Hi all,
I was looking at Lafayette’s 2017-18 Common Data Set. The CDS notes that first year freshman scored 52.59% in the 600-699 range for EBRW and that 45.60% scored in the 600-699 range for math. I am curious if any current or former Lafayette students who scored in those ranges or parents of students whose child scored in those ranges would be willing to note if they received any merit aid or grant from the school.
Thanks in advance.
My son was in that range for each. When we inquired about merit they told us that the typical recipient had 1400+ SATs. FWIW, he received nice merit at Union, his runner-up.
My D’s SAT one sitting 1510 (m780 erw730). Uwgpa4.0. Offered no merit- we did have need and they met it though. She is also engineering- Lehigh & bucknell also made similar offers- she will enroll in Lafayette!
Thanks Temperantia. Did your son attend Union?
Hi mccurk. Thanks very much. My D is a junior, SAT is lower than your D’s, will likely study economics and is also hoping to get recruited for athletics. She’ll havee to ramp up her SATs. I wonder if being an econ major might make it easier for her to get merit aid.
My D’s sat was 1400- April, junior year- she wanted to work on them- private tutoring for English $300 over the summer really helped her out- was well spent money- though she was very motivated. Lafayette definitely takes into consideration ECs for merit and my D’s are great but not super focused. If your D is recruited for a sport- that will be helpful! I am happy we are done with admissions for now.(have 15yr old twins so not done for good) best wishes!!
@bear6613 My wallet regrets that he stuck with Lafayette over Union but he loves it there and we are very pleased with how it is working out.
Thanks mccurk and Temperantia. All very helpful. My D was at Laf yesterday and really likes it. She just took the ACT test for the first time on Saturday. Her counselor said she would probably do better on the ACT that the SAT. She took the SAT last October. I thought she did very well since all the prep work was her own. No test prep classes or tutors. She’s taking the SAT again in June. We’ll see what happens. Fingers crossed. I don’t feel like shelling out more cash for test-prep tutors.
@bear6613 I believe Khan academy has some free online SAT test prep.
Thanks happy1
Mccurk. Curious why your child opted for Lafayette over Lehigh & Bucknell for engineering?
thanks
@Colo-mom
Lafayette seems to be a very supportive environment- whole school and within engineering. Students have easy access to professors ( Lafayette is undergraduate only) Also my D is not certain she wants to be involved with Greek life- and at Lehigh and Bucknell Greek life appears to play a more dominant role. For my D Lafayette seems to be the best fit…for my 15 year old son who may very well choose a similar career path I do not think it would be a great match! Happy we visited a few times so I feel we had a good idea about campus before making the choice.
Agree about the environment. Tempkid decided that, instead of chemistry or bio, he wanted to pursue chemical engineering. I’ve often heard on this site how difficult it can be to move into engineering from another track but (so far) that has not been the case with him. His advisor and the department heads have been very supportive of his plan.
Bear6613, a little more info for your consideration:
S accepted Class of 2022. >1400 SAT, 8 APs, no hooks. No merit $ but great FA, 90%+ of same in the form of institutional grant, and fully met EFC.
We knew we couldn’t attend the April weekend for accepted students, so visited in March. Tour, info session, and walked/drove around campus and Easton on our own. Went for lunch at Upper Farinon (great food btw). As I pulled out my wallet to pay, a student happened by. He insisted on buying us lunch, and swiped us in using his meal plan card. He was soon joined by 3 friends for a quick conversation with us. Such a friendly, engaging and poised group. Thrilled S will be at Lafayette College.
Thanks Moaejjb. We arranged a campus tour with a current Laf student that is from our town. It happened to be on the accepted students day. My D realy likes the school and my wife and I would be thrilled with her going to school only about 1.5 hours away. D’s is only a junior now. SAT is just a bit lower. I believe she’ll have 5 APs at graduation. She has good EC’s and might get recruited to play a sport. Would you mind teloing me what region of the country you are from? I wonder if living close to the school is a detriment to getting any aid.
We are in the Midwest. Since Lafayette meets 100% of demonstrated need I think living close by isn’t a factor with respect to FA, but no idea regarding merit. Recommend running the Net Price Calculator if you haven’t done so yet, it was very accurate to what was offered. Though slightly less, Lehigh also offered very solid FA, also mostly grant, and also consistent with the NPC. From an admissions standpoint, it certainly didn’t hurt that we are from an area with fewer applicants than yours. Best wishes to you and your D for an exciting college search.
Moaejib - do you mind me asking what your EFC was? My problem is that the first year my son would attend, I will have 3 in college. His second year, he will be the only one in college. My EFC will soar. Drexel’s package is good for all years attending. Would love if Lafayette was the same.
My oldest child received significant merit aid several years ago with an SAT over 1500. Her majors were Engineering and Business. She chose a different school to attend.
Would you mind me asking what she received in merit? My daughter has the same scores but different major.
@Melandmaya My understanding from our S going through the process last year was that they offered 2 levels of merit: Marquis Scholar (24k + 4K towards faculty led trip) and Fellow (40k + 4K). Our S was offered the Scholar with 34 ACT/1520 SAT (8 APs, lots of great ECs, but 1st semester senior grades dropped (3Bs, early senior slide/ugh)). I don’t think the intended major was relevant (he was undeclared). He loved the school and so did we but he ended up somewhere else bc he liked an interdisciplinary major they had. Hope this helps.