Good merit-aid schools for California girl

Parents Social Lounge
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<p>My daughter, the rising senior from a very overachieving California public school is struggling with her college list ... which her school requires everyone who considers applying EA/ED anywhere to have completed and given to the school office by the end of this week . I am looking for the ways to help her with any sound advice I could find. :)</p>

<p>So far, it's pretty obvious she is applying to a bunch of UCs. Six years ago (when her big sister was undergoing the same process) it seemed given that the little one, being herself (strong, but not overachieving student - with decent grades, but not willing to "jump over her head" ;)), when her time comes, would certainly get into most UCs, and could count on something more "exciting" than UCs, if gives it some more effort. ;) So, since the beginning of her high school career she had been forewarned, that various UCs are her reach, match and safety schools ... to go anywhere else (with us able and willing to pay for it) she should get into a super-reach (which are the only schools that MIGHT consider to give us any finaid), or, at least, to some decent out-of-state/private school with a REALLY great merit scholarship. THE UCs price tag is about maximum of our paying ability.</p>

<p>Nowadays, getting into ANY of the UCs is not a "given" anymore ... for anyone. :( The process became too "holistic" - which is, IMO, a synonim to unpredictable and bizzare. ;) Therefore, she probably needs all kinds of other than UC options in her list - reach, match, safeties ... but she knows we would only pay no more than UC price for anything which is at least not worse academically and in terms of name recognition (for the purpose of grad/med/school acceptance etc.).</p>

<p>As of now, she is only certain about (other than UCs) super-reach in her list:</p>

<p>Princeton U </p>

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<li>which, we think, is a VERY long shot for her, even as a legacy. ;) That is also, AFAIK, the only NON-merit-aid-giving school, where, if against all odds, she is accepted, we could possibly get an adequate need-based finaid (at least, we did with our older daughter ;)).</li>
</ul>

<p>Other schools which nowadays come (based on current moods and various ideas ;)) on- and off- her list (where she, maybe, could more realistically get into ... but not sure, how realistic are some merit money there for her ...), are: </p>

<p>Boston University
NYU
UMich
Lehigh
WPI (I suggested it as a possible safety)
Drexel (sent her an app fee waiver)
PACE (nobody heard of it, but it sends spam to her constantly ;) ... and is located in NYC, her dream city ;));</p>

<p>Lewis and Clark
...
maybe, Willamette.</p>

<p>(the last two - also, mom-suggested possible closer-to-home "safeties").</p>

<p>She is interesed in biology or some other bio/health-related major (possibly, pre-med ... but she is not sure); also, her current interest is forensic medicine ... but that could change. ;)
In terms of geografic location, she is eager to go out-of-state (by her adventurous nature) - preferrably, to East Coast. I as a parent, on the other hand, am not excited at the idea ;) and prefer her to stay closer to home (have a long list of reasons for that ;)). Her list is and, probably will be kind of a compromise of these two opposite interests, hers and ours. :)</p>

<p>Her stats as of now:</p>

<p>GPA: ~ 3.7+ uw/ ~4.2+ w
SAT 1: 2300
SAT 2: math 760, French 800, Bio - 780 or something like that ...</p>

<p>11 grade APs: Bio (5), LaC (5), BC Calc (4) (got her AP Scholar certificate today :)).
12 grade APs: Stats, Lit, French.</p>

<p>There were/are also some honor classes - so, her classwork is typical for the strong college-bound student from her school. Grades are typical (but not overly impressive), too - some A's, some B's. :)</p>

<p>She is a member of some non-crazy-competitive clubs - pre-med, French Honor Society, Red Cross ... Harry Potter (dont' ask ;)); officer in one of them.</p>

<p>Her most time-consuming activity is color/winter guard team - because of it, she wouldn't even try many other (more promissing in terms of giving an edge for admissions) school activities. She is really excited about this activity and hardly has time for anything else... but all these time I wondered how interested selective colleges might be in it. ;)</p>

<p>There is also some kind of volounteering with the family (Fort Ross State Historic park), some involvement in Russian community cultural life, some art lessons (with art portfolio - for accpeting colleges - as the possible outcome) ... and that's about it.</p>

<p>So my questions are: how realistic getting into - with any merit aid - any of the more selective schools on that list mentioned above for her? Do the less selective schools on that list worth considering/applying/attending? What other schools could she look at, but didn't (yet)?</p>

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<p>I’m not sure I understand what your daughter is looking for in a college. Her current list has very urban schools, very small town schools, and everything in between.</p>

<p>What IS she looking for?</p>

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<p>Just a few comments: do not apply to a school because of a free application. Or because it sends you a lot of mail. I’d take those off the list. Waste of effort and letter writers good will. </p>

<p>She will get in at least one UC, I’m sure. NYU has a reputation for not giving good aid packages OOS especially, but if that is one of her favorites, I’d let her. Michigan will not meet your financial criteria.</p>

<p>Look at Fordham for NYC and possible aid. </p>

<p>Barnard for a reach, but within possibility. Run the net price calculator.</p>

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<p>If you need merit aid, you are unlikely to find it at NYU, Lehigh, or Michigan (out of state). Merit is rare to nonexistent at these schools.</p>

<p>Pace University’s main campus is not in NYC. It’s in Westchester County, about 30 miles away. The NYC “campus” is a few buildings in lower Manhattan.</p>

5

<p>Agree with Chardo. Pace’s campus is in a gorgeous suburban office park with OK but not fantastic public transportation options. IMHO having it on her list will be an enormous distraction. Agree that running the NPC on Barnard is a better use of time.</p>

<p>Drexel? Also doesn’t seem to fit.</p>

<p>What does the data from her HS suggest in terms of her match/likely type schools? Without knowing more about how strong a candidate she is in terms of your HS history, I’m loathe to start randomly throwing options at you.</p>

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<p>Oh please…NYU is a private university. The costs are the same for instate and out of state…and the awards equally not good regardless of your home state. Actually OOS students likely receive better awards to increase geographic diversity at the college. There are plenty of instate NY students already! They say they don’t meet full need, and they don’t. Their best scholarships are for high achieving students with a need component.</p>

<p>UMich has a small number of really good merit awards for OOS students. But be advised, they do not meet full need for OOS students who have financial need.</p>

<p>BU has a good Net Price Calculator…run that and see what you get for aid/costs to you.</p>

<p>I would strongly suggest adding University of Pittsburgh to the list…and apply ASAP. They have some nice scholarships for OOS students, but my understanding is the early bird catches the worm…so apply now!</p>

<p>Another school to consider is Northeastern in Boston. If your daughter is a national merit finalist, she would get a full tuition scholarship. They also offer other scholarships to high achieving students. Another plus is their coop program. Northeastern has a more campus feel than BU.</p>

<p>I believe her stats would qualify her for a full tuition scholarship at University of Alabama. Again…application is available now.</p>

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<p>Santa Clara would give her very good merit. Are Catholic schools ok? (they don’t care what you are.)</p>

<p>Actually, any of the mid-level privates and publics would likely throw some merit at her. </p>

<p>Are we to assume that you’re willing to pay $30k per year, so you need about $25k+ in merit to afford the privates?</p>

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<p>Could someone please disable OP’s emoticon buttons? ;)</p>

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<p>If you are looking for merit money I would suggest privates where her stats put her inthe top 20% or higher of the admitted students. Those students usually catch the bigger dollars.</p>

<p>University of Portland- good science school-big nursing school
Furman University- big chemistry dept. good sciences
Rice-
Boston College
University of San Diego</p>

10

<p>Consider Pitt, Case Western, University of Rochester</p>

11

<p>thumper1,</p>

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<p>I wish I would understand it better. :slight_smile: </p>

<p>She is much better in explaining what she DOESN’t want in college: too small (the criteria is - no less or as little is her high school student population - about 1,700 … so, anything with 2,000+ students is fine), too big (such as UCs, wich is “enevitable evil” neccessity on her list, but she’d like to avoid it if she can’t help it), anything in LA (therefore, we can’t convince her to apply to most of private California schools … or UCLA), anything in the woods (UCSC is also out); too conservative (religiously-affiliated schools are out) … Preferrably, she’d like to go to some exciting (but not too dangerous) area in a big city or to be in the convenient proximity (by public transportation) to some such area. NYU and Boston areas are her most preferred locations.</p>

<p>She has no idea how to choose the school by the strentgh of her supposed major (biology/human physiology/pre-med), so as long as the school has some in its list of majors she considers it fine for including to the list. I don’t know what advice to give her on that, either.</p>

<p>BTW, with this daughter we didn’t go on college visits. We did a lot of them with older one - with the little one (then 11-12-years-old) in a tow. Now that the younger one grew up, we asked her on several occasions - before almost each school vacation - whether she’d be interested in visiting some colleges, and she is always too busy for that … It was decided she would visit those which accept her, but then I thought those might be mostly UCs … now, I have no idea how is she going to choose and bring various random schools (withou seeing tyhem first) on her list and how to choose between them if more than a few would accept her with decent aid.</p>

<p>Also, as a mom, I am concerned about more or less balanced gender ratio in the schools she is considering and adviced her not to go for too “girly” schools … but I know it’ a growing problem on most American campuses (except extra-selective ones and engeneering schools) …</p>

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<p>Sounds like you are looking for “east” merit aid for a good student interested in bio.</p>

<p>How about Midwest?</p>

<p>Miami University of Ohio
Ohio State
Ohio University
GRINNEL !! (LAC but great science)
Case Western Reserve University
Northwestern</p>

<p>Or, in the east
Johns Hopkins
Duke
Vanderbilt</p>

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<p>Safety for her, excellent at science: Juniata (but: rural)</p>

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<p>Where is it?</p>

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<p>OP- do you live in a city? I ask because Northeastern in Boston might be perfect… but it is not a school to show up at in August sight unseen if she’s not an urban person.</p>

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<p>2prepMom, thanks for suggestions.</p>

<p>Generally, she is not interested in Midwest - except, maybe, Chicago area (also big intersting city); but Northwestern AFAIK doesn’t give any merit scholarships, and UChicago - theoretically does give some, but it’s still unknown what kind of overachiever one should be to get any.</p>

<p>I am not sure how even UMich got on her list.</p>

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<p>Tulane and University of Miami are mid-sized schools that have established pre-med programs, reasonably good student:faculty ratios for recommendation letter purposes, clinical opportunities that come with having affiliated medical schools, are located in/near exciting cities, and are known to give merit aid to high stat kids. I think they are low-match. </p>

<p>The glamorous UMich/NYU are poor pre-med choices, in my opinion (I went to NYU quite recently). They are huge, impersonal, and are ruthless in weeding people out. You could get all that at a UC for a fraction of the cost :)</p>

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<p>Boston College? I don’t think that is a good school to look at for merit aid. The VAST majority of their aid is need based aid only.</p>

<p>What about one of the SUNY campuses? Binghamton is great, has good sciences, and the SUNY schools are well priced even for OOS students. </p>

<p>Check the Jesuit schools (Santa Clara is one). They are all about the right size. Yes, they are Jesuit, but the Jesuits run excellent colleges, emphasize community service and really are quite good. Disclaimer…my DD graduated from Santa Clara!</p>

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<p>blossom and everyone who thinks PACE and Drexel on her list shoudl be crossed of it: could you please explain it in so many words why do you think so? It’s my feeling, too, that they seem out of place there ;), but I know nothing about those two institution more than they both are big spammers. Anyone knows anything else about them?</p>

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<p>blossom,</p>

<p>we live in Sillicon Valley, which is, mostly, a huge suburbia. She WANTS to be an urban person. :)</p>

<p>I think I might suggest it to her to look at NE, and if she likes it, to apply there EA (as she already intends to do with WPI) - so that, if accepted, she will have a chance to visit it by February school break.</p>