Emergency Safeties?

College Search & Selection
1

Hello again, CC ladies and gentlemen,

I am about prepared to send out my “fit” applications. I’ve a preference for small classes and academic rigor, which leads to a problem: These places are ridiculously expensive! I’m waiting on needs-based aid, but not expecting much in that regard (Worst possible situation: High income, low assets) and because of this, sent some early actions to UA, UK, and MU-Ohio because, while they don’t fit my wants, they all have a reputation for handing out some merit money.

Though these schools will likely provide academically solid, well-known alternatives, I was looking for some more safeties. My stats are near average for most of my list and, while my essays and rec. letters will be compelling, I am worried I won’t get enough merit aid from my favorites (Oberlin, Wooster, Grinnell, maybe St. Olaf). Given my stats below, throw out some suggestions of schools you believe I would likely see significant financial aid (Total<$30k?). Gimme’ all of it, but, in order of prevalence, the traits I’ve sought most in a school have been a reputation for rigor, small classes, non-metropolitan environment, and last, and indeed least, somewhere that actually has four seasons. UA’s “hot” and “hotter” seasons scare me a bit! XD

Provided you reply before the end of the first week of November, I can finish the applications before the 15th!

ACT: 34 (Math: 28, English: 35, Science: 35, Reading: 36)
GPA (UW/W): 3.49/3.59
A.P. Credit: U.S. History, European HIstory (5’s), Gov’t., Spanish, World, Chem. this year

Sports/ECs:
Football (9th, 10th)
Track & Field (11th, 12th)
Volunteer Service, Peer Tutoring, Northern Illinois Food Bank (100-ish hrs)

Thanks again, and happy hunting to anyone reading this because they need schools.

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St. Lawrence number #1, on paper they can go to a free ride. Excellent campus in an exotic location. #2 Providence College, we know two students that are there one at 60% cover and one at 100% #3, TCNJ, NJ’s LAC, figure 30k all in after merit and #4, University of Scranton, you are in full ride territory. Scranton has incredible facilities, first class housing and excellent food. If you are pursuing science, Scranton is hard not to include.

Others would be Gettysburg, Muhlenberg and Lafayette but hard to judge the scale.

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UA’s “hot” and “hotter” seasons scare me a bit! XD


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Is this U Arizona?

this must not be U Alabama because Bama doesn’t have “hot and hotter” seasons. It has moderate weather for most of the school year, but does have hot summers when students are out of school.

If the UA that you mention is U Az, then why not apply to Bama for it’s large merit? You’d get free tuition, at least…and beautiful weather for most of the school year.

4

Serious, guaranteed merit money if you just meet the application deadlines: http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/

5

You would probably qualify for a very nice scholarship from Willamette. My son had lower stats than yours, and he received $19k in merit aid. Earlham, College of Wooster, Ohio Wesleyan, Denison, Wheaton (MA, not IL), Skidmore, and possibly even Whitman might offer you decent merit packages.

6

You may want to revisit your"Good Aid or Good Schools" thread from August. If my memory serves me, you had quite a few good suggestions given then.

7

You need to rethink your “emergency safeties” title. If you think of schools that way you won’t want to even consider attending them which doesn’t make them a safety but a waste of an application fee.

8

How about Beloit College? It has overlap with the schools you’ve mentioned, and with merit aid often comes in at or below in-state costs at UIUC, with potentially more merit available.

9

The SUNYs will cost OOS sudents ~$30k, and NY definitely has 4 seasons.

10

If you apply to SUNYs I would urge you to visit first-some have vibes quite different from any of the schools you list. . The only one that seems remotely close to what you are looking for is Geneseo. The 4 centers are large institutional feeling feeling places with many large classes and with unfavorable faculty to staff ratios (20 or 21:1 faculty: student). Don’t apply to schools you won’t be happy to attend.

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@ScaredNJDad, Thanks, hadn’t even heard of Scranton. All of those seem great, I’ll have to look into them, and soon too.

@mom2collegekids, You’re always here to help, appreciate it. That was towards AZ, though, I spent a few weeks in Tuscaloosa, and for my time there it seemed to be accurate too. To be fair though, that was in the dead of summer. Obviously, as you said, this would matter relatively little.

@happymomof1, That site is…amazing. Thanks!

@carolinamom2boys, There were awesome suggestions, and I’ve applied or am applying to several of the schools on the list. However, given that months have passed, I figured there may be new knowledge or new people. It seemed fair to restart.

@Erin’s Dad, “Emergency” was not related to the school themselves, but in the search. Obviously, because it’s just about November, there was a sense of urgency in it because many schools have scholarship deadlines in mid-November. Thus, at the beginning of next week, I would be sending out some transcripts. It was not to insult the suggestions.

@woogzmama, Those are all pretty great choices, Denison and Skidmore stand out for their locations, but also their costs. I’d need serious packages to get those near $30k, but Whitman and Wooster are both already on my list, so I can’t hold that against them. Anyways, thanks! I’ll probably have to reconsider Skidmore, I’ve dropped 3 schools from my list, maybe it shall take the spot.

@applemath, I live literally 2hrs from Beloit and had NEVER heard of it until yesterday. My older brother had a classmate that went there and absolutely loved it. It also has quite an academic reputation; it’s found itself a spot on the “Where PhD’s Get Their Starts” list. (It’s for Anthropology, if memory serves, but it has to have pretty high standards to end up with a nationally renowned program, I would suspect.)

@austinmshauri, AH yes, the SUNYs (SUNIES? Naw, that just don’t work…!)
Binghamton looks pretty great, but at 43%, getting in may be a problem. I hadn’t noticed that they were about $30k, they all belong on the “Best Values” lists…All of them. XD

Uh, don’t think I forgot anyone. If I did, I promise it was nothing personal. Anyways, I was not expecting this much activity so soon, so this is wonderful. Still probably 2 slots, though that’s subject to change. I have some time today to actually look into all these suggestions. Will update if they’re filled. Thanks again to all of you. CC has, without fail, been incredibly helpful.

12

The Student Faculty Ratio at Buffalo is 16-1. http://institutionalresearch.buffalostate.edu/sites/institutionalresearch.buffalostate.edu/files/uploads/Documents/Common%20Data%20Sets/CDS_2014-2015%20rev1.pdf

The SF Ratio is 18.2-1 for Albany.
http://www.albany.edu/ir/cds/cds_2014_15/classize.htm

And as I posted to you earlier @lostaccount the SF Ratio for Stony Brook is 16-1.
http://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/irpe/data/cds/CDS_2014-2015_revised_6_2_2015.pdf

It’s very tiresome to have to correct your continued misstatements about the SUNY system.

13

Lawrence gave my kid enough merit to bring it down to just over $30K, but her stats were a bit better than yours. It isn’t an LAC, but University of Minnesota is relatively cheap for OOS (I take it you live in Illinois, so wouldn’t get the reciprocity price break that someone from Wisconsin would).

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@intparent, You’ve guessed correctly. Though UMN’s pretty huge, I used my fee waiver to apply there just in case. Basically, believe it or not, I like livin’ up here, and if it comes down to my financial safeties, UMN will be a darn good choice.
In short, it’s huge and in a big city, but other than that, there’s really nothing I can strike against it. It’s got a great academic reputation, solid student reviews, and is priced beyond competitively. As for Lawrence, Niche puts me at the 61st percentile, which makes me suspect I won’t see much merit there, but I’ve time to decide on that. App’s not due until Jan. 1st, if memory serves.

@Erin’s Dad, Thanks for the info! While, @lostaccount seems to be right about Binghamton’s student-faculty ratio, it is appearing to be kind of a balancing act with the SUNY schools, determining between the less urban-metropolitan areas and the better-staffed ones like Stony Brook. And now Geneseo? Most of them are solid choices, but in the immortal words of a (pretty-garbage) 80s movie, “There can be only one!”
Which shall it be?

So…we got some solid Midwestern LACs, Scranton, Whitman (Already had been considering applying, this may have confirmed it.), Skidmore, Wheaton (MA), UMN.
Assuming moderate financial aid, most of these are great choices for economic safeties, and many of their scholarship deadlines have not passed. I do, however, have to worry about getting into many of them. XD
I’d call this enough unless Erin’s Dad and Lostaccount wish to do battle or anyone has a new school that must be considered.

Thanks again to all of you,

15

LOL on doing battle. It is unfair to portray a school in a way that does not resemble what the school is really like. It is unfair to students, their families and even staff. When I know that is happening I counter it. Things are more likely to improve if the school can’t hide things-they will have to change things instead of ratchet up the PR.

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I think Lawrence has an EA round, and the app is super easy. Like 140 characters of supplement (a couple sentences – practically a haiku) :smiley:

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Are you counting Whitman as a Midwestern LAC? They might argue with you in Walla Walla, Washington.

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@bompambo, No I had not. None of the ones I mentioned by name were Midwestern. Many of the Midwesteen ones I am considering are close enough in character that I lumped them into that first phrase.
I’ve been through the mountains near there (Drove to Seattle). Anyways, sorry for the confusion.

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Sorry, Kinglok12, thought your were enumerating Midwestern Colleges, I had a punctuation breakdown. Must be reading too many texts.

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I will add tho that Binghamton can be the perfect school for some students. Consider what you want to get out of the 4 years. What are your goals? For those who want to keep expenses down as much as possible, SUNY, Binghamton included, can be a good match as long as you go into it knowing what it is and what it is not. Students who make the choice to attend and have their eyes open, can thrive at Binghamton. My beef is only misrepresentation. For students who are go geters and who feel comfortable knocking on doors and going after experience that you want, Binghamton can provide many of the same kind of experiences you’d get, perhaps more easily, at a private school or at a smaller school. But you should know going into it what its strengths and weaknesses are. If you do, and if you make the choice to attend (whatever school) you can make almost any school work for you, Binghamton included.