I need help picking 2 more school to send applications!

College Search & Selection
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<p>I have a rather large net of schools that I am casting. My parents are willing to pay for 2 more schools to send my application. Here is my background:
~Homeschooled
~4.0 unweighted (if it's worth noting, I currently have 3 grades from an outside source and 2 more for classes that I am<br>
currently taking online
~SAT: CR 680; Math 770; and WR 690 (I'm taking them again on Sat. hoping to improve my scores)
~APs: US History 4; Chem 5; Psych 5; Human Geo 5; Macro 5; Micro 4; Lang. 4; Calc BC, Stats, and Lit.- currently enrolled
~SAT Chemistry 740 (plan on taking Math 2 and Lit in Nov)
~Lots of community service and leadership
~4-H was my main EC and included local, state, and national levels
~Internship which led to summer job with local political figure
~Majoring in Economics (unless I go to UMD who has a GREAT business program and would major in finance)
~Hooks - not much :P rural area, home schooled (but that could work against me, too)</p>

<p>The schools I have already or will definitely will be applying to include:
~Safeties: Arcadia, Hampden-Sydney, Hood, McDaniel, Randolph Macon, Elizabethtown, Grove City, Roanoke, Messiah,
and Bridgewater (all but Grove City were free to apply and hoping for scholarships)
~Match: University of Scranton
~Low Reach: Bucknell, Colgate, University of Maryland - College Park (Smith Business School)
~Crazy High Reach: U of Chicago</p>

<p>I am interested in the following schools, but can only afford 2 more application fees:
American, Cornell, Dickinson, Duke, Franklin &Marshall, NYU, George Washington, U of Delaware, UPenn, Harvard</p>

<p>I know some of these I don't have a shot at with my current scores, but as I said before, I'm HOPING to improve my score some more on Saturday. Also, it should be noted that I will most likely not receive any need based aid. Furthermore, I am hoping to go to law school so I probably don't want to go into debt for my undergraduate. Yet, if I pick a no name safety and decide later not to go to law school, I am concerned I would have trouble finding employment. Any help, ideas, or insights?!</p>

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<p>Can your parents pay for these places easily, or are you looking for merit-based aid?</p>

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<p>I’m looking for merit-based aid. I have applied and will continue to apply for lots of outside scholarships in hopes that I can get some more merit aid. As for my parents easily paying for them - well,… NO! haha! They are certainly willing to help out, but I do have a brother with developmental delays, so they also need to plan for him in the long run.</p>

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<p>Of the schools you’re applying to, which ones do you like the most? </p>

<p>For instance, Chicago is pretty urban but if that is something you like about it than George Washington might be a good one because it is very urban but if you don’t like Urban than American would be a less urban city option. </p>

<p>I am struggling with seeing a consistent theme with the schools you’ve selected. (There is nothing wrong with that!) </p>

<p>But since you’re looking to get some aid, I would advise against schools like NYU, GW or AU. I think you have already have a good list but if you wanted to add some reaches that may give you a good package (depending on your family’s income), I would suggest Cornell, Duke, and Penn.</p>

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<p>No suggestions from me but I just want to commend you for what I read as an understanding and empathetic statement of “but I do have a brother with developmental delays, so they also need to plan for him in the long run.” Sounds like your brother has a great sibling!</p>

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<br>

<p>???</p>

<p>HOW are those schools safeties when you don’t know if you can afford them? Do any of those schools give ASSURED large merit for your stats?</p>

<p>how much will your parents pay?</p>

<p>For instance, if your family will pay $15k per year, then you need safeties where you know FOR SURE (absolutely) that you would get free tuition, so that the $15k can cover room, board, books, fees, transportation, personal expenses.</p>

<p>Ask your parents how much they’ll spend each year…then we’ll help you identify some safeties.</p>

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<p>The schools that are listed as my safeties are there because I can afford them through various means (commuting or outside scholarships already received) and my stats are well beyond their average SAT. I haven’t been able to pin my parents down to an exact amount that they are willing to contribute. If I had to guess, based on our conversations, it would probably be about 10-15,000/ per year. Again, though, they haven’t exactly committed. They want to wait and see exactly what the final cost of attendance will be at the various schools when all is said and done. From their experience with my older brother, the actual cost of attendance was surprising in many cases - some good surprises and some bad. They are thinking that if I went to UMD, that they could afford it - that’s partly because my dad in particular was really pleased with UMD when my older brother went there. To him, that would be a good investment. The problem I’m having is that I really wasn’t crazy about UMD. I know it’s a great school and can make it work for 4 years - I just don’t want to regret wondering what if… They have made if very clear though that the only way I could go to a school such as Colgate,… would be if by some miracle I got lots of scholarships. </p>

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<p>UPenn and Duke definitely</p>

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<p>I’d say Duke and U of Delaware because one is a low reach that you could aim for and the other will most likely give you money.</p>

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<p>Your stats would, for a non home school student, pick up a number of the automatic full tuition/ride scholarships listed in the sticky at the top of the financial aid and scholarships forum, but you need to check what each school’s policy on grades and GPA from home school is before deciding that such a school can be an affordable safety.</p>

<p>Your parents keeping you guessing about their contribution makes it hard to find an actual safety that you know will be affordable.</p>

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<p>Are you in-state for UM-CP? Then Towson, Salisbury, Frostburg, and the other MD public Us are likely to be affordable, and except for UM-BC are likely to be flat-out safeties for you. If any of those appeal, check their websites to see about application dates that you would need to meet to put you in the running for any merit-based money. Everyone I know who ended up at one of the not-UM-CP publics in MD has been very happy there.</p>

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<p>Your post is full of misunderstandings about colleges, applications, merit, the process, etc. </p>

<p>Let me mention some. They range from the nature of outside scholarships (many of these have to be competed for each year of college and so aren’t always a reliable source of college funding) to a misunderstanding about how much merit any of these colleges provides people with your resumé. Many of the schools on your list are very expensive and/or don’t offer much merit (or need-based aid) to applicants with your scores. Colgate gives practically no merit aid to first-year applicants but may give some to students who prove themselves at Colgate. Bucknell is party- and frat-central, and the way I read your post you don’t seem to be the party type; in addition, Bucknell is not a school that offers a lot of merit. </p>

<p>At 680/770/690/2150/4.0, </p>

<p>Academic Safeties: Scranton, UMD-CP, American, U of Delaware</p>

<p>Matches: Colgate (demonstrate interest), Bucknell, Franklin & Marshall, NYU, George Washington, Dickinson</p>

<p>Reaches for Everyone: Penn, Chicago, Duke, Cornell, Harvard</p>

<p>I take it UMD is your flagship? It will cost you 23K minus 5K in merit (probably). Why would you even consider Scranton, American, GWU, Delaware or any of the non-reaches when they aren’t as good as UMD or are at best UMD’s equal in some things but certainly not business–and they will cost you at least twice as much as UMD (and your budget could be 15K)? There’s a reason your brother went to UMD.</p>

<p>The schools you’ve listed as safeties are so far below your resumé as to be avoided if at all possible. I suggest that if you want to grow matches and safeties-beyond-UMD, you follow @ucbalumnus‌’s advice and look for automatic full tuition scholarships which would leave you with “only” non-tuition to pay.</p>

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<p>Dickinson’s top merit scholarship is 20K, Bucknell’s largest merit scholarship is also 20K(leaving another 40K+ for you to come up with). Unless your family can afford 40K+, don’t keep them on your list.</p>

<p>Franklin and Marshall does not give merit aid at all and should not be on your list if you can’t afford your efc(sounds like it may be high since you are not expecting much need-based aid). </p>

<p>Your stats will probably get you some merit at UD, but they don’t look high enough for their larger scholarships, you would probably still be left with a price tag of 30K+. Not worth paying extra for over UMD(think you are in state?).</p>

<p>As others have advised, apply to some schools with guaranteed merit for your stats, or which have large(hopefully full tuition+) merit scholarships for which you are very competitive(top 5-10% of applicants)-search for the “common data set” on each college website - you will find detailed information about the full range of SAT/ACT scores of applicants(in addition to the averages or 25-75 percentile ranges they usually post on their admissions pages).</p>

<p>This should really happen before applying to any schools: discussing with your parents what they are actually able (and willing) to pay each year. Then you need to go through the list of schools above and reassess whether they are truly be affordable for you-some of the ones you say you have already applied/planning to may not be.</p>

<p>Focus on schools which you can afford - applications and visits take a lot of time and $. Every year, I seem to encounter kids who focused on way too many reaches or applied to schools that were totally unaffordable from the get-go. They are hoping for some kind of financial aid “miracle” which never materializes. These kids end up at our state U which they never really wanted or planned to attend, when they could have had options by investing some time in thoroughly researching how each school handles financial aid and scholarships. It is not an easy process and requires time and patience.</p>

<p>We used this strategy for my 2 daughters and one received several full-ride offers and one received several full tuition offers at great schools. They did not apply to any schools which were a reach for merit $$ since we could never afford them in the first place.</p>

<p>Good luck to you!</p>

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<p>Here is the automatic full tuition and full ride scholarship list:
<a href=“http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/”>http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>However, check with each school to see how GPAs of home school applicants are accepted for the purpose of these scholarships.</p>

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<p>Thanks everyone. While I’m a bit disappointed, I have to admit that you are saying the same things my dad has been trying to tell me. I’m sure he appreciates the support. haha I suppose that’s probably why I haven’t been able to get him to commit to an amount. For those who asked, I am in Maryland so the instate schools are doable. I would probably just go to UMD though and not bother to apply to the other schools because they just don’t have the same reputation that UMD has - not that they are bad, but UMD is a great school - the size does concern me though, especially as a homeschooled kid. My brother did great there and he was homeschooled. I just have a different personality.
@ucbalumnus, I went to the link you posted which was FANTASTIC so thanks for sharing that! I’m sure it will be helpful to others, too. I do have a question though - I looked at the link for Temple, but I couldn’t find anywhere on the link that stated those were “automatic” scholarships. Nor could I find that a student was “eligible” for them either. Regardless, I will look into Temple which wasn’t even on my radar. </p>

<p>@jkeil911‌, my dad said the same thing about getting into a school with a 1 year scholarship and not getting it the next year would result in me needing to transfer. I guess maybe I just needed to hear it from someone else. Sorry Dad! You also brought up a point that I guess I’m still confused about - so the schools that I listed as safeties were as you said are “far below my resume.” I thought that I should look at schools that had a student with my scores at the top in order to get the merit offers. Just curious what you think of Hampden-Sydney. I really like that school. I went to visit it over the summer and the interview went really well. I was told, but NOT in writing to expect at the very least half tuition, probably more. Until I know how much they are really willing to offer, though I’m holding my breath. Their application is free, so it’s just my time that it costs to apply. My parents, however, are concerned that should I decide not to go to law school, would I have the same job opportunities from Hampden-Sydney that I could possibly have at UMD. Any thoughts? </p>

<p>@mamag2855‌ Thanks for the comments about many of the schools on my list. Again, I guess I knew this, I just really liked some of the things I read about their programs and it definitely helps having someone on the outside saying what my dad has been trying to tell me. </p>

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<p>I’d ditch all of your safeties except Grove City as you are likely to be bored at them. Having high stats is great, but when your peers are not of a similar caliber… well, profs can only teach to the students they have. There is often a very big difference in both content and dedication of the students. At UMD, you’ll have a variety of students.</p>

<p>It’s not wrong to be in the top 25% - I actually encourage it for most students. However, when one is in the top 1 - 5%, I’ve seen those boredom “what’s the big deal with college” come up super often. My son’s close peer chose a free ride and is wishing he hadn’t. He’ll still do ok in the long run as he’s pre-med and will have no problem getting accepted into med school, but he’s seeing what he “could have had” for his college experience when he compares notes about options/opportunities.</p>

<p>Homeschooling is not likely to set you back at all. You’ve got terrific substantiation for your GPA with your multiple AP scores and your SAT. It could actually be a hook for you at many places as they tend to want homeschoolers who have proven themselves. Super reach schools won’t care one way or another as they have oodles of applicants, but one level below that will care.</p>

<p>You need to look for merit aid “decent” options (for your scores) or UMD IMO. I suspect you’ll find some decent options if you look in the Top 25 - Top 125 region rather than Top 25 or doesn’t even make the list.</p>

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<p>Hampten Sydney graduates have a LOT of success in law and business. If you like it, look into Wabash, too.
If you’re afraid UMD is too large (even if you’d likely get into the Honors College, making the school “feel smaller”), apply to St Mary’s of Maryland, the State’s Honors College.
Are your parents unable to pay their EFC, is it low to start with or high? Because this would affect where you’d apply. Dickinson for instance would be good if you can apply for need based aid since you’d have need based aid and merit aid, but if your family makes 150K-180k then you wouldn’t get much if anything in need-based aid and it wouldn’t be a good idea. Case Western, Clark, and Wheaton (MA) have good merit scholarships if you apply EA (before Nov 1 or 15), they’re free to apply and have no supplement; at Clark, you could compete for a LEEP scholarship (full tuition+, based on community service and EC’s.) You’d have to demonstrate interest by filling ou the "request info’/“join the mailing list” form, with perhaps a follow up after you got the brochure, asking Admissions a relevant question based on what you read, perhaps asking to be put in contact with a current freshman who was homeschooled. All of this would demonstrate interest. :slight_smile:
Look at Colleges that Change Lives (website) - most of them have very good merit scholarships for kids with your profile.</p>

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<p>OP, the quality of the advice you’re receiving is sound. Including Dad’s, it seems.</p>

<p>As for Hampden Sydney, I don’t know the school well, but if you like it that counts a lot in my calculus. if MYOS likes it, that counts, too. Ask to speak to a few of the scholarship winners from the last three years. Ask them the questions you have about being in the top 1-5% and the attendant fear of boredom. Do the teachers amp it up for the top 5%, suggest alternative courses of studying a subject in addition to what is going on in class, get students involved in their research (are the faculty doing research and publishing?), work closely with students on their writing (an area in which we all can improve), etc.? Will you come out of H-S having benefitted from going to H-S instead of UMD or some school where there is a larger number of students as good as or better than you? Talk to the director of undergraduate studies in your department and tell her or him of your concerns. This is a big decision. Also, if H-S offers you half tuition do not be afraid to ask them for more. Tell them what they’re up against at UMD (in terms of money and student quality). This is a negotiation, too. And don’t be afraid to listen to your dad. He seems to be on target about some things. As for not going to law school and having to look for jobs: Dad’s got a point, but if you feel the H-S profs will swear that you’re the real deal and stand head and hands above 99% of the H-S graduates that too will help with job apps. That of course presumes your GPA doesn’t plummet at H-S.</p>

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<p>^well, to be clear, I don’t “like” it personally ;)… it’s all-male, very traditional, very button-down dress shirt tie and lace up shoes with polish shine, not to mention very conservative in an “Old South/good Ol’ days” way, and that’s just not who I am (especially the dress up part :smiley: :D) BUT it offers great opportunities and the business/alumni network is truly excellent, like being in a powerful fraternity that’s an entire college. So, not for everyone, but if the OP likes it, then it’s a good college with these characteristics. Easier to get into than Washington and Lee, Furman, or Wake Forest. Wabash is an alternative, as is Sewanee. </p>

<p>Excellent advice by jkeil - OP, do ask all these questions, by email in order to have the answers in writing.</p>

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<p>I</p>