Finding schools

College Search & Selection
1

I am currently a junior in high school and I am looking for more schools that would be a good fit for me.

I currently have:
OSU
University of Cincinnati
University of Illinois
Stanford

About me:
Ohio resident
Major in CS/CSE
35 ACT
Qualified for national merit semifinalist, even though it isn’t released yet
I have a 3.98 unweighted with 4 AP classes, I am taking four more senior year:
APUSH
Chem
Lang/Comp

Computer Science

Physics Mechanics
Physics E+M
Spanish
Calc BC

I am doing some USACO practice but I won’t be very well ranked by the time I apply.
Plan on working on some computer science projects over the summer
Eagle scout
Marching band, Concert band in a highly rated program, I’m a leader, hope to audition for some better groups in the future.

I am just looking for some suggestions as to colleges that I could look in to.
I don’t want to spend over 100k so I am looking for merit based aid.

Sorry if I missed anything

2

Stanford does not give merit aid.

Schools where you may get merit would be USC, Boston University, Northeastern University. All of which would be matches

3

Thanks
Also I know Stanford doesn’t give aid but I would just like to see if I could make it or not.

4

Are you looking to do marching band, specifically, in college? Private U’s with serious marching band programs and merit potential = USC, Vanderbilt, and U of Miami.

Northeastern would offer you an automatic National Merit award (30K/year last I heard) - great CS co-op program with many options (CS+X, BS/MS). That’s not going to get you down to $100K total out the door though - probably at least $150K+

U of Utah has a terrific up-and-coming CS program and a great honors college with meaningful programming - academically, extracurricularly, and housing-wise. You would qualify for generous merit, and following their offered path to residency would drop the base price to in-state after the first year. I’d say there’s no question this could stay within your budget. Great travel access (direct flights to SLC), unbeatable outdoor recreation, and a major city with great urban resources, public transit, etc. Excellent music school and marching band https://music.utah.edu/ensembles/bands/marching-band/

Merit at Michigan State wouldn’t be automatic/guaranteed but definitely could be worth a try. Same with CWRU and Pitt (which has rolling admissions, so apply early).

And check out auto-merit at the southern flagships - U of Alabama, Ole Miss, South Carolina.

5

I wasn’t really looking to do marching band in college, but I will most likely end up in a college concert band. Thank you for the options, I will look into them

6

Have you run any Net Price Calculators to see if any need based aid might be in the picture? Some higher level schools offer aid beyond what is typical. It’s good information to have prior to making your list.

Merit aid at the higher level schools is pretty competitive for large amounts. It’s worth trying for them because someone gets them, but be sure you have financial safeties. U Miami, Wake Forest, Vanderbilt, and U Rochester come to mind as some I know about due to students going there (and getting decent aid). Pitt tends to offer decent merit aid (competitive) too.