I know it’s hard to make these decisions but trying to help my D24 with the right path.
My D24 is interested in Law in the future but she is not 100% sure at this point. We were initially thinking of Pol. Science but after doing some research we found that the opportunities after graduation with Pol. Science are comparatively less than Economics if she changes her mind from Law. So, we started looking for decent (not top 20-30) colleges that are good for both Economics and Pol. Science as she may do her minor in Pol. Science. Also minor in Pol. Science provides her opportunities to explore the area with internships and decide if Law is the right field for her.
My D21 is studying in NY and we live in Midwest. We’re planning to move to somewhere so we can stay close (some 4–5-hour drive) to both the kids. Can anyone suggest some decent, not too competitive, non-grade deflated colleges that are good for both Economics and Pol. Science and can provide good internships in Pol. Science area between WV to NY? We’re not trying to restrict her too much with geographic location but would like to see if there is a possibility. I don’t think she will be comfortable with LACs. She is expecting average size college, not too urban but close to city but she said DC is ok. 
Coming to finances, we may not qualify much for need based but can afford around 35-40K/per year with some loan. Most probably, she is not going to stop with just undergrad.
So let’s go to your last sentence first - you don’t think you’ll get need based aid but you can afford $35-40K a year.
So the first thing I’d ask you to do - pick a few schools - say Cornell (a meets need), Tufts (Rochester (a meets need) and American (doesn’t meet need) and see if you qualify for aid. Let’s not guess. Let’s be sure, especially with having two in at once. Your other school might surprise you too. In other words, maybe you can go to an $80K school for $40K, maybe you can’t - but let’s truly see.
Secondly - there is no defined major for law school and as you can imagine - kids plans change. Other than maybe patent law (engineering) - for someone going for general law or undecided in which area they’d study - they can study what they want - from English to Philosophy (a good one) to the most popular Poli Sci to Geography, German, Journalism, public health, Parks and Rec, Classics - or you name it.
So she should find a major (eventually) she can enjoy. Most liberal arts don’t have “prospects” per say - they aren’t pre professional, leading to a formal job such as accounting or engineering or teaching, etc. - all “pre law” majors by the way.
The thing for law school is - you will need to research and write a lot, interpret - so anything that can help you understand, etc.
I don’t think you force a major on someone. It sounds like you are “prescribing” a path - vs. understanding her desires. Perhaps she goes undecided and figures it out later, etc.
There’s actually a thread from the other day - what do people do with different majors and you’ll be surprised at typically - not anything related.
So tell us more - statistics (GPA, ACT, rank)…whether or not she’s got strong extra curriculars, etc.
What’s your resident state - and where does your current daughter go?
@tsbna44 , Thanks for your response! I totally understand all what you said as we recently went through this process of college admissions.
I am not trying to force anything on her. I am just trying to present her all the options. I know that she can go as undecided but it would be good to start with something in mind. She is the one who said she wants to explore the options for Economics too. She is still planning to take AP micro/macro next year.
I know that Law school doesn’t require specific major that’s the reason this thread. I am just trying to help her get into a major that has more job opportunities, if she changes her mind later.
Her GPA is around 3.93 as of now.
She doesn’t want to go to her state school. As I mentioned, we prefer somewhere between WV and NY.
I said it midwest but don’t want to be specific for privacy reasons.
I am familiar with all this logic.
Trust me, if you said you are from Illinois, I would not know who you are. I ask because there are “associations” or area state discounts and perhaps you could score a discount. Not sure about the privacy - you can’t ask a question like you are and not share what state you are from.
So she has a 3.93 - is that weighted or unweighted? Can you give both her weighted and unweighted.
Rank? Is she taking a test?
I think you need to run the NPCs as I said - because let’s say for instance a Franklin & Marshall or Dickinson become affordable whereas right now at $40K they are off the table.
You need to run that check.
If you’re just looking for cheap colleges - the NE isn’t the place to go (the South or Desert are)- but since you say so - you may look at:
WVU - with merit
Many of the small state schools in PA - like Slippery Rock, California U, Clarion, Lockhaven, Bloomsburg, Shippensburg etc.
Maybe Delaware - with merit. Maybe
Maine - who will match your state flagship
Maryland - Salisbury and Frostburg
NJ - Rowan, Montclair State, William Paterson, College of NJ
NY - pretty much any SUNY (some with merit) - your best known are Stony Brook, Buffalo, and Binghamton - but they have many - and many are good.
CT - directionals - Eastern, Southern, Central, etc.
RI - URI with merit
A little farther but throw in W Carolina and UNC Asheville - both cheap - and if you really want to go cheap - like $20K cheap and you have a great test score - you can look at Alabama and UAH. Yes, further but you can afford to fly to visit at that point.
Hope that helps
Business could be a good major to consider. Law school admission is more about GPA and LSAT than a specific major. If she changes course about going to law school a business degree is practical at the undergrad level. Also, there are different aspects to business from the more analytical side of finance or accounting, to more creative aspects on the entrepreneurial and marketing side, to management which combines a bit of both.
Thanks @tsbna44 !
I am from Ohio. It’s unweighted and her weighted is 4.16 as of 1st sem of sophomore.
School doesn’t rank. She is planning to take one by end of this Summer.
I am looking for some good ranking schools but not highly competitive.
Not within your desired geographic parameters, but Wake Forest University (WFU) should be considered. (WFU offers merit scholarships to incoming freshman.)
Furman University in South Carolina offers lots of merit scholarships. Should get you down to about $35,000 per year. And,yes, I do understand that this is ot in the limited geographical area that you specified.
Competitive regarding admissions or with respect to competition among students ?
She’s only a sophoore??
If so, you need to check back next Spring…it’s a bit too early… a lot will be known with her test score and future grades.
Mainly though - you need to run the net price calculators - you’d be amazed - someone can earn $200K a year and still get aid. But even that needs to wait a year because the financial aid formula is changing.
Wake won’t be at $40K - but this is why they need to run the NPC - they might be surprised, especially in the years they have 2 in schools.
Only way to know is to play around with a few NPCs - a few meets needs schools and a few otherwise (not meeting 100% of need).
So finally you’re not ready give me the names of colleges? 
I would like to do the college research before the NPC. I understand it plays an important factor but if it’s really something that my D24 wants to go, we are ready to think about the plan.
Did you not see the message about 5 up - i gave you 15 or 20 colleges
What I wrote in the message above:
WVU - with merit
Many of the small state schools in PA - like Slippery Rock, California U, Clarion, Lockhaven, Bloomsburg, Shippensburg etc.
Maybe Delaware - with merit. Maybe
Maine - who will match your state flagship
Maryland - Salisbury and Frostburg
NJ - Rowan, Montclair State, William Paterson, College of NJ
NY - pretty much any SUNY (some with merit) - your best known are Stony Brook, Buffalo, and Binghamton - but they have many - and many are good.
CT - directionals - Eastern, Southern, Central, etc.
RI - URI with merit
A little farther but throw in W Carolina and UNC Asheville - both cheap - and if you really want to go cheap - like $20K cheap and you have a great test score - you can look at Alabama and UAH. Yes, further but you can afford to fly to visit at that point.
Some poly sci programs have opportunities to pursue different tracks, ie international relations, and sometimes include a legal track. If politics/government interests your daughter, I disagree that it offers fewer options upon graduation.
Is there a particular type of law that is of interest? For instance, environmental? She could look for programs with environmental science or environmental studies that would build a foundation for the future area of interest. Look for degrees where there are rigorous writing requirements.
Ohio State is great - also look at John Glenn School of Public Policy.
btw - i gave you names in two above messages (the second was just a copy since you didn’t see them) that will hit $40K.
I didn’t give you the names of schools that cost more but would get there with meeting need - hence I asked to run the NPCs at schools like Cornell, Rochester and then one that doesn’t meet 100% of need - American.
You can run a school that will give merit and need but not necessarily stackable - a Dickinson and Gettsyburg for exaample - but I don’t think they’ll make the cut.
Thank you! Is there a way to find all schools that give need based merit?
I could give you a ton - or rather see the list that doesn’t give merit - but an $70-80K school which is most - won’t get you to $40K.
Hence, I’m saying to look at the NPCs to see if you have need.
If you don’t have need, I gave you a pretty full list.
If you have need, then we can have discussion.
Add Hofstra - they are aggressive on scholarship.
As for who doesn’t offer merit - the IVYs, your top privates - Tufts, Bowdoin, etc. and some solid but lesser privates such as Franklin & Marshall.
You’d have to look school by school. Most do offer merit - even a solid like Connecticut College - but when you are looking to hit a price point and you say you have no need, it will be tough to hit a private. There might be some in PA like Juniata - lesser schools or Washington & Jefferson - that will hit $40K. You’d need to check.
OOS schools will not give you need based aid - not in your geography anyway - but many have merit - but you won’t get what you need.
The list I gave you - will get you to $40K. I didn’t give you the UCONNs, UVM, UMASS, UMD, etc. because they won’t.
I agree with other responses that you need to look very carefully at finances. We were able to find several universities that were pretty close to $40,000 per year with just merit aid. However, this was a few years ago and with relatively strong stats. To get lower than $40,000 per year the only universities that we found were either in-state public universities or were in Canada. However, we did not look at some specific schools that are noted for having very good merit based aid. We also found several universities (BU, NEU, and several New England LACs) that would have been full pay – in today’s numbers at a price well over $70,000 per year. Most parents just cannot afford to pay this much so most students are constrained with regard to where they can afford to attend universities. Many students are limited by finances to in-state public universities. One friend of a daughter was one of the strongest students in her high school, and was limited to two years of community college plus two years at an in-state public university – where she just graduated last May with a marketable major and nearly straight A’s, and a small debt.
If law school (or medical school or a DVM) is likely to be in the future, then minimizing debt for undergrad is a very good option.
Students often underrate their in-state public universities. I know one family from Massachusetts whose daughter thought that U.Mass was boring but UVM was a great choice. I know another family from Vermont whose daughter (the same age) thought that UVM was boring but that U.Mass was a great choice. Both were strong enough to get some merit at the out of state university. However, even with merit both parents paid probably an extra $80,000 over four years to go out of state. If this were debt (it was not in these cases) this would make it quite a bit more painful to later pay for law school.
From where I live, Ohio State does look like quite a good university.
I know quite a few lawyers and nearly all of them got their bachelor’s degree in either engineering or computer science. As was hinted at above this does say something about what type of lawyers I know. However, software companies need lawyers. Biotech companies need lawyers. Civil engineering companies have very detailed contracts that specify what they are going to build, and they need lawyers. Having a bachelor’s degree that relates to some type of business can be useful if you then get a law degree and work as a lawyer for a business in an industry that you know something about. I agree that economics seems more employable than political science in case law school does not happen. My experience taking a course in econometrics years ago suggests that a bit of math would go well with an economics degree (as a math major I found the mathematics that was necessary to understand econometrics to be interesting).
I agree - OSU and Miami would both be great choices for cost - but they don’t want to stay in Ohio.
You could do a Youngstown - which is Ohio but Eastern Ohio, etc.
The thing to remember with merit is - you need to be an overperformer. It’s not so much as a reward for being smart. It’s more a discount. Juniata or Allegheny know most kids are not going to pay $75K+ a year to go - whereas at Harvard or Tufts they will.
So they have to discount the school to get a fair market price. But if a kid isn’t above the average, they may not offer them aid or may offer less because - that school may be a reach for that kid and if they see the financials - they may let them in but at full pay or a small discount.
With many schools at a published $75K+ today and really $80K, getting half off is unlikely.
Yes, some are cheaper - but if you’re entirely inflexible on geography (which will cost you many many thousands over four years), then the list I gave you - I’d start with that.
A 3.9 could be $20K a year for example - at Arizona - without a test score - or cheaper at Alabama with a test score. Your Ohio in-states would be steals.
btw - the reason i asked your state was - Ohio has tuition reciprocity with Indiana, Michigan, Kentucky, and WV. So since WV is on your list, WVU will make an affordable choice for you. Unfortunately, they don’t have reciprocity with any PA schools but the non-flagship schools are mainly under your budget.
I’ve been reading some other chats too - and Temple (with merit) may make your budget as well.
The nice thing about law school is that you can major in anything you want. So you might as well make it employable. A lot of law applicants have accounting and engineering degrees, because there are legal specialties where this knowledge is a virtue. I have a cousin who went to law school with an electrical engineering degree, and is now a patent lawyer. Law isn’t for everyone. The job satisfaction rate for lawyers is pretty low with a very high debt-to-salary. And the median salary just a shade above electrical engineers. Just get a marketable degree and don’t look back. If law still interests her, she can study for the LSAT and apply.
@coolguy40! I totally agree that’s why I am struggling to help her find a right path as she is too young to understand that. She should earn at least decent salary. We’re suggesting her to go to Law school only if she can get into top colleges.