A merit seeker would typically have to look at colleges that would be match, likely, or safety for admission, but would have to consider them reaches if the merit scholarship is competitive (versus automatic by stats), since the target is the scholarship, not admission.
@mom2twogirls Yes. My parents have told me they will pay full price. Their general guidance is that if it is a private school, I should begin with the top 50-60 in the USNews Rankings and work my way from there by selecting around 15-20 schools as possibilities based on fit and what I like about the school. So that is what I am trying to do right now. I can’t imagine applying to so many though, so I am sure the number will be much smaller eventually.
Thank you all for the useful suggestions. I really appreciate it.
Hi–That advice certainly has its merits. To help you with your list, you might also be interested in the top Ph.D.-feeder schools in STEM – Here are some tables from the National Science Foundation – if you scroll down – the list is a little old but it may give you a ballpark idea of some schools and their STEM strength.
https://wayback.archive-it.org/5902/20160210152803/http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/infbrief/nsf08311/
Lol. No, I am not premed, but Brown has made it onto my list because I have heard they have a supportive environment for females in STEM specially in CS. One area I am interested in is CS+Linguistics, so schools that would allow me to explore that would be nice.
All joking aside, Brown is a wonderful college and should be one you consider no matter how nutty some of the parents are. There are nutty parents at all the colleges, some are just more committed than others.
UChicago has both CS and linguistics.
@Dustyfeathers That is a very interesting link. Thank you for that link and information on Bryn Mawr and Haverford.
Also, you may want to ask yourself things that will help you determine fit. You mentioned being near or in an urban environment and strong STEM. What else interests you?
- Greek life strong? (Union and Dartmouth and DePauw and Amherst and Penn State) Greek life nonexistent? (Vassar, BMC, Smith, Mt. Holyoke) In between? (Columbia, and many others)
- Any arts (Vassar has both strong STEM and strong theater/ dance arts, as does Weselyan for music and theater, and other colleges)
- Size of school? (small LAC where you get a chance to do research immediately without competing with grad students and where you won't get weeded probably from intro classes? Or, don't mind the weeder classes, competion is my middle name? (Johns Hopkins and U Chicago) Or I want a large research university? (UW Madison) Or something in between? Wesleyan U, Dartmouth, Brown)
- Lots of school community (Mt. Holyoke and Bryn Mawr) or not so much (NYU) or lots of sports-centered spirit (Syracuse and Berkeley and Michigan at Ann Arbor, Penn State)
- Outdoorsie culture? (UVM, Colorado College) or I hate the outdoors! (NYU, Columbia, Barnard)
@milee30 Ironically both UChicago and Brown are on my list right now. I know that sounds a little crazy since both are so different, but I like them for different reasons. I like UChicago for the academic rigor, their quirky mailings and the recent moves in CS. I like Brown for the support they are known to give women in STEM. Still grappling with the core vs open curriculum pros and cons and trying to understand that better.
Trying not to get too attached to any one school though because I don’t want to set myself up for disappointment if I don’t get in 
Note that CS has greatly risen in popularity in the last few years. Some colleges have had issues with CS course enrollments getting too large for the department to teach at full effectiveness. Many of these now have additional admission criteria for CS (either higher selectivity at the frosh admission level, or a secondary admission process based on college courses and grades after enrolling, or both).
So be sure to take that into account when determining reach/match/safety for admission and whether the frosh-level CS courses may have a more competitive environment due to a secondary admission process. Also, check college schedules to see if CS courses are overflowing with waitlists.
Due to the popularity of CS, class sizes will tend to be on the larger side at many colleges.
At an open curriculum school, you have the option of taking a large number of out-of-major courses of your interest. At a school with a large core curriculum, you must take a large number of out-of-major courses in areas specified by the school (and different schools specify differently – compare MIT versus Chicago versus Columbia).
So if you do want to take a large number of out-of-major courses, you can do so at either an open curriculum or large core curriculum school. But if not, a large core curriculum school may not be as suitable.
Of course, most colleges are somewhat in-between with regard to general education requirements.
@ucbalumnus That is a great point about CS being overcrowded and very competitive now. I will certainly look into that. Is there a way to check out CS class enrollments at different colleges? I thought that was only available to students?
@Dustyfeathers Wow. That is super useful. I am not even sure how to answer some of those questions right now because I guess I really don’t know which of those options I would prefer. I guess I have a very steep learning curve even to become aware of what I would really like
Some colleges do have publicly readable class schedules, but not all do. You can try searching for “[college name] class schedule” on the web.
For example:
Chicago: https://timeschedules.uchicago.edu/
I agree that being able to pay full price is different from being willing to. Full price at many of these schools is around 75k a year after tax. If you have 3 kids, that is almost a million dollars. Finance definitely comes into the equation for almost everyone even if you can pay it. We are fortunate to be in state for Georgia Tech and my son got in early. He wants to be an engineer. He has visited the school several times and it is a great fit. He also applied to Duke, Rice, Northwestern, etc. If he gets in to any of those it will still be hard to turn down Ga Tech (as in state students get free tuition funded by the lottery). If you apply to schools that are lower in ranking you have the potential for lots of merit. I think the University of Alabama would be free with a 36.
My earnest advice is to have lots of happy safeties. My daughter is currently attending one of these! And is happy and doing great and has no regrets.
She could have gotten in anywhere - but didn’t. High, high, high stats. Full pay. Leadership, rigorous curriculum, 11 AP 5s, good writer, the whole package. We were simply astonished at the number of rejections and wait lists (she didn’t bother with these).
You need great safeties. Preferably in state!
Check out the Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology program at WashU in St Louis: https://pnp.artsci.wustl.edu/undergraduate
I’m sure your interest in CS+Linguistics and Humanities can fit into that. Beautiful traditional campus right beside a large park near museums and zoo. Public Transport into the City. Friendliest people you’ll ever meet. Top Ten best food on campus, dorms (with Tempur-pedic mattresses).
WashU likes full pay 36 ACT students. They have competitive merit and are big on demonstrated interest. full pay + 36 ACT + ED = high match/low reach
Wash U likes full pay students with a 36 ACT.
That’s for sure. Along with the collegiate universe.
Last year 3741 students out of 1.9mm test takers scored a 36.
@prodesse Wow! If you don’t mind, can you share which schools? And what’s your perspective on what happened?
@Dolemite @privatebanker Thanks. I have heard WashU does like high stats and demonstrated interest. I have also heard the same about Vandy and Rice, so need to investigate those schools also.
@surelyhuman If full pay, look at few remaining top colleges where merit scholarship is still possible.