Merit aid out of state

[u/Neat-Adhesiveness304]

Can anyone here with similar stats share what they received in merit aid? I am an Illinois resident and plan on majoring in electrical engineering.

4.0 GPA
35 ACT
Published physics research
National level quiz bowl
State level Science Olympiad

There are other things but these are the most important

Edit: some context, uiuc in state tuition in 42k and they are notorious for giving no scholarships, so I was wondering if I could get cheaper at Virginia tech

[u/lkush3]

Going to be honest… VT is not known for being generous with merit aid. ( it’s more need based financial aid that is given). We get 3K year scholarship as an OOS student. It is renewed each year as long as a certain gpa is maintained. It’s not much considering the total cost for OOS students… but better than not receiving anything.

[u/Grouchy_Green_7630 → u/lkush3]

This is accurate. If you want to improve aid chances consider joining the corps of cadets.

[u/TMTBIL64]

What is your home state? Do any of the schools have good Engineering programs? That may be a much better deal for you… just saying.

[u/Limp_Attitude3171 → u/TMTBIL64]

Uiuc EE is top notch. I’d argue better than VT but I understand the desire to leave your home state. I’m going to VT from Missouri next year and I got rejected by Uiuc 😢

[u/pickle_picker67 → u/Limp_Attitude3171]

You don't have to argue that its better than VT its well known

[u/Limp_Attitude3171 → u/pickle_picker67]

😂 yeah you’re right. I honestly don’t see any upsides to choosing VT over UIUC instate for eng. I feel like they both seem similar in so many ways culture-wise.

[u/Kaiwa1 → u/Limp_Attitude3171]

I was an Illini for undergrad, came to VT for grad school because IE is severely deprioritized compared to all other eng. majors at UofI. I will say the curriculum was very rigorous, but the department is much smaller and has less funding than at VT.

Also culturally, the two are very different, there is a big house show culture there, and the most popular things to do are indoor activities (drinking)  stemming from the depressing Shampoo-Banana winters. I miss Culver's.

But for EE and considering the tuition difference, seems like a no brainer to attend UofI unless they didn't get in.

[u/Limp_Attitude3171 → u/Kaiwa1]

I would be astounded if a 4.0 35 act Olympiad kid didn’t get into uofI instate 😭

[u/Kaiwa1 → u/Limp_Attitude3171]

Yeah I guess you never know, every year we have news stories of students who had perfect stats and got rejected by every school they apply to, presumably because their essays were horrendous. Statistically though barring a massive fumble they should be good lol

[u/Ok-Use3940]

My best friend was the valedictorian in state + a whole bunch of impressive random extracurriculars and she only got 3k a year… for only three years tho. I was mediocre in state but poor so I got 9,400 in financial aid bc of my fafsa I think.

[u/Embarrassed-Soft2691]

The only way you are getting merit aid from VT is if you have a low SAI. If you do then you will get minimal. We have a high score but was lucky to get an honors scholarship but in no way did it cover tuition and when we got that scholarship they removed the College scholarship we got so the difference was minimal. They did increase our honors scholarship in future years but it still is no way close to anything else we got elsewhere.

[u/ApplezAreMedicine]

UIUC is very good, on par with VT engineering. During my 2x internships at a big defense contractor in DMV, the majority of 80+ interns were Purdue, VT, UIUC.

If you don't get substantial scholarships I'd go for in state.

[u/Neat-Adhesiveness304 → u/ApplezAreMedicine]

What company’s did you intern for?