Utah would be better and cheaper than Oregon State. Utah has a teaching hospital on campus so is good for pre-med. Utah do offer astrophysics but the program isn’t as strong as Arizona’s astronomy (my S23 is doing astrophysics and looked closely at both). And with your stats, Arizona is as cheap or cheaper than Utah. My D18 loved Utah, and was able to complete both a BFA and BS Hons in four years there, so if you want to pursue music as well then Utah may be a good option.
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I noted Arizona early because forget its overall ranking or selectivity - for prestige and value for a truly smart, full pay kid who wants to study astrophysics - it’s, in my opinion, hands down the best vehicle for value and prestige. The prestige is there. The value for the 4.0 and NMF is just a bonus.
Plus the Honors dorm is incredible with a dining hall on the bottom and a gym/ counseling center adjacent. I wanted to move in after visiting.
It’d be tops on my list if the student decides this is the path for them.
I even recommended to a potential Ivy student on another thread who was concerned with being rescinded at her school. There’s no shame in that major at Arizona for anyone.
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Unless you are a member of some sort of scapegoat group (particularly a visible one), in which case that politics could be in your face even when not seeking politics.
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But that’s out of one’s control and happens at campuses of all sorts - and actually you read about this more at schools like Michigan, Tufts, UCLA then you do at many of the schools people like to put down for their politics.
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Hmmm . . . yes, good idea to focus on the fact that the most of the women’s colleges have consortiums (lots of male teachers and males on campus from the surrounding schools taking classes with the women, and if they have graduate students, even more). The seven sisters colleges started because women were not allowed in the highly selective colleges, so the women’s colleges filled that void. They are all highly respected, but because men aren’t there, and they are trying to lure very competitive women who might go ivy+, they offer very large merit scholarships. Maybe just say you want to apply to see what happens, and if they offer you large scholarships, then that will sell itself.
Edited to add: Oh and the chances of acceptance at many of them, Mount Holyoke included, are in the 30% range, so much higher than similarly prestigious co-ed schools, so you can pitch them as matches for you.
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First and foremost, it 2023! In virtually any college (co-ed or single-sex) there will be shares of the population representing various orientations. x% of the women at a co-ed college will have a certain orientation - so there is no ‘avoiding’ that exposure by intentionally skipping opportunities offered at women’s colleges.
Also, at women colleges, a significant share of students might actually have chosen a single-sex college because they or the parents are religious conservatives (regardless of Christian or other faiths).
In reality, while women’s colleges might have been more inclusive long before the need for inclusiveness became universally recognized, it is now common virtually anywhere:
So maybe that’s a link to share!
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Probably not to the OP’s parents, since it appears that the OP’s parents would reverse the CPI rankings in terms of desirability to them.
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I’ll add the astrophysics majors at U New Mexico often works with the Very Large Array/National Radio Astronomy Observatory
UNM physics dept is up-and-coming in the area of quantum information/quantum computing with some very talented recent hires.
Beside collaborating with Los Alamos Laboratory, UNM students also work with scientists at Sandia National Laboratory on Kirtland AFB in ABQ. Mark Boslough–who you may have seen on PBS’s NOVA series–works at SNL. He’s a geophysicist that studies how large asteroid impacts affect planetary bodies.
FWIW, my daughter graduated from UNM with a physics major and went to medical school.
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I would like to remind posters that there is thread that is dedicated to politics in admissions in the politics forum, and that is the appropriate place for such discussions, not on this forum.
Thank you for your cooperation.
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I know you said you looked at UVA. Have you looked at William & Mary? It’s got good STEM offerings, and is mid-sized, and has a good LGBTQ scene while being co-ed (not that your parents would need to know that). There are some full rides available.
If you didn’t like UNC- Chapel Hill take it off, but I think you would be competitive for a Morehead scholarship or a Robertson scholarship (shared with Duke) and UNC is a great school. (I’m an alum, so biased.) It has frats and sororities and sports for those that are interested, but only about 25% of the student body is into Greek life (I never was) and it’s got great academics.
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The acceptance rate is much lower than 30% for Barnard, Wellesley, & Smith.
My daughter with similar stats, nmf, (and a physics major) got into NEU Boston this year. They gave her 33k for merit leaving a ballpark cost of 47k?
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I know a student who got a free ride to UDel (white, upper middle class). He said the Honors College provides a lot of perks, such as early class registration. I know a girl who is a bio major there. She likes it. It’s a big school with a pretty campus if you want to check it out.
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Hi, yes agree regarding Wellesley and Barnard which is why they don’t need to offer merit aid to entice the most competitive women to apply. But smith is around 30%. This is why I suggested Smith, Mount Holyoke and Bryn Mawr as alternatives.
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Just to clarify - Smith’s acceptance rate was actually 19% this year, down from 23% last year. Not sure if Bryn Mawr or Mount Holyoke have published data yet, but Bryn Mawr was 31% last year, so assuming that number will have gone down this cycle like everywhere else. Mount Holyoke’s acceptance rate last year was 40%.
With that said, it seems like the OP would be a competitive candidate for any of those schools, although scoring a merit scholarship that would cover enough of the COA would be hard. Mount Holyoke might be the best chance there, as they offer full tuition scholarships. (Bryn Mawr tops out at 45k, and Smith offers a limited number of scholarships at half tuition).
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I believe I saw that Holyoke was in the neighborhood of 35-38% admitted this year. They are very generous with merit aid.
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