How To Cut College List?

@LoveTheBard Thank you very much. I was not aware about the Common Data Set providing information on merit aid distribution. That will definitely help me shorten my list.

@momofsenior1 I never thought about looking at specific colleges’ forums. That was super helpful, thank you. I will research Bard and Earlham right now and drop those first.

@rosered55 There is no way I’d get a merit scholarship there since I am far from a National Merit recipient. I think I will drop that school, though it is a great college. Thank you.

You have to understand how merit and financial aid work together. At many (most?) they don’t stack. That should remove a lot of schools.

My only comment is that UC Davis is not a safety but a Match depending upon intended major. UCR/UCSC look like good safeties.

@Gumbymom I thought most UCs don’t accept based off of major, besides engineering? My major is likely to be History with a minor in Biology, if that is any helpful information.

@Eeyore123 I see. I am above the 75th percentile test scores + GPA for many of my safeties, though., meaning merit could be likely. Does your statement still affect me?

I interpret you posts to indicate that you think you can get need based aid, then stack merit on top of it. Many (most) of these schools won’t do that. If you are offered more need based aid then the merit amount, then you probably will just get the need based amount. Some schools will reduce your loans – but how they handle it varies by college. And honestly, if they give you a pretty good sized need based award, many schools just don’t give the merit award at all (to avoid the argument about not being able to stack it, and to use the merit to tempt high stats kids who would be full pay to attend instead).

So you might be making assumptions about how the finances work that are not true.

Also, you personally can only take out $5,500 in loans freshman year, and slightly more each year after. I would strongly discourage you from taking out more than that in loans, especially if you have your sights set on med school (which requires a lot of debt).

At $15k per year, you need a full tuition scholarship. Many schools give very few or no full tuition. Getting a half tuition scholarship would not help you.

Did you calculate your UC capped weighted GPA? https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/

For UCD College of Letters and Science admits by division within the college
• (Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies; Mathematics and Physical Sciences; Social Sciences)

For a History major, then UCD could be a safety. Each campus varies on how they admit but in General for Letters and Sciences, it usually is not by major.

For example, merit will likely not help you at CWRU. Their max merit is 30k. They are a full need school, but that is their definition of need. Run the NPCs at full needs to see if they work for you.

Stats:
3.9x GPA
Top 5 percent of class
1400 SAT (my weakest point of my app. definitely not a bad score, but it seems like everyone has high SATs here)
1st gen (hook?)
Extracurricular: President of a few clubs, 12th grade senior leadership class, hospital volunteer as well as volunteering at two other places (can’t list: impossible to broadly describe without being specific)
Projecting strong recs
Projecting a strong common app essay

I am applying to a mix of both Universities and LACs.(I am a CA resident).
A lot of the schools I have picked (specifically the LACs) are where I can get good merit aid or I can afford through financial aid as I am a potential premed. If any of these universities, besides the obvious reaches, create a bad premed environment (hyper competitive, grade deflation) please let me know.

List (universities):

Reaches:

  1. Stanford
  2. Rice
  3. USC
  4. Tufts

Matches:

  1. Case Western Reserve University
  2. Brandeis
  3. Syracuse

Safeties:
Clark University
3 UCs (Davis, Riverside, and Santa Cruz. I’ll also apply to Cal and LA since it’s just one app)

2 CSUs (not concerned with dropping this since it’s once again, just through one app).


LACs:

Reaches:

  1. Williams
  2. Amherst
  3. Bowdoin
  4. Carleton
  5. Middlebury
  6. Grinnell
  7. Vassar
  8. Bates

Matches:

  1. U Richmond\
  2. Macalester
  3. Bucknell

Safeties:
Muhlenberg
Rhodes
Denison
Wooster
U Dayton
Depauw
Trinity Uni (texas)
Whitmore
Dickinson
Bard
Lawrence U
St. Olaf
Earlham
Juniata
Ohio Wesleyan
Alleghany

Once again, I have a lot of safety LACs because of merit scholarship potential. I’m open to cutting any school listed here out. Please let me know, thank you,

A somewhat quicker and easier way to build a list of schools that offer merit is by using the Kiplinger’s list that comes from its Best Value Colleges. You can look at all schools, or generate separate lists for LACs, publics, private unis, etc. You can sort on any number of criteria (e.g., average debt at graduation, average need based aid, graduation rate. With respect to merit, you can sort by amount of merit (most to least) and percentage of students receiving aid. As for specific scholarship criteria and how you can qualify for them, you need to check schools’ websites and for specific data about what percentage of students get what type of aid, you can check the CDS.

Here’s a link to the Kiplinger’s list:

https://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T014-S001-kiplinger-s-best-values-in-private-colleges/index.php?table=all

Yes, Carleton is a great school. Regarding Merit Aid - “Carleton does participate in three merit scholarship programs: the National Merit Scholarship Program, the National Achievement Scholarship Program, and the National Hispanic Recognition Program. Students who are finalists in these programs are eligible for Carleton scholarships of $2,000 per year.”

Aside from good need-based financial aid, and the Nat’l Merit Scholarhips mentioned by @rosered55, Carleton College also offers merit-based aid, but they are limited in number and dollar amount. They are called the Fritch and the Strong scholarships, both of which will save the lucky student/family a total of $22,000 in out-of-pocket costs during their four years. They require a painless, one-page online application to be submitted by Feb. 15 by anyone applying for admission as a freshman. These automatically renew each year.

See the following link for info about Carleton’s Fritch and Strong scholarships:
https://apps.carleton.edu/campus/sfs/prospective/fritch/

@conflictedkang: Drop these LACs from your list of targeted schools:

  1. Muhlenberg
  2. U. Dayton
  3. DePauw --unless really into Greek life.
  4. Whitmore ? (Whitman ?)
  5. Earlham
  6. Juniata
  7. Ohio Wesleyan
  8. Alleghany

Cut back on your safeties. You will get in to some of them. I encourage you to pay special attention to your Earlham app.

Earlham places in the top 1% nationally for med school placement. And, your stats will get you good merit money.

Earlham also has a guarantee that every student will have financing for a paid internship… up to $5k per student. Committed. Guaranteed. And there is a huge amount of funding for collaborative research.

And… they have pre-med-themed study abroad opportunities… while study abroad costs no extra and financial aid/scholarships can be fully applied.

They have an exceptional new Global Health program, too, along with multiple premed tracks with specialty foci. And outstanding science facilities.

http://earlham.edu/academics/programs/pre-med/

On top of that, they have a whole entire special office for Health Services Advising, so they are super-supportive in helping you choose the direction within the medical field that is best for you.
http://earlham.edu/health-careers-advising/

Earlham is not for everyone, do you need to make sure it is for you… You should take a good look at it before you commit. But, if you would be happy there… you just can’t do much better for undergrad with a medical-focus.

People seem to dwell on the rankings, which are input-based and easily manipulated. But med schools are interested in the output… and… Earlham is ranked the top 10 in the nation for undergrad who are go on to complete doctorate degrees in the life sciences.

Whatever you decide to do, I hope you find the school that is right for you. Best of luck!

That Kiplingers list was for 2017.
Here is an updated 2019 “best value” list (USNews&World Report rankings)

https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-liberal-arts-colleges/best-value

@conflictedkang

Your main sticking point is going to be financial. As said above, with a 15K per year budget, you would need full tuition awards to make these places affordable. A 1400 SAT score is unlikely to be competitive for top merit awards and is likely to be on the low side for admission for your reaches. First generation might provide a small boost.

Most LACs will offer somewhere between 20-30K in merit (if they offer merit at all). As mentioned earlier, most places will not stack merit and need-based aid. Merit would substitute for need-based aid.

Before eliminating your reaches, I would run all NPCs if you haven’t done so already as some places are more generous than others. Amherst, Williams, and Stanford, for example, offer excellent need-based aid, should you be admitted.

Here is info on schools I know about. If they’re not listed, it doesn’t mean they aren’t generous. I just don’t know either way.

Stanford (good need-based aid)
Case Western Reserve University (offers a few full tuition scholarships by separate application - highly competitive)
Clark University (check amount of maximum merit scholarship, there may be some larger awards)
U Richmond (offers some full tuition merit scholarships; highly competitive)
Muhlenberg (same)
Rhodes (same)
Denison (same)
Wooster (merit up to half COA)
Dickinson (merit up to 20K)
Lawrence U (check amount of maximum merit scholarship)
St. Olaf (merit up to half COA)
Ohio Wesleyan (might have a few full tuition scholarships, but not sure)

In addition to CSUs and UCs, you might look at ASU (Barrett Honors), UNM, or U WY, all of which are comparative bargains and attract growing numbers of CA students. As a CA resident, you would qualify for WUE discounts at UNM or U WY and your stats probably would yield some merit money at ASU. WUE discounts are often limited so if you are interested, apply early.

Good luck!

@BB - The US News best value list ranks value based on the amount of need-based aid the schools provide. Many (most) of the US News Best Value schools don’t offer merit.

The Kiplinger’s list has data for non-need based merit aid.

Montana State (WUE) is worth a look, too. Good university, good location, ok costs.

@LoveTheBard. Yeah.

I was just considering the value. It seems not unrelated.