<p>I am not at all relying on my URM status, I am more so relying on my school’s reputation for having a lot of its students go to a lot of good schools. Being an URM is just an added bonus. Sometimes I often forget that I am a URM and that may give me a slight boost, but don’t get me wrong I am not relying on it at all.</p>
<p>University of Rochester is on my list because I was accepted into their diversity program etc etc, I didn’t know they gave such poor financial aid. I will definitely be careful with that school, but in terms of academics it is really the only school on my list that can be considered a match. Does anyone know alternatives to URoch in terms of size and academics?</p>
<p>Does anyone know about how good the financial aid is at Banard? I will definitely look into it (it was originally on my list but I removed it for reasons I forgot)</p>
<p>Are all those schools going to let you apply as a FY student? I have a goood school in mind for you, but you have too many credits to be considered as a 1st- time college student there.</p>
<p>“I am not at all relying on my URM status, I am more so relying on my school’s reputation for having a lot of its students go to a lot of good schools. Being an URM is just an added bonus. Sometimes I often forget that I am a URM and that may give me a slight boost, but don’t get me wrong I am not relying on it at all.”</p>
<p>Again, no point splitting hairs re: whether you are “relying” on URM status - - but I will echo Sybbie’s post: you are putting too much weight on your school’s rep and your URM status. Your school is one of many good area schools and these days, pretty much all of the good schools have strong female URM candidates (URM/black males are, as sybbie note, still in short supply).</p>
<p>The women’s colleges a good bet in terms of admission and finaid. In addition to offering attractive/generous need-based aid packages, most (all?) of the schools have either merit $$ (can replace the loan portion of your finaid package) or cap load debt below the federal max. Of the women’s colleges, Barnard and Scripps, are the only two w/i spitting distance of co-ed schools. But the others (Smith, MHC, Bryn Mawr, Wellesley) have co-ed schools close enough for cross-registration. Smith, however, has its own engineering dept and one can major in egr; it may difficult to take egr classes if you are enrolled at any of the other women’s colleges (I know when D was looking a Tufts, egr classes were limited to those enrolled in the Sch of Egr and off-limits to other Tufts students).</p>
<p>I am not interested in transferring too many credits (just my intro classes bio chem computer science) So I am allowed and even encouraged for the more prestigious schools to apply as a freshman, not a transfer. What school did you have in mind @gloworm?</p>
<p>I’m not sure Dickinson meets 100% of need. You should really check the USN&WR list of full-need schools before you consider adding a school to your list.</p>
<p>Dickinson meets 99% demonstrated need but can be heavy on loans. You can also check ipeds which is the information that the colleges feed to the federal government.</p>
<p>if you look at the ipeds data, 485 of the freshmen students had stafford loans averaging 4885. the net price range based on your family’s income is 17k</p>
<p>Based on our experience in last year’s admissions cycle, I’d keep U Pitt on your list. They seem to want out-of-staters to balance their student population and were surpisingly generous with aid. Awesome school for sciences.
LAC’s with strong STEM programs could be a thought for you. How far are you willing to travel? I’m thinking Kenyon, Grinnell, Carleton, St. Olaf …I’m sure there are more that I’m missing.
I agree with the other posters that the traditional women’s colleges are worth a look - but ultimately you’re the one who has to live there for four years, right?</p>
<p>Sure, it’s OP’s choice, but one has to prioritize and w/ so many threads about student debt, one can’t help but urge OP to focus more on affordability and move some of the social concerns farther down on her things-I-want-in-a-college list.</p>
<p>At the risk of beating a dead horse - - there’s a thread in the Parents Forum re: most important factor is setting the college list. The parents near-uniform in their response: AFFORDABILITY!! In refusing to consider women’s colleges and HBCUs, OP is overlooking some truly excellent and affordable schools that otherwise meet her stated criteria.</p>