Hey all,
I’m looking to major in Economics this upcoming fall and am interested in adding some more schools that I would have a strong chance of acceptance (as it is my list is many reaches). I’m academically competitive (36ACT/4.0UW) with decent extra curriculars.
Musts:
Academics
Suburban or Urban
Preferred:
Greek system
Many extracurricular options
Doesn’t matter:
Distance (I’m from Florida)
Public/private (either is fine)
Thank you in advance!
Shawn
With your stats, most schools except the top 20 will likely be safeties.
Vanderbilt is a reach for everyone but may be what you’re looking for.
“Suburban or Urban”
These Newsweek articles aren’t bad for generating ideas (available online):
“The 25 Most Desirable Suburban Schools”
“The 25 Most Desirable Urban Schools”
Cost constraints?
Pre PhD (prefer a high math curriculum if so) or otherwise?
@ucbalumnus I’m willing to take on student loans/with parents help probably about $25K a year post aid (less is nice)
I’d like to get my doctorate, yes.
@merc81 thanks for the tip! I will check those out
@nerdyparent one of my mentors in HS goes to Vandy now - I’ve heard a lot of good about it, thank you for the tip! I’ll definitely check it out
<<< I’m willing to take on student loans/
with parents help probably about $25K a year post aid >>>>
YOU can only borrow $5500 for frosh year. And most schools will ALREADY have that loan in the FA pkg, so you won’t be able to use it towards EFC.
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Income: ~$75,000/yr
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Since you can only borrow $5500, are you saying that your parents can contribute $20k per year??? You better ask them and get an accurate figure.
If you want to go for a MS and PhD, then do NOT borrow much as an undergrad. That debt will grow ridiculously while you’re in undergrad and grad school.
Safeties don’t usually give much need based aid, but some give a lot of merit.
Are you a NMSF?
Have you had your parents run the NPC’s on schools’ websites? You need to do that with a few reach and match schools (not just top schools that are more generous than others…that would be misleading).
Are you applying to UF and FSU? You’d get Bright Futures and those could be safeties. Or do you want to go OOS?
Do you have a non-custodial parent? Do they own a business?
@mom2collegekids wow thanks for the post! $75K was just a guess (probably on the low end) - my parents don’t discuss finances with me (it’s not really my business) and I was looking for a min estimate.
I definitely have UF as a safety but I’d prefer to go out of state.
Not National Merit for anything - I didn’t take the PSAT (kicking myself)
ok…first ask your parents how much they’ll spend each year towards your college costs.
then bring up the Net Price Calculator for …say…Georgia Tech, and ask your parents to fill it out. You can sit at a distance to give them privacy with their inputs. Then print out the results.
Look to see if the results match up with what your parents said that they’ll pay.
The main issue from a curricular standpoint is that Florida public schools do not appear to have very math intensive economics courses or majors. UF’s intermediate economics courses only require “survey of calculus” as a math prerequisite. It appears that other Florida publics like FSU, UCF, USF, FAMU, etc. do not require any calculus. PhD study in economics is very math intensive, so undergraduate preparation would involve choosing the most math-intensive economics courses (the most math intensive intermediate economics courses at some schools require calculus 3 and/or linear algebra as math prerequisites), and taking substantial advanced math and statistics courses (e.g. real analysis, proof-based linear algebra, calculus-based probability theory).
Look in the catalog descriptions for the intermediate microeconomics courses at the various schools to get an idea of how math-intensive they are at each school. Some schools offer more than one option, with more or less math (although some schools’ “less math” options require higher math than some other schools’ “more math” options).
That said, if your parents do not want to tell you about their financial matters, have them run the net price calculator on several schools that you suggest, so that you can get an idea of what is or is not likely to be affordable. Remember that you cannot borrow more than $5,500 (frosh) to $7,500 (junior/senior) per year without a co-signer (and co-signed student loans are generally not a good idea).
Economics is a peculiar field in that the undergraduate program and the graduate program are very different, to the pint that you don’t need to have an undergraduate degree in economics in order to get into a PHD program in economics. You do need a high level in math. Basically, if you want to do a PHD in Economics, you’re better off with a Math major (or applied math, or statistics or computational math) plus an economics minor.
A college that’d be a safety for you IF (and only if :p) you demonstrate interest is St Olaf. They’ve got a very strong math program and while I don’t know if their Econ classes are math-heavy, doing a combination Math major, economics minor, and management minor, should ensure both future endeavors at the PHD level and immediate employability if need be (they’re near a major city with a booming economy). Run the NPC; they meet 100% need and have merit, so depending on your parents’ actual income, they may be affordable… or not.
UAlabama would be a safety, too, if you really want to get out of state and you’ve got a guaranteed full tuition scholarship for your stats if you apply before December 1st.
@MYOS1634 thank you for the advice! It seems to me that going a more math intensive route is the way to go for studies in Econ. I’ve looked into Alabama as a for sure backup plan (can’t beat the scholarship package) and will check out St Olaf’s. Thanks!
This is by no means exhaustive – just some ideas. The point is, with your stats, I think you should apply to several reaches. The reaches tend to give very good financial aid and if your folks don’t have additional properties, you should get decent aid. Also – a couple of matches and at least one safety. Make sure you can afford your safety!
For: Economics, suburban or urban. Greek life is somewhat limited at most of these, but there should be no shortage of clubs to join or things to do.
Reaches/Low reaches:
Princeton
Stanford
Chicago
Penn
Duke
Northwestern
High matches/matches:
Notre Dame
Emory
U Rochester
Tulane
Safeties:
Your state flagship
Alabama or Oklahoma (or another OOS state school that gives away a lot of merit aid)
“I’d like to get my doctorates, yes.”
Should active economics scholarship in your undergraduate choice be something you are seeking, schools ranked fairly highly by these analyses will have faculty who are more likely to be engaged in research:
“U.S. Economics Departments”
“U.S. Economics Departments at Liberal Arts Colleges”
From IDEAS, available online. Refer to the original source for a discussion of the studies’ limitations.
^Based on these rankings, it looks like Hendrix and Rhodes would also be possible safeties for OP (as long as s/he shows interest, since these colleges want to ascertain whether their merit scholarships are or aren’t going to people who have no attention of attending and are just “vanity-applying” to rack up as many acceptances as possible).
@merc81 @MYOS1634 thank you both!
Quick question - how much would applying EA help me to my reach schools? I don’t have legacy or any true hooks
EA seems to be less impactful than ED. Early decision, however, was analyzed in a Harvard/Kennedy study which concluded that its boost to an applicant can be significant and large. Effects will vary greatly depending on the school. Bear in mind as well that the referenced study is on the older side.
ED, REA, or SCEA all help.
“regular” EA (vs. REA/SCEA) doesn’t really help for admission - it gives you a tiny boost but mostly it’s useful for your comfort of mind: you’ll know in December that you’re at least going somewhere.