Bright kid (4.0 UW GPA, many AP classes, 33 ACT, top 2% of HS class by weighted GPA, good ECs with some state-level recognition but nothing national yet) with the goal of getting a PhD in psychology (thus, undergraduate research opportunities are paramount). She wants some place warmer than Minnesota and thinks Greek life looks really interesting (honestly, not a partier in the slightest–she likes the closeknit friendship and tradition aspects). She is politically liberal but fairly quiet about it. Family EFC of around ~30k but would greatly prefer a cost of ~$15k a year or less for tuition, fees, room, and board (~20k might be doable but ~15k would give more opportunities for extras and breathing room), so merit aid is huge plus. We’ve looked at:
-Mississippi State (size seemed right on paper and the psychology department is great, but no one liked the campus or town, and it just didn’t “click”)
-University of Alabama (surprisingly, loved almost every bit of it–gorgeous campus, faculty seemed wonderful and attentive, great research opportunities)
-University of Florida (great campus and great psychology department but seems too big and to be lacking in individual attention, cost knocks it out anyway)
-University of Minnesota (too big, too urban)
We visited Oregon and did some tours of campuses while there to get a sense of what generally appealed and what didn’t:
-Lewis and Clark (almost immediately deemed too small. Very nice campus. though)
-Portland State (way too urban and non-traditional of a campus)
-U Oregon (good size, great campus, research opportunities seem pretty good but cost and weather would be real concerns)
From that, we have the general working parameters of:
-South/Southeast or lower Midwest
-Mid-sized (15,000-25,000 seems to be the sweet spot, with Alabama being an exception, but could go lower. Below ~5,000 is probably a hard cut-off)
-Probably some graduate presence, as it really does heighten research activity in psychology faculty
-Good merit aid that the brings the cost down to around ~$15k per year
Schools in consideration so far:
-Alabama (size exception, but again, absolutely loved it–cost is slightly above what would be ideal ~$17k after auto-merit but doable)
-Missouri State (looks great on paper and generous auto-merit brings it down to the cost level we need)
-Appalachian State (looks great on paper, heard nothing but good things, merit aid is a question mark)
-NW Missouri State (smaller and less of grad presence than ideal but enough positives that it’s worth a look)
-Truman State (great merit aid, some concerns about the weather/town, again a bit smaller and less of a grad presence)
Any other suggestions?