete in the Pac12 for swimming, but all of their athletes are students first, and have to meet tough admissions standards. That may make it a little easier to get a spot. They have a very strong Aerospace program (best in the nation according to Aviation and Aerospace Weekly, for whatever that’s worth). It is its own dedicated department with concentrations in aeronautics and astronautics. They have a good physics department too. Several things set them apart. They do not offer PhDs, so almost all of their resources are directed to undergrads. In the college of engineering alone they have more than 80 labs. They have small class sizes and all classes, including labs and discussions are taught by professors. They give very little merit. My similar stats son for example got $2k/year at Poly, but $25k per year at Case. The kicker though is that the total COA at Cal Poly for OOS students is $36k/year.

Fun times. Good luck!

18

Rose-Hulman does not offer much merit aid. Their best scholarship is half tuition, which amounts to about $22k out of $65k.

19

Embry Riddle?

20

A very out of the box suggestion is the Air Force Academy.