Not to digress…but Strouds in KC has THE best barbecue chicken…and great T shirts that say “we choke our own chickens” on the back!
Thanks for the additional suggestions. I see the appeal of U of Mo and ASU if she gets NMF, but if she went to a larger state school for the Journalism I would hope it is UNC-CH being legacy but she’d need a bit of merit aid.
@LakeWashington I played volleyball in a city league with a woman that went to UMKC - the Kangeroos right?
It is VERY hard for OOS students to get significant merit aid at UNC-CH.
So how many schools should she apply to total? Hunting for harder to get merit aid will seem to increase the total.
There is no hard and fast answer to your question.
But I would suggest a few things:
- Have your child apply to at least one rolling admissions school...that is affordable. And apply early to those. It's nice to get that first acceptance!
- Consider having your kiddo apply Early Action to some schools. Early action acceptances are not binding...but again...nice to get those. Some EA schools actually give a financial aid estimate along with the acceptances. With the 2017-2018 admissions cycle, the FAFSA will be available in October, using 2015 tax info.
- Because finances are a significant consideration, I would think comparing final,net offers amongst a number of schools is important. So do not let your kiddo apply early DECISION anywhere.
- Pick at least two safety schools and pick these first. These are schools where affordability is likely, acceptance very likely, and where your kiddo would be happy to attend. I say two, because if nothing else works out, it's nice to have choices.
- I think a good combo is 2 safety, 3-4 match schools, and 2 reaches. But that is my opinion. Many students now seem to apply to many more schools than that.
The answer to that question very much depends … We ended up with two financial safeties that my D liked and were great in her major (ASU, Mizzou) then mostly aimed for schools that we thought she had a good shot of getting in, plus were urban. We crossed our fingers on merit.
Lots of the most popular schools on East Coast are need blind for admission but they don’t promise to meet your need. Fordham, for example, is known for gapping students. You need to factor that in especially since you don’t want to be full pay.
My D’s total was only 8 applications, which is very low for the CC crowd. We know girls who applied to 16 and 20 LACs last year, which is nuts IMHO.
I don’t want to alarm you but there is a reason people keep mentioning places with guaranteed or formula-based merit aid. So far, my NMSF with 3.94 UW GPA and excellent ECs has a merit award from one expensive school. (Obviously ASU and Mizzou are giving her awards.)
The other way to get more aid is to pick schools where your D is above the 75% mark of incoming students. Even then, merit aid can be super competitive.
I’d focus on some finding some academic AND financial fits where she’d be happy to go and then add on schools from there.
Applications / visits can be very stressful … no need to add to it with tons of apps.
great response @thumper1 … everyone should do all those things!
Some thoughts ( i haven’t read the whole thread yet); Schools that might be a good fit would be Univ of Rochester and RIce Univ. If she would be okay at a large school then Syracuse and Univ of Missouri are known for their famous journalism programs. How is her piano playing? If she’s great, you might want to look into schools that ask for an arts supplement and give some merit. You said that she was interested in Arabic. I would look into schools where she can possibly minor in it and use that interest in her essays. I don’t think that’s a popular minor and would make her an interesting candidate. Look at the list of schools that offer merit and cross check with schools on your exchange list. My guess is that with her grades, her hook and her interests she might be eligble for merit at very good schools, as long as they offer. I believe Davidson has some competiive merit scholarships, but double check. GL
I agree with Thumper, though I don’t get quite as hung up about matches and reaches. If you’ve picked the right safeties (yes, pick two) the rest doesn’t matter. If you are chasing merit, you will probably have more schools, otherwise, most students will do fine with six to eight.
Both my kids had at least one early acceptance. It really takes a load off the whole process.
@MidwestMomTo2 , forgive me for sounding like an idiot, but when your kid scores this high, do the schools hunt down your kid and say, hey, come to our school, we’ll give you money! Or do you have to go look for them and send in the scores?
I say this because my older one might end up an NMSF this fall, and I was wondering what to expect. We tend to throw out all the glossy flyers right now that show up in the mailbox, and I don’t know if we should KEEP throwing out the glossy flyers, or will things change with the number she scored on the PSAT.
I feel stupid for asking this, but I’d rather feel stupid and then figure it out than give my kid bad advice.
Until you apply, it is rare to get offered money. Will they say “come to my school”? Yes!
@MotherOfDragons some schools that actively pursue NMSFs will definitely send mailings touting the benefits of their school scholarship.
The beauty of those schools for NMSFs is that you don’t have to apply/send scores to know the scholarship is there. If you are NMSF or NMF – better $$$ for NMF definitely – you get the money. I mean, when you pick a school, you definitely apply and send scores but there’s no question about being awarded it. And most schools that do this have very simple apps. (Applying to an honors college may require essay.)
When NMSF names are released, certain schools will essentially recruit for that. Oklahoma and Alabama are two of the best and best known, with free tuition+ offers. ASU gives free tuition for NMF. PM me if you have more questions. (I knew nothing about this a year ago,)
My point above was that at the tippy top tier and popular urban schools on East Coast, lots of kids apply with those stats, and NMSF or even NMF gets you no guaranteed merit aid.
Here are some great links to check out if you have a high stats kid looking for great financial options.
http://nmfscholarships.yolasite.com
http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com
http://competitivefulltuition.yolasite.com
Good luck!
Thanks @intparent , that’s what I kinda thought, but I also thought I might be missing something, and I hate when I miss stuff.
So we should probably expect MORE flyers. Maybe I can make a collage with them…
{apologies to OP for thread drift}
@MotherOfDragons We had to hunt down the money first, and begin building our list from there.
When my kid was told by her college counselor at her small prep HS she would likely be named National Hispanic Scholar come fall, she was also told there wasn’t money attached to the recognition.
If I had taken that statement at face value, and didn’t join Collge Confidential and start reading like mad, I don’t see how we would have learned of the Patterson Scholarship at University of Kentucky, where she has been awarded full tuition and a room & board stipend.
It was from College Confidential that we found out about options for big merit money. Mailings from those schools did not begin in earnest until we were already in application season, and they did not specifically advertise the potential merit money available.
@Midwest67 & @MidwestMomTo2 thanks for that info-I can definitely hunt if we need to hunt! I too have been reading like mad lately-I figure the kiddo’s job is to study hard and get good grades, and I can data mine like a crazy person and make color coordinated spreadsheets with the options for her.
Like the OP, I’d like to be able to give her a nice list of schools that work for her and work for us (money wise, and location wise).
@MotherOfDragons We had our long list by end of junior year. Then, we waited for the scholarhip pages to be updated in August (of senior year) and checked for any changes.
All of this discussion is relevant to me and all of us parents with juniors that are possible NMSF so thanks for all the info and links. It’s nice to have those great schools as possible “safety schools”.
My DD wanted to only apply to three colleges…all ones we all really felt were great for her. ALL were considered “safeties” by that didn’t matter to her. They were her top three choices. Two were EA and one was rolling admissions. She had all three acceptances by December. It was great. She also had all financial aid for two schools in November, and the third by the end of February.
She decided to apply to one reach school after…and we said fine. Not surprising…she was rejected from that school.
But she had three terrific choices. Her top three.
If your D wants a larger, more university-type setting and is set on journalism, I believe Syracuse is a TE school.
The TE list is long and has some terrific schools! I second Mt Holyoke and Smith. 2 hours from Boston, 3 hours from NYC, very walkable town in the case of Smith (not sure about Holyoke’s immediate surroundings but there’s a free bus system for the 5 colleges).
She will qualify for full tuition plus summer stipends at Temple, and their honors program, if she wants to consider a local option that isn’t Drexel.