IB Diploma kid, not pointy, need reach schools/big scholarships

Parents Forum
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Hi All, I’m trying to help DS (current junior) get together a list of colleges to research and some to visit. Since reach schools and those with big scholarships will be time intensive, I want to make sure he narrows them down to those that might be the best fit for him if he were to get lucky enough to get accepted and the financial aid worked. We are not banking on any of these.

So far, his safety will be UGA and he will likely attend GA tech. Although Tech is not a sure thing, I think he has a good chance and will ultimately be happy there and have good job prospects. However, he will not major in engineering or CS, so it doesn’t seem to be the best fit academically. Still, the business school is good and there are other good options for majors for him (econ, international affairs, languages).

So, we are looking for reach options that may be good for him and may offer the best financial aid, and colleges that might feel as “good” to him as GA Tech but where he has at least a shot at a big scholarship (at least full tuition). I fully realize that these are long shot options and are very competitive. He likes some Ivy league options (or equivalent) but is also open to LACs.

GPA- 3.96 (sort of unweighted, school does not give over 4.0 but does give extra points for AP/IB)
AP courses taken over freshman and sophomore years (World History, Lang., Gov, Econ, Chemistry). AP scholar with distinction.

Currently in the IB Diploma Program and is taking: AP Physics, higher level IB classes (Lang, Spanish, HOA), TOK, IB Psych, and IB Math (curriculum includes AP Calc with SL math).

ACT - 32 (took once without prep at the end of sophomore year and messed up the English part). Planned to take in Dec. but was snowed out so will retake soon. He’s thinking he can raise to 34 but who knows.

Likely just missed NMSF cutoff but will be commended (PSAT-1460). Probably won’t take SAT

Large, very diverse public high school. He is president of his class of over 1000 kids.

Varsity tennis (started as sophomore) - state semi-finalists for largest division.

Varsity water polo (since sophomore year) - state finalists this year. Coach awarded him MVP for this past fall season.

Not a lot of volunteer work but good work experience (lifeguard 2 summers so far, tennis coach in summer and during the school year). Also summer swim team all years, ball boy at big Atlanta tennis tournament all years, blah blah.

Very interested in Spanish - really enjoys working with the Spanish speaking kids at his high school and is starting a club to help those students with challenges related to fitting in and speaking English. Has done a nice job with a student he mentors.

He has a wide variety of interests, but possible majors include: Econ, political science, physics. Also likes Spanish and philosophy. Obsessed with Jeopardy and beating his family members to a pulp.

Thanks for reading!

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University of Richmond might be worth a look.

What about University of Miami? Not a reach necessarily, but his Spanish might be handy…and noted.

Davidson?

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@thumper1 - UR is actually one of the very few he has visited (with sister) and I think he’ll apply. D was a finalist for one of Davidson’s big scholarships and she and I loved it. I hadn’t really thought about it for him but I’ll suggest it. Thanks!

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Spanish makes me think of border states - New Mexico and Arizona public universities are good merit hunting grounds. Arizona State has a famous honors program, and U of Arizona is building a new honors complex to compete with that. New Mexico public campuses have various honors scholarships as well.

Jeopardy reminds me of Lawrence in Wisconsin. Merit is available but maybe not huge full tuition level. They have a Great Midwest Trivia Contest each winter that is a very big deal on campus.

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He will want to get the ACT to 34 plus for merit.
Are you looking for FA or merit? Have you looked at NPCs? How much can you actually pay? My kid like that got very little in the way of real merit money, but we had no financial need. If you need merit, you don;t get money from reaches. You will want to work out your school’s weighting if it is giving extra points to IB/AP.

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@Sybylla I understand that colleges each calculate GPA their own way so I’ll just let them figure out where he stands with their applicants. He has a very rigorous schedule and is in the top 2% of his class. We will qualify for pretty good aid at the very top schools (hard to figure out since his dad and I are divorced). As far as not getting merit at reaches, I understood that some top schools do give big scholarships (e.g. Vandy, UR, Davidson, Wake, etc.). I consider those scholarships to be super reaches, but I’m trying to narrow down which to shoot for. I do agree that he would need a higher ACT score to have a chance.

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(hard to figure out since his dad and I are divorced).<<<<<<

  You have done all this before, right? You have a 2017 kid?
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Yes, but the FA awards varied for my D and I don’t know any of dad’s financial info. My ex isn’t contributing to any college expenses for D.

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    So you don't actually know what your FA award is for your DD in uni? Your ex did the paperwork though?
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@Sybylla I’m not sure I understand your point. Yes, I know what all the financial awards were. That’s how D and I made the decision and she and I are the ones paying the portion not covered by FA. However, the awards varied quite a bit from one college to another. So, when trying to estimate costs for my son, the NPCs are not accurate because I don’t know dad’s financial info. What I do know is that we would have the best chance of affording top schools that offer the best aid.So, my original question was for help targeting some reach schools to shoot for that might be a good fit based on his strengths and interests.

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The ASU Honors program is great, but check what the mandatory Honors meal plan and Honors dorm fees are :). I’ve heard the Honors food is pretty good tho. Try Kansas University also.

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If he liked Richmond, look at Wake Forest and Vandy (definitely need higher test scores for Vandy as they place a lot of weight on those - just for acceptance let alone merit). William and Mary is strong in those areas but not in merit.

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@turbo93 - Thanks! Good to know.

@rickle1 - Thanks for the suggestions. I do think he would like to apply to Vandy, but I agree that scores would need to go up. Even without merit, it will be a reach, but maybe the FA would work. Thanks again.

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Does he have any interest in the military? With his athletics and class leadership position, he seems a good fit for one of the service academies. But only if he’s actually interested in the military. They are not a good choice for someone who just wants the free education.

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@My3Kiddos - good thought. He seemed interested for a while last spring when one of his teammates decided to go to the AF academy to play tennis. I’m sure he would like some aspects of the academies, especially if he could play water polo, but his interest hasn’t seemed high lately. I think he would really need to be working toward that goal by this point if he wanted to pursue it. Thanks though.

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Someone mentioned Lawrence. That made me think of Beloit which, last I knew, is a FAFSA only school which offers good merit (so dad’s income wouldnt be included). LACs are generally looking for men so that might help as well.

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OP, if your S gets a Zell Miller, it’s really hard to turn down that $$! One of my nieces was a salutatorian, 34 ACT and got the Zell. Game over. Dad was not participating in NPC. She graduated from UGA with four majors (and two degrees). All the AP credits gave her the space to pick up more majors.

I went to UGA – if GT had the offerings then that it does now, I would have given it very serious consideration.

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My kid that did not like engineering ultimately ended up switching to econ. There was an analytical aspect, but lots more course variety/choice than engineering’s rigid course sequence. Said kid that was also wild about Jeopardy (and was a contestant at age 23).

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@CountingDown - Yes, he will get the Zell Miller so I’m pretty sure he’ll end up at GT, which would be great. Even with fewer options of majors for him, I think he’ll have some good choices there. It would have to be a very good school with good money to turn that down.

@colorado_mom - That’s great about being a contestant! My kid would love that.

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Just as an FYI - it is not too late for a junior to be working towards military academy admissions. One of DD’s friends didn’t decide he was interested in an academy until 2nd semester junior year and he is there now. The application for the Naval Academy’s Summer Seminar opens this week, and I’m guessing there are similar timing for the other summer programs. (Which aren’t mandatory for applying to the academy.)