HI all!
I am a current senior and I thought that I had my college list finalized, until I filed the FAFSA. I will not be receiving any need based aid which means that even if I got into some of the schools of my list, I would not be able to go there because of the cost. I would love to go to school on the east coast, but being from the midwest I would really appreciate some suggestions for schools that would potentially grant me large merit aid. Thank you so, so much for everyone who helps!
Here are my stats:
3.74 GPA/ 4.43 Weighted
Full IB Diploma Candidate
31 ACT/ 33 Supersocre
Varsity Cross country and Lacrosse
Very involved at my school
Summer work-study experience
Common App essay is about a service experience
I am already applied to Villanova, Fordham, Boston College, and Tufts and would love some suggestions of less selective schools. Thank you so much and I would be happy to give more of my stats/ extra curriculars if needed.
What price per year are you looking for? You will probably get merit from Fordham but will still likely be looking at $50,000+. Northeastern, probably $45,000 (minimum) after merit.
^^Yet that group scoring 31 is listed as being among the scores in the greatest cohort of students accepted to the university (87.8%). Things don’t look thin until you get to students scoring under 29 on the ACT.
@waitingtoexhale Accepted at Northeastern, match. Merit aid, no. That is what the OP is asking. The mid 50% for enrolled freshmen is 31-34. Merit aid generally goes to the top 25% of students.
Northeastern manipulates its numbers by excluding a huge pool of international students and all those they start in the NEUin program. That is close to 25% of the freshman class. If those students had to count their test scores the mid 50 wouldn’t be 31-33.
Merit Aid that can bring the cost below 40k/ yr would probably be enough. I actually visited Northeastern and will not be applying though. I forgot to add that I applied to Loyola University Maryland; would you say I am likely to receive merit aid there?
@TomSrOfBoston I defer to you about all things Northeastern. But just as a data point, my D (white, mid Atlantic) with identical ACT (the superscore definitely helped) and what I would consider similar level of ECs was awarded $15,000/yr two years ago. But then, admissions seem to get tougher every year…
No, did not apply for need-based aid as would not have qualified for more than a few thousand (tops). She did apply EA. And yes, 31 twice, super scored to 33.
Her good friend got $10,000/yr merit with a 32 (one try) and really good GPA (my kid was around 3.92 UW, 4.75 W and I’d estimate, based on grad awards, that her friend was 3.98, 4.8+). Friend got an additional approx. $20,000 in need based aid but would only have gotten that much for Year 1 while she had a sibling in college.
And yes, it might be weird that I know that much detail about someone else’s stats, but it was one of my D’s closest friends for 10+ years, and she was pretty frank with me.
BC and Tufts appear to be out of reach financially.
Awards from Fordham, Villanova, or Loyola-MD average ~$15K. With sticker prices of $60k-$65K, you’ll be over budget unless you qualify for above-average grants.
I think you would get $ at Loyola that would make your annual cost around $40,000, and you might look at St. Joseph’s in Philadelphia and U Scranton. Both have good B schools and you could likely get enough merit for that $40,000 target. I think both have 11/15 EA deadlines but both are Commom App (I think) and Scranton has no app fee.
I know you said you’d like to get out of the Midwest, but that’s where my East Coast son is looking for merit. U Dayton (reminded me of Villanova), St. Louis and Xavier might all be good options where you have a good shot at merit. My S, whose stats aren’t as good as yours, already has his B school acceptance from Xavier with cost after merit of around $33,000. U Dayton guarantees tuition for 4 years, which is really nice for planning purposes, as we’re budgeting 3-5% annual increases at other schools.