The primary criteria in D17’s search are affordability and strength of academic programs. Beyond that, her biggerst concern is best summed up as: “If you are the smartest person in the room, you are in the wrong room”. She wants to be in the right room. She does not want to be the big fish. She wants to learn from, and be inspired by, the bigger fish.
We know there are very, very smart people at every school. But she would like a place where it is easy to find a community of very smart people.
We believe she would thrive in an environment like University of Chicago. But schools in that tier are beyond our budget. We are looking for full-tuition scholarships.
Which type of school would be a better fit?
A smaller university with fairly high ACT range (for example, Tulane)
A larger university with a strong Honors College (for example, U of Alabama)
Stats: 34 ACT, 3.9 unweighted GPA, 4.5 weighted GPA, class rank 1 of 600, likely NMF. EFC 34K, can actually afford 20K.
Other background: She will likely major in Math. She is also interested in Physics, Astronomy, and Economics. She likes schools with a lot of rah-rah spirit, and with things going on all the time. She does not want a rural college. She does not plan to join a sorority. Schools with religious affiliation are not a good fit.
Since you need merit beyond your actual need, look at schools where she is well above the 75th percentile for stats, for big merit, top5-10% is best. Many LACs have strong Math and Science programs, and good business schools. 2 of my daughters attend the University of Richmond, one with full ride one with full Tuition scholarship. 75%ileCr SAT is 730,Math is 750, ACT 33, so there are plenty of smart high stats students. My daughters had slightly higher stats than your daughter(full ride d had 1600 M + CR, full tuition d had 35 ACT). they have had paid summer internships, lab research experience, travel abroad. Good professors and advising, career services, etc. Many LACs have good opportunities like this. Research financial aid pages carefully for big merit opportunities and cross them off your list if there are none avail. Every school is different.
Don’t make the mistake of applying to schools where your daughters stats are average, thinking she will only be challenged that way, or she will not get enough merit aid to be affordable. Run net price calculators, but be aware that they may not include competitive scolarshops that your d might win.
Honors programs within bigger schools are good options , too. Higher stats honors kids will usually live together. My youngest D will be attending Temple U in fall, 2100 SAT, 32 ACT, on an automatic full tuition scholarship. We all loved the honors program opportunities she will have there, and all the students we met during admitted students day seemed very polished and very involved with good school spirit. U of Alabama is awesome too, definitely worth a visit. A friends daughter is in honors program there and loves it.
Cast a wide net when you need big merit. It worked for us. Visit with students in majors your D is interested in and sit on a class if possible.
U of Chicago offers need-based financial aid that meets 100% of your family’s demonstrated need, as well as merit scholarships, one can check collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/costs 8->
USC? I think NMF gets you 1/2 tuition, and there are competitive scholarships that can provide much more. Great school, very rah-rah, very smart people. (It was my DS’ s first choice, he didn’t get in but his test scores were lower than you D’s and they are very score-conscious.)
Also U of South Carolina. Top rated honors college. Great opportunities, If NMF then that is guaranteed money plus computer that can be stacked with (with D stats likely) waived OOS tuition plus some other scholarship. Very smart kids. SEC school with great sports. Greek life seems large but is 30% of students, so 70% not greek. D was math major and loved her professors.
Before I saw your no religious affiliation rule, I would have said Villanova or SMU. Tulane is an option, with lots of smart kids but may lack the intellectual vibe your D is looking for. Agree with the poster who suggested Richmond- great place with smart kids and good merit for top kids. UVA has the full ride Jefferson scholars. Long shot but worth checking out as the school may fit a lot of your criteria.
I like Ohio State for this student. They have a fair number of good merit scholarships, an excellent honors program, and the math department has an “Honors Calculus” sequence which is theoretical math which few schools beyond the elites offer. Pittsburgh has a great honors college and great scholarships, but probably their honors calculus is just an accelerated regular calculus.
University of Rochester offers merit scholarships that would close the gap.
Tulane and USC might be good depending on the amount of merit.
She could be well served by either type of college you described.
Another idea might be Fordham in NYC which I think has full tuition scholarships for NMF. If she gets into the honors program it really could be a great fit.
Wow Massmomm, I guess prestige is in the eye of the beholder but there are strong universities that give merit. But I think an LAC might be a great place for this student. Any student who has given thought to the type of students she will be surrounded by and has weighed in with the desire to be among very strong students is someone who would benefit from the type of instruction she is more apt to get in a smaller school-- where profs are more likely to give some thought to their teaching-whereas the contingencies in larger universities are such that they discourage thought provoking approaches in favor of formulaic ones with multiple choice type assessments.
Just keep in mind that full tuition awards are elusive from private schools.
Your DS will probably receive $20-$30,000 scholarships from quite a few schools if she applies to the right schools. Full tuition will be automatic at Alabama and Oklahoma, and she could apply for the hyper competetive scholarships offered by schools like Duke and Vandy.
Fordham with a full tuition NMF scholarship still has a net costs over $20,000.
I think you can find the academic atmosphere she is looking for in a good honors college at a state school or a place like Tulane. I would move to the next set of criteria.
Size of school? Urban or college town? So sports matter? We’re looking for similar criteria to your initial post and one added factor for us is how much a college helps undecides find a major.
It’ll be a lot easier to find this type of fit if she’s willing to look into more rural schools, namely academically intense LACs which offer significant merit aid. I would suggest Mount Holyoke, which is a 1-3 hour bus ride from Boston and NYC.
I think both schools like Tulane (with relatively high ACT scores) and the big U’s with honors programs can work. In fact if the student is not bothered by a big university in terms of shear numbers they are more likely to find students smarter than them there than at a small LAC where they have a sweet merit scholarship. Honors programs can ensure that the entry level courses are taught at a higher level with (one hopes) more engaged students. Not all honors programs are created equally. I know that when I looked at options for my older son there was nothing appealing. For him the smaller tech schools were going to offer merit money and give him more of the atmosphere he was looking for.
I agree the women’s colleges are definitely a good place to look as well.
NMF will open a whole list of very attractive deals.
The problem you posit is that if you want merit $, you need to be one of the smartest in the room…but you also don’t want to be the smartest in the room.
So I would suggest that you look for colleges with Honors programs…so you get that $$ but you are still taking classes with many other smart kids.
Full tuition merit money? Or full tuition in a combination of merit and need-based aid. It is going to be difficult to be fully funded for tuition AND be surrounded by very smart students. U of Rochester gives out good merit money, but full tuition is very rare. There may well be kids with higher stat (4.0 unweighted for example).
Either type of school could work for your daughter. Finances are probably going to be the biggest factor in finding the right college. If she gets a full tuition scholarship at a private, that would be great. But she is more likely to get enough money to fit your budget at a less expensive school.
What is her high school like? Is it competitive, sending kids to top colleges each year? What is your flagship state U? That may well turn out to be the most affordable option.
You can Google the NM Annual Report and you’ll find a section that lists the names of colleges and universities and the # of Merit Scholars enrolled.
Lots of smart kids also need to hunt down substantial merit aid to reduce their net COA. A quick glance through the list and one can guess which flagships are waving the big money at these kids.