Here’s a list of every college newspaper. Some of the links are broken, but you can use the list to see the names of the papers and google them. http://www.greekspot.com/collegenews/index.html
But also get a broad general education, because journalists need to be able to understand the various topics that they are writing about in order to write about them coherently.
I think Hobart and William Smith is more a match. Gettyburg and Franklin and Marshall might be in the reach range, but not by a huge margin. HWS will offer solid merit, but perhaps not up front. I’ll ping you a PM.
I’m a big fan of Ursinus and College of Wooster. A lot of the Colleges that Change Lives are strong on merit.
You might want to look at Muhlenberg. They give solid merit, too, but they often tie it to a continued GPA requirement. Check out their Net Price Calculator.
This may be far afield, but if you’ll consider Wooster, look at Allegheny. They give excellent merit aid. Also strong English dept. Lovely campus.
And remember, not all merit is the same. Some merit scholarships have exploding GPA requirements - if you get below a 3.25 or a 3.0 GPA your first year, you lose it. Others, give the scholarship for your whole time at college, provided you are taking a full course load, are passing and on track to graduate on time. My son’s scholarships from Knox and Allegheny were like that.
Thoughts? Moved Gettysburg and Hobart to matches based on your feedback and tried to add in a few reaches. We have visited all of them except Butler, Depauw and SC. We are visiting Butler & Depauw in Nov and she is possibly visiting a friend at SC in Nov as well. Will visit Fordham if she gets accepted or if she gets deferred in EA to RD we’ll visit over the winter.
We removed Loyola MD after our visit as she just didn’t love the area. Several people suggested Skidmore but the NPC was only showing $6000 in merit so that’s out.
Her stats again:
3.75 GPA
30 ACT (35 reading, 33 E, 29 S, 24M)
Applying as English major
Couple AP’s and some honors.
Upward trend since freshman year. All A’s & one B sophomore and all A’s Jr year and currently has all A’s this semester.
Few EC’s due to bad accident end of freshman year. GC will address in her rec letter.
Looking for merit, won’t get FA. Can pay 40-50k from college fund.
@MAmom111 Has she looked at Ithaca College? Strong for journalism and if I remember correctly, the NPC also gives an estimate for merit awards so you could get a sense if it might come in under budget.
We looked at Union but even with their new merit awards she’d only get $15000 so the cost would still be over $60k. Emerson-she doesn’t want to go to school in Boston and for Bryn Mawr- no women’s colleges.
I’ve looked at Beloit and Lawrence several times but she said Beloit was too small (although not much smaller than some of the schools on her list) and Lawrence just seems to be too difficult to get to from the East Coast.
Ithaca she just didn’t like the look of the campus from what she saw on line. I think the program seems great but I guess she has to rule out a few schools for
some reason or another.
Forgot that she also has Marist (EA) and Muhlenberg on her list.
Will you be able to afford Fordham if she gets in? I haven’t looked at their merit scholarships recently, but I don’t recall them being generous enough (if at all with your D’s stats) to bring it down in the $40-50K range you are seeking. When D17 was applying two years ago, COA was $72K, and I’m sure it’s gone up since then.
4kids4us beat me to it. Chances of Fordham coming in anywhere near $40k are slim to none, and slim just left town. I would save the application fee and not even bother.
Honestly, we got an app fee waiver from Fordham so she just wants to apply to see if she’d get in. Looks like from the NPC she’d get $15,500 in merit so that would still be too expensive. A relative has offered to help out for her “dream school” but we are trying to avoid that situation. She knows if we can’t afford it once acceptances come in, it’s off the table. Luckily she has some safeties that she really liked a lot.
@twoinanddone totally agree on journalism at Missouri. One of our HS’ strongest students chose that a couple of year’s ago and his parents are over the moon with his experience. His summer internships have been top notch, too.
From her list I would add Syracuse University and also take a look at Lycoming College as a safety. Much like Susquehanna (which is a wonderful school) but in a bit of a better location.
@MAmom111 What a great list! You’ve gotten a lot of good suggestions in this thread. I would just add that she should look into DePauw’s Media Fellows program. If she ends up going there, she will definitely want to be a part of that, given her major interests.
Lots of good info in this thread, but I cannot help but note that only here on CC would a student with a 3.75 GPA and a 30 on the ACT be described as average.
Since the OP is seeking merit, perhaps Juniata? Has that one been mentioned yet? Really nice school and should be generous with merit. Also, since the OP’s D had Hope on the initial list, why not look at Kalamazoo College? Very nice school with a huge number of students who study abroad (because it’s a requirement maybe through the K plan?).
