<p>Swarthmore would be a great option for you, but it doesn’t give out merit aid, only aid for financial need. So a lower tier school that would be looking for a great candidate like you would probably be a good idea. I’m not sure if these two have engineering schools, but they both offer a large number of full-ride scholarships and they’re great LACs: University of Richmond and Washington and Lee.</p>
<p>I’d put UIUC on your list</p>
<p>UMich and UIUC are probably not good ideas. Their costs are too high for an OOS student and you’ve indicated that your parents can’t afford to pay.</p>
<p>**Folks…**the student has indicated that her mom has said that she expects her to get scholarships to pay for her schooling because they’ve had to go thru savings for a past unemployment time with the dad. That suggests that their income is high enough not to get any/much aid. And, OOS publics don’t give aid anyway. Some OOS publics will give big merit for stats.</p>
<p>**
This student needs recommendations of schools that will give BIG MERIT for stats. She can’t rely on outside scholarships since those tend to be too small to pay for college and are often for only one year. No one should rely on outside scholarships to pay for college. ** </p>
<p>This student needs a strategy based on her financial situation and how various schools will help her pay for college. Recommending “need only schools” or schools that don’t give merit (or don’t give much merit) is not going to be work.</p>
<p>I know that some are offering recommendations simply based on her request for engineering and liberal arts schools. Simply answering that question doesn’t address her financial situation. There are many schools that answer that question, BUT those schools will not be affordable to the student.</p>
<p>The last thing this student needs is to get accepted to a bunch of unaffordable schools. We’ve just gone thru a spring where kids have posted that they’ve been accepted to their schools, but they have no way to pay for them. The sad thing is that many of those same kids could have gotten huge merit at a few schools if only they had applied to them…but now it’s too late!</p>
<p>I am surprised no one has mentioned Northwestern (private in the Big Ten). It has both a strong liberal arts and engineering scene.</p>
<p>^^^
Northwestern is another school that won’t likely be affordable. Her mom says she needs scholarships to pay for her education.</p>
<p>The problem may be that the student has “top, top schools” in her mind, but those are not the schools that will give her big merit. Yes, she could probably could get accepted to them, but what’s the point if she can’t afford them? </p>
<p>It’s okay to apply to a couple of these top schools “just to see,” but her financial situation is going to determine where she can go to college.</p>
<p>^^ Out-of-state public universities won’t be affordable to her either. Privates, in general, are more likely to offer more need-based aid than publics (merit-based aid is available, but it’s only for students with really high test scores and GPAs).</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>She won’t likely qualify for need-based aid. So, schools that mostly give need aid won’t work (top privates) and OOS publics that don’t give much merit won’t work.</p>
<p>It sounds like her parents’ income is too high, but they don’t have savings because her dad was unemployed awhile back so they went thru savings.</p>
<p>So…the goal should be…suggest privates and publics that give BIG MERIT for her stats. She needs some recommendations that include some schools that will give her ASSURED big merit for her stats. She can’t only rely on a few schools that MIGHT give her merit. </p>
<p>She’s a likely NMF with good stats. She can get big merit at some schools…both private and public…but they have to be strategically identified…</p>
<p>mom2collegekids is right as usual. everyone forgets COA for high EFC families with low savings.
Case Western has great merit money. RPI has merit money especially for Rensselaer medalists. Many of the flagship schools offer merit money for OOS early applicants who get into their honors college, such as UConn. However these options may bring the COA down to 20,000, which may still be too high. Most of the LACs that were suggested give generous FA, but no merit money. George Washington has merit money for engineering. BU is another option. She should look for schools where she is in the to 10-25% and not at the most selective LACs in the country.</p>
<p>I hope I don’t sound like I’m trying to change the subject, but do you have any strong extracurricular activities? In the past, I’ve spoken to a few classmates who were intent on going to top schools. They often had the GPAs and test scores to get in, but their ECs were anemic compared to what those schools were looking for. When they spoke with experts, their hopes deflated a bit. The students were talking about places on the US News top-25 list, but I assume that the same requirement holds true for LACs and many other schools.</p>
<p>Smith is a great LAC with an engineering program.</p>
<p>Lafayette and Trinity College both are true liberal arts colleges with engineering, for which the former is probably slightly more respected</p>
<p>EDIT: Lafayette also gives scholarships to the top 10% of accepted students</p>
<p>Add Tufts to the list too.</p>
<p>^ lol yeah haha. I can’t believe nobody mentioned Tufts already</p>
<p>The OP mentioned Cornell. That is an excellent option for the OP’s interests.</p>
<p>Folks…why are you mentioning schools that won’t likely be affordable to the student?</p>
<p>Cornell??? LOL Tufts??? These aren’t schools that will give this student big merit. </p>
<p>The family’s income is too high for FA. They can’t afford to pay their EFC. The student needs big MERIT!</p>
<p>Lafayette could work if the merit they give to the top 10% is very big. If it’s not, then that won’t work either.</p>
<p>From the student… ***However, my mom has told me that she counting on me getting scholarships (whether through the school or not).</p>
<p>We wouldn’t demonstrate very much financial need, however, any money that could have gone towards paying for college was used up a few years ago when my dad was in-between jobs.***</p>
<p>The student needs to get a figure from her parents as to how much they will pay each year. I’m not getting a warm feeling about this since she has Bright Futures and the mom says she needs scholarships. That suggests to me that the parents can’t pay much towards her college education and they can’t meet their EFC. She says that she won’t qualify for much aid.</p>
<p>
She is willing to go for outside scholarships, m2cc, so no need to cut her list down yet. There is a lot of merit $$ avaliable outside of schools. Takes a lot of work to find/apply but they can pay off.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>Are you serious? There aren’t outside scholarships that will likely pay for this person’s $50k+ per year schooling.</p>
<p>Outside scholarships are usually SMALL and often for one year only. </p>
<p>Outside scholarships are useful to pay for books and other side expenses. They don’t pay for private school tuition and room and board.</p>
<p>We must be reasonable and not give false hope. Yes, she can apply to a couple of “what if” schools and “maybe I’ll get a big outside scholarship like a lottery winner”, but BE REASONABLE. You’re talking to a 17/18 year old. Don’t give false hope.</p>
<p>The chances of winning a big outside scholarship that would cover 4 years is like winning the lottery.</p>
<p>The problem with this kind of situation is the student gets her heart set on big name schools that aren’t affordable (and often won’t consider schools that are.) Applications go out with lots of naive hope, then the acceptances come in and none are affordable. </p>
<p>Again, it’s ok to apply to a couple big name/no merit schools, but that should NOT be her focus. Her focus needs to be on getting MONEY for school.</p>
<p>Wow. Take a chill pill. Yes I am serious. A student who really wants to get scholarship money should research and work for it. I know several students who got lots of small scholarships that added up quite nicely. One friend of my s’s paid her way through a top 20 school with outside $$. Is it easy? No. Is it possible, yes. Seems to me the false hope isnt at this end. Nothing comes easy-- work for it, apply to lots of scholarships, and things can happen- both within school and privately.</p>
<p>I think there needs to be a balance. The reach and half of the match schools should be schools that you would apply to regardless of financial need. The other match schools and safeties should be financial safeties which are schools that you want to attend but are certain that you would be able to attend.</p>
<p>good suggestion, pierre. And students with a good shot at outside scholarships, large and small, should be encouraged to apply. YEs its work, but it can pay off. Outside scholarships open up doors-- the student is then flexible to go wherever they want, to combine them with the school offered $$. If they are reliant on school scholarships and NMS alone, their options may be limited.</p>
<p>** As an aside, NMS can be quite lucrative-- definitelycheck the list of schools that offer big $$ with NMS</p>