<p>You should also look at Furman. I know someone who is going there this fall as well as others who have gone there and loved it.</p>
<p>People love College of Charleston. I think it is an awesome suggestion.</p>
<p>Elon might give her good FA?</p>
<p>If your niece goes to UGA and lives in the family owned property, I would presume that she would have a roommate (or more) and they would still pay rent.</p>
<p>What about Washington and Lee? D was offered a full merit ride there, but was too remote for her. May also be for your niece. Univ of South Carolina offered scholarships to students at our HS. I second looking at Furman- know someone on a full ride there and she is very happy. I think D mentioned they have a good debate program. She will have options, though applying for scholarships is hard work- but the results really pay off : )</p>
<p>I like these suggestions – any suggestions for equivalent schools in the northeast?</p>
<p>I think Stanford would terrify my niece. She has always been the big fish in the pond. The CC mentality is pretty foreign to her.</p>
<p>The furthest North we looked was Georgetown. We all liked it, but they offered no merit money so D didn’t apply. D’s goal was to try to earn merit scholarships for undergrad and save the 529 to pay for law school. If D was to do it again she would probably apply to Wake Forest and Vanderbilt. She would drop UVA, UNC ( chapel Hill) and Duke off her list. She liked the schools but hard to get merit money for them -especially if you miss the deadline for the Robertson scholarship (oops, my fault)</p>
<p>Niece has already nixed Duke, Harvard and Emory (has been there for debate). That plus things she has said make me think she is not looking for a super-competitive environment. She likes the DC area, though.</p>
<p>Counting Down,
I know I have posted before about your niece-congrats to her on the ACT scores-which IMO, will open up a number of potential free rides or significant $$ at LAC’s and state flagships. Again, I will recommend Furman-their mock trial team is incredible and has beaten several Ivies as well as Duke, W and W, etc. With her scores, she should be able to apply for the big named scholarships such as the Hollingsworth -which are full rides. Still think she might want to take a look at Davidson-again, new ACT score will put her in line for great FA, and I believe they still have a no-loan program for kids wit need. Rhodes would also give her major $$ I believe. All 3 schools would allow her a social life and being more of a big fish in a little pond, so to speak. </p>
<p>If she is interested in looking at Furman, my DS was on the #2 Mock Trial team as a sophomore and DH has judged some of the national mock trial tournaments -including the Ney this past April. Feel free to pm me if you would like names, contacts. etc. </p>
<p>I am delighted for your niece-congrats again on her great scores!</p>
<p>FYI others have suggested looking into University of South Carolina. We’re GA residents and S applied there. His grades/test scores are less than your D’s and we were shocked that they offered him a scholarship which actually brought down the costs of attendance to LESS than what we would have paid at UGA, even with Hope applied.
It was crazy. They used to offer quite a few merit awards for out-of-staters. There were 3 kids at his high school who each got offered a nice one. </p>
<p>Honestly, though, with the living opportunities for free at UGA, plus the Hope, wow.
UGA has many fabulous programs which can help the school feel “smaller” as some have said. She’d certainly qualify for their very impressive Honors program. </p>
<p>Keep us posted. PS I also agree there’s absolute zero need to retake the ACT. Congrats to your brainiac niece!!</p>
<p>Rhodes is really well known for their mock trial team, not so sure about debate. But I love that school 
Each year our HS sends at least one of the top 10 kids there. You can always PM Curmudgeon about Rhodes; I’m sure he’d be happy to share his insights.</p>
<p>How about any other of the “Colleges That Change Lives?”</p>
<p>Counting Down,
I ditto what RobD says about Rhodes. I know of one 2010 grad. from the Marietta area who was offered a full-ride with test scores much lower than your niece. The Bonner Scholars program was also made available to this student, which I believe is usually reserved for kids with major FA Needs. Also-Curmudgeon is the best on undergraduate school selection. He and his daughter literally visited colleges all across the country. She turned down Yale and Amherst for a full ride at Rhodes and was a Goldwater scholar there. His daughter just completed her first year of medical school at Yale. He id definitely a great resource.</p>