Looking for advice for the following female rising senior at a strong public HS in NYS:
GPA 3.9 /4.0
Class Rank: Top 10% (no more detail available)
Rigor: Most rigorous
SAT 1: 1960, evenly distributed
SAT II: Not taken yet
ECs: Standard strong ECs at a local level, nothing beyond that. 5 years varsity soccer, 1 year captain. 4 years varsity
lacrosse. Board member of local school-oriented charity, etc.
Plans to study engineering, nothing more specific yet
High income family, but maximum parental contribution of $30,000
Parents want to find a strong academic fit where she would receive enough merit aid to keep annual cost to $30k
Interested in Northeastern schools and actually has liked Northeastern U the best so far.
Willing to ignore issues like size, rural/urban, “feel” of campus, etc. in order to find the right academic / financial fit
Obviously, the SUNY schools make a lot of sense - now looking for more options.
I plan to help them out by researching the financial aid policies of schools like Muhlenberg, Gettysburg, Dickinson, Franklin & Marshall, Clark and Connecticut College.
Have you looked at Hofstra? Can’t tell if she’s eligible for the Presidential scholarship without her test score broken out. It might also be work a retake on the SAT if she thinks she can bump her score up. https://www.hofstra.edu/admission/adm_firstyear_scholarship.html
Check the Common Data Set, Section C, to see how she stacks up against admitted students academically.
Some of those schools you mentioned do not have engineering except as a 3+2 program, which is disadvantageous in several ways, including an extra year of costs and financial aid uncertainty.
^ Second this suggestion. (Perhaps use a personalized test preparation service as well, since your window of opportunity for taking standardized tests is closing and you won’t have much time for do-overs.)
Franklin and Marshall and Conn Coll do not give merit aid, only financial aid. Dickinson requires test scores for merit aid greater than $10k, maximum merit award at Dickinson is $25k, I believe, but with total costs at many schools over $60, a $25 merit award will not get you to $30k total cost.
Concurring that getting to $30k total cost on merit aid alone is a tough one, especially in the northeast. In the south or midwest there are lots of LACs with total cost in the $52-$55k range. so it’s more doable there. Is widening the geographic range a possibility? Alternatively, would you consider loans to close the gap?
Trinity, Union, Lafayette, Bucknell – they all have engineering and offer merit but I would guess that merit would not bring costs down to $30K (perhaps at Union). Does Clark University have engineering?
What about Rutgers or TCNJ or Stevens? Temple or Drexel? I’ve seen those mentioned on this board but you would have to research for the engineering offerings, merit and how this student’s stats measure up.
Thanks everyone.
Let’s define the “northeast” for these purposes as Maine, NH, VT, MAss, RI, NY, CO, NJ,PA and Maryland
I’ll suggest a look at Hofstra, Rutgers, TCNJ, Stevens, Temple and Drexel
I’ll suggest crossing F&M, Conn College, Dickinson, Trinity, Lafayette and Bucknell off the list
Clark has a 3/2 engineering program
Does anyone have any further thoughts on potential merit aid at Clark, Muhlenberg or Gettysburg? How about O of Rochester or RIT? Do any predominately male engineering schools try to motivate females by providing extra merit aid?
Ok, UR and RPI are off the list. Also RIT. As you said, it has a low cost of attendance but it seems as though merit scholarships are usually less than $5,000 - not enough.
Also, does anyone have any thoughts on the likelihood of merit aid at Northeastern?
The maximum merit aid from Northeastern is $25k, and the school is very competitive these days. Your D’s current SAT score is around their 25th percentile, I think, so admission is a big reach and merit not likely,
Sounds like your student has a 1300 M+CR. Is that from a single sitting? Merit is often based on single sittings.
M+CR is equivalent to an ACT 29. That’s not likely going to get you a large enough award to cut a private univ down to $30k…at least not from a univ that you’ve heard of.
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Clark has a 3/2 engineering program
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You may not want to pay for a 3/2 program. If you got merit, it would be for the first 3 years…you’d be full-pay for the last 2 years. Is that ok? If not, then 3/2 programs won’t work.
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Do any predominately male engineering schools try to motivate females by providing extra merit aid?
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To get costs down to $30k with a 1300 M+CR? I don’t think so. Looking at RoseHulman or RPI or similar, I don’t see a 1300 getting any extra money just for being a girl.
Check out the SUNY Stony Brook and the University of Buffalo.
Both have in-state costs well under $30K. For engineering, I doubt you’ll find more bang for the buck in the Northeast.
There’s been a lot of great help in the previous posts. Thanks very much. Also, just to clarify, I am asking on behalf of another parent who is pretty clueless on this process. At this point, I’m going to suggest there are really two paths that make sense - SUNY school or another standardized test. The other option is to hope to get lucky. Thanks again to everyone who has contributed.