help a senior finish her college list please?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Ok I am a white female senior from MD. I am applying to UMD (college park), Johns Hopkins, MIT, Boston University, Yale, Columbia, and UPenn. I want at least one more school that I have a solid (or at least decent) chance of getting into that meets the following criteria:
-on east coast, preferably a larger school in a large city
-strong biomedical or chemical engineering program
-field hockey program (varsity/club/anything)
-opportunity for aid based on my stats (my parents can't contribute anything)</p>

<p>My stats:
Parent's income:60-65k
SAT: 2340 (800M/800W/740CR) (took once)
SAT II: 800 Math II, 740 Bio E
GPA: 4.0 UW, 4.24 W
Rank: 1/321 unweighted, 5/321 weighted
AP: Calc AB (5), Environmental Science (5), English Lang (5), Physic B (4), US History (4), World History (4). Currently taking Bio, Chem, Physics C: Mechanics, Calc BC, and English Lit.</p>

2

<p>Just putting some East coat schools out there- Princeton, Cornell, Georgia Tech?, CMU?</p>

3

<p>You can run net price calculators on each school’s web site to check the school’s need-based financial aid for your situation. A realistic student contribution (student loan and work earnings) is probably no more than $10,000 per year, so if your parents cannot contribute anything, you are looking for a net price lower than that after deducting grants and scholarships (not loans) from the list price.</p>

<p>If you need large merit scholarships, take a look at these threads:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-20.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-20.html&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1461983-competitive-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-4.html#post16224918[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1461983-competitive-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-4.html#post16224918&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/649276-nmf-scholarships-updated-compilation-55.html#post16379939[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/649276-nmf-scholarships-updated-compilation-55.html#post16379939&lt;/a&gt;
and then cross reference the schools to the accreditation listings for your major at [Accredited</a> Program Search](<a href=“http://main.abet.org/aps/AccreditedProgramSearch.aspx/AccreditationSearch.aspx]Accredited”>http://main.abet.org/aps/AccreditedProgramSearch.aspx/AccreditationSearch.aspx) .</p>

<p>Note that Delaware has a highly respected respected chemical engineering department and a competitive full ride merit scholarship that you can try for. Other possibilities for competitive full rides include Georgia Tech, NCSU, and Maryland. You may want to consider one or more of the automatic full rides for a safety.</p>

4

<p>I have been looking at UD, but I feel like its too suburban for me</p>

5

<p>Northeastern in Boston seems like it would be a good fit. I don’t think they offer Biomedical Engineering, but they definitely have chemical engineering which is a strong program. It seems to fit all your other criteria though.</p>

6

<p>No specific school suggestions here, but just wanted to offer up collegeabacus.com. They have free comparisons of schools’ net price calculators in one place, which save a lot of time, compared to digging around the internet for each school’s calculator and running the same search over and over again.</p>

7

<p>I would suggest taking a look at Tufts. Depends on how you feel about the size, everything else probably fits, great school, and you’d be a very strong candidate with those scores.</p>

8

<p>I would add Duke to your list. It isn’t in a large city, but everything else seems to fit.</p>

9

<p>Colleges generally expect middle income parents to contribute to college costs. If your parents cannot do that, but your Expected Family Contribution is typical for their income, then you need to include financial safeties you can afford without their help.</p>

<p>I ran collegeabacus cost estimates to attend Yale, JHU, UMCP, and Trinity College (a LAC that has fairly generous need-based aid), based on a family income of $65K, assuming $100K in family assets and student savings of $5K, with $5K in adjustments to income, 1 sibling, and parents in their late 40s. Of course, your actual assets/savings/adjustments etc may be very different. </p>

<p>Estimated net prices:
$6,750 for Yale
$11,084 for JHU
$13,163 for Trinity
$14,742 for UMCP</p>

<p>The “total aid” amounts presumably already include self-help aid (student loans and work-study for most schools, but only work-study for no-loan schools like Yale). So, it appears that your Expected Family Contribution could be about $10K-$15K for your state flagship or for most selective private schools (but lower for the small number of no-loan schools). </p>

<p>I’ve also run IPEDS searches on average net prices for students receiving Title IV Federal financial aid (federal grants or federal student loans) in 2010-11 to attend somewhat less selective LACs (Earlham, Centre, Hope, Wooster, Rhodes). For families with incomes between $48001-$75000, the average net prices to attend these schools was about $19K-$20K. </p>

<p>You could have a problem, then, if your parents are not able and willing to contribute anything at all (unless your EFC in fact turns out to be much lower). Borrowing more to cover the EFC may not be wise or even possible. So you may need to consider some schools that you can finance entirely from self-help (such as community colleges or 4-year commuter schools) or else less selective schools with large guaranteed merit scholarships for students with your stats (such as the University of Alabama). Also consider no-loan colleges that are less selective than Yale. Colby, Davidson, and Vanderbilt are among the few schools that extend no-loan policies to families making as much as $65K.
[FinAid</a> | Answering Your Questions | No Loans for Low Income Students](<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid)</p>

10

<p>There are many schools not in the Top20 which are in fact stellar academically, a bit less intense perhaps, and where you may well get a full ride, have a lot of fun, meet ALL your academic objectives, and get you into med school or grad school. Prestige is fine…but its where everyone else is also applying with the SAME STATS as you. </p>

<p>Think.</p>

<p>Go to the next level, all fine schools that will challenge you, and you will survive and thrive and get a full ride. These arent the ubiquitous “safety” schools. These are awesome schools that will welcome you.</p>

<p>I’ve seen it a thousand times. Emory in Atlanta comes to mind. George Washington and Georgetown in DC, and Fordham in NYC and Vassar up the Hudson a step or two (a train ride away). </p>

<p>What do you want out of a college experience? Not just books and libraries. What vibe do you want? What internships? To thine own self be true.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

11

<p>Georgetown and Vassar do not offer merit aid. George Washington does, but the average merit award is only about $16K. Colleges generally don’t “stack” merit aid on top of need-based aid. The merit award typically offsets the determined need. And the need-based aid is more likely to be less generous, not more generous, at schools less selective than the T20. Most colleges do not meet 100% of determined need. </p>

<p>Vassar does eliminate loans from aid packages for families making less than $60K. Emory replaces loans with grants and work-study in its packages for families making less than $50K. Georgetown, GW and Fordham are not “no loan” schools. If loans already are factored into the school’s aid package, it leaves that much less room for loans that you might need to cover the EFC.</p>

<p>For a realistic shot at a “full ride” merit scholarship, you may need to look at much less selective schools. I mentioned Alabama above, but according to their OOS scholarship page, their most generous OSS scholarship only covers full tuition, not room & board ([Out-of-State</a> Scholarships - Undergraduate Scholarships - The University of Alabama](<a href=“http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out_of_state.html]Out-of-State”>http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out_of_state.html)).</p>

<p>Here’s a list of national universities said to offer full-ride scholarships (shown in USNWR rank order):
[National</a> Universities That Offer Full Ride Scholarships](<a href=“Loading...”>http://www.thecollegiateblog.org/2012/12/09/national-universities-that-offer-full-ride-scholarship/)</p>