<p>Everyone should apply to 1-3 reach schools, but don’t over do it. It is best to apply to a majority match schools, 2 reach and 2 safety. You know, a little luck might come his way on those reaches and it is worth it to apply to a couple.</p>
<p>drac313, if A&M and Bama are his safeties, which schools on this list should he consider his matches and which would be his reaches?</p>
<p>[Best</a> Engineering School Rankings | Engineering Program Rankings | US News](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-engineering-schools/eng-rankings]Best”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-engineering-schools/eng-rankings)</p>
<p>thanks,</p>
<p>Assuming that your son gets a 2100+ on the real SAT, Everything outside of the top 10 on that list excluding the Ivy’s, USC, and other top 20 overall schools (like Uwash at St, Louis, Rice, vanderbilt, etc) are matches for your son.</p>
<p>^ That sounds like a good strategy. Thanks for taking the time.</p>
<p>drac, do you have any specific recommendations? I am having trouble finding any matches.</p>
<p>Texas A&M
UoMaryland-College Park
Penn State
Uconn
Rutgers-New Brunswick
Purdue
These are fairly nice colleges that would be match and are good.</p>
<p>Check out their sites/pictures to see if they fit for your son as well.</p>
<p>^ So, should he not be looking for matches that at least have a higher ranking than his safety, if not more benefits than he gets from his safety? This is why I was saying, there really do not seem to be better matches for him than his safety. I think it is hard to beat the 13th ranked school in the country that is paying a kid benefits (worth about $100k to an OOS student), so he can attend for free. Which reaches would you consider applying to with his GPA?</p>
<p>University of Texas, Austin may be worth considering as a reach school if his class rank is somewhat close to the automatic admit threshold. (If he does make top 8% class rank, it becomes a safety for the campus, but admission for the engineering division is not guaranteed.)</p>
<p>If his first choice school happens to be one of his safeties, then his application list is complete. If not, the only other schools worth applying to are those which he may choose over his safeties and which have at least a chance of being affordable (though if affordability is not certain, it factors into the reach/match assessment).</p>
<p>^ S wanted to go to A&M even before UT withdrew from the NMSQT program a couple of years ago. We felt that both were academic equals. So, the choice came down to personal taste. A&M had a great shooting team and S loves the shooting sports. UT has an urban setting, no shooting team and appeals to a different crowd. </p>
<p>By the way, the corporate recruiters whom I have spoken to have told me that A&M engineers have a stronger placement record than those at UT. This one lady engineer (graduate of USC) who was a recruiter for a well known Fortune 500 company actually cited this article:</p>
<p>[Best</a> Colleges & Universities - Ranked by Job Recruiters - WSJ.com](<a href=“Best Colleges & Universities - Ranked by Job Recruiters - WSJ”>Best Colleges & Universities - Ranked by Job Recruiters - WSJ)</p>
<p>As far as reaches go, he likes Cornell and MIT.</p>
<p>^Am I right, Northeastern could be his safety too, if he wanted to attend a college in Boston? Am I right, he does not need to apply to all of them? I think, he just needs to pick the one, he wants to attend, since they all gtee admission and pay for everything. Bama seems to be a good choice for kids who are thinking of a career in medicine. Then, just apply to a few of his reaches?</p>
<p>My S has a friend with very high SATs and a lesser GPA who is into computer science and apparently very happy at Northeastern. He recently had a very impressive internship at one of the most prestigious companies in the US. I don’t know about the financial picture or about its strength in other engineering fields, but Northeastern does offer school in Boston–one of the best college towns–and the coop program, which is mightily appealing to many.</p>
<p>The financials+academics of A&M are indeed going to be hard to beat for your family, if he gets in. But of course, you are wise not to put all your eggs in one basket.</p>
<p>@Consolation, </p>
<p>I also think Northeastern U has a pretty good engineering program; and great scholarships for NMFs,</p>
<p>[Scholarships</a> | Admissions](<a href=“http://www.northeastern.edu/admissions/costs/scholarships.html]Scholarships”>http://www.northeastern.edu/admissions/costs/scholarships.html)</p>
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<p>A&M guarantees admission and provides full tuition scholarship to **all **NMFs who apply. So getting in will not be a problem. </p>
<p><a href=“Home - SFAID”>Home - SFAID; </p>
<p>I think S needs to visit both schools this year and choose which one he likes more.</p>
<p>Another question is, are there schools that are so good, that one should forgo full tuition merit scholarship offers like these and use need based financial aid? Personally, I would not mind paying my fair share for S to attend schools such as Cornell, MIT, Stanford and Berkeley, if he gets accepted and wants to go there. Although, I see the chances of him getting accepted there, close to nil. So, I am wondering should he even apply to these?</p>
<p>The only catch is to check whether Texas A&M guaranteed admission (for NMF or other auto-admit procedures) includes being admitted into the engineering division or the desired engineering major, and (if the student is admitted to the school but not the division or major) how difficult it would be to switch in once enrolled.</p>
<p>If that is a concern, perhaps one or more additional safeties like Alabama should be included in the application list (where admission to the engineering division or major, as well as the school, is more certain).</p>
<p>Also, check what the conditions of renewing merit scholarships are (i.e. make sure that they do not require an unreasonably high college GPA to keep them).</p>
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<p>You need to check the net price calculators on each school’s web site to get an estimate of financial aid and make your own assessment as to whether the net price after aid is competitive (Stanford is known to be quite generous with need based aid). On the other hand, a 3.4 GPA would give very little chance (even in comparison to the normal small chance at Cornell, MIT, and Stanford) at the schools named.</p>
<p>I agree with ucbalumnus on the comment above about the tippy top schools. However, I would add that it is a good idea to apply to a couple of reach/dream schools because you never know what it is they are looking for each year…And your child may be it. After all acceptances are in and $$$$ offers on the table, THEN you will decide the answer to your question.</p>
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<p>That is my feeling too. On the other hand, I do not see the wisdom of paying to put him thru less competitive schools, when good schools like A&M and Northeastern U are willing to admit him and pay for his education. </p>
<p>On the question of acceptance to A&M Engineering, you have raised a great point. I will investigate it further. As of now, I believe the only additional requirement is a minimum of 600 on each of the math and verbal sections of the SAT. However, S, took the SAT after sophomore year, prior to taking the PSAT and scored M690 & V690, which meets that condition. (His current PSAT percentile rank has a concordance to 2250 on the SAT, which is why I am not too worried about his performance on these standardized tests). Beyond that, it is my understanding that, as an auto admit, one just has to get the application in early, to get into the engineering department of your choice, because A&M has rolling admission.</p>
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<p>Yep, I agree, especially since he is applying to just one other school, perhaps two.</p>
<p>The other thing I think is a good idea in the whole college search process is to get applications in early and apply to a couple of places with early action or rolling admissions. It is so nice to have acceptances in hand by Thanksgiving or Christmas. </p>
<p>Both of my kids finished their applications early and it was such a relief for them to not be scrambling over the holidays.</p>
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<p>Your feeling is correct – if a good desirable school is a safety for admissions and finances, there is no point to applying to any less desirable more expensive school. Assuming desirable safeties have been determined (Texas A&M, Northeastern, Alabama?), then you and he can be selective about applying only to additional schools which are more desirable than the safeties.</p>
<p>So if (for example) the only schools you and he find more desirable than the safeties are the schools you listed above in post 32, then those need to be the only additional schools he needs to consider applying to (based on whether the assessment of admission chance and affordability makes it worthwhile to apply).</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus, Thanks for the encouraging words and helping me develop a plan for S. Thanks to everyone who participated and for your sage advice.</p>
<p>Seems he likes big schools – I’d throw Pitt into the ring too. The Engineering department is stronger than many give it credit for - it is often overshadowed by Penn State. Pitt has generous merit to OOS.</p>
<p>If he gets National Merit, Drexel is Philly would also be a great safety. Gives Full Tuition to NM and has a strong co-op.</p>
<p>USC gives half tuition to NM.</p>
<p>If he wants to throw some smaller schools in there, I suggest taking a serious look at Harvey Mudd and the Claremont consortium in CA as well as Lehigh in PA.</p>
<p>Above all else, I’d encourage he apply to at least 6 schools. Boys change (umm, mature) a bit in senior year. The schools he loves now may not be the same in March 2013. I’d encourage him to keep his choices open.</p>
<p>EDIT - Don’t forget he will need to submit SAT scores to National Merit to move from SF to F.</p>