Great kid, good grades and scores, NOT a superstar

<p>Actually, SmithieandProud, I don’t want to sidetrack the conversation, but your last paragraph is slightly wrong. NYU is famous for not giving merit or need-based aid. But GWU is known for being very generous. The OP’s D has stats that look very likely to get a merit scholarship. They give out many 50% tuition grants. I’m not sure it’s the right school for her, but she’ll see it this summer anyway.</p>

<p>Again, please let me thank you all for the many valuable comments and suggestions in this thread. Extremely valuable information and links here and I only hope I can pay it forward.</p>

<p>Case Western Reserve and University of Rochester are possibilities for merit aid. Both would have academic peers for her.</p>

<p>I was very interested in the College Navigator link posted by HuxleyAlum–I tried it out using schools my D applied to last year. Some of the schools were pretty close to what she got, financially. </p>

<p>But some were 20k+ off (small, selective, LAC colleges to which she was admitted and was a solid candidate–for which we were ‘gapped’ big time). I would just take what they say w/ a grain of salt! Fun to play around with, though!</p>

<p>Second parent56’s recommendation for UAB. I would try to do a combo visit of UAB and Bama. Don’t know what your daughter’s intended major will be, but one of those might fit the bill for her. For merit, though, on UAB, before my son got NMF, he was only offered the Blazer Elite, which was 7500/year. He focused more on Bama after interviewing for Fellows and CBH, so we didn’t do a breakdown of what it would cost without an NMF offer.</p>

<p>Another program at Bama that she might like is the Blount Undergraduate Initiative. I don’t know too much about this program, but it is selective and the kids live together in their own dorm. I don’t think it’s open to engineering majors, but there are certainly science majors in the program. And there is at least one CBH kid that is also in Blount as well.</p>

<p>I’ve met a couple of Blount kids and really liked them. They were very well rounded, down to earth kids, but who clearly were special and had a lot to offer.</p>

<p>As for visits, we ran out of time, but when the acceptances/merit offers came in, we had to rationalize whether it was worth spending a few hundred to a thousand dollars to visit a school that was clearly not within our financial reach. As stated above, many of the good schools have a ticket price of 55K, and even with a good scholarship, you’re going to have to come up with at least 20K/year. If you look, realistically, at spending over 80K over the next four years, or going into 80K of debt, with grad/med/law school on the horizon, it’s not worth it to spend that kind of money to even visit a school that is going to be way out of financial reach. Put that money towards text books and meal plan! But a school that’s going to cost you say 20 to 30K over four years, and seems like a good fit for your daughter, it might be worth spending the money for a visit!</p>

<p>Good luck on your selection!</p>