<p>My high school senior daughter has a 30 ACT, 4.0 GPA, #1 in her class and is trying to decide where to go to college. She has an opportunity to play tennis and participate in theater at a local community college 30 minutes from home, or attend a four year university which is 1 hour and 15 minutes away. My worry is that freshman scholarships for the university may be better than transfer scholarships. Any opinions?</p>
<p>If she is #1 in her class and you can afford it, go to the four-year university.</p>
<p>
This is absolutely the case. There are few merit scholarships available for transfers. She should see what the four year college will offer. Have you looked at the stickied threads in the financial aid forum? There are some schools with assured merit aid for her stats.</p>
<p>Can she also play tennis and participate in theater at the local university?</p>
<p>If she is #1 in her class, she should go to the best school you can afford; lots of colleges where she ranks in the top 25% would provide her with great scholarships (especially if they’re 400+miles from home and they like geographical diversity, as most selective/national LACs do).
Has she been recruited for tennis at D3 schools? (if not, she could fill out a few “prospective recruit” questionnaires at various LACs and in any case she could participate through intramurals at the university 1h15 away.
So she will be able to play tennis (either club or intramural at a large U, or perhaps even varsity at a D3) and participate in theater regardless. What matters is her education.
I wouldn’t advise her attending community college in her case, she wouldn’t be challenged (the depth of the classes varies, it depends where you live, but typically it’s less strenuous to take a class at community college than at the flagship university, which is why some premeds do that to boost their GPA) plus she would miss out on merit scholarships that are offered only to freshman applicants - you’re correct transfer scholarships are always lower and fewer. In addition, if she likes theater, the 4-year college will provide her with opportunities to participate. If it’s a big university, there will be several thespian groups, and if it’s a small university in most cases students can participate right off the bat freshman year. </p>
<p>In case you’re looking for the “cheapest, most challenging option”
here are some schools with “late” deadlines:
[url=<a href=“College Search | College Finder | Colleges by Major & Location”>College Search | College Finder | Colleges by Major & Location]List</a> of Late Deadline Schools- Locate Colleges with Late Application Deadlines at Petersons.com<a href=“Allegheny,%20Dickinson%20College,%20Franklin%20and%20Marshall%20College,%20Gettysburg%20College,%20Goucher,%20Hendrix,%20Hobart%20and%20WilliamSmith%20Colleges,%20Illinois%20Wesleyan,%20Ithaca%20College,%20Kalamazoo%20College,%20Knox%20College,%20Lake%20Forest,%20Muhlenberg,%20Sewanee,%20Spelman,%20Willamette,%20Wooster,%20all%20have%20pretty%20good%20financial%20aid%20programs%20even%20if%20they%20don’t%20guarantee%20it%20for%20all%20admitted%20students,%20and%20they%20have%20merit%20scholarships%20too.%20Run%20the%20NetPriceCalculators%20to%20see%20cost”>/url</a>.</p>
<p>She could have the opportunity to play tennis and participate in theater in lots of schools.</p>