@OhHey What do you think your parent contribution per year could be?
@eyemgh great points. I really don’t care how prestigious a school DD attends. I just want it to be a good fit for her (and not leave us eating cat food). We ALMOST didn’t go look at Rice because I was worried about the “southern ivy league” reputation attached to it. We live what we preach in that one as DD attends a title 1 (ie poor) school but it is a good fit for her.
It will be interesting to see what the extended time does for her. We have always purchased her answers but generally she does well until she runs out of time and just answers the last questions with one letter to the end. For the questions she genuinely misses, they are generally things she can do (except correct spelling/punctuation ) but didn’t read the question correctly.
I trally appreciate your help.
Maybe you could look at Skidmore if you need large aid. @NEPatsGirl @OhHey
OhHey, a couple of things:
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Please take into consideration the quality of the school’s learning resources. Some schools (Brown) have excellent reputations for accommodating kids with LD’s should your daughter need it. You haven’t mentioned if she gets accommodations and support for her LD now, but she may need in in college.
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Have a look at some of the reaches on this list which offer most if not all tuition for students with incomes under 100-120k.
http://affordableschools.net/20-tuition-free-colleges/ -
Given your daughter’s success in school and her dyslexia, I think it is pretty likely your daughter’s ACT is not reflecting her intellectual ability. Just in case your school counselor hasn’t informed you, not all colleges require the ACT or SAT. Here’s a list of test optional/test flexible colleges. https://www.fairtest.org/university/optional
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Has your daughter taken SAT subject tests? If not, you may wish to have her take one or two. You should definitely apply for accommodations for that as well.
Also,
Colleges which quickly come to mind for bright, kind kids, with physics, nurturing environment, access to professors:
28 ACT- Bryn Mawr is test optional; Hamilton is test flexible
Higher ACT needed: Yale , Claremont Colleges, Haverford https://www.haverford.edu/academics/biophysics-concentration
Schools I would recommend include Skidmore (they will love that she intends to major in physics!) where undergrad research is available and paid to top students. They are building their STEM departments and in our case provided a fantastic finaid package for my top Math/CS daughter. No greek life, artsy/nerdy vibe, my take is a very kind student body. FWIW, my D sounds just like yours 
When D applied we considered it a low match but its a “hot” school right now and I think their current acceptance rate is 25%.
Other schools I would look at would be those who provide 100% need. Our favorites on that list were Dickinson and Vassar, she is a match for Dickinson I would say, Vassar a reach. Other ones we toured and liked were Gettysburg, Mount Holyoke (all girls), and Wheaton, all matches IMHO.
Schools not on the 100% needs met list that I would suggest looking at are Simmons and Barnard (all girls), Bates, and University of Scranton.
Good luck and let us know how things develop so we can keep helping you.
Based on your original post, top colleges that would be excellent for physics may not be particularly familiar to your family. As an indication of some of the stronger programs, students from these colleges have received Apker Awards (for undergraduate research in physics):
Williams
Swarthmore
Amherst
Hamilton
Haverford
Harvey Mudd
Colgate
Wesleyan
Reed
Macalester
Middlebury
Oberlin
Mt. Holyoke
Franklin & Marshall
Bucknell
From this group, these schools have had graduates who have won a Nobel Prize in a science field:
Swarthmore
Amherst
Hamilton
Haverford
Oberlin
Several of the listed schools are test optional; Most are collaborative; Nearly all offer excellent financial aid.
She should be auto admit for UT and I would working in another trip there. Great quality, convenience and price in state . My DS didn’t realize UT/TxA&M’s application deadlines are so early. He is starting at RPI in the fall - the Quad looks very Harry Potter and there is snow!
These 60+ colleges claim to meet full financial need:
Some of the colleges had one student win an Apker Award. Awards that were won a over a couple of decades ago don’t represent an accurate refection of the quality of the current physics department. Ditto Nobel.
Hamilton 1994
Williams 1995
Haverford 1996
Swarthmore 1997
Harvey Mudd 1998
Williams 1999
Swarthmore 2000
IL State 2001
Williams 2002
Harvey Mudd 2003
Williams 2004
Bucknell 2005
Harvey Mudd 2006
Oberlin 2006
Colgate 2007
Haverford 2008
Mt Holyoke 2009
Wellesley 2009
Williams 2010
Wesleyan 2010
Augustana 2011
Franklin & Marshall 2012
Wesleyan 2013
Loyola Univ MD 2014
Williams 2015
^ Winning the Apker would be only one distinction. Several of the listed schools that have not produced recent recipients have produced finalists within the last ten years, for example.
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
I will assume that the above 2 posters will agree to disagree, or will move their debate to PM; it does not belong here. 3 posts deleted.
@OhHey This list includes some colleges that you may not be familiar with and that have excellent alumni outcomes.
4 metrics:
- Percentage entering elite professional schools (for MBA/JD/MD).
- Production of “American Leaders”, who are mostly leders in business, government, and the arts.
- Percentage winning prestigious national student awards.
- Percentage getting PhDs.
Ivies & equivalents (16 RU’s and 14 LAC’s):
@Crewdad You have posted this list, which was actually compiled by another, here uncredited, CC poster, on multiple threads lately. In my opinion, any list posted on CC should relate to the OP’s particular interests and consist of more than just the replication of another commenter’s viewpoints.
It is important to be clear about your sources when posting on CC. The list you posted looks very official, but is lacking an outside link or original source. It also contains a rather eclectic list of schools, all excellent institutions IMO, but some are questionably excluded or included. Colgate, for instance, is noted for its strength in the business world, but does not appear at all; Harvey Mudd, which enrolls students with the fourth highest SAT scores in the nation, appears as a sixth “tier” school; Bennington does not offer a physics major.
If your intent is to offer your opinion with such a list, then please state this in your post. If, however, you are offering information based on data and statistics, then please reveal your source, and perhaps a link, for said data, so that we may have the option of reviewing it independently.
Bennington areas of study. Physics is listed
http://www.bennington.edu/academics/areas-of-study-curriculum/science-mathematics
https://www.universities.com/find/vermont/best/mathematics-and-science/physics
On some level Bennington does appear to offer the major, so thank you for the correction. However, they do not appear to offer typical physics course sequences, nor to have graduated a single physics major in a recent year.
Niche statistics are reported by students not by the college. There may have been students who majored in physics but aren’t Niche devotees. Although Zuckerberg would have you believe differently, not everyone posts on Facebook either.
For an example of how unreliable Niche is, one needs to look no further than Bushiness Insider’s list of the 50 colleges where students work the hardest. BI relied on data from Niche to compile the list. Caltech is conspicuously not included. Seriously?
http://www.businessinsider.com/colleges-with-the-hardest-working-students-2015-12/#2-university-of-chicago-49y?
Regardless, I posted PurpleTitan’s list to give OhHey additional colleges to consider. I indeed was remiss for not linking the source and giving PurpleTitan credit for his diligent and well-researched work.
Niche’s subjective aspects tend to be based on uncertain origins. However, the site’s *statistics/i appear to be generally reliably compiled from standard sources.
Good point. I’m bad. I had the subjective aspects in mind. My criticism of Business Insider and their reliance on Niche stands.
Sorry for chiming in late @OhHey I have been traveling. For physics, you don’t need to worry about saving money for graduate school. If your daughter gets into a Ph.D. program it should be fully funded. In addition, most every physics degree is the same in content so you should find a university that fits your daughter well in terms of size and cost for you. If she takes the most challenging set of courses and gets research experience, she will get into a good graduate program. Our students at Illinois Tech have gotten into just about any graduate program that they were qualified for.
The schools that have been mentioned in this thread, all have fine physics programs. You won’t go wrong with any of them. The key is that your daughter is comfortable there and that the finances don’t stress your family too much. From your description, she knows how to work hard and that will work in her favor.
I’m happy to answer specific questions on this thread or in PM if you like.
This Forbes article from earlier today suggests that small colleges may be optimal for the study of physics:
From the article: