<p>If she’s willing most of the tech schools are looking for females and URMs. RPI, WPI or even more in the midwest if she’s willing to travel.</p>
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<p>Unfortunately is is not as straight forward as you are stating. You would have to request a non-custodial waiver from each school. Schools are becoming more stringent when it comes to third party letters (and I write a lot of them).</p>
<p>Depending on your situation, you may or may not receive it as parents are the first in line when it comes to paying for their children’s education. Keep in mind that the request for the non custodial information does not obligate the non-custodial parent to pay for college (just like in tact homes, you cannot make parents pay for college). </p>
<p>Are there child support agreements in place?</p>
<p>I do not want you to think that we are trying to discourage you or that we are a bunch of Debby downers. However, year after year, I see parents (especially URM parents), who believe that their child simply being a URM is going to be their ticket to some schools. More times than often, it is not. URMs now more than every are bringing their A games to the table and the URM pool is more competitive especially thanks to programs like Questbridge,</p>
<p>Even at SAT optional school, should she take the SAT optional route, the focus will be more on her unweighted GPA. I agree with Blue, that a 3.6 may get her admitted, but it probably won’t garner any merit money. </p>
<p>I doubt it because I had a URM student (black female first gen) with at 93 gpa who was waitlisted at MHC last admissions cycle. I had a firs gen/low income hispanic female who was ranked # 4 with a 1390 (math/verbal) who go shut out of the Ivies, but picked up by Wellesley/Amherst.</p>
<p>First off, Sybbie719’s advice is generally solid gold, so take heed of her as I’m sure you can sense the credibility there, not to mention the post count.</p>
<p>That said, and I know this is a wild-card idea (untested, just my theory): have you looked at colleges in or around Baltimore? The reason I say that is, when growing up there, it is a remarkable skip-over that very few Hispanics settled in Baltimore in the 1950/60 era, the same years they came to all the other Northeast cities (Phila, New York) especially from Puerto Rico. And very few Cubans ever came as far north as Baltimore, Md. during a wave of immigration to Florida. South Americans came up later, so they may be more equally represented today in Baltimore akin to other East Coast cities. It was just a real skip-over of Baltimore, so interesting. </p>
<p>Consequently, growing up there I was in fully integrated city schools with only African Americans and Caucasians; no Hispanics, hardly any Asians. This accurately reflected the City of Baltimore’s demographics. </p>
<p>And so I wonder if there’s a regional blip whereby Maryland private colleges such as Goucher or Johns Hopkins see fewer Hispanic women applicants, because the surrrounding metropolitan area has fewer to begin with. Similarly, the public University of Maryland might have that situation today, too.</p>
<p>I’m sorry I don’t have time to do the hard demographic research to check this out. As I say, it’s just a wild-card idea.</p>
<p>About URM status, I agree that competition is getting tougher every year. I highly suggest you visit the Hispanic Students forum (under College Admissions, Specialty Topics) as there is much great information (see the Resources sticky thread) as well as several very experienced members who have been through the process and are familiar with schools that are actively seeking Hispanic applicants. Also, see this thread for some of my observations about factors that are important WITHIN the Hispanic pool of applicants:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/hispanic-students/1229462-does-being-hispanic-have-any-impact-all.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/hispanic-students/1229462-does-being-hispanic-have-any-impact-all.html</a></p>
<p>“Except the issue is that colleges ‘buy’ students (with merit money) that can bring them top gpa’s and/or top test scores. A 3.6 may be enough to gain admission to a higher-ranked, test-optional, female-only school, but it is unlikely to garner any free money (at Mt. Holyoke since I believe that Smith is need-only).”</p>
<p>I found this to be the exact opposite for my son. The higher the USNWR ranking the more merit money he got and the highest ranked gave him the most and that was a school which gives no merit money, only institutional aid. We pay several thousand dollars less a year at his $55k+/yr. college then it would have cost us to send him to SUNY Binghamton.</p>
<p>Great, thanks. I will check this out. Baltimore would be great, she is willing to travel to the midwest or west as well (at this point). </p>
<p>I want to make the point that I in no way see her URM status as a “meal ticket,” any more than I would expect her to get an athletic scholarship. I just wondered if there are any schools we should add to the list for consideration because they are actively trying to recruit from this group. </p>
<p>Also, I’d prefer not to discuss issues regarding her noncustodial parent situation on this thread.</p>
<p>you are correct, emily. In my earlier post, instead of “free money”, I should have typed “merit” money. </p>
<p>Indeed, well-endowed (and often highly ranked) colleges do offer a lot of need-based aid and can be very generous with it, at least for those with need. (My s attended one of those for less $ than our instate Public.)</p>
<p>Blue, in my son’s case the higher the ranked school the more merit money he got. From $30K/yr at the 2nd highest ranked (highest ranked school $$ was not a school which gives any merit money) down to $15K (a public OOS) at the 2nd lowest. Only Hartwick, the lowest ranked school on his list gave him more @$22K/yr in merit.</p>
<p>"I found this to be the exact opposite for my son. The higher the USNWR ranking the more merit money he got and the highest ranked gave him the most and that was a school which gives no merit money, only institutional aid. "</p>
<p>Are you saying he received merit at a need-based school? If so, how?</p>
<p>Are the stated stats truly impressive enough for any expectation/hope for significant merit money?</p>
<p>^ No, He received institutional aid at his need based college (one that gives no merit at all) and was more than the next highest ranked school which was not a need based only school and gives merit. He didn’t receive any institutional aid at that school, just merit in the amount of $30K/yr. The next highest gave him $27K/yr in merit aid and so on down the line.</p>
<p>What is institutional aid? I haven’t heard the term before. You’re saying that it’s not need-based, and it’s not merit? Or not the kind of merit that’s publicized?</p>
<p>"Are the stated stats truly impressive enough for any expectation/hope for significant merit money? "</p>
<p>Well, they CALL it merit money but it may be this “institutional aid.” My older s, for instance who had much lower boards and GPA, received $10-20k in annual scholarship offers from various schools, including Juniata, Allegheny, and Goucher. I was told they were “leveling the playing field” so that he could go to a private school for roughly the same amount as an out of state state school. (FYI he was not Hispanic – different dad.)</p>
<p>Iowa State University. OOS tuition/fees/room/board is only about $27,000 per year. As an URM female looking to go into the sciences, ISU often offers a very generous scholarship package.</p>
<p>Well, <em>if</em> you can contribute your efc and <em>if</em> you get a ncp waiver, you may be much better off at a school that meets full need and gives no merit. Mind you, a lot of those schools are very competitive for admissions. Her numbers do not scream out top schools but there’s a lot of other info not included here-- what is her rank (is that 3.6 from a top private school)? what is her class load (does she have 10 APs)? what are her extracurriculars (sports anyone?)? </p>
<p>If you are looking strictly for merit, a lot of the very big awards want high numbers but she may be able to snag a $10K or so award from a school where she would be at the top of the heap. One of my kids (half-Hispanic, half-African American) had very similar stats and did very well with schools that meet full need, but kiddo had some other attributes that I think attracted colleges.</p>
<p>Otherwise, I think there are some very good suggestions here for solid choices-- but they might not be as prestigious as the schools on her original list.</p>
<p>Yep, agree, 2college. She has some other attributes that make her appealing, I think. Meeting full need would also be a good alternative, as I can contribute efc.</p>
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<p>Institutional means aid given by the college as opposed to aid coming from other outside entities. Institutional aid can be either need based FA (eg. based on the Profile) or merit scholarships given by the college. Non-institutional aid can also be either need based (eg. Federal aid as determined by FAFSA) or outside scholarships (eg. Gates, local scholarships, etc.)</p>
<p>Remember that some ‘full need’ schools include loans in FA packages and others do not.</p>
<p>“What is institutional aid? I haven’t heard the term before. You’re saying that it’s not need-based, and it’s not merit? Or not the kind of merit that’s publicized?”</p>
<p>Institutional aid is what it’s called at schools that are need based only. Institutional aid is based on an assessment by the school of a student’s financial need. It is not based on merit as the institutions which give this type of aid believe all students they accept are meritorious. It is also not loans or federal $$$. </p>
<p>Some school give a combination of institutional aid and merit aid, some give a combination of institutional aid, merit aid and loans. Some give merit aid and meet the rest of a student need with only loans.</p>
<p>emilybee, Yes, but your post sort of muddied the waters. Your son didn’t receive more merit $ at the highest ranked schools because most of them give no merit. He received financial aid-- and, yes, the highest ranked schools have deep pockets for kids who have financial need… That’s why I wrote that <em>if</em> she can meet her efc (as determined by the school-- not fafsa) and <em>if</em> she can get a ncp waiver, those could be the best schools to aim for. But even that depends entirely on her finances. If she only qualifies for $10K worth of need-based aid, she could easily get a $5,500 loan, $2K work study and $2,500 grant, making that $10K scholarship from a lower-ranked school a better deal. </p>
<p>If the aim is to get into the schools with the deep pockets for generous financial aid, then the student’s ‘other attributes’ become more important because it is those attributes that will make her attractive to a school, not her half-Hispanic raised-by-a-white mom background. That kind of background by itself won’t give her a tremendous bump.</p>
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<p>Yes, much lower ranked than those colleges on your D’s list (which was my earlier point). Allegheny & Juniata are tied for #85, for example. Older S also has the correct chromosomes for liberal arts colleges. (Goucher is ~70% female.) :)</p>