<p>I really think you’re overestimating the importance of the undergrad school.</p>
<p>Our state flagship school is not well ranked, but its physics dept sends kids to CalTech, MIT, UDub…and all sorts of places, including UOregon for grad programs. (D1 was a physics major at state U. One of her classmates went to work for Kip Thorne right after graduation.)</p>
<p>However, if you want to to add an another off the beaten track school—NM Tech. It’s in Soccoro, NM and shares facilities with the VLA/NRAO. It also has a on-campus state of the art optical observatory. Has one the highest percentages of students heading on grad school of any college in the US. Small school with plenty of individual attention.</p>
<p>Oh and the explosives program is unique in the world. Plus the lightning field is very cool. (They’re big on atmospheric studies. The lightning field is acres of lightning rods for gathering data on lightning.)</p>
<p>NMT is a WUE school and has a pretty low sticker price.</p>
<p>There’s a lot of flagship state universities where OOS is not even $25k/year, as you go south costs are a lot lower… Cost of living is lower as well. The UAH/UAB example is a good one. The problem is some schools get carried away and charge three times as much for OOS than IS… My last alma mater, Purdue, is a good example :). </p>
<p>My own daughter is attending a flagship OOS with scholarship that dropped it to IS, look around… And depending on where you live, OOS could be cheaper (Michigan comes to mind…).</p>
<p>There’s a small liberal arts college for women in Decatur, GA (about 15 minutes away from Atlanta) that has an astrophysics major, as well as a mathematics-physics major. It’s called Agnes Scott College, and it’s known for giving great merit aid to high-stats young women. It’s usually ranked around #50 in the U.S. News rankings and like most schools in that range, it works to attract young women who would normally go to places like Harvard, Duke, Smith, and Wellesley. ASC also has cross-registration agreements with Emory which is about a 15-30 minute train ride away (and the train station is like 3 blocks from ASC).</p>
<p>They have a fairly new science center that was built about the year before I went to college (2004), and a beautiful campus with a very nice library and HUGE dorm rooms. They also have their own observatory for astronomy research.</p>
<p>WayOutWestMom: How does one determine if there is a high grad school chance - assuming student does well? Good to know that there are more options than I thought.</p>
<p>Turbo93: We will check around, especially in states that are hoping to attract students. We’ll be sure to check into Michigan as there is family there - always a plus.</p>
<p>Juillet: Agnes Scott sounds wonderful. Now if I can get D to consider the possibility. She’s not a fan of all girl institutions.</p>
<p>Agentninetynine-I’d suggest you focus your Spring Break visits on your safety schools–Oregon and Oregon State. While it might be fun to travel for “reach” visits–there is no point in falling in love with a school that is not affordable or proves to be too selective at a later date. Build your list from the ground up especially since you are early in the process. Ask Admissions to assist you in making contacts with the physics dept. at each of the state schools.</p>
<p>Take a look at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH–I’m not personally familiar with their physics dept., but they are very strong in the sciences and known for very generous merit aid. A school for serious students.</p>
<p>NWMom: U of O and OSU aren’t exactly spring break material. We’re headed south for some sun, Disneyland and then colleges We can go to Eugene and Corvallis anytime and we will, just not on spring break. </p>
<p>And she’s open to most of the WUE schools, except Montana.</p>
<p>Smith has an excellent program in astronomy/astrophysics, and is part of the 5-college astronomy consortium, where students can take graduate-level courses. They are especially strong in radio astronomy. Also an excellent engineering program, and a huge new integrated science/engineering complex (I believe the largest of any liberal arts college in the country) funded by the Ford Motor Company.</p>
<p>Michigan is the counter-example; it has fairly high IS tuition and OOS is quite expensive unless there’s an oil rig in the Gulf named after you :). Indiana, Illinois, Ohio are cheap IS, pricey OOS. For science, I would think Iowa State would be reasonable OOS, I have a friend’s kid attend there and it’s not THAT bad. U Winsconsin and U Minn are decent for OOS. If you head south, Kentucky, 'Bama, Miss, OK, et. al. are all fairly affordable OOS.</p>
<p>The FAFSA becomes available to complete on January 1 of your child’s senior year in high school. You will complete it as soon as possible after that. If your child is applying to public universities, most only use the FAFSA (UMich and UVA use the Profile as well, I believe…and maybe UNC-Chapel Hill). </p>
<p>If your child applies to any private schools you will need to check to see if they require the CSS Profile.</p>
<p>In ALL situations it is IMPORTANT to check the DEADLINES for each school that is on the application list and complete ALL of the financial aid submission requirements within the deadlines the college states. These deadlines will be on the school websites by the time your kiddo starts her senior year in high school. </p>
<p>There are TONS of colleges with physics programs. I think it is very possible to find one that is more affordable to your family than a $50K per year bill.</p>
<p>However, note that not all schools in any given state participate in WUE. For example, in California, only some of the less selective state universities participate (no UCs, no Cal Polys, no SJSU, CSULB, SDSU).</p>
<p>But University of Arizona, University of Hawaii, and New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology are in the WUE list.</p>
<p>If she decides on engineering, then (in addition to the schools listed in post #6) she should also consider these other lower cost out of state schools:</p>
<p>Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
Cal Poly Pomona
Virginia Tech</p>
<p>My concern is that her undergrad work be from a respected college so she can get into grad school.</p>
<p>========</p>
<p>Don’t worry about that. Grad schools don’t care much about undergrad name. They care about GPA, courses, LORs, GRE scores and what you’ve done. My son’s PhD classmates are from elites, flagships, small LACs, and regional publics.</p>
<p>==========</p>
<p>As for FAFSA, that is really mostly for fed aid which isn’t much.</p>
<p>Stanford does not give merit because ALL of its students have high stats. That’s the way it is with many elite schools. Everyone is a superstar so no one is special enough to get merit.</p>
<p>Adding to Wayoutwestmom’s suggestion, UNM has astrophysics and a combo major of physics+astro and unlike New Mexico Tech they do offer a little moe in the way of scholarships for OOS.</p>
<p>OOS scholarships are listed near the bottom of the page.</p>
<p>And I will also second mini on the Smith suggestion. Very strongly. The science education she would receive at Smith would be fantastic. And this is coming from a mom whose student was accepted EA to MIT and CalTech. HE wasn’t eligible for Smith! Your daughter is, lucky girl!</p>
<p>Is your D the type of student who is likely to be able to compete with the scary-brilliant, best-of-the best, type student? It’s hard to tell as there’s been little discussion of her attributes/accomplishments. I’m under the impression that physics is an extremely difficult major and it may be very important to make sure she selects a school which will give her the opportunities to be challenged and succeed without being overshadowed. </p>
<p>Many of the “top” physics school also have great FA, though it won’t necessarily be merit-based. I know you’re just starting to unravel the mystery of college funding so I wouldn’t take any schools off her list based on the published prices until you have a better idea what your financial need, as defined by both FAFSA and the schools, is.</p>
<p>In addition to regular merit aid, SUNY Stony Brook has special scholarships for those accepted into the Women in Science and Engineering program. The WISE program might offer your D some great opportunities for research and the SUNY schools in general tend to be more generous with merit for OOS than instate kids. One of their admissions officers, Chris, is very helpful to prospective students here on CC and posts under the name “sbuadmissions”. You might reach out to her for more info on WISE.</p>
<p>University of Washington admits OOS so they can pay full rate and balance the budget. OOS and international students are part of the budget process. It’s tough enough to get any merit aid for a top in-state student. OOS total COA for U of W is $41,543 this year - tuition has been going up about 14% per year.</p>
We can go to Eugene and Corvallis anytime and we will, just not on spring break. </p>