@gardenstategal — thanks so much. Funny that you mention Earlham. I have a friend who went and is super smart and very down to Earth. And I thought of it early on. But, I am seeing they have problems with turnover at the President level. And more concerning, that they are having financial problems are looking at big structural overhauls, cutting programs, etc. to stay afloat.
Does anyone know about this first hand (or having a kid there)?
He sounds like a great fit for Rice if the finances work out, and he gets in. Run Naviance to see if kids from his school with similar grades and scores have been admitted in the past. He should try the ACT. Some kids do a lot better on it than the SAT and vice versa. Rice might be a better fit for him than WUSTL, but both are great schools for reaches. WUSTL has Greek life but also has a lot of competitive merit scholarships that require extra essays etc. At Rice, all applicants are automatically considered for the merit awards.
There is no Greek life at Rice, and it has a liberal, accepting, happy nerd vibe. Rice gets high rankings for race and class diversity, quality of life and happy students. Run the net price calculator to see what your EFC would be. Rice has recently implemented a new financial aid initiative to try to attract more middle class applicants. Rice gives some merit aid, but most kids do not get scholarships. Rice focuses on meeting full need. https://financialaid.rice.edu/thericeinvestment
Thanks for the real scoop on transport to Grinnell @Mom24boys. It isn’t a deal killer, but I do want to go in with eyes open. Grinnell looks amazing on paper, especially for science. But it isn’t near any other schools he is looking at, so it’s the only one we haven’t visited. (My son visited Oberlin before junior year and was too young to interview, so he will have to circle back and do that. We hare hoping the regional flying works out). We considered adding it on to the Mac and St, Olaf visit , but it was a several hour drive in January, so we worries about the weather.
I think you have a great, realistic list. The plan to apply early to Pitt, and hopefully get an early acceptance w/merit is super smart.
@Houston1021 I agree. I love what I have read about Rice. The problem with my kids school is it is such a serious STEM incubator. They have 150 kids apply to MIT each year (and double digits get in). But no one has applied to a Grinnell or Mac the last three years. So, I’m flying blind. Hence, the crowd sourcing.
We definitely will not get need based aid with a HHI at $250-$300k. Every NPC I have run has laughed at us. While that level of income should have allowed us to save for any school, we live in a very high COL area, and the income hasn’t been that high for very long. We got hit hard with job loss and real estate loss in the recession. And then I had a medical condition and was unable to work for several years. So the large HHI is new. We’re saving over $4000 a month split between two kids right now. But I don’t see a realistic way to get to $70,000+ per kid per year in time. And also keep saving for retirement.
It is what it is. They have good options we can do without loans.
Looks like a great list. My son had fairly similar stats (and was looking for similar things in a college) and got top merit at Oberlin, St. Olaf, and Macalester (where he’s going). Waitlisted at Grinnell, which, honestly, remains the only result that we were a little surprised by–but the transportation issues made me nervous, too (we’re in Georgia), so perhaps a blessing in disguise. If you’re looking for another safety with good merit, I might throw Knox in there–although there is some Greek life (around 25%)–one thing my son liked about it was their “Rep Term” where you spend an entire trimester working with what is essentially a repertory theater group, putting on two full productions.
In terms of types of kids, academic opportunities, Grinnell seems a good fit, and it does do good merit. Lawrence for sciences is an excellent safety, there are 1/2 tuition merit awards pretty readily available to high stat kids, same with Wooster. Wooster can be kind of a pain to get to, because no matter where you come from, there is about an hour on two lane roads.
I can’t help myself from responding to the characterization of Denison as preppy, fratty, conservative etc. bc it is quite diverse by LAC standards (20% 1st gen, 20% low income, big middle class population attracted by merit awards, about 1/3 minority population) and greek life is not dominant at about 25% and non-residential. There are Maryland lax kids, so for someone coming from that region, it could seem predictably lax bros. But the experience on campus is pretty diverse and there really isn’t a single, dominant type of kid – my kid knows “crunchy” kids who live on the campus organic farm, film makers, dancers, social and political activists, and lax bros. The student body leans liberal with a general spirit of bipartisanship – when Reince Priebus and Jim Obergefell spoke on campus on back-to-back days, there were not protests, and students from both “sides” went to the “other” event. If the OP’s kid would be willing to revisit in the fall, I think it might be worth it, since the performing music scene is very strong, the drama scene seems very active, and science majors we know are very happy with their opportunities. OP’s kid would be in the running for 1/2 tuition merit award, making the school affordable under OP’s parameters. Then again, you can’t force it, and my kids walked away from schools which could have been good fits but they just didn’t feel it.
What about Swarthmore?
What about Brandeis?
Pitt is a good safety to have under your belt early but much as I like the school (one of mine went there, I lived in Pittsburgh for many years), it’s absolutely not a LAC. Even with those great test scores, it’s no sure thing to get into the Honors College or get any money. It’s also expensive for the back up school. We gladly paid for it because it was my son’s first choice. I don’t think we’d have been happy paying for it as a safety when there are much less expensive in state public options available.
Being male, having high test scores, interested in LACs, should open up a lot of merit money possibilities for your son. Start going down the list of LACs and see what they have in the way of hefty merit money. Catholic schools are also a good source of scholarships, and males often favored. Scranton has given some generous awards to kids around here.
Tulane is not a LAC but it has very good scholarships. My son got a half tuition award along with an EA acceptance and came that close to taking it. It’s much smaller than Pitt.
We visited some of your state schools and were wowed. Loved Mary Washington. George Mason has come a long way from when I remembered it as a commuter school. Old Dominion and VCU, also possibilities as you well know. Sometimes hard to appreciate what’s in your back yard. In MD, McDaniel, Washington College, St Marys, Mount St Mary’s all good possibilities with merit money. PAhas a plethora of LACs and small schools with money available.
Rice…is nice. Very nice. One of mine there. But expensive and getting merit money nigh impossible. The Rice initiative eligibility stops at $200k income but no idea how they count income. Something to consider.
Your son will get into a lot of schools. It’s paying for college that is the issue. Big scholarship dollars hard to get. But your budget is not way low, and your student has the resume to bridge the gap with merit money.
Thanks @cptofthehouse. Both for the school ideas and the encouragement. My kid is at a school where virtually no one applies to LACs (Naviance does not report numbers for many schools) and a B in a STEM class is a very successful outcome for most kids. I have zero idea how competitive he is.
I agree Pitt is huge, esp. for the price. They love kids from my kids school and almost all get honors college/merit aid. But I also know it’s getting more competitive each year and the recently revamped honor college admissions.
It does have an excellent program in his superspecific area of interest though. Mostly, Inthink an acceptance we can afford will take pressure off.
@Lynski. Brandeis is actually on the list of colleges he has some interest in, but has not found time to visit. So are Northeastern and BC. I could be convinced to make the visit to any or all of these, but I think we need to try to hold the list at 10 schools, plus a couple of why not? Reaches.
Keeping the list to no more than ten seems smart. If you’re hoping for merit money (as you are), you want every one of the applications to be specific so that the admissions department doesn’t just love your kid, but love$ your kid. How many additional and really specific short essays can any one person generate?
I agree that you have a great list. I’m just reading about all the travel complexities and admit to having a regional bias. There are loads of schools on the east coast that meet your son’s criteria and would keep travel much simpler. I can’t tell you how many winter trips from home to my Midwestern in-laws have featured the Drama of the Lost Luggage.
@Lynnski. I agree that “demonstrated interest” and a good impression matters at the LACs. So, we have visited Denison (scratched), Oberlin, Wooster, Kenyon, MAC, St. Olaf, Davidson (scratched) WM, and CWRU personally. Rochester and Pitt are scheduled. We will find a way to make a Grinnell visit work. Oberlin is high on the list, so he wants to do the regional flyin this fall. Is doing a summer class at WM. (If he came home and said WM was it, and he wanted to apply ED, Inwoukd be thrilled!). And he did interviews at most (Oberlin would not interview a Jr so her will interview at regional flyin in.
Submitted SAT scores early. Is doing some regional college fairs and talking to Reps. Is keeping in touch with student liaisons. Trying to sit in on classes and talking to professors in his area of interest. Stopping by and saying hello when the colleges visit his school. Opening and clicking on email links.
He’s a kinda brilliant quirky kid, so the interviews are what they are. But they have seemed to go well. He may not be polished. But he is appropriate and at least he’s genuine. And at just lights up when talking about things that interest him. He has come out of some interviews so excited about the school and specific things they offer.
He will definitely do supplemental essays.
In all seriousness, is there something else appropriate he can do to show interest and encourage merit &$$?
Sounds to me like he’s doing all the right things.
Make sure he sets up his portals after the schools receive the common app and then check it regularly for correspondences. Some of my D’s schools posted additional merit opportunities only in their portals.
Juniata seems like it might be a terrific fit for your son for a safety/likely that he might like a lot more than Pitt. It’s a LAC, strong in sciences, terrific choral music (I don’t know about other music anecdotally, but they have several band opportunities), lots of quirky/nerdy/off-the-beaten-path kinds of students. 3 hour drive from NoVA. Reportedly they give good merit aid. Our little NoVa school sends someone there most years and they seem to love it.
Could be worth bumping his list up to 11 schools if he likes the look of it. (My son did Pitt as a likely/safety, but he was never looking at LACs and wanted a mid-size school - Pitt was larger than he wanted but otherwise a good likely for him that he could see himself attending pretty happily. For your son, it seems like it makes sense to apply to Pitt early to get a good and affordable acceptance early, but that it’s not a safety he would love as he wants a LAC-sized school.)
Oh, check the interview dates for W&M. When my son applied, they wanted them to do on-campus interviews, and it was easier to get sign-up dates in the summer than in Sept./Oct., so he went down in August. Your son could potentially do his while he’s there this summer, if he’d be ready? But if not, he should look into scheduling for August or possibly Sept.
@Genevieve18 Juanita seems like an interesting choice. I’ll add it to the look into it lost.
And my son is doing a summer program at WM, and already has an interview set up while on campus. You’re right— their interview window is SHORT!
Great, I’m glad he has an interview set up!
I suggested looking at Juniata keeping in mind what was said above about a true safety being a safety you can afford. I would think that Wooster and St. Olaf are both great safeties for your son, but since he needs merit aid, and that’s likely but not definite to come through from any one school, it might well make sense to apply to a range of likely/safeties that give merit aid. Since his SAT puts him in a higher percentile at Juniata than at Wooster or St. Olaf, he might get more merit aid there. (Our school has also sent kids to Wooster and St. Olaf who love it there, and I think they’re terrific options as well - we have a lot of kids go to LACs).
Worcester Polytechnic Institute checks off several boxes. It’s follows a unique program called the WPI plan
https://www.wpi.edu/project-based-learning/wpi-plan
For a STEM school, it has a vibrant music community https://www.wpi.edu/news/infusing-stem-music. Worcester has an airport. In addition, Providence and Boston’s Logan offer other flight possibilities to DC.
Clark? Highly rated, eclectic group of students with lots of variety and great merit aid. Stem plus humanities