<p>My goal: Find a reputable academic school, that isn't too much of a partying school, has a good marching band program, and will give me a decent amount of merit aid. Within the Northeast of the US.</p>
<p>Info: (That will be the case by the time of admissions)
-NY Resident
-African American
-Ranked 31/342 in a competitive Long Island public school
-Intended Major: Electrical Engineering / Computer Engineering
-92UW 94-95W GPA (Though my transcript only shows weighted. Don't know why..)
-1330/1950 SAT (Bringing this up for sure in October. Shooting for 1450/2100+)
-Year of Chess Club
-Year of Ping Pong Club
-2 years of Mathletes (Top scorer in every competition for my grade, despite the top students of my grade being apart of the group as well. Not sure if I can/should tell colleges about this. Don't want to sound arrogant.)
-3 Years of Environmental Club
-Math Honor Society
-National Honor Society
( Science and Language Honor Society don't have initiations until December, so I won't have that on my transcript. =/ )
-All Honors Classes, and 8 AP classes. (AP Calc BC Senior year)
-Varsity Volleyball (Senior year, had babysitting duties until now, so couldn't join a sport. Hopefully I make the cut.)
-30ish Community Service Hours
-Made District Band which raised money for Senior scholarships (Had to audition)
-National Achievement Commended Status (Haven't heard from them since....)
*Hopefully get a leadership position in a club senior year. It's basically a popularity thing, so I have yet to figure this one out.</p>
<p>List: (+ Ivies my dad is making me apply to, though I won't get in to)
Syracuse University
University Of Connecticut
Penn State
University of Pittsburgh
SUNY Binghamton
SUNY Stony Brook
Queens College (Local Safety)</p>
<p>I understand that UConn and Penn State aren't exactly merit friendly to OOS kids, but I would really like to attend either, so I'm just applying to see what happens.</p>
<p>Any other information you need, I would be happy to give. Any opinions/suggestions are welcome.</p>
<p>12-15 is too many in my opinion. 6-8 well-chosen schools is more manageable. This gives you more time to focus on visits, the essays, etc. If you think carefully about what you want, do your research, and choose an appropriate mix of reach-match-safety schools, you don’t need so many. Especially if one or two are EA schools. More apps may be necessary if financial aid is critical and you are on the borderline to qualify.</p>
<p>I agree that if your scores come up, some of the Ivies (Duke, etc.) are not unrealistic. Compared to large out of state public universities, selective private schools tend to have smaller classes, better financial aid, and draw students from a wider geographic area. A good student can get generous merit offers from some public universities that are having trouble attracting talent, but then you have to ask whether the school is fairly or unfairly undervalued.</p>
<p>Penn State won’t give you anything. I wouldn’t bother.</p>
<p>You need to take the ACT, too. You might do better on that and help your chances.</p>
<p>If I remember correctly, your parents make a good income, but they can’t afford to pay much because they’re paying 2 mortgages. So, good income plus extra home can mean little financial aid. (or am I confusing you with someone else?)</p>
<p>I’m concerned that you’re applying to schools that will leave you with no way to pay.</p>
<p>What about some techie schools like Carnegie Mellon or Case Western Reserve? I heard that both of them give good merit aid. AAlso, I hear that some of the good schools of the Midwest are generous with the merit aid, too–Oberlin, Grinnell, Macalester, etc., though they might not work with your intended major. Isn’t Georgia Tech supposed to be an excellent school? As a New Yorker, you may have a good chance. It’s true the SATs could use some work, but otherwise, you look great! And everyone talks about how great SUNY BInghamton is, too.</p>
<p>Those are good schools but they do not have engineering majors at all. You could major in Math/CS/Physics. However, there would be very strong competition for larger merit packages at those schools. If you need more than about $15K in merit aid, you probably need to go down farther in the rankings (unless maybe your SATs go way up, or it’s a school with especially strong URM recruitment which may be the case at some Midwestern LACs). Centre College, Lawrence University, Beloit, etc. (good but less selective LACs; merit scholarships but no engineering). Also investigate universities outside the NE, for instance in the South.</p>
<p>UM-College Park is a great school, but it wouldn’t be affordable.</p>
<p>But, folks, keep in mind the student’s financial situation. He won’t qualify for much (if any) aid, and his parents can’t pay their EFC. </p>
<p>That means the student needs big merit schools. </p>
<p>He needs to raise his stats (take both ACT & SAT). Apply to the ivies that have that unique FA policy based on 10% of income up to like $180k (HYP - I think), apply to instate publics, and apply to schools that will give him huge merit.</p>
<p>He’s AA, so he’s got some really good options, but he needs to cherry-pick the right schools. Otherwise, he’ll have a handful of acceptances and no means to pay. :(</p>
<p>How about Fordham? They seem generous with merit aid, they have a joint engineering program with Columbia, they have a marching band, and the campuses are close to LI.</p>
<p>Fordham is generous with merit aid to the following…</p>
<p>NMFs get full tuition</p>
<p>super high stats kids get generous merit.</p>
<p>A student with a SAT of - say - under 2200 (maybe higher!) - can’t count on enough merit from Fordham to make any serious dent in its $50k+ price tag.</p>
<p>I was thinking of taking Penn State off my list, for the reasons already said. And maybe replacing it with WV.</p>
<p>And I will probably qualify for some FA, (my sister who attends CC receives some FA, though the amount or type I am not sure of) but merit aid will help a lot since knowing how financially tight we are now, I can’t afford much and I rather not take out loans.</p>
<p>What’s really making my list so hard to compile, is the fact my parents won’t let me go too far away. I know I’d have a greater range of choices in the Midwest and South. My parents are just the type of parents who pay for dorming, but want to be close enough to visit you randomly and coerce you to come home every weekend. </p>
<p>It seems I don’t have much information of privates in my area, just a bunch of large state schools. Can anyone help me with that?</p>
<p>I’m still trying to help my dad understand why I should take the SAT. He thinks I feel like wasting his money… :(</p>
<p>College of Wooster in eastern Ohio might meet all your criteria. It’s 500 miles from Long Island. You need to avoid going home every weekend while you’re in college. While you were in HS, you weren’t living at home only during the weekdays and living in another place on the weekends. You need to be equally involved with your campus community.</p>