Hi. Thanks so much for the info. I think I actually would get full ride to U Alabama because they have a page on their website saying National Recognition Scholars get 4 years free tuition. My main safety is Drexel (sibling legacy). But this might sound dumb but i’d rather go to a higher ranked school that I pay a bit of a premium for, since my relatives all talk about networking (i kinda disagree that prestige is the most important thing, but I have to listen to them at least a little bit.) Other safety is Virginia Tech (cousin goes there). Also, I didn’t actually research the UCs other than acceptance rates… I think that was a mistake to add them to my list. But my goal is just anything better than Rutgers (my state school).
Wow, we did not think of that. So then it’s actually 77k. Research labs are slightly important, and the courses are moderately important. It isn’t a competition list with my cousins, but I am using their colleges Virginia tech (safety/likely), Drexel (safety), and GaTech (reach) in my list. My family cares mostly about prestige sadly, but I wanted something that balances prestige and costs. So most targets that are ranked as Rutgers new brunswick or better are the best for everyone… Apart from that, it doesn’t really matter.
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actually, Drexel and Virginia Tech. maybe U Alabama or Texas A&M.
Recognition is four years - but NMF is better - are you NMF? NMF is 5 years and free housing and money - so you can start grad school.
The legacy doesn’t matter at Drexel. You’re a slam dunk and for merit as well.
We can debate rank all day long and I’m not going to get into a Princeton vs. Alabama - but in general, you and not your school, will be why you get work. If you look at Cornell MechE career outcomes which they post plainly, they’re wonderful - but guess what. Most are finding them on line (hello Indeed) or linkedin. My kid went to Bama, had 20 interviews in the Fall and 5 offers and works with kids from Purdue, the same school he turned down. So - it’s an individual call- but I would argue a lot of what you hear in society - the hype - is that - is marketing. Is Cornell worth $320K more than Bama? I can’t answer that for your family - but even if you make $25K a year more, that’s a long payback.
Your comment on Rutgers is interesting - because I know someone who went there for Honors and now is at U of Miami Law for free (turning down Vandy) - and we’re in TN. Everyone says this about their state school - it stinks. And yet kids from all over the country would love love love to go to Rutgers. That’s just a local bias thing. I’m not saying Rutgers is right for you - but it’s got a sparkling reputation - so I think your hesitancy is misplaced - but no different than so many in state kids.
Here is the Bama National Recognition - do you qualify? But NMF is way better - if you are that - I thought I read you are.
First-time freshmen who are recognized by the National African American, Hispanic, Indigenous or Rural & Small-Town Recognition Programs are strongly encouraged to submit all application materials by the January 15 priority deadline to ensure consideration. If eligible students submit an application and all supporting documents after January 15 but by May 1, they will receive consideration for admission on a space available basis.
If admitted, students who are eligible for the National Recognition Scholarship package will recieve:
- Value of tuition for up to four years or eight semesters for degree-seeking undergraduate and graduate or law studies
- $1,000 per year supplemental scholarship for four years
- First year of on-campus housing at regular room rate* (based on assignment by Housing and Residential Communities)
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I’m a Semifinalist for National Merit. Wow, that is good for your son. And i’m not sure about going to an IVY or even getting accepted, but i can hopefully figure out with my parents (without the rest of the relatives commenting) a way to balance the expectations they have with something that works out for us. And yeah Rutgers is pretty good but there is a bit of hesitation towards Rutgers from people in my school/family/area. I know the honors program is really tough though, so that makes sense. But I am most likely not going to UAlabama, solely because rank in USnews isn’t high enough for other people’s expectations on me.
You list genomics, bioinformatics, CS, and math as your interests. Not pure math and not pure CS, am I correct?
You may trim your reaches based on your interests. I would try to worry less about prestige…
Princeton is great for Math. Hopkins is great with bioinformatics (I believe they have some of it under BioMedical Engineering). MIT, CIT, GaTech are more engineering-oriented with many options. CMU is top CS. Why Emory? Why Tufts? What is attractive at Swarthmore, Bowdoin, Amherst, Pomona and Vassar?
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If you become NMF, you get 5 years (so grad school) and free housing. My daughter’s friend goes to TN and had a killer CS internship this summer - apartment included - so people can be ranking focused and that’s fine - but it’s also at a significant cost and with no guarantees. Kids can do well from all over…or not do so well.
Only your family can decide - but don’t conflate ranking with strength in majors. For example, your Ivies won’t necessarily be best.
If you’re not going to a Bama, then save your time - and don’t apply - or any other schools that are beneath your family expectation. You might want to consider USC that does have a NMF scholarship - or Tulsa that’s a free ride for NMSF and it’s historically a very fine school.
Good luck.
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Princeton is great for Math. Hopkins is great with bioinformatics (I believe they have some of it under BioMedical Engineering). MIT, CIT, GaTech are more engineering-oriented with many options. CMU is top CS. Why Emory? Why Tufts? What is attractive at Swarthmore, Bowdoin, Amherst, Pomona and Vassar?
Yes, I was thinking of JHU for genomics/bioinformatics, and also I forgot to list UCSD since that’s the one I took the first genomics course with.
For cs and math, i can’t really comprehend pure or abstract stuff that well… so yeah only regular math.
CMU and the Tech institutes were for cs/engineering as well.
To be honest, I don’t have a solid choice for my major, but I don’t want to go as undecided.
Those other ones were just top LACs and colleges my parents liked…
If you become NMF, you get 5 years (so grad school) and free housing. My daughter’s friend goes to TN and had a killer CS internship this summer - apartment included - so people can be ranking focused and that’s fine - but it’s also at a significant cost and with no guarantees. Kids can do well from all over…or not do so well.
Only your family can decide - but don’t conflate ranking with strength in majors. For example, your Ivies won’t necessarily be best.
If you’re not going to a Bama, then save your time - and don’t apply - or any other schools that are beneath your family expectation. You might want to consider USC that does have a NMF scholarship - or Tulsa that’s a free ride for NMSF and it’s historically a very fine school.
Good luck.
Yes, but idk about becoming a finalist. hopeful though. and actually, you are very right that I shouldn’t apply to alabama or the ones my familly doesn’t even want me to go to. Alright, I’ll see USC too.
are they going to school - or are you?
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I believe most semi become a finalist Or have a reasonable chance to…you can let your family know that Bama has more NM Scholars than any school in the country. There’s a reason - yes, it’s because they buy kids in - hence they are 58% OOS including 784 from NJ alone - but NJIT has a strong program as well and that’s on your list. I don’t think it’s strong in your area but one poster has a kid at Fordham on a national merit scholarship - so another local to maybe look at.
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so my relatives are talking about prestige a lot and my parents are getting convinced by them… so I’m trying to reduce how much my parents are focused on prestige now.
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Here is how we approached it with my oldest D. She was not NMSF, but had quite good stats with very high SAT and was interested in BME.
We put one safety on the list (in her case it was UMD), 2 likely (that turned out reaches, but we did not know) and 7 reaches.
We visited several schools (not many) to get a feeling of what she wanted (Northeastern was dropped from the list after a visit.)
She knew not to fall in love with any school and knew the family budget. The rule was if no scholarship and COA was above the family budget then she would not attend.
She got into 5 schools out of 10. 2 schools were absolutely over our budget (UMich and CMU). Two gave her good money (UMD, CWRU.) However, she chose GaTech since it was still in the family budget range.
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@momsearcheng brings up a great point.
I was a full pay family but gave my daughter a $50K budget. She could apply anywhere that had “potential” to get to $50K but if it didn’t get there and some didn’t - like UMD, PItt, Washington & Lee, American - we eliminated their acceptance.
In your case, you say your budget is $85K. I’ll assume you can flex on that or you’d eliminate some of your reaches.
But your parents have to stroke that check 2x per year - so make sure - is that tradeoff for prestige worth it for them?
Also - these are very different schools. A Swat and Va Tech - I mean, tiny and ginormous - so forgetting your folks, what is the right environment for you, forgetting anything to do with cost or rank. Do you want urban/suburban/rural…large, medium, small…football…warm, cold…mountains, flat.
what excites you?
Please do not apply to schools that you are not interested in or not your preference. That would be an enormous waste of time and money. I understand that parents pay, but if you would not like school that they will pick for you, you will not be happy and your grades will suffer. So that would not be a happy ending for prestige… 
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Here is the suggested trimmed list based on your posts…
Safety: U Alabama
Likely: Virginia Tech, Drexel
Target: CWRU, Purdue, Rutgers NB, UMD CP, UMiami, Syracuse, UPitt
Reach: GaTech, JHU, UChicago, Vanderbilt, Duke, WashU, Rice, UCSD, Carnegie Mellon, Northwestern? (I would put UIUC instead), UMich
That is 21 schools with 20 spots on the common app + 1 UCSD. (I cut reaches arbitrarily based on my views of your best fit for your interests and kept the ones with a higher acceptance rate.)
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What does this mean?
I don’t know who you are, but I am sure that you are special. Everyone is unique and has their own special twist on how they see and interact with the world.
That said, congratulations on your strong performance in high school so far. Have you visited any college campuses so far? If so, which ones and what have your impressions been?
I understand that your family views rankings and prestige with importance, but even amongst prestigious schools, there are definite differences between them. Right now your list has small liberal arts colleges and huge state publics, tech-focused schools, co-op focused schools, schools with no Greek life and schools where Greek life is much more prominent, schools with tons of athletic enthusiasm and schools that can barely put a varsity squad together, schools in very urban locations and schools that are in fairly isolated ones. What are you interested in experiencing at college? Knowing more about what you want your college experience to be like can help people to provide suggestions as you narrow your list or think of additional schools that might be a good fit for you.
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OP, you need to figure out what to do and act very quickly. It is already almost the middle of September. Many colleges have EA deadlines in October- November. If you are remotely interested in merit aid, you need to apply EA or you will not be eligible. Almost all colleges will require extra essays. You cannot just copy and paste them, since they will not stand out. You need a spreadsheet with deadlines and a plan. Last year when my youngest applied to 21 colleges, she was applying to 2 colleges per weekend.
Also, keep in mind the acceptance rate. If the acceptance rate is 3 or 4 percent, you have a very tiny chance of acceptance. I would not waste my time on Harvard or Princeton. Yes, you have good stats, but you did not fly to the moon, and did not find treatment for cancer. You just volunteered a lot (great) and is good at math. Find schools that will appreciate that. Only good stats will not be enough for Harvard or Princeton.
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This varies wildly by college. I will say…many colleges do have an earlier deadline for applying for admission to be considered for merit aid. So…you need to check college websites for ALL deadlines…and don’t miss any deadlines…even by a few minutes. Better to apply early.
Keep an eye out for financial aid application deadlines as well.
All deadlines matter. Don’t miss them!
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