Help create a solid College application list

College Search & Selection
1

Ok, so being my sons are both juniors and one is really undecided at what major he would like to attend. We are still trying to figure out his best options for a college list.

So his stats show as:

UW GPA: 3.7
SAT: 1290 superscored (1260 single sitting)
ACT: 30
3 AP classes after this year (all honors for every other class) and scheduled for 5 AP classes senior year

EC Activities: Tennis 3 years, multiple clubs and the normal honor society and all, over 75 hours community service at local hospitals and part time job as life guard at local YMCA.

Yes, he isn’t going to Havard or look like many of the people who list their stats on College Confidential.

He is dead set on going to a college that is plus 10,000 students and either in or very near a city.

He is in-state for PA. However, he probably more interested in going out of state. Either way is open to him.

As for money: Some concerns, but not a ton. More interested in his best options without price being a factor. I know this will be a large factor when comparing the schools he gets accepted to. However, for this starting list, we are just looking at best options to visit and possibly apply.

So far we have visited: Pitt, PSU, Delaware and Ohio State. He ranked those as Ohio State, Pitt, Delaware and last PSU.

But he isn’t sure of his best options.

Any help would be appreciated.

He will be applying early to as many as allowed. I don’t see applying ED to any at this time.

2

I assume that SAT score only includes CR and M based on the ACT score (which is very good as you know). Some other Big 10 schools (I’m assuming he wants a sports happy place) to look at would be Indiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin.

3

He has lots of great options. St. Lawrence may be a good fit. After researching SLU he will know more about that type of college and can then either add others like it or continue his focus on the types of schools he has already seen. SLU has a sufficiently broad curriculum so that a student with an undecided major should do fine there. As mentioned above, your son’s ACT score is very good, as is his profile in general.

4

He might have a shot at McGill. It’s a reach, but not as unrealistic as, say, Harvard. It fits his criteria: urban, large, excellent academic reputation, and less expensive than most private colleges and many out-of-state publics.

5

Scratch my post. SLU would not be a fit. I misread the OP’s criteria as being dead set [against] a city, [against] over a certain size … If nothing else, I should have picked this up from ED’s reply.

6

I thought the OP’s son was “dead-set ON” going to a large and/or quasi-urban college. Temple would probably be a safety school for him, and affordable for a PA resident, but many PA residents have a negative opinion of it. Disclosure: I have a son at Temple, and so I am more favorably disposed toward it.

7

What is he planning on studying or does he know at this point? The University of Kentucky, Michigan State and University of Cincinnati fit that description. If you don’t mind smaller cities (100-350k population) some Ohio academic safeties would be Kent State, Youngstown State, Akron, and U of Toledo. They are all mid sized (10-20k) MAC schools that overall are not very selective but that have some programs that are quite strong. U of Dayton might be a good private school to look into, it would be a match for him.

8

Check out Syracuse and Boston U for privates. Pitt might be hard to beat in terms of cost/quality. For out-of-state publics, knowing his major/subject interests could help narrow things down.

9

You might want to look at U of South Carolina. Columbia is not a big city–but it IS a city and the campus is a really nice blend of traditional and urban. With his stats your S would likely be eligible for OOS merit money that would bring the cost in line with (or maybe even less than) Pitt.

10

Figure out your price limit and tell him before application season. Applications to schools with no chance of affordability are wasted effort. Also, you did not want the situation where all acceptances are too expensive.

11

@ucbalumnus

I agree cost will be looked at.

At this time just trying to get a strong list of the best schools he would qualify as either a match or a reach. ( understand ivies and others are out )

@Dunboyne

His interest is going to probably be in science or government.

He also would prefer nothing colder then PA. He actually prefers warmer climates.

12

George Washington U for government.

How far is he willing to travel? California?

I recommend running the Net Price Calculators on a handful of schools right away just to get your bearings in terms of cost: maybe the four schools you’ve visited, GWU, U South Carolina. It’s useful to know before you start constructing your list if out-of-state publics are even on the table, for example. You might be surprised by the cost difference, relative to in-states Pitt & PSU and even to privates like GWU, depending on your financial profile. There are several potential out-of-state publics that fit, but if they don’t have the affordability/value (relative to Pitt/PSU), as ucb alluded to, it’s a waste of a visit/application.

13

Travel is not a problem for him. California would be a possibility.

Preferably, the cost of 30,000 per year being the max after merit money. I know the amounts a student can borrow.

Now we have two sons. My other son has a 32 ACT and is looking at Engineering. They would like to go to same school, but understand that might not happen.

14

Check out Automatic Full Tuition/Full Ride Scholarships here: http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
The Alabama and Temple scholarships might interest your 32 ACT son. Merit aid will be harder to find (at equivalent schools) for your 30 ACT son.

Will they qualify for any need-based aid?

15

I would expect not much in need based aide.

Like I said, currently looking for a list and then will narrow down after we do the net price calculators

16

Adding on to what @Dunboyne said, Alabama would give your 30 ACT son a 2/3rds Tuition scholarship (the UA Scholars award I believe) and your 32ACT son full tuition, and on top of that the engineering department is something they are looking to grow and are throwing money at people there, so I would expect further department scholarships there. Then again, the reason they are trying to improve it is because their engineering department really pales I’m comparison to that of their main in-state rival, Auburn University, which has a much more renowned engineering program although conversely, scholarships are not as easy to come by at Auburn vs at UA. The 30 ACT son would get 1/2 tuition at Auburn and the 32 ACT son would get 3/4 tuition (OOS cutoff for full tuition is a 33 and with that you get a one time 1k technology stipend as well)

17

The first thought that came to my mind is Texas. I have friends who really like some of the mid-sized private schools in Texas because they are generous with merit money. SMU has about 6,500 and is in Fort Worth. Baylor has 13,000 although yeah, it is in Waco. Texas Christian had 8,000 and is in Fort Worth.

Second, this might be too small, but University of Portland would give both your students some level of merit, offers engineering and is in a major city. The Pilots field competitive teams if that is important.

18

Thanks for the comments so far.

Is there any other colleges my son should consider?

19

If you don’t expect much need-based aid, while contributing ~$30K per year and factoring in loans, they will probably need a $10K+ or half-tuition+ scholarship (either automatic or competitive) at out-of-state publics or most privates.

For competitive awards, you’ll need to find schools where their 30/32 ACT puts them in the top 5-10% of applicants. So for your 30 ACT son, you’re looking at schools where the 75th percentile ACT score is about 28. It’s a problem to find schools at that selectivity level that come close to the academic quality you’re getting at Pitt/PSU (in-state) or Alabama (automatic award). It’s obviously a bit easier for a 32 ACT, where you might look for schools with a 30 ACT 75th percentile score, but it’s still hard to match the overall value at those 3 schools mentioned.

They will apply to more schools than those 3, of course. For other schools, though, check their scholarship info to see if the school offers automatic $10K+ awards for their stats (see previous link for automatic full-tuition awards), or to see if there are competitive awards where their 30/32 ACT puts them in the top 10% of applicants. You will save a lot of visit/application time and have several affordable options next April.

Here is a list of Competitive Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships (starting from post #49): http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1461983-competitive-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-p4.html Your sons don’t require full tuition awards, but many of these schools offer lesser awards too.

I’m sure other posters can add some potential schools for your sons that offer $10K+ merit-aid for their stats.

20

Your son seems like a bright boy but chasing merit aid at out of state universities will result in severe dissapointment. Unless, however, you look at schools well below his pay grade.

Having done this before with my kids and nieces and nephews, you will find out of state schools to be very poor values.

Schreyer Honors College at Penn State would be something to look at.