<p>OP, we had a similar situation with our D when she was applying in fall 2011 - California resident with little interest in going to college in California. She wanted to go to college in an urban environment, in a city, preferably East Coast. We told her we had budgeted for UC tuition and would be agreeable to her going elsewhere as long as she could receive merit scholarships that would bring the cost of tuition in line with UC tuition. She also intends on going to med school, so she was focusing on colleges with good reputations in the sciences. </p>
<p>She applied to UC Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, UCSB (mostly because we demanded it!), Pitt, Tulane, BU, Northeastern, University of Minnesota, University of Wisconsin, University of Chicago, Harvard and McGill. She was accepted at all except Harvard, with merit scholarships at all the OOS colleges that brought the cost of attendance equal to or less than that of a UC, with the exception of UChicago ($10K only). </p>
<p>NYU, Johns Hopkins, UPenn and a few others I can no longer recall were removed from her list because the likelihood of receiving any merit $$ was so slim it just didn’t seem worth it, and it made more sense to focus her energy and time in writing essays, etc. on the colleges which historically were more generous with merit aid. One situation we wanted to avoid was her being accepted to a university that we simply couldn’t realistically afford (we would not qualify for need-based aid).</p>
<p>And I second the recommendation from a previous poster that when it comes to University of Pittsburgh, the sooner you get your app in, the better your chances at receiving a generous scholarship.</p>
<p>thumper1 - Santa Cruz = banana slugs {{shudder}} </p>
<p>OP, I also have a D in a high performing California school (higher GPA, but lower SAT) and she is looking “anywhere but California”. Will apply to UCB and UCLA, but those are reaches for everyone except the tippytop students, so unlikely to attend there.</p>
<p>In talking to older students at our school, the most likely places for merit aid that gets the schools equal or lower than in state UC tuition are: 1) Tulane, 2) TCU, 3) SMU, 4)Santa Clara, 5) GWU, and 6) Alabama. As someone mentioned earlier, look for the schools where your D is in the top 25% of SAT range. If you are throwing darts at the wall, check out the range of the ~40-80 ranked schools on US News rankings.</p>
<p>I did not find any infor,mation on deadlines for early applications for better scholarship chances at Pitt. What kinds of scholarships are available there and when one should apply to get them?</p>
<p>Haverford and Bryn Mawr are on the Main Line, which is where you live (part of the year) if your family has been millionaires for at least 100 years.
Pitt’s campus is in a very nice part of Pittsburgh, too. It’s a dynamic city that’s been revitalized about 20 years ago. Actually pretty cool. For the scholarships, the faster you send your application, the better. Before Nov 15/Dec1 I would assume.
Northeastern is better academically than Drexel.</p>
<p>myau, my D chose McGill University in Montreal and is very happy with her choice. It was always her no. 1 school, so it was not a difficult decision for her. Her second choice, if more scholarship $$$ would have come through, would have been UChicago, but since it did not, her second choice would have been BU.</p>
<p>I believe University of Pittsburgh has rolling admissions. That being the case, those applying earlier will get accepted earlier…and those qualifying for merit aid will get that earlier too. Once the money runs out…it’s gone.</p>
<p>If your student is interested in University of Pittsburgh, apply now.</p>
<p>I can’t imagine a 2300 SAT kid coming across country to attend Pace. She would have very few academic peers and I think would wind up being very disappointed in the experience. If you don’t feel SJSU is an academic fit, you won’t feel Pace is either.</p>
<p>Philly and DC have some beautiful areas and are no more unsafe than NY or Boston. She needs to have street smarts for any urban area. You say you haven’t done visits with her in many years. I would take her to an urban campus (any one) ASAP to make sure she understands and sees the difference between urban and suburban schools and lifestyles. The idea of living in a city vs the reality can be very eye opening, especially to an 18 year old without much life experience.</p>
<p>The University City area of Philly is absolutely safe, vibrant, incredible. U Penn and Drexel are there.
Reconsider Santa Clara if you’re focusing on Bio or PreHealth. Same with Portland. Both are not strong in Biology. USD is actually stronger in life sciences and pre health advising.
Nice job on the SAT.
Pitt can provide you with full tuition as an OOS applicant. Pitt is very strong in Bio and PreHealth advising; love that school.</p>
<p>Me, too. The problem is, with this “holistic” admission craze and increased overall competitiveness, I have no idea what is academic fit anymore. My daughter is a bright person with many intellectual (and not so intellectual ;)) interests, but few of them are “convertable” into something that would impress admissions (well read and curious, but without major acheivements like olimpiads/interhships/researches/Intel prizes etc.; high test scores, but not so high grades because of some attention/organizational/time management issues in the past, less mature years; active in high school sport team, but that is the kind of sport which would hardly impress/interest athletic recruiters … etc.).
Looking at the average (or mid-50%) SAT scores for various colleges I would see her “academic fit” somewhere in the first 20-30 schools of USNews rankings, but whether she’d be able even to get into any of them (let alone, get any merit money) without “curing cancer” in her spare time, is a BIG question.</p>
<p>Oh please…I can’t think of ONE undergrad applicant who has cured cancer, or won a Nobel prize.</p>
<p>Your daughter is a strong applicant. You have gotten some good suggestions here. Any big city will be safe, and not safe…depending on where you are, and that includes Boston and NYC. </p>
<p>If you are looking for merit aid, Pitt would be a strong contender. So would Case Western. So would American University. So would NEU. </p>
<p>You already have your safety schools with the UCs on your daughter’s list. You already have your reach with Princeton (btw…I do love that town, and area, but it is not an urban setting). if she wants an urban setting and an Ivy school…Columbia, Penn, Harvard, Yale should be on your list. Those are in URBAN settings.</p>
<p>Having witnessed quite a few head scratchers when it comes to UC admissions, I would have to agree with the OP that it is difficult to consider the top UC’s, in particular Berkeley and UCLA, safeties for anyone, even someone with a 2300 SAT.</p>
<p>I could never imagine UCB and UCLA safeties for anyone - even with perfect SAT scores and tons of outstanding ECs … even 6 years ago. But that same 6 years ago, seeing the UC admission results of my older one and of many other local kids, I would safely assume UCSD to be a good match, and anything else (UCD, UCSB, UCI etc.) a sure safety for anyone like my kids (strong students with high SATs, good - not nesseccarily perfect -grades … and some decent ECs). Not anymore. :(</p>
<p>Thanks anyone for suggestions. I’ll tell my little one to look at NE and Pitt. :)</p>
<p>Another thought…Pittsburgh is by FAR the most affordable city on this list. Costs of NICE housing are extremely modest when compared with Boston, NYC, DC, Chicago, LA. Pittsburgh has a great airport, first class sports teams, a terrific symphony orchestra, theater, lots to do!</p>
<p>Almost any city university will have “city risks”, mitigated by street smarts and advantage of vibrant setting (if that’s what the student wants). We toured Northeastern (Boston), Carnegie Mellon (Pittsburgh), Case (Cleveland). All had great campus security. My son loved Northeastern for its “campus-y” feel and city access. The adjacent areas could be sketchy, and he definitely used care for night outings, usually traveling in groups. </p>
<p>We also toured American (DC), but that may not count for this discussion since not as close to downtown.</p>
<p>You can search by type of institution (4-year, granting BA/BS degree) and majors offered (e.g. Biological and Biomedical Sciences) to find colleges of interest to your D. Even paying 150% of in-state, tuition will be significantly below UC or even CSU. You’ll probably see big savings on non-academic costs, too, since cost-of-living is likely to be way less than in CA.</p>
The problem is, with this “holistic” admission craze and increased overall competitiveness, I have no idea what is academic fit anymore. 
My daughter is a bright person with many intellectual (and not so intellectual ;)) interests, but few of them are “convertable” into something that would impress admissions (well read and curious, but without major acheivements like olimpiads/interhships/researches/Intel prizes etc.; high test scores, but not so high grades because of some attention/organizational/time management issues in the past, less mature years; active in high school sport team, but that is the kind of sport which would hardly impress/interest athletic recruiters … etc.).