<p>My daughter has 3.9 GPA, 27 ACT with 31 on Math (didn't finish Reading and got nailed on that), lots of honors and AP courses, 7 Varsity sports letters in 3 years, 7th in Colorado State track meet in 800 meters and she wants to go to a smaller school. We looked at Willamette and it seems a good fit, but getting aid is still a big question mark. Schools like Smith College seem like a good fit, too, and she really wants to go to the Northwest or Northeast - but we don't qualify based on financial need and $40,000 per year just seems like an awful lot. Even if she could get about $7,000 to $10,000 per year, we could probably make it work. So where to go and what to do - really want to avoid schools > 6000 students. Very good athlete, but not really Division I recruiting caliber and very good student, but not really major academic award calber. What's a dad to do?</p>
<p>As a general rule, merit aid will be available if the applicant is in the upper quartile of the applicant pool. That applicant is part of the "talent" the school will recruit and subsidize in order to attract lesser-qualified, full-pay applicants. The highly-qualified applicants are the smart kids the full-pay parents want their kids to hang with. It's called "singing for your supper." I've done two that way and am working on #3.</p>
<p>The problem is that's the general rule, and your daughter is a specific case, and you only have one shot at getting it right for a specific start date. So you have to cast a wide net, cover your bases and have a solid-gold backup position. And don't mix up metaphors.</p>
<p>So here are some suggestions. Take the ACT again, after some prep work. Become crystal clear on what our budget is, both to yourself and others. Select a spectrum of schools she would love to go to, including at least one financial safety, and do a Class A effort on each application. Wait for April to see what is within budget. That's about all you can do.</p>
<p>That is helpful info. Unfortunately, for schools like Willamette, she's probably right on the edge of getting aid without a retake of SAT, ACT, or both. We'll try to get her into a prep course for SAT (she didn't do one) and retake in November (after XC season). Hopefully, she'll have a great XC season and maybe get a look for some athletic money from a Providence or BC, but they are incredibly competitive athletically. Providence is a good shot on the academic side, though. Frankly, I think it sucks that so much is made of the test scores - it really fails to recognize someone who is as much about hard work as 'being brilliant'. I have a pretty good idea on budget, so hopefully daughter can come up with a lot of alternatives and live with the outcome.</p>