Please help my dtr w/her college list…she’s HS class of 22
WA state resident
Won’t qualify for need based aid, her parents can contribute about 50K per year
HS GPA 3.99, increasing rigor w/Honors for English and Spanish and then AP Hug, Lang, and US Hist so far (all 5’s) and senior year will be AP Spanish, Lit and Gov, she’s going to take Calculus senior year
SAT (one sitting) 1480
Through U of Washington took Phil 102 w/an A this summer
extra curriculars - part time job, also teaches piano students, HS Softball team, recreational equestrian, couple of other volunteer positions… she has longevity in all her activities, also started and managed an outreach group of volunteers for helping Seniors during COVID
Her HS is 2500+ kids and she doesn’t want to go to a college that is smaller than her HS
Politically she leans left
A club equestrian program would be a likely tie-breaker
She is also really interested in Study Abroad
planned major is Philosophy and goal is Med School
It’d be great if she could get some Merit Aid due to the costs of Med School…
so far she’s planning to apply in state but not excited about that and has come up w/some others listed here in order of current interest in them:
Cal Poly Slo
Northeastern
UNC Chapel Hill
University of Chicago
U of Washington
Western WA Univ
Wash State
CU Boulder
Arizona State (Barrett)
You will have to run the next price calculators for each school and see what’s affordable, and where you can get merit (not all schools’ NPCs include merit though).
Cal Poly, ASU, and your in-state choices should be affordable. Some of the rest probably won’t be. It’s difficult to get merit from Boulder, UNC, and UChicago….and Boulder and Chicago cost well over $50K. UNC is around $52k for OOS students, but a reach.
It’s philosophy so you don’t want to overspend. UW and other publics such as WWU and WSU are obvious and you have them. That’s great.
Northeastern, Chicago and Chapel Hill are all huge reaches and Che k the NPCs bcuz if you need money, it’s unlikely.
Boulder is actually a tad under $50k mist students get $6250 a year in merit
ASU yes. Add U of A with Honors as well as the usual suspects- Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Florida State, Miami of Ohio, Purdue. Elon is another with aid you’d be ok but right at $50k. College of Charleston and U of SC as well. Pitt won’t be as cheap but is strong for health sciences. If you want midsize UAH and C of C mentioned b4.
If you determine you qualify for need then you can add (you have Chicago) schools like Rice, Emory, Vandy etc but not if you are full pay. Miami Florida and possibly American could come in at 50 after aid. Brandeis too which is likely and in Boston.
Cal Poly is right there at 50k
You can choose many schools in many places and beat $50k a year, private schools that are under her stats.
Good luck.
You can go to school for a lot less than $50k which with med school a possibility you need to.
Since Med School is the goal, stay in state and save the money, she’ll need it. UW or WSU. Maybe Cal Poly, if it’s close to in state costs, and it’s at the top of her list.
University of Washington.
Washington State University.
Anything in the WUE system.
With medical school being a possibility, I would not take on any debt at all if you can help it, and would not take on any debt to attend a university that costs more than UW or WSU. You have two great in-state options plus the WUE options and avoiding debt is going to help a lot down the road. Leaving some $$ in the bank or 529 for medical school would be good if you can do it.
I might add that other than the two big in-state universities I am not knowledgeable about the other public universities in your state. I do not mean to downgrade them but just am not qualified to comment.
Your daughter is going to find premed classes quite challenging. I have a daughter who starts a DVM in a few weeks and who therefore was in quite a few of the same classes (but not in Washington). There will be quite a few other very strong students in the same classes at any good university.
Actually U of A, FSU, Alabama and U of SC can be cheaper than UW. Sometimes Miami of Ohio too. Of course you’d have travel costs.
Some private schools will also match your public flagship rate in some instances. But I think they are smaller than you want…like Ogelthorpe and Hendrix.
U of Arizona is well-regarded for philosophy (and also the PPEL major if a more interdisciplinary approach might appeal), has an Honors College, gives great merit for high-stat OOS students, and has an active equestrian club (lots of photos on FB and Insta). Lots of study abroad options including several that are Honors-specific Study Abroad | W.A Franke Honors College
Assuming that your daughter is admitted to UNC-Chapel Hill – which I think is a stretch (check out the information in Part C of the UNC-CH Common Data Set) – her numbers are unlikely to result in an award of any merit money. My daughter had a comparable GPA and higher test scores; she got no money from Carolina as an OOS student.
William and Mary for a really good mid-size school but it may come in higher than $50k. I’d irrationally choose Western Washington based on the spectacular location. But I suppose it would distract from the studying part…
I agree that W&M is amazing but they give out pretty much no merit except their full tuition scholarship, which is probably not going to happen for her.
I second Miami of Ohio and U of SC. U of SC has a varsity equestrian team that I believe accepts some walk-ons, but I’m not sure if that would be of interest to her. I have a friend on their team that says it’s way more competitive than she thought.
I would get comfortable with UW. I understand that kids often like the idea of getting away for school. But UW is one of the best universities in the country and is strong in many areas. It would offer a great education whether she sticks with philosophy or gravitates to Econ or polsci or anthropology or… You’re going to have a hard time matching it going out of state for under 50k.
Others have good suggestions for exploring options. Utah and other WUE schools are worth looking at. You might look at UBC, which is also a good bargain.
CPSLO is often an option for engineering kids. I don’t see why a student with an interest in the humanities would pay out of state rates to attend there. WWU would be a better option IMO.
For Philosophy look at Pitt. It is just over your budget without merit and even with merit will be close to your budget.
However Philosophy is highly rated and so is Medicine
QS Ranking 2021 for Philosophy 3rd
Medicine 46th
Thank you everyone, this is all very helpful. Its’ good for her to see others besides her parents telling her to save the $ for med school
Another consideration is making sure she’s going somewhere she can maintain high GPA and be ready for the MCAT. No GPA killer schools.
She thinks she won’t like AZ (we’ve never been there) because she’s PNW outdoorsy girl used to trees and lots of water…but she knows they give good merit so we’ll take a visit…
I did pre-med at WSU and loved it, it would be nice if she decided to stay in state to save the $ for med school, she needs to realize she can do study abroad and travel for fun to get out of WA lol
She loves Boston and Chapel Hill, but hey, maybe she could go to med school in one of those cities!
Originally she started her search looking at IHSA colleges, but will look through all the WUE schools and others suggested… perhaps can find a barn that offers lessons recreationally, or just have to keep up her love of horses in the summer back at home…
Traveling to and from is a consideration…we’ve ruled some schools out because there isn’t a direct flight from Seattle
Again, we really appreciate all the comments!
However, “saving for med school” needs to be mitigated by the fact that, of all premeds who actually make it through the premed gauntlet, 60% don’t get into any med school.
So the college she attends needs to be one she’s fine graduating from with no med school later, with a major that will allow her to find a job or resources/network that will help her.
Larger than her HS, has merit aid, good for science: look into St Olaf College, 45mn South of the Twin Cities.
You mention Study Abroad. FSU has excellent Study Abroad opportunities. Including a First Year abroad at one of their 4 Study Centers ,London, Florence, Valencia and Panama city. and upon completion with a 3.0 GPA Out of state students get in state tuition ( $6500 per year approx. ) for remainder of degree. ( Great option if you don’t get OOS Waiver ). They have programs for a semester at the study centers as well as more traditional study abroad opportunities.
