I offered to help one of my son’s friends with applying to college, and would appreciate any pointers. Right now we are focused on his college list. His family is low income (Asian), with an EFC of $0, so I have stressed the need to look at affordability first. He moved here in middle school, and has really come far. He started high school in all ESOL classes, moved into standard, and this year is in honors and AP classes, and even accelerated himself a little in math by taking a course in the summer. His grades are 3.7UW/4.3W. Right now his SAT is 600 CR and 690 Math (having worked with him on the SAT, I would say that language is still somewhat of an issue). He hopes to bring this up a little bit. He works for income a fair amount per week, and will be interning in a lab this summer. He also plays Lacrosse for his high school. He seems fine with the idea of a liberal arts college, but not keen on a super-intellectual place (he liked the youtube videos from Earlham, but not College of Wooster). Here’s what I have right now, just based on affordability, and even a possibility of acceptance (some are very definitely reachy):
Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville
Earlham College
Denison University
Lafayette College
Muhlenberg College
St. Olaf College
University of Richmond
Wake Forest University
Franklin and Marshall College
University of Maryland - College Park
Connecticut College
University of Maryland - Baltimore County
Community College
Boston College
Northeastern University
He has expressed an interest in pursuing pharmacy, I think because he likes science, and thinks this will be a high income job. We live in Maryland, and UMBC has a graduate pharmacy program. Most of the accelerated pharmacy programs look like they have a net price that’s pretty steep, with the exception of Southern Illinois. I’m not sure it’s a great idea for him to pursue pharmacy. UMBC does not require a four year degree, only two years of classes, so he’s thinking of going to a smaller school for two years and transferring. It just seems like a lot of debt to take on, and I’ve heard that there may not be as many lucrative opportunities in the future.
Any thoughts on possible schools or pharmacy? I’ve tried to keep the net price to less than $8,500. His safety is community college and probably UMBC - for both of these he could live at home (but he really doesn’t want to - he’s in a little house with 12 people right now!).