A Senior With a Short College List???

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I'm a senior, and while I have two schools I know I am applying to, everything else is up in the air. Now, on the off chance that the early decision school accepts me, that would be brilliant. On the chance that it doesn't, I'm trying to find some other schools I think I would be happy at.</p>

<p>...and I desperately need help.</p>

<p>Stats:
IB diploma candidate
2200 composite SAT (760/640/760), 31 ACT
3 AP tests (2 classes sophomore year, 1 test last year)
GPA (uw) 3.82, (w) 4.46
top 10% with w GPA, top 25% with unweighted (3 Bs, 1 C)
strong recs
a lot of volunteer-oriented ECs</p>

<p>I'm looking for a smaller college (probably LAC) that has a decent engineering programme, but also would be all right if I decide not to go into engineering. Financial Aid is a MUST!</p>

<p>Does anybody have any recommendations for schools I should look at?</p>

<p>Thank you all so much in advance!</p>

2

<p>For engineering, Swarthmore is always a good option. I can’t think of any other decent LACs w/engineering at the moment though… :(</p>

3

<p>Is money an issue? Would you qualify for financial aid (lowish income), or can your parents pay for your education?</p>

<p>Are you looking for some merit money?</p>

4

<p>Mare_Crisium: yeah, Swat’s kind of my pray-I-get-in option right now…I just feel like my scores/GPA are low for their level of selectivity. :-&lt;/p>

<p>m2ck: money is definitely an issue, so I’m looking for whatever I can get. I should qualify for some financial aid (highish income but only one parent works and we have no assets) but I’m not sure how it’ll work out exactly.</p>

5

<p>Harvey Mudd, one of the Claremont Colleges</p>

6

<p>It’s essential to figure out how financial aid works now. It doesn’t matter how many work if you have a ‘highish’ income. And no assets? No home, stocks, options? Some schools even look at cars. And given your spelling, I’m wondering if you’re American which would also effect aid.</p>

<p>There are many calculators including one on this site to begin to understand what your family will be expected to pay. Many families can not afford the number colleges expect from them. Kids facing that must focus on schools offering merit aid or schools their family can afford.</p>

7

<p>BP: Thank you! I’ve heard of Harvey Mudd, but had never looked into it before. ^_^</p>

<p>hmom5: If they count cars then yes, if not then no. It seems as though aid is really different by school though–if I get into Swarthmore, I believe I was told to expect between 30k and 40k in aid. Of course, imho, it seems as though Swat puts a lot of effort into making sure that each student receives the aid s/he needs. The state school that I also applied to (priority deadline 1 November, but it’s rather large and I don’t really want to go) has a history of offering a lot of solid merit aid to IB students from my school with similar scores/GPA to mine. So while I absolutely am planning on taking cost into consideration when looking at colleges, imho it seems as though it kind of varies on a college-by-college basis. Or am I wrong? I’m the first in my family to seriously look at college beyond an arts school or community college, so I’m sort of just muddling through.</p>

<p>edit: and sorry, yeah, I’m an American student. >_>;</p>

8

<p>Since money is an issue…</p>

<p>It sound like you need a list of reaches with likely aid for highish incomes (usually only top, top schools), and some matches/safeties that will give you lots of merit money for your stats.</p>

<p>How much can your parents contribute.</p>

<p>BTW…since one parent doesn’t work, some schools might “apply” a wage to that person (unless disabled or something) because the assumption would be that that person could contribute to your education if he/she worked. The position would be that it’s a “life-style” choice for one parent not to work. </p>

<p>I would never apply ED if money was an issue and my family wasn’t low income.</p>

<p>Does you family own a home?</p>

<p>I just noticed that you’re applying ED. Don’t you want to compare financial offers since money is an issue? Where are you applying ED? If your parents have a highish income, you may have trouble claiming that an ED offer is unaffordable if the ED offer isn’t enough.</p>

9

<p>Several schools do. The problem is that typically what you think you need and what they think are two different things. They expect your family will have college savings, will use a significant part of their income to pay and will also be willing to borrow.</p>

<p>Most families are initially shocked at what the Swats of the college world expect they can pay. </p>

<p>I would not apply ED without a solid understand of aid. You can ask Swat for an ‘early read’–basically to tell you what they expect you to pay and what the breakdown of aid will be–grants, loans, work study.</p>

10

<p>If I were you, I’d add the following to your list of schools to look at…</p>

<p>Trinity College
Lafayette College
Franklin and Marshall College
Lehigh University
Bucknell University</p>

<p>They are good liberal arts colleges with engineering programs, and I think you have a good shot at all of them. I’m not sure about available financial aid though, so I’d look into that if I were you.</p>

11

<p>I think the OP first needs to determine what his parents EFC will be. If the schools require CSS profile, they may expect that both parents work.</p>

12

<p>m2ck: Although we did consider the problems of applying ED, because I’m applying to Swarthmore (who meets full demonstrated need, and, we were told, no longer gives out loans when meeting that need) we decided it was best, also because they have a more comprehensive take on financial aid. There have been a series of somewhat bizarre extenuating circumstances that have put us in the situation we are in right now, and Swarthmore is the only school that we have really looked into (the others being University of MD College Park, Villanova, and GW) that take enough of a comprehensive look at aid that we think there could be chance they take these circumstances into consideration.
We do not own a home. Also, my parents will not give me a set number as far as how much they ‘can’ contribute, but they seemed okay (not thrilled, but okay) with what we were told at Swarthmore (between 10k-15k).</p>

<p>hmom5: haha yeahhh that’s what we’ve been running into, particularly because we are in a higher income bracket and if that’s all you look at, it does look like we can pay more. As far as an understanding of aid goes, I feel like it’s something that we understand in theory (attended all the meetings my school offers, done some research, etc) but not in practise–you know? If you have any tips about how to maybe get a better understanding before actually going through this, we would really appreciate it. ^_^</p>

<p>anemgi: thank you for the suggestions!</p>

<p>Also, on the topic of merit aid: what sort of schools does anybody think I could get merit aid at? I’ve kind of been functioning under the assumption that my academics aren’t strong enough to even consider that, but I guess my views of my scores are a bit biased/flawed? Not necessarily specific schools, but what sorts of schools would be good to look at for this?</p>

13

<p>You would probably get some merit aid at Case Western.</p>

14

<p>U Rochester and Ohio Northern might be good places to look.</p>

15

<p>Your ACT is a bit low for good merit, but your SAT is a bit better. :slight_smile: Some schools use a 1400 (M+CR) and ACT 32 as their minimum for good merit aid.</p>

16

<p>See this thread: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/771603-choosing-engineering-school.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/771603-choosing-engineering-school.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

17

<p>From the Lafayett College’s website ( [Lafayette</a> Academic Scholarships](<a href=“http://www.lafayette.edu/admissions/marquis/index.html]Lafayette”>http://www.lafayette.edu/admissions/marquis/index.html) ):
Lafayette College recognizes its most outstanding applicants with academic merit scholarships of up to $16,000 per year. No special application is required to be considered for a merit-based scholarship. Recipients are chosen from among the most competitive U.S. citizens and permanent residents in the admissions applicant pool.</p>

<p>Marquis Scholars receive an annual award of $16,000 (totaling $64,000 over four years) or a grant up to demonstrated need if greater than $16,000 and all filing deadlines are met. Other special benefits of the Marquis Scholars Program include: </p>

<p>$4,000 scholarship for one faculty-led, three-week, study-abroad course during an interim session;
participation in a number of special activities, including cultural opportunities; and
opportunities to work closely with Marquis faculty advisers.
Students admitted under both Early Decision and Regular Decision are considered for this scholarship, with final decisions rendered by late March.
We anticipate, once again this year, enrolling approximately ten percent of the entering class as Marquis Scholars. The College is currently reviewing whether it will offer other academic merit scholarships in amounts below $16,000. </p>

<p>Who Qualifies?
Lafayette seeks students who have demonstrated intellectual curiosity in addition to their superior academic achievement. Curriculum, grades, rank in graduating class, and scores on standardized tests are all considered. Furthermore, the College looks for students engaged in independent, creative scholarship who have demonstrated significant accomplishments through involvement in school and community. </p>

<p>Scholarship recipients typically have the following profile: top 3 percent or better of their graduating class in the most demanding curriculum available, with SAT at or above 1400 (critical reading and math). Characteristics vary slightly from year to year, depending upon the strength of the College’s applicant pool. </p>

<p>All students who apply to Lafayette are considered for the program, based on the above criteria, though the program is limited to U.S. citizens and/or permanent residents. The scholarship is renewed each year at Lafayette provided the student maintains a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.00. Students who are also requesting need-based financial aid must file the CSS Profile and other documents by the deadlines. </p>

<p>First-year students selected for an academic scholarship receive an official letter of notification in March.</p>