My D is a high school junior. Her stat:
GPA UW 97/W 99. SAT 1580. PAST result is pending.
SAt2: bio 760, world history 800. Plan to take Math 2 in the summer.
AP (world history 5). Taking 3 this year (Chemistry, US history and Literature) and planned to take 5 more in senior year.
Her school does not provide ranking. But I guess she is in top 5%.
She is taking the most challenging classes available at school.
EC: Co chair Debate club and Asian Club. School Chamber orchestra and Orchestra mistress. Volunteer at library and intern at Camp Invention…
She loves creative writing, Enjoy tutoring younger kids. She wants to be a teacher and maybe one day an author.
Any suggestion what colleges may fit her? where she may get some merit aid based on current stat?
Hey @ladyof2kids - for sure people can help out with this but it would be good to know a little more about what she / you want.
A few bits that will help:
Her Geographic preferences?
Location (of which state are you a resident)?
Desired size of school?
Intended Major?
Family budget for annual expenses? (You are looking for aid but will travel expenses be a problem?)
She’s obviously a great student but there’s more to a “match” than grades and scores. The student who would dig UC Berkeley would probably hate Vassar and vice versa but they both pull from the same pool of high achievers.
@CaMom13 our home state is NY. She prefers school with more intimate attention. I guess either LAC or public honor program will be fine. She does not like NYC. Feel it is too crowded. She needs some “space”. Regarding major, she likes chemistry, physics so far. So she is not sure whether she should go science, maybe go psychology and minor in creative writing. If she wants to be a teacher, should she stay in NY? How about education major in other states?
Start with the finances & work backward. Pick a couple of colleges (say, Brown, Kenyon, SUNY Binghampton) and run the Net Price Calculator on each site. Can you afford that amount? (if you own your own business, have a lot of real estate and a few other circumstances the NPCs are less accurate).
How much merit aid are you looking for? lots of schools regularly knock $10-20K off the sticker prices- but that still leaves you with ~$40-50K to cover.
And, as @CaMom13, asked: what is your daughter looking for?
We have some saving in 529… But so far we can only afford $20-30k yearly. My second one is going to college 2 years later. It is hard to imagine how to finance it without too much loan. And it will not be easy to find job after 4 years from LAC. I guess it is better save for graduate school?
I think if she wants to teach in NY it wouldn’t hurt to attend a NY college, especially if she wants to major in education.
So suburbs or rural areas of NY state would be best but neighboring areas are probably okay. Education major available with good science programs plus hopefully good opportunities for music.
To figure out financial aid, you’d want to run the Cost of Attendance calculator at the schools she wants to apply to. Some schools will offer merit aid separate from “need based”. The more exclusive a school the lower chance they’ll offer merit aid without a need component… but the calculators are pretty easy to run so get out a piece of paper or start an excel spreadsheet - might as well start making notes as you go, this process is pretty iterative.
I would personally run the EFCs at Colgate,Vassar, Skidmore (all in NY), plus Connecticut College and Swarthmore. All of those would be great fits for your D, you’d just want to know if you can afford them before adding them to the list.
I would look at Bard, too. It fits a lot of what she’s looking for. A great writing program. Space. Fabulous music. And a path to a teaching credential. And a growing science program.
@ladyof2kids - Are you absolutely sure of that? Some schools are pretty generous with what qualifies as “need”. Stanford, for instance, offers full rides to kids whose parents make under 125K. I won’t ask you to outline your finances but just make sure you aren’t working under the assumption that you need to be poor to get financial aid from colleges.
If indeed you don’t qualify for need-based aid at all, it’s good to know because you’ll want to focus on schools where merit aid isn’t contingent on need - just check your assumptions before going down that road.
@CaMom13 I tried run NPC at some of the schools. I feel it does not put merit aid into consideration. Most of the time I will get full price to attend. Am I doing it wrong?
@camom13 Yes. we do not qualify for aid. My company is going downsize. I may get laid off one day. It is hard to tell at this time. If it happens we may qualified for some need aid. So maybe a top school that meets full need a better option? But they are hard to get in.
@ladyof2kids - you’re probably doing it right. Some schools don’t have merit that is not connected with need. It’s kind of confusing but each school has it’s own set of rules on FA. Try this one:
So this article is a little old but it’s a useful starting point for a list of colleges that offer pure merit aid. There are a couple of threads on CC that cover similar territory and may be more recent. Schools change their rules so you’ll really want to contact any promising looking school and ask them directly whether merit aid is available.
You might check out Sewanee. It’s an excellent LAC in a breathtaking location on a plateau overlooking the Tennessee Valley - you could not ask for more of a sense of “space.” Tennessee Williams left his estate to Sewanee to fund their creative writing program. Strong academics across the board, and strong music as well. They give merit aid to almost 40% of their students - some of the awards are very generous, and your daughter would be a strong candidate. http://admission.sewanee.edu/financial-aid/scholarships/ It’s a great LAC for prospective teachers who also want a strong liberal arts education, because in addition to its own minor in education, it has a partnership with Vanderbilt University that gives Sewanee students an accelerated path into the education masters program at Vandy. One way for your daughter to experience this college for herself would be to apply to their highly-regarded Summer Music Festival - I know high school students who have participated and had amazing experiences. http://ssmf.sewanee.edu/
