<p>I</p>
<p>I would say Cornell and Duke. I think you have a pretty high shot at Cornell</p>
<p>If you are looking at a lower cost option,
you might want to take a look at Temple University on Philadelphia. Your scores will earn you free tuition and another $8k for research or study abroad. In addition you would be admitted into the Honors Program and have the option of Honors housing if you like. Finally, you also could apply to the Law Scholars Program. This is a very small program of about 12 Honors students per year. It offers great mentoring and an auto admission to the law school. You also can enter Temple Law after junior year and earn your bachelor’s degree after you complete your L1.
Good luck.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for your input. It’s been very helpful. Temple was listed on the link posted earlier in this thread for automatic scholarships. I’ve had several people tell me though that it’s not in a safe area. They said crime is worse there than in College Park. Any thoughts regarding safety? I’ve been running net price calculator as per suggestions on this thread and well, yea. I see what you (and my dad :P) mean about many of the schools on my original list are financial reaches for me. Thanks again for your suggestions!</p>
<p>Marist college is a great place to get an education and is also great at giving finical aid. The number of total merit money does change, but right now you can get a $15,000 merit scholarship (this is the largest amount). That being said Marist College is a great place to get an education! There is also around $5 billion dollars in unclaimed private scholarships!</p>
<p>well, yes, Temple is in a worse neighborhood than UMD. It’s also in a worse neighborhood than Harvard, but that means neither that UMD is in a poor neighborhood nor that there is anything inherently dangerous about any of these schools. What danger comes on campus arrives with a fellow student known to the victim. It is off campus that the danger increases but not because of the neighborhood but because of the student. Danger comes in many forms, but most of the danger you have to be concerned about is the same at all three schools: students walking around off campus with their heads down, earbuds in, music turned up loud, eyes fixed on one kind of screen or another. Or intoxicated. That is to say, the student with a large target on their front and back. That student would be a target anywhere you find a college. As I’ve said before, my son spent four years at UMDCP without incident, living off campus two of those years in the residential rental homes that surround the campus and walking thru College Park day and night. My mother-in-law spent six years after her retirement commuting every day for a bachelors at Temple. Without incident. You have to know how to and be willing to move through a city without a target on two sides of your body. Wherever you go to college. Teach your children about predation and how to avoid it; it’s your responsibility.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>You can call them to ask to verify whether the listed scholarships are offered to everyone with the specified stats, or if the specified stats are merely entry into competitive awarding of the scholarships.</p>
<p>Temple appears to have changed their policy and this year the webpage does not say automatic merit for certain stats. This is of course a goal towards which admissions and financial aid at Temple has been moving, and it might be a sign that they’re getting the quality student applicants now that the auto merit was designed to attract. </p>
<p>My recommendations: </p>
<ol>
<li>Harvard - No - crazy reach - if you want to be in the Boston area consider Boston College
[reach], Tufts [low reach] or Brandeis [target].</li>
<li>If you think UMD is too large - don’t even consider NYU in the big apple - poor FA & talk
about being too large - NYU is surrounded by the city</li>
<li>U Chicago - high reach. If you want to go to the big city then Chicago offers it all with the
midwest charm - just not as crazy as NY, consider Northwestern [low reach] or Chicago-Loyola
[target with free applic. - good merit & FA]</li>
<li>For a larger school experience consider UVA, William & Mary, Syracuse, Case Western, Cornell,
UConn [Storr, CA - rural location. St. Louis Univ [has free applic. w/ good merit & FA].</li>
<li>UPenn - reach. In PA, consider Haverford [reach], Swarthmore [reach], Bucknell [target],
Gettysburg [target], Muhlenberg [target]</li>
<li>Other LACs to consider: Middlebury & Bennington [in Vermont], Bowdoin, Bates & Colby
[all in ME], Davidson [target], Bard [target], Kenyon [target], Trinity [low reach], Wesleyan [low
reach], Skidmore [target], Colgate [low reach, Hamilton [target], Holy Cross. You may perfer a
smaller LAC in either a suburban or rural location. You may qualify for merit & FA at
the target schools whereas the reach schools may only be on FA.</li>
<li>Your present safeties from yout first post are too unchallenging - I agree with another poster
that you are a much higher caliber student & you would be bored at those schools. Give yourself
a pat on the back. Good luck!</li>
</ol>
<p>Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and then Temple University are the three largest police forces in Pennsylvania for a reason. Campus may be safe but the North Philly area surrounding campus has the reputation of being violent for a good reason, it is. I know of a neighbor whose son attended Temple and within the first month of school he had his backpack with everything in it stolen from the side of the soccer field and later was across the street from a shooting during a robbery. So go into it with your eyes wide open. Best of luck to you! </p>
<p>Here is the newest scholarship info for Temple, incoming freshman class for 2015:
<a href=“http://admissions.temple.edu/sites/admissions/files/uploads/010-1415_Scholarship-Info_FINAL-ADA_508%20(1).pdf”>http://admissions.temple.edu/sites/admissions/files/uploads/010-1415_Scholarship-Info_FINAL-ADA_508%20(1).pdf</a></p>
<p>Some of the stats have changed from last year, but looks like you are still eligible for free tuition.</p>
<p>@beenthereanddone Was it Temple or Penn that had the big fiasco with reporting crime a few years ago? </p>
<p>I recall one of the schools was found to be under reporting crime on campus. The school said any crimes that happened on city sidewalks outside of school buildings fell under city crime stats and not campus crime stats despite them often including students traveling between campus buildings.</p>