College Suggestions for my Brother

Parents Forum
1

<p>Hi everyone,</p>

<p>My brother will be a senior in high school this upcoming semester, and he is looking for a few more schools to add to his current list of schools to apply to.</p>

<p>Some Background info:
My parents can pay up to $20000 a year for school. Any costs exceeding that $20000 my brother will have to take out loans for, which he really would rather not do. Our family will unlikely recieve financial aid, so if a school's tuition+room and board exceeds $20000, he is looking for merit scholarships to make up for the rest.</p>

<p>My brother is hispanic, and was selected I believe as a National Hispanic Scholar based on his PSAT scores. I believe he was selected as a semifinalist and is waiting for notice regarding wherther or not he will be selected as a finalist. If anyone has any insight into the National Hispanic Scholar program, his chances of being a finalist, and what schools might potentially give him a significant scholarship it would be extremely helpful if you could share.</p>

<p>My brother think he will want to go to law school after undergrad, and thinks he wants to be a history major.</p>

<p>Here are my brother's stats:</p>

<p>Gender: M
College Class Year: 2015
High School: Public</p>

<p>Academics:
GPA Weighted:100.1
My Brother's High School doesn't rank. Also they only report a weighted average.</p>

<p>Scores:
SAT: 1340/1930 (700M, 640R, 590 W) (He will take this one more time and has begun tutoring in the hopes of increasing his score to the 2000 range)
SAT II Math 1- 650
SAT II US History -650
APs: English Lang 4, US History 4, World History 4, Env. Science 3</p>

<p>My Brother is currently applying to the following schools:
GW, Suny Binghamton(my school) Suny Albany
Delaware, Maryland, Fordham, St Johns. For most of these schools other than the SUNY's he will need merit scholarship money to attend.</p>

<p>Any suggestions/ feedback would be greatly appreciated</p>

2

<p>I assume you/your brother are NYS residents. How about SUNY Geneseo? Bright students, lovely campus.
University of Pittsburgh is another possibility–the history dept. is good and they are reportedly pretty generous with FA to good students.</p>

3

<p>Sounds like a perfect candidate for Tulane.</p>

4

<p>His GPA & scores put him into oos merit aid for both Alabama & Auburn. This is merit alone. I’m sure he would qualify for additional aid for the National Merit Finalist and possibly departmental scholarships. The Alabama forum is very active and people are quick to answer questions and point you in the correct direction. Auburn has a link on their application page for regional reps who can help you personally.</p>

5

<p>Rice, Tufts,and Notre Dame They still may be on the reach end but applying as a Hispanic will be an advantage to him.</p>

6

<p>I am smiling. I am thinking OP is a sister. Sorry, deanriv but this is your brother’s life to live. Not yours. You may be dying to help (and very proud – he sounds like a sharp kid!) but he is really the one that needs to be doing this research. If he is a semi-finalist, he wil get material on the steps to become a finalist and it is up to him to do the steps and meet the deadlines. </p>

<p>Guys often are last minute operators. It is a bummer, but true. Some guys will delve into all the options and enjoy exploring lots of details – but many don’t. </p>

<p>I encourage you to go to ABE books online (maybe Amazon too) and get one of those 350 best colleges books – you can shop for one that is two or three years old (the colleges don’t change that fast. The 2011 book will be $35 but the 2009 book might be just $5). Once the book arrives, start reading it for yourself. Come to the dinner table with news of whatever interesting or outrageous tidbit you have discovered that day (“Did you know you can major in explosives at New Mexico Tech?” “Lewis and Clark College serves ice cream at every meal!” etc). That way you are learning about the world and sharing – and, hopefully, stirring his thinking. </p>

<p>Beyond being informed and interesting, I hope you will leave the rest alone. Build and follow your own dreams. Don’t try to build his. Good luck!</p>

7

<p>There are lots of us moms who helped on research. I don’t think it is terrible thing for a sister to want to help out, even if it’s not her own dime at stake.</p>

8

<p>I’m a NYS resident, and was a National Hispanic Merit Scholar. Alabama offered me a full ride plus stipend without applying on the basis of the National Hispanic Merit alone, but I did not want to go to Alabama for any reason.</p>

<p>I do go to Maryland and his stats seem pretty on track there. </p>

<p>I’m double legacy at St. Johns and even though I didn’t apply friends with lower stats who were not URM’s got generous scholarships there.</p>

<p>He should be fine for Binghampton and Albany. Stony Brook has really cheap instate tuition (about 25000 a semester) but is definitely a place you want to visit first to make sure of.</p>

<p>I don’t know much stat wise about GW but I remember dropping it early on because of it’s ridiculous price (about 60,000 dollars a year)</p>

<p>Fordham and Delaware should be reasonable matches too, but will be more expensive.</p>

9

<p>

Nope, I don’t think so either. I think it is incredibly arrogant for Olymom to assume she has a clue about the family dynamics and circumstances of the OP and her brother. The OP didn’t ask anyone to run their lives, they simply asked for suggestions on schools. Yeesh.</p>

<p>OP - If your brother really hopes to go somewhere with no loans, and your family can afford $20K per year, it is rather unlikely Notre Dame or Tufts will be options. Rice maybe, but probably not, and not Tulane either. The way this is likely to go down (and I am making some assumptions based on your statement about being able to afford $20K, clearly none of us know the details of your family situation) is that the private schools will want you to at least contribute the $20K you think is the limit you can afford, and have a mixture of grants and loans for the remainder. Some debt isn’t the end of the world, but my own opinion is not to go over $20K total for the 4 years of undergrad.</p>

<p>If he does make it as a National Hispanic Scholar finalist, you can find lists of schools and what packages they offer for being a finalist. Some are pretty generous.</p>

10

<p>

I am pretty sure you meant 2,500 a semester.</p>

11

<p>I think he could throw in a few more reaches and/or some schools that would give him merit money. For example, if he likes GW because of the DC location and access to internships he should also look at American. Their tuition is pretty high, but they give out lots of merit aid. They also have a nice honors program. If you discount writing, my son’s scores were only a little better than your brothers and his GPA was lower. He got offered half tuition and that was just merit aid.</p>

12

<p>If he is considering SUNY I would add Geneseo. </p>

<p>Pre-Law Program
<a href=“https://www.geneseo.edu/admissions/pre-law-brochure[/url]”>https://www.geneseo.edu/admissions/pre-law-brochure&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

13

<p>What was your brother’s PSAT score. He may also be a National Merit Semi-Finalist.</p>

<p>Either way, as a National Hispanic scholar, he could be offered free tuition to Fordham. He could pay the rest (room, board, books, etc) with the $20k per year from your parents.</p>

14

<p>Try looking in the “National Merit” discussion area. Search on Hispanic.</p>

<p>Example - Full rides for Hispanic Scholar
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/247029-full-rides-national-hispanic-scholar-finalists.html?highlight=hispanic[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/247029-full-rides-national-hispanic-scholar-finalists.html?highlight=hispanic&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

15

<p>University of Rochester might be an option for merit aid.</p>

<p>Some of the other metro catholic schools could be an option – Villanova, Providence, Loyola of Md, Boston College (probably a reach…)</p>

<p>Most of the schools in his current list are larger schools. Would he consider a smaller school? Many liberal arts colleges have strong history depts, and some of the smaller liberal arts colleges that offer merit aid are likely to find your brother to be a very attractive candidate (such as Union in Schenectady.)</p>

16

<p>deanriv,</p>

<p>Even though you believe you don’t qualify for financial aid, you should probably run the financial aid calculators to see how much schools that rely on institutional methodology estimate your family can contribute. If by some chance your family can contribute what that says, he might want to add in some schools that meet full need.</p>

<p>Also, I’m a bit puzzled by your brother’s list. They’re all big schools and they lean urban (except for Binghamton). I second 2boysima’s observation that liberal arts colleges that offer merit would be interested in him. Unless the publics offer guaranteed merit, it would be wise to throw in a few privates that are generous with merit.</p>

17

<p>Because privates are expensive and your family’s budget is $20k per year, then applying to schools like BC or Villanova won’t likely work because that would require a huge merit scholarship…</p>

<p>Your brother’s stats are good, but not super for top schools. I suggest applying to schools where your brother’s stats will surely get him big scholarships. That will be mostly mid-tiers and below. </p>

<p>As mentioned earlier, if he makes NH, then Fordham would be good because it would probably give him free tuition.</p>

<p>What does your brother want in a school besides academics? Does he want a “full campus experience”? Quiet campus? Spirited “rah rah” kind of campus with big sports to watch? </p>

<p>What is his intended major?</p>

18

<p>By the way I did’nt see Math2 for his SAT subject tests. Did he take that?</p>

19

<p>Thanks for your thoughtful responses parents! My brother will apply to Geneseo, I forgot to include that on the list. Fordham seems like an amazing option, my brother visited and liked it, and if he were to receive a full tuition scholarship I doubt he would turn it down.</p>

<p>He came up with this list of schools to apply to on his own. He’s just looking for a few more options that could potentially offer him merit money, and he came to me asking for help, so I don’t think it’s too much to ask.</p>

<p>I forgot to mention we are from New York, and that my parents would prefer he attend a school on the east coast. He says he likes city schools, or traditional schools with a large sports atmosphere, but these are not absolute requirements, and he is willing to visit schools that make sense financially and academically and make a personal decision.</p>

<p>Again, he is looking for schools with a price tag of $20000 room and board after scholarships. If the money comes out to be slightly greater than that its ok, but he doesnt want to take out too much $ in loans. He’s likely to major in history and wants to go on to law school. Any more suggestions/feedback would be fantastic. For those who mentioned liberal arts colleges, are there any in particular that might fit his criteria? </p>

<p>Oh and by the way, I’m his brother not his sister=]</p>

20

<p>UMD fits his description exactly. Traditional school 6 miles from DC with an incredible sports atmosphere. It basically has every major. </p>

<p>The drawback is that the OOS pricetag is 32K a year, and financial aid is not known for being generous.</p>

<p>However, as a Hispanic Merit Scholar I was invited to apply for free, so there’s no harm in trying. I was also given a full ride and that’s why I chose it.
Just make sure he applies by November 1st</p>