How many schools should we add to our list in quest of merit aid?

<p>I thought I would chime in on the merit aid discussion because I think we did quite well with our strategy. D is Asian w / good but not excellent stats in comparison to others on these boards (1380 SAT, I forget the GPA but somewhere around 3.7 UW and 4.6 W, 12/267, good ECs and volunteer work ) and 12 APs by graduation. She applied to 10 schools and we tried to focus on those schools with a small Asian population so as to maximize the one thing she would have going for her at these schools. She also applied to her dream school - Brown. She was deffered ED at Brown and denied RD. Out of her other 9 schools she received the following Wake - $30,000 merit, Syracuse - $33000 merit, Clemson - full tuition, Tulane - DSA 1/2 tuition, Bucknell - $22,000 merit and wait listed at Vanderbilt, Notre Dame and Colgate. So we feel that the strategy paid off - utilizing the thing that makes you a desirable applicant at the schools to which you apply. None of this aid was based on need and as you see her stats were not the top of the heap. so if your child has anything that would make them stand out at a particuklar school that is the way to focus. And I agree with everyone that apply to more rather then less. She is now a happy Freshman at Wake. Good luck in your search - i would love to hear how it turns out! I know you will have some great offers to ponder over.</p>

<p>Interesting that your daughter got that kind of merit aid at a couple of those schools. Are you sure it was all merit and not need? I see one kid in my son's HS denied admission to Syracuse with slightly higher stats, and one kid waitlisted at Bucknell with higher GPA and 1370 SAT. (We get a list from our high school of all kids stats, admissions, denials, etc.) So, you did a good job!</p>

<p>weenie: Sometimes it has to do with "timing" of aps and/or the fact that a particular child has some talent to offer. Or perhaps the recs and/or essays were awesome. In this case, the mom mentioned that her daugher is Asian. Perhaps, those schools wanted her daughter because her presence helped with their diversity issues. Either way, she would have been a great asset to any of her choices because she sounds like a "go getter" by taking 12 AP classes.</p>

<p>And, frankly, her daughter does have high stats -- this is a child who took 12 APs and, assuming that she passed those exams, the schools know that her GPA is not the result of grade inflation. </p>

<p>(I think that the AP test system is a great indication of whether a school practices grade inflation -- afterall, if a school's AP students have 4+ GPAs yet they can't pass the AP exams, then obviously their "A's" don't mean as much to a college than the child who may have gotten a B in an AP class but passed the exam with a 4 or 5.)</p>

<p>Weinie: Your school publishes all its students stats (GPA, SAT results, etc)???? That is a violation of student privacy (unless permission has been specifically granted by the parents). Frankly, I think it is in poor taste for a school to publish everyone's stats. That would be like a company publishing everyone's salary and other personal info.</p>

<p>jlauer:
They post them without names. So we see the GPAs, SAT scores (I only), their intended major, and all the schools they applied to. That is further broken down by admitted, wiatlisted, denied, attended. They do the list every year. It's private school. (Admittedly, sometimes it is pretty east to figure out whose info it is though!)</p>

<p>And clearly you can't assess anybody's application by the stats alone. I just think it is interesting how much variation there is in this merit money game; making it all the more difficult for any one person to predict their chances.</p>

<p>My S applied to around 1o schoolsa as he needed money as well and as a result cast a wide net. Some schools such as Emory offered nothing and others such as Pomona and CMC were quite generous. Those are both need-blind schools that are worth checking into. Best of luck!</p>

<p>weenie.....ahhh.....no names. But you are right that it is easy to figure out who is who --especially if its a smallish private school and kids have mentioned where they have applied to. My boys are in a private school and since it is small, it would be VERY easy to figure out who is who.</p>

<p>As far as predicting admission, after reading some schools' stats, there seems to be a "deficiency" of so-called "white males" at some schools (and probably too many at others). Am I reading this right? If so, will that give my high-stat sons a better opportunity when they apply to schools that have such a deficiency?</p>

<p>arizona: What is CMC? and congrats for the offers that were rec'd.</p>

<p>As for admission, it also depends upon which school within the university one applies to. For example, at Syracuse-Newhouse is the most competitive. The School of Information Studies, or the College of Arts and Sciences could be easier to get into. Perhaps the person you know applied to Newhouse. I know many ppl with far lower stats than that of OP's D (which are quite strong IMO) that were admitted, and graduated from Syracuse.</p>

<p>jlauer:
I would think that some schools use a little merit money to sway more boys (or girls, depending on the shortage) but I doubt that's ever been proven. Maybe others would know?</p>

<p>weenie, I think that is true too.</p>

<p>What I recently read was the certain college administrators are concerned that if their schools become known as being "girl heavy" then girls will stop wanting to go there (at least the girls who want a real "coed" experience.)</p>