It sounds from your most recent message that you have some concerns about doing “too much” in connection with your child’s college search. I remember reading all those posts from parents talking about how their child was taking full responsibility for their search, the applications, etc., etc. But the thing is that all kids are different. Some spend their high school years focusing on college and some spend their high school years focusing on high school. My son was one of the latter. He really wasn’t completely focused on the college search and selection process until his senior year, really in the spring of his senior year, when it started to feel real to him. In the meantime, he was busy with the IBDP, with varsity sports, with theater and music and with his friends. Also, it may be helpful to keep in mind that your child’s situation is different from, and in many ways more difficult than, a “typical” domestic applicant. Like your child, my son was in an international school. Most of his classmates planned to study in Europe or elsewhere outside the US. With most of those schools, the process is much simpler, less holistic, more grade-based and less intrusive on the last few years of high school. So he was not in an environment where people were talking about college all the time, and he did not have the same flood of information about US schools. In any event, in the circumstances, I did a lot of the research and legwork in putting together the list of schools he applied to, although we always had an ongoing dialogue. I don’t think you should have any concern about helping your child through this process, to the extent you have the time and inclination. And I hope you will continue to call upon the resources of CC. I really think that someone like @AustenNut could help you refine and define the contours of your search if you can provide some additional info.
Many engineering programs start students in a general program the first year so students can explore different disciplines before deciding on a major.
Depending on your student’s grades and scores there should be plenty of strong options that would come in around $40k/year (some on its own, others with merit).
Colleges vary a lot for granting credit for IB courses. I have 2 kids in college who completed the IB diploma and both are going for engineering. The oldest is at U of Alabama and started with 53 credits from high school (some AP and some IB). He could have graduated in 3.5 years, saving 1 semester, but that was all due to prerequisite classes and the order they are taken. The other is at UAH (Huntsville) and only got 21 credits to start and will need all 4 years to finish. In both cases, they started in calculus 1, which makes it difficult to cut off more than a semester in engineering. But, they are able to either have lighter loads or take extra interesting classes, so it works.
It is worth the effort to go through the websites and see what the engineering requirements are and what credit is given for IB and see how it will work out.
@kelsmom what would need to be done differently for a family that is US citizens but living out of the country?
Look at SUNY Buffalo. @aunt_bea would this be a good option for this prospective engineer?
They just complete what they are asked to complete. It’s not really complicated, and there are instructions when completing the FAFSA. Here is some information: Applying for Financial Aid with International Parents - MEFA.
You have to translate and change to $ your income tax filing.
Ah, this is my child. We had many discussion about college maybe it was information overload. They haven’t experience being in university, they can’t picture it. I put together a list of schools, bouncing major ideas, I bet she wouldn’t know if I change one of the major on commonapp. It does make me wonder, can high school kids 16-18 really navigate college application on their own and do it well?
Today, however, we end the week with high note. Her math SAT is 750, she was so happy(I was pleasantly surprised)
That’s a terrific score - good for confidence, both hers and yours! In any event, the process is very challenging, especially from outside the country. Does your child have a guidance counselor who is knowledgeable about US schools? I tried to give my son a sense of what a US university is like by sending him to a couple of summer sports camps. Those were all at big schools - Cornell, Berkeley and UCLA - I guess it worked, although what he learned as that he really did not want a big school. One other thing that helped were the US college fairs - EducationUSA ran one every fall in Tokyo, where we lived, and it was a great opportunity to meet admissions officers and alumni from a range of schools. It would be worth checking if there is anything in your area. EducationUSA Fairs and Events I saw that you have some EA schools on your list. We did that as well and, although he ended up going to one of his RD schools, having a couple of offers from schools he liked before Thanksgiving (with merit) really helped take the pressure off.
She had only started doing test practice at the beginning of August(we were traveling) and part of it due to not listening to what I said. This was a 2nd test score so I couldn’t complain. It may not be enough to be the top candidate to some schools on our list but I’m hoping her academic rigor and scores can provide a more complete picture. I’m trying to be positive on things we couldn’t control.
The school has a college counselor, but aside from preliminary guidance, we do most of the work. Perhaps that’s the way it should be because it’s too difficult to know each family’s preferences. It helped that we were able to visit 3 schools in summer, they were amazed by the size, facilities and the grownups around campus.
I’m also hoping we have at least 1 acceptance before December holiday so we get to enjoy holiday. Our family will be so different next year, with one going to university and one at a boarding. It will be time for us to realign and do something else 
Our daughter went to SUNY Buffalo intending to major in the biological sciences because she was admitted into an honors program for medicine. At that time she was given a full ride to attend Buffalo.
She was also admitted to Yale, Johns Hopkins, the UC’s, etc. She said she knew that we would be footing the bill for med school, so she seriously considered Buffalo and ended up attending there. (All we had to pay for were her Southwest flights from San Diego to Buffalo and her supplies.)
One of the courses that she had to take was bio-engineering. She discovered that she loved the engineering portion more than the biology portion.
She started taking engineering and math courses, and, as the only female, at the time, at her level, (there were three or four in the whole program) the engineering department approved her admission into engineering courses based on her math background.
She eventually became an engineering tutor and became a spokesperson for “women in engineering” at SUNY Buffalo.
She double majored in electrical engineering and computer software. That major is common at the UC’s, which is called EECS (“eeks”).
We had to pay for an extra year but after the rest that was paid for, it wasn’t a big deal. (It’s our middle child that we had to pay expensive medical school costs!)
I don’t recall what we paid in tuition at UB, but now, non-residents, pay less than $30k a year.
That’s a lot better than what we charge in California. Non-residents are paying $75,000 a year.
I know that UB was very proactive in seeking out daughter for corporate interviews and the “promotion of the engineering department for females”.
All of the professors knew her by her name on campus, obviously, and they promoted her as a tutor, because she always attended tutoring to maintain her A’s and has always been a very sharp young lady.
She is very happy as an engineering and hiring manager here in California. She’s done very well financially and emotionally.
If you feel confident in the list of schools that your daughter plans on applying to and don’t need or want other suggestions, I understand. But if you would like additional suggestions of schools that are ABET-accredited for engineering and that offer flexibility for someone who is undecided upon an area of specialty (or even whether they will stay in engineering vs. a different STEM discipline or perhaps something else entirely), let us know.
Congratulations! What an accomplished young woman she is, you all must be super proud! Thank you for the information, I am curious. As I saw Suny doesn’t need any extra essays, I think we will submit and see where it goes.
I want to do chance me but husband is here now, we’re catching up about his stuff and kids progress. I need to discuss and give him heads up so he knows how many we should apply to. EA is 14 days away, I’m not sure we have enough time to add more especially if it requires a lot of work. I think my daughter has another 3 long essays she needs to write. She had just told me that after Tuesday, she will be free. I should have done the chance me at the beginning of the month.
You will be paying international application fee.
EA has an earlier deadline, but you can still use suggestions for regular decision options…if you want them.
I don’t see why that would be the case if the applicant is a US citizen?
No they won’t. They are US citizens and will pay the domestic application fees.
However, they won’t have instate status at any public universities, and will pay OOS costs to attend those.
It is because the student isn’t currently in the US. As long as the student isn’t studying high school in the US, the student is subject to international application fee.
I have asked this application fee matter twice on CC, this is the reason why I’m confused. It may not differ much, for us maybe about $200 but surely nice to know if we pay correctly.
I wonder if there’s someone from University Admission Office lurking here who can chime in or whoever has the first hand information. I’m sure I’m not the only one asking.
The President from University of Tulsa reads here…but I can’t remember his screen name to tag. Maybe someone else will!
@Mwfan1921 you might now, as might @hebegebe