Hey guys! I am a rising senior and I am in the middle of looking for some good colleges to apply to. I have slightly changed my college list and my stats have changed since my previous post so I want new input.
Updated stats-
GPA- 3.93 UW 4.07 W (as of sophomore year) (I did pretty well junior year and I expect both UW and W to be higher but idk exact numbers)
SAT- 1st time 2090 (750 M 650 CR 690 W 9 E) 2nd time 2060 (710 M 660 CR 690 W 9 E)
ACT- 1st time 32 (34 E 33 M 32 R 30 S 24 W) 2nd time 33 (33 E 35 M 33 R 31 S 31 W)
SATII- 770 Bio M 760 Chem 790 Math 2
APs so far- World History (3)
5 APs junior year, 6 senior year
Everything else is pretty much the same from my first post except that I actually started volunteering at an animal shelter and I did NOT do Science Olympiads due to some event conflicts.
Here is my list on Common App so far-
Colorado State University
Cornell University (I like this college a lot but my mom is practically begging me to ED here but idk how smart that is considering my financial situation)
Delaware Valley University
North Carolina State University
Purdue University
SUNY Binghamton University
SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry
SUNY Oswego
The Ohio State University
The University of Findlay
Tufts University
University of Delaware
University of Kentucky
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Oklahoma State University (not on CA)
Once again my mom tells me not to worry about money because since my parents don’t make a lot of money, I am going to get a lot of financial aid and that I will not have to pay a lot (only some work-study money) which she is more than willing to pay for. Apparently my mom doesn’t have to pay a lot for my brother who goes to NYU because of this. How true is this?
Also, can anybody advise me me on what colleges I should add/remove from this list?
Thanks a lot!
Not all colleges meet financial need. You have at least some colleges that are publics for states you don’t live in and they likely do not meet financial need unless you live in that state. IF you can get into Cornell, it could be decent financial aid. To get an idea, go to the financial aid page for each college you are interested in and run the numbers in the NPC.
What state do you live in and what major are you interested in?
You got a lot of good advice on that thread. I suspect you will hear exactly the same thing yet again. Did you follow the advice given and run the NPCs for each school?
Yeah I should do that. Thanks
That is your first step. But if your parents are divorced or own a small business, it won’t be as accurate. I think your list will change quite a bit when you run those – a lot of schools on your list will be unaffordable.
Sooooo I ran a bunch of NPCs (the process wasn’t as tedious as I thought it would be), and you all are right. Most of the colleges on my list are unaffordable. Now I’m down to Cornell, Tufts, and a bunch of SUNYs (Binghamton, ESF, Oswego, Stony Brook). I’ve also learned that the only colleges that are affordable to my family are top private universities (since they receive tons of funding and can afford to give lots of financial aid) and the SUNYs. Which poses a problem because I can’t find any so -called “match” schools that is affordable. But I mean I think my list is ok??? If I don’t get into Cornell or Tufts I can go to a well-respected SUNY school right? Please give me some suggestions on how to move forward. Is my list ok? Or are there other schools I can consider?
Have you looked at some of the “second tier” LAC’s that give good merit and financial aid? Try the College Match software on this website to see if some of these schools might work out for you.
Good luck!
Sorry for late response, but LACs sound like a great idea.
The only colleges that were in my list were Cornell, Tufts, SUNYs Binghamton and Stonybrook, and the new addition Johns Hopkins (which my mom REALLY wants me to look apply to for some reason). So I looked into some LACs and so far the ones that have captured my interest (aka are in the link posted above as well as the pre-vet link posted in my other post) are Vassar, Colgate (probably because they are in NY like I am) and Amherst (I went onto their website and the first thing I saw was a beautiful tree scenery and the fact that they have a 500 acre wildlife sanctuary and tbh that REALLY captured my interest. I looked into it some more and the fact that they do ornithology studies in their sanctuary really appeals to me).
I am not really sure if Vassar and Colgate fit me. I feel like they might, but am I missing something? Also would they be classified as “match” schools for me? I feel like their acceptance rates are too low to be a match.
I would also like to know whether there are any other affordable LACs like Amherst but less selective. Or, heck, any other affordable universities like Amherst but less selective.
Oh and btw I know that I said above that I want to do an animal science/biology or zoology major but now I’m also open to biology as well
We have the same problem. Need lots of aid so aiming for 100% need met schools. However, they are all very selective. Either that or in-state public universities. Struggling to find target schools that we can afford.
I recommend Dickinson College (PA) and Trinity College (CT). They give good aid and not too selective like Vassar or Amherst. I don’t know their academic reputation of biology/zoology.
Too bad my D is not applying to them. They are good match for my D (she has ACT32) but she doesn’t like the Dickinson’s location and Trinity’s preppiness.
If you are now looking for LAC’s with strong merit/fa for your grades/scores, suggest looking at Denison in Ohio, Trinity University (not College) in Texas, and Rhodes College in Memphis. All 3 should offer you substantial merit with yours stats.
Good luck!
@ColdinMinny Thanks for the suggestions! I have added Denison to my list.
I know that I will be met full financial need at Universities of Kentucky and Rochester, but does anyone know if I will have a good chance of getting merit aid? Those, along with Denison, are currently on my match list
Some other options: http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
Kentucky has some good merit aid available. Not sure how good your stats need to be for Rochester.
Rochester meets full financial need. In addition, based on purely anecdotal evidence, your stats would probably qualify for $10-$12K a year in merit aid. (Don’t quote me on that, though.)