My daughter is class of 24 and has started her college search and I would like to see others opinions and suggestions!
DEMO
White
Immigrant
NY
Attends a private Catholic school
First gen
INTENDED MAJOR
She is very interested in neuroscience and mathematics
GRADES
She has an UW GPA of around 3.7-3.8 (it went down due to some personal problems sophomore year)
Her school doesn’t offer AP but she is in all honors
She scored a 1280 on her PSAT last year and has been studying very hard since
EXTRACURRICULARS
She has a good general amount of clubs and activities with a few leadership positions.
She volunteers often with children and has been for about 6 years
She works two jobs, a paying internship at a large accounting firm, and as a barista.
HOOK
Her main thing is math and she has been doing high level math outside of school since she was 5. She is currently in a class that allows her to have a high chance to make it onto the schools international math Olympiad team.
SCHOOL PREFERENCES
She likes urban colleges but isn’t a big fan of NYC, she doesn’t have preferences for size but does want to stay in the northeast. She doesn’t want the school to be religious either.
Please help with safety’s, matches and some possible reaches thanks!
When you say she is first gen do you mean her parents didn’t go to college at all? This is a significant hook. Or do you mean her parents went to college outside the US (which is not a hook at all)?
What’s your total budget including room, board and other expenses? An actual figure.
This is important in helping us suggest options.
Do you qualify for need based aid?
We did not go to college at all though we both did briefly attend trade schools in the USSR (I’m not sure if that counts). And as for a figure I believe we would be able to provide roughly 40k but she does qualify for some financial aid
Depends on the school. Some schools consider it “First Gen” if your parents did not get a bachelor’s degree in the United States.
UCLA for example:
. A “first-generation college student” is defined as a student whose parent/guardian has not received a four-year U.S. bachelor’s degree
There are a small number of schools who use this definition. The majority will not consider someone first-get if their parents have a college degree from anywhere in the world.
Regardless, it looks like OP’s daughter will be considered first-gen by both types of schools.
Is it you or your daughter that is interested in the college search at this point in time? Junior year is often one of the hardest for students academically, and grades will often go lower than in previous years. Your daughter’s standardized test scores are also likely to go up with increased time in class learning new information and a maturing brain. If it’s just you who is interested, then I would keep this information from the forum as your own private activity to think about. She doesn’t need to be thinking about specific colleges at this point. If she’s the one who’s getting interested, then I would focus on the likeliest schools for admission as well as on schools to help determine her preferences (i.e. a campus that is largely focused on STEM fields or has students from all fields, a small/medium/large college, etc). And then in the second semester of junior year you may want to schedule some visits during spring break or at some point when you can see school in session.
But I understand the impulse to explore possibilities, so these are some schools that you may want to investigate. Please note that some schools won’t have a separate neuroscience major, but may have an area of emphasis within the biology or psychology major, or similar. These are (very) roughly in order from likeliest admission to least likely for admission.
The obvious thing that jumps into my mind is any of the various campuses of SUNY. Unfortunately I do not know the difference between the various campuses but others on this site do.
In terms of other universities in the northeast U.Mass Amherst is not urban. I do not think of UNH as urban either although both of these schools have attractive campuses. UVM (this is an abbreviation for the Latin for “university of the green mountains” and refers to the University of Vermont) would be well over budget without aid, but does give merit aid and their Net Price Calculator does predict merit aid (correctly in our case). UVM has an attractive campus in Burlington VT which is quite an attractive smallish city (with real winters).
I believe $40,000 per year exceeds half of the “average cost” of a year in college.
Of course, you have great instate options in NY…and many to choose from. I would look there.
If you can pay $40,000 a year, you really are looking at needing 1/2 tuition at many colleges (part of your $40,000 would cover room, board, expenses).
I would definitely look into Connecticut College. I am statistics and government major here, and absolutely love it! It is in New London, CT which is a small city, and is a private, non religious, liberal arts college. Your daughter could easily double major in neuroscience and mathematics with our requirements. Additionally, the math and stats department is smaller here, but it allows us to get to know our professors better, and we have smaller classes. My math classes average around 15 people per class. They give good merit aid and need-based aid as well. I am also a first gen college student here! If you have any questions feel free to ask away!
trade school wouldn’t count - colleges that take “first gen” into account mean “no 4-year degree”.
NYS has good public universities, each with areas where they especially shine; you can start exploring them through virtual tours or when you go visit places around the state.
Binghamton and Geneseo are more residential, Stony Brook is more “suitcase”/commuter.
(Not sure whether this will be redundant with what you know but just in case:
Residential universities tend to provide more support and more activities on campus, often at no or low cost, to their students than “suitcase”/commuter universities where the students go home at night. However commuting can lower university costs.
The US also has a unique system of Liberal Arts Colleges, where the focus is on undergraduate students through close interactions with faculty.)
Cornell university has “contract” colleges where NYS residents have a special rate.
40K/year is a good budget that will open many possibilities beside SUNYs.
Run the NPC on Connecticut College, Marist, Dickinson for instance. What do these colleges think you can afford and does it match what you think you can afford?