HUGE Post, but I really need help/advice

Parents Forum
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<p>I posted something similar to this on the College Search & Selection board, and I got a suggestion to post something on the Parent board to get the opinion of a "number of experienced parents over there who can give you info about where you might get the best fit and fin aid"</p>

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<p>So, with that said, I've been looking online at different colleges and I think I've made some progress. I have a more specific idea of what I want in a college. I just have one more question: "If you were in my shoes, what colleges would you apply to?"</p>

<p>I know that most of you will say "Well, it depends on who you are and what you want", so I'll try my best to tell you.</p>

<p>Things I'm Looking for in a College (in order of importance):
-National recognition and prestige
-Generous financial aid and/or merit scholarships
-A good campus life/community, with most undergrads living on campus
-A smaller campus size
-A smaller student body (preferably < 10k undergrads)
-Probably a private university (for reasons above)</p>

<p>As far as location, ethnic diversity, religious affiliation, or gender makeup is concerned, I have no real preference.</p>

<p>Obviously you have to know what kind of student I am before you can tell me where to apply to, so here's what my application will basically look like:</p>

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<p>+Info+
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: Multiracial (Asian, White)
High School: Public, Ohio</p>

<p>Intender Major: Chemical Engineering</p>

<p>+Senior Courses+
AP English
AP Calculus
AP Chemistry
AP Government
Honors Spanish III
Accounting I</p>

<p>Weighted GPA: 4.158</p>

<p>+Academic Honors+
National Merit Semifinalist (maybe finalist), AP Scholar, Invited to NYLF on Law, Invited to NYLF on Medicine, Principal's Award, Nordonia "N" Award, High Honor Roll</p>

<p>+ACT+
Composite - 36
English - 34
Math - 36
Reading - 36
Science - 36
Writing - 6...</p>

<p>+AP Tests+
Physics B - 5
US History - 5
European History - 3</p>

<p>+Family+
Father - Associates Degree
Mother - Did not attend high school
Siblings - None</p>

<p>+Activities+
Varsity Tennis (10,11,12): 12 hrs/week, 16 weeks/yr - Varsity Letter
Science Olympiad (11,12): 5 hrs/week, 36 weeks/yr - Varsity Letter
National Honor Society (11,12): 1 hr/week, 42 weeks/yr</p>

<p>+Essays+
I expect them to be very good; I am a solid writer despite what my 6 on the ACT claims to show.</p>

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<p>I don't know how many colleges I should apply to, but here is my list so far:</p>

<p>MIT (high reach)
Princeton (high reach)
Caltech (high reach)</p>

<p>Carnegie Mellon (low reach)
Case Western (low reach)</p>

<p>Lafayette College (safety)
Ohio State* (safety)</p>

<p>Yeah...I know applying to OSU contradicts like 90% of the preferences I listed above, but it would be staying in-state and probably rooming with my best friend, which would make me more comfortable. What I don't want to do is go out-of-state to something huge like Minnesota, UIUC, or TU, even though they may have solid ChemE programs.</p>

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<p>Colleges I've eliminated:</p>

<p>Stanford (8000 acre campus is just ridiculous to me)
Cornell (I've heard the Greek scene is way too big)
Big 10 Schools, except OSU and Northwestern (hugeness)</p>

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<p>Colleges I'm still considering:</p>

<p>Delaware
Rice
Vandy
UPenn
Johns Hopkins
Northwestern</p>

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<p>I'm still not really satisfied with my safety schools; there are a lot of things about Lafayette, OSU, and possibly Delaware that I don't like. If anybody has suggestions on some safety schools where they think I'd have a better fit, please make some suggestions.</p>

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<p>FinAid Situation:</p>

<p>My parents are divorced. My father has my custodial parent for the last 11 years. He is currently unemployed and has an income of $0. He worked as a gaming dealer in Vegas for 25-30 years, before moving to Ohio with me in 2002. When I'm off to college, he is considering moving to a nearby city with casinos, and will then probably make around $50,000. My mother lives in Las Vegas, works as a gaming dealer, and makes around $40,000. She purchased a condominium about a month ago.</p>

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<p>So, I know that was long and I thank you if you've made it this far. I guess my questions are:</p>

<p>What do you think of the list I've made so far? Do I have a realistic shot at getting in to my high-reach schools? Are there any colleges you know of that, based on my preferences and information, would be a good fit for me?</p>

<p>Where can I get the best financial aid? I know that Princeton's FinAid package is loan-free, are there any more colleges like that?</p>

<p>I'm sort of scared that in my sophomore or junior year, my parents' incomes will spike upwards and my FinAid will go down significantly. If I get the chance to go someplace like Princeton, should I be concerned about financing it after my freshman year?</p>

<p>I would greatly appreciate the advice of those who've already been through this sort of stuff.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
-National recognition and prestige
-Generous financial aid and/or merit scholarships
-A good campus life/community, with most undergrads living on campus
-A smaller campus size
-A smaller student body (preferably < 10k undergrads)
-Probably a private university (for reasons above)

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Rice fits perfectly for you and I've heard good things about Delaware for Chemical Engineering (My Ex's brother goes there and loves it - turned down UMCP for it).</p>

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<p>I'm not really up on chemical engineering programs. But what about RPI or WPI? Have your considered applying to Olin or Cooper Union?</p>

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<p>I'm not a financial aid expert, but you should get need based aid at your top listed schools as long as your Dad is unemployed. Caltech and CMU have a bit of merit aid. I agree Rice is worth a look. Nephew is there and loves it. (He even likes the weather.) I'd look at RPI for a safety. Great engineering and much smaller than Ohio State. I'd also look at Olin and Cooper Union - the price is right!</p>

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<p>UIUC would be a solid choice, though it is bigger than you want.
RIT? (I don't know about chemical engineering, but if they have it, it's probably good)
Rolla (Missouri) could be a safety, and is supposed to be pretty good.</p>

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<p>Oops...I guess I should of mention this too, but with so much other stuff on my mind, I sort of forgot to add it.</p>

<p>Although I want to major in ChemE, I'm going to take enough pre-med electives to be eligible for med school after graduation, if I decide to go that route. I've been thinking lately that I might want to pursue a career as a surgeon, but then again I might decide that I want to stick with being a Chemical Engineer.</p>

<p>So if I do decide to go to med school, would it look bad coming from a more technical institute than a more well-rounded college?</p>

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<p>
[quote]
So if I do decide to go to med school, would it look bad coming from a more technical institute than a more well-rounded college?

[/quote]

I don't think so, as long as your GPA is high, and you score well on MCAT.</p>

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<p>What about the University of Rochester? It seems to fit the bill really well.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.che.rochester.edu/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.che.rochester.edu/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Keep in mind that if you want to apply for merit aid, you need to apply early. I think it's Nov 1 but you'd have to check that out.</p>

<p>Also, take a look at Washington University in Saint Louis:</p>

<p><a href="http://eec.wustl.edu/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://eec.wustl.edu/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>Tufts just outside Boston</p>

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<p>You need more financial safeties. </p>

<p>WUSTL is a good one but you're too close to their geogrpahic draw circle.</p>

<p>What about UMiami? Put that Spanish to good use and get to know one of the great US cities.</p>

<p>Vandy and Rice should stay on the list. </p>

<p>I also think Villanova might be a good fin aid fit--and Syracuse.</p>

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<p>Re Stanford, Just so you know, the 8000 acres is the total acerage for all of Stanford U's holdings. The campus itself covers a MUCH smaller area. Everyone bikes to classes on campus, and at the most that would take only 5 min. max.</p>

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<p>RPI has national recognition and gives excellent merit scholarships.</p>

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<p>What about Lehigh or Bucknell?</p>

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<p>If med school is a possibility, Rice looks good. They combine the Chem E dept with Bioengineering
<a href="http://www.ruf.rice.edu/%7Eche/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~che/&lt;/a>
Lots of interesting research going on there. When comparing average aid offered to students, remember that Rice starts out many thousands of dollars cheaper than most private universities.</p>

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<p><a href="My%20Ex's%20brother%20goes%20there%20and%20loves%20it%20-%20turned%20down%20UMCP%20for%20it">quote</a>.

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</p>

<p>Just out of curiosity, do you know why? I'm always wondering about the differences between CP, UDel, and Penn State. Seems like kids migrate from Maryland to one of the three (always sparks my curiosity when a person - esp. an in-state kid - turns down CP for one of the other two!).</p>

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<p>How about Miami of Ohio as a safety? You've got great stats and they give good aid. They have a very good reputation - might just fit your needs as a safety over OSU. Miami fits many of your requirements...</p>

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<p>
[quote]
Just out of curiosity, do you know why? I'm always wondering about the differences between CP, UDel, and Penn State. Seems like kids migrate from Maryland to one of the three (always sparks my curiosity when a person - esp. an in-state kid - turns down CP for one of the other two!).

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</p>

<p>I asked the same question (It was weird because he got only a $5000 scholarship at UDel as opposed to a $17000 - or something in that range at UMCP). He apparently wanted to "get out of Maryland" and cites Delaware's ranking in Chemical Engineering as one of the primary reasons. It seems to have worked out for him, he's pursuing a PhD at Stanford.</p>

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<p>Ray,
Case Western gives a lot of merit scholarships. <a href="http://finaid.case.edu/Finaid.aspx?Types_of_Aid&Option=Scholarships%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://finaid.case.edu/Finaid.aspx?Types_of_Aid&Option=Scholarships&lt;/a> I think you would be a strong candidate for a nice academic scholarship there, based on your grades and your 36 on the ACT. The nice thing about these scholarships is that even if your dad's income goes up later, the scholarship is not need based, so you will still get it. If the merit scholarship does not fully meet your need, you can receive further need-based aid. Also, given your pre-med interest, I think Case would be a good match for you.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
He apparently wanted to "get out of Maryland"

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I tried that one on my parents and it didn't fly. Lol.<br>
It especially wouldn't fly if I got a 17K/yr scholarship and the other school in question was UDel! I now see the reason in that. But hey, to each his own. If it works out, it works out.</p>

<p>Anyhoooot. Back to the OP.</p>

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<p>Wow! Thanks to everybody for the replies. I have a lot of responses to get through.</p>

<p>From what I've heard in this thread, from 2 or 3 PMs I received, and from re-reading some info Rice sent me a few months ago, I've been persuaded to apply there. And it's not just as another school to send an app to; the more I read about Rice, the more interested I become. And as dragonmom said, the Chem+BioM Engineering degree would be good if I end up going to med school.</p>

<p>I'm also thinking more about Washington University now. I know I have some letters from them that I have to dig up from the big-box-o-college-letters in my closet. And "cheers", what do you mean by "WUSTL is a good one but you're too close to their geogrpahic draw circle."?</p>

<p>abasket, yeah, I know Miami has a good reputation and gives a lot of merit scholarships away, but from what I've read about the campus life and people who go there, I don't think I'm interested.</p>

<p>mother<em>of</em>perl, I just visited CWRU last Friday and like it a good deal, so I'll definitely be applying there. And I've heard that anybody who does good in their undergrad program is almost a sure-thing into their med school, which is a plus.</p>

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<p>Now, a more specific question. If my parents' combined income jumps to around $100,000, I just did the EFC calculator on FinAid.org, and it said my EFC would be around $13,000. Would it be stupid to bypass something like Princeton or MIT to go to a college where I can get some merit-based aid? I think I'd just be better off taking out a student loan and paying back the $40,000 or $50,000 and graduating with a degree form a better college.</p>

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<p>Many thanks to all of you,
Ray</p>