Input please on almost final app. list for S

<p>oh sorry - of course I didn’t mean more “reachy” than CMC!! He would be ecstatic - it just feels like there is alot of space between the rigor of CMC / Whitman / UPS and Seattle Pacific / Westminster. But all of the schools are ones he is interested in. It is so hard to figure out what kind of chances anyone has for schools these days! For example we thought of Cal Lutheran as a potential super-safety, but they said their applications went up 66% this year!
Santa Clara sounds really interesting - there are lots of folks posting with happy experiences there. I don’t think he is going to have a chance to visit very many places - should we be worried about that?</p>

<p>Puma, have you visited UPS and what did you think? We’re heading up there in a couple of weeks for a visit. I like your son’s list a lot - he’s got a good variety on there and should have some great choices in April!</p>

<p>UPS was welcoming and organized, but when we were there we didn’t see very many students and those we saw didn’t interact much with our tour. S did a tour, info session, and interview – the vibe he got from the admissions staff was more self-confident and less laid back than at Whitman or SPU, he said. He left feeling like he needs to visit again and spend more time with students to get a better feel. One thing he mentioned, which I’m not sure if I can articulate well, is that like Willamette, UPS felt smaller than it actually is to him. While, Whitman, on the other hand, felt larger (in students, not acres).
Hope this makes sense. Would love to hear about your visit and impressions!</p>

<p>Looking for small school and either merit aid, or meets need and generous type environment. In descending order of selectivity:</p>

<p>Do you have determined “need”? Do you know what your EFC is? </p>

<p>Do the schools on your list tend to give much “free money” to those with EFCs that exceed federal grants thresholds?</p>

<p>How much can you contribute each year?</p>

<p>It’s hard to assess how good your son’s list is without that info. If you have a highish EFC and can only pay a lower amount, than that is a problem.</p>

<p>If you need a lot of merit (like full or half tuition), then that may also be an issue.</p>

<p>My daughter is at Willamette (Junior) and son is at UPS (freshman) and both are very happy. I suggest students looking at either of these schools schedule an overnight visit-- the admissions office will schedule that for you. To me they have a similar feel. UPS gave my son a good financial aid package-- better than my daughter’s at Willamette.</p>

<p>How did your son’s visit to Redlands go?</p>

<p>vballmom - S is home from his time at Cal Lu, CMC, and Redlands and is in love with CMC. If we didn’t need to compare financial aid packages, he would want to apply ED to CMC.
Cal Lu he did not get to attend a class, but had a good time. Felt the campus was quite sprawling (negative for him) and very smoggy.
CMC - overnight, etc. -he’s in love. Great students he met, interesting activities for fun, and academics that made him excited.
Redlands - nice enough kids, but lots of drugs and drinking, as well as the classes he attended were underwhelming for him. I think, in Redlands defense, that he attended a freshman english class, which he would test out of. He was taken aback at the lack of involvement and enthusiasm for the class, though, from both the prof and the students, as well as the level of instruction. He’s now interested in adding some more schools to his list that are along the rigor of Whitman, CMC, etc. and is re-thinking perhaps going a greater distance away to reach that goal.
Any suggestions?</p>

<p>How about Macalester in St. Paul, MN?</p>

<p>Mom2 - We do not qualify for federal aid, but have an EFC of about 20k, so at these schools we indeed have “need”.
My concern is with the profile schools where it is less clear how our numbers would be interpreted ---- in the past we certainly saw a bit of “preferential packaging” where the school who wants the student gives a very different EFC number derived from the profile, than the school who isn’t all that interested.
We are able to meet our EFC it if is within a couple thousand of the FAFSA number. But that will require half-tuition + at most places. We would like to avoid packaged loans.
This is why we have focused mostly on schools that offer significant merit aid and those where S is toward the top of their applicant range.
But now he would like to add a few more schools with more rigorous academics, so I’m back to the drawing board a little…</p>

<p>good thought oregonian - do you have any experience with their financial aid/scholarhip awards?</p>

<p>Trinity in San Antonio, Colorado College if he can deal with the one-class-at-a-time schedule (we have a friend whose D is there and LOVES it).</p>

<p>Look at historymom’s great thread on Western schools for 3.0-3.3 – they may get you some great schools that offer merit aid with your S’s stats.</p>

<p>One thing both my kids noted was that at some schools, they felt like they’d grow out of them before four years are up – if that ‘stretch’ is important to him, consider visiting a medium-sized research U or two as a contrast to the smaller schools. It may be small enough to be comfortable, but big enough for the resources he may want. </p>

<p>If he is full diploma IB, he will be more than prepared to tackle the workload. </p>

<p>–parent of 2010 IB grad</p>

<p>I also urge you to take a look at Colorado College.</p>

<p>Thanks Counting Down - I agree - the full IB program is a great prep for college, but I don’t think he has any real idea of how far removed it is from a “regular” high school program (not bunches of AP classes, just regular).
I have visitied Trinity several years ago - what kind of peer schools would you name for it in terms of academic rigor? I have it pegged with Willamette, for example in my mind, but I’m not quite sure if that’s correct.
Re: colorado college - other poster’s experience lead us to believe it isn’t affordable for us. Do you have experience otherwise?</p>

<p>Colorado College is expensive, but no more so than Whitman and CMC. It will all depend on the amount of financial aid you receive. As I’ve posted before, I think you really won’t know how much aid a college will give you until you apply and get the offer, nothwithstanding any “financial aid calculators” you might get. Colorado College does give merit scholarships, though it’s hard to say whether your son will get one. In my son’s case, the best financial aid offer he got was from Whitman. The worst was from Bowdoin and Middlebury. I wouldn’t have guessed this would be the case based on the financial aid “reputations” of these schools. Colorado College was about in the middle. If you think Colorado College is a good fit, you might as well apply and see what happens. Colorado College also has the advantage of offering non-binding early action, which includes an estimated financial aid package with the admissions decision. In my son’s case, he knew the amount of his merit scholarship at the end of December, and they actually increased the offer in March. My son ended up going elsewhere, but the financial aid he received from Colorado College made it a feasible option. Good luck!</p>

<p>puma12 thanks for the followup on your son’s impressions. CMC is a wonderful college and it’s great that he’s excited about it. </p>

<p><em>ouch</em> on the drugs & drinking at Redlands. I knew a little about the drinking, sorry to hear about the prevalence of the drugs.</p>

<p>It would be even greater if it weren’t so difficult to get in :)</p>

<p>On the plus side for Redlands, he also said it was really pretty!
Sunmachine - thank you for your experience - it’s encouraging!!</p>

<p>You might also want to look at Grinnell. Top notch and rigorous academics, and a reputation for good merit aid. Also, not sure I understand your post where you say your EFC is $20K but you don’t qualify for FA… ?</p>

<p>What about Clark University in Worcester, MA? merit! small university (very small), not strictly a LAC, CTCL, 5th year free for Masters.</p>

<p>OP,</p>

<p>Are you looking for more reach schools? Match schools? Safety schools? Or schools with great merit aids? If you are looking for reach schools, then I would suggest your son to consider Johns Hopkins. Obviously, their pre-med program is top-notch. They don’t offer a business degree at the undergraduate level, but their economics program is top ranked. My daughter is a sophomore there. Her “stats” was almost identical to your son’s (same UW GPA with full AP load, same ACT, and just about the same SAT, good ECs, and leadership roles in high school). The work there is definitely challenging, but my daughter loves it there. The school is small enough that you feel the intimacy of like a LAC, but large enough that you don’t run into the same people everyday. The campus is beautiful. And contray to “popular” belief, the environment is not cut-throat and the students there do have fun (my daughter can attest to it). Just thought you may want to consider it.</p>

<p>sunmachine - what I mean is we don’t qualify for federal aid - like pell grant, etc. we will qualify for loans, and for institutional aid – am I making sense? I know that we will qualify for “need-based aid” but not for anything federal. If S went to state U, we would not qualify for aid.</p>

<p>Clark - cool - a school I’ve never heard of that sounds worth learning about - I love hearing from all you guys!</p>