college ideas -- no idea where i could get in

College Search & Selection
1

hi guys!! I’m a junior and I’m looking for some ideas of match/safety schools. I basically need merit aid to go to any private college and I’m hoping to attend a small liberal arts college. (My parents can pay around 25k a year but I ran the NPC for a few schools and the lowest was around 40k.)

GPA: 3.93 uw, 4.61 w (all A’s starting sophomore year, 4 B’s in freshman year)
test scores: 2330 (800 CR/780 M/760 W), 240 PSAT, 5’s on two APs so far, 790 on sat math ii

I go to a pretty well known magnet school & taking a lot of accelerated math classes / advanced science classes.
junior year schedule: AP english, AP history, AP math, 2 periods of advanced biology classes, newspaper, research, a fun elective
senior year schedule: AP english, full year of post-calc/stat math, AP social science, double period AP physics, newspaper, art, research/some other thing i have to choose

ECs by end of high school (all leadership positions already obtained):
–4 years of an academic team (2 yrs captain)
–2 years newspaper (next year’s editor in chief) – takes up most of my time now, my favorite activity
–freshman/sophomore peer tutoring, kind of did it this year but didn’t have a lot of time
–science team freshman year (is this even worth mentioning? took up a lot of time but i hated it and quit after a year)
–a very cool state department exchange program over the summer (went out of the country for a month)
–research internship @ a university this summer, will write a paper/probably enter competitions but def won’t win
–a semifinalist in a small national research competition w/ independent research

so far i really like yale, smith, vassar, swarthmore (except I’m worried it’s too intense), brown, and maybe macalaster. Those are all competitive and expensive, though, so I’m looking for some matches/safeties where I could get merit aid.

things i want in a college:
–small but not tiny (2500-6000 is ideal), but it would be ok to be smaller if it was in a city/near lots of other schools
–I want to go into public health and international development (probably) but I’m not sure if that’s really an undergrad program. I would be interested in bio, international relations, or maybe some kind of area studies (Asian studies or Latin American studies).
–The ideal vibe would be intellectual but not insanely competitive. Definitely somewhere liberal-ish at the very least. Diversity is a plus. laid back would be a plus as well. super intense is a deal breaker.
–Women’s colleges are ok as long as they’re near some boys (lol).

any ideas would be AWESOME thank you guys so much!

2

Just wanted to say congrats on those test scores, holy cow.

Good luck!!

3

I’m assuming that your lowest Expected Family Contribution (EFC) results of $40K were at the wealthiest schools (100% need met) where it’s going to be harder to find merit aid. The more merit-friendly schools aren’t likely to meet full need, so you might end up needing $20K+ in merit. You should have a good chance with your scores, though.

What state are you in?
Will you attend a school anywhere in the US?

4

I’m in Maryland but location isn’t a huge deal for me. I’m thinking not the south BC I’m pretty liberal but besides that I’m flexible

5

You can research Competitive Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships on the following link. Check out post #49 and later. The list is from 2013, so make sure you access the school’s financial aid pages to confirm the scholarships. You might not need full tuition, but these schools are a good place to start looking for merit. Anyway, your scores might put you in the running for some of these awards.

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1461983-competitive-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-p1.html

Just browsing the list, you might be interested in the following mid-sized schools (or thereabouts), ordered by approximate selectivity. Some of the schools are “less liberal”, but you can filter as you like. There are obviously details to the scholarships that might put you on the outside, which further research would uncover.

Washington USL
Vanderbilt
Notre Dame
Emory
Washington & Lee
Scripps College
U Virginia
Boston College
U Rochester
Wake Forest
Colorado College (for biology)
Tulane
U Miami
U Richmond
Clark U

6

Let’s see, schools that give merit aid with your stats would be:
The ones that aren’t matches or safeties but have merit aid available:
-Duke University (all merit awards cover the full cost of tuition, housing, and meal plans but are very competitive to say the least)
-Wake Forest (ditto duke’s in competition for them but they are available and generous)
-Emory University (same)
-Washington & Lee, Harvey Mudd, Claremont McKenna, Davidson (All LAC’s that give out merit aid but are competitive as well)
-University of Notre Dame (and again, although it may be bigger than what you’re looking for)
-Washinton University St. Louis (most likely a high match in the best case scenario, probably low reach?)
-Vanderbilt University (again, probably not a match but they have amazing merot aid opportunities but they are incredibly competitive)
-USC (amazing scholarships which I think you’d be competitive for)

The ones that would be matches or safeties for you with merit aid:
-University of Miami (you’d definitely qualify and I’m sure they’d give you merit aid to the tune of half tuition as they did for me, it’s a private college although not a LAC type)
-Drake University (they give over 33% of students merit aid, smaller school with a more LAC feel)
-Whitman College (this is an actual liberal arts college that gives a similar number of students merit aid)

I know this isn’t the best list but it’s the best I could do :s hopefully other posters can add more insight to this, best of luck!!!

7

You’re going to need merit aid, but a lot of the top colleges are need-based only. Therefore, you’ll have to refine your list not just based on stats but also based on likelihood of financial aid; all colleges with 30% and less admissions are automatic reaches so only add them after you’ve identified two safeties (one of the “automatic merit” scholarships) and matches (from the “competitive merit” colleges where your stats place you in the top 10-20% of the applicant pool and/or where you’d bring in geographical diversity.)
Look into St Olaf College and show interest early (this matters A LOT for merit scholarships); Dickinson (very good for international perspectives, even languages are culture-focused); Denison; Whitman.
AU has an honors college and scholarships, especially if you’re interested in a field they’re developing (such as a rarer foreign language) but wouldn’t be good for the sciences.