Nothing is guaranteed as admission to elite colleges is a crap shoot. It sucks that on top of that we are Asians.
Kid has top SATS/SATII and GPAs. My third kid will be applying to college next year. She is top 10% at elite boarding school and school does not rank. She is currently attends an elite boarding school on full need based financial aid. Two older daughters attended same boarding school and Harvard on full need based aid. Harvard was very generous with need based aid.
When I ran Net Price Calculator based on projected income, HYP were all 11K and MIT and Stanford were $20K. Other ivies and other great computer science schools are 25K. Other ranked computer science schools are OOS and therefore may not be able to afford as it is out of our reach like Berkley, UUIC, Georgia tech etc. We are still looking for other merit based scholarships too.
This summer she is working in the computer science field and summer pay is very good. Kid is gung ho about majoring in computer science. We know Stanford and MIT are great. Among HYP due to great need based aid, we are looking for computer science ranking in these schools; she can apply only one SCEA College. Because of need based aid need, ED schools are out of running in early round.
Yes we have safeties in mind and some matches too as nothing is guaranteed. Please suggest some colleges. Thanks
You have three children who have all attended an elite boarding school free of charge and two of those children attended Harvard free of charge. The third child - if admitted to Harvard, Yale or Princeton would pay $11k per year or less than the amount that most students would pay for a single year at one of those universities.
Please explain exactly how it “sucks” to be Asian?
Your children are obviously very smart and hard working and things seem to be working out well for them, which is great. I think there are a lot of people out there who would trade for that type of raw deal you’re lamenting. Just putting some perspective on things…
If you are on your third kid at an elite boarding school, why are you here asking strangers questions? You have all of the resources in the world at your fingertips.
@milee30 I know that my family is very lucky. Despite being Asians that my kids are getting these opportunities, it is awesome. If we were back in Asia, with my financial resources if was not possible to get these kind of opportunities.
When i say it sucks to be Asians, I mean to say that there are more intelligent and capable students than there are seats available; all Asian students are vying for those few seats @ colleges that have resources for need based or financial aids. College can only take so many Asians and they have to take other capable students from non Asian backgrounds too. Thus the college have to turn away lot of intelligent and hard working kids. Hence competition is brutal.
@Eeyore123 I have resources but I am trying to find out what are other options just like you are here too. It does not hurt to ask questions from other people who have traveled the path before.
In addition I have my limits and I rather ask questions than be egoistical. I rather not argue as it does not help me and my kid.
I don’t know that I’d attribute your daughters’ success to luck - they obviously are very intelligent and work extremely hard or they wouldn’t have been as successful as they’ve been.
My point was that yes, competition is brutal but your daughters are doing well and competing just fine. Instead of focusing on the sucky parts of the competition (and trust me, as the mom of two white boys I understand the temptation to feel like competition is tougher for ORMs), there is a lot in your scenario to be grateful for and recognizing that might put you in a better place. It would be a shame if bitterness were to seep through and discourage your daughter; she is a great kid who is likely to be successful - that should be the message and focus.
Looking at the upside here - it would be hard for anyone to argue that a Harvard education for under $50k total is not an incredible bargain. I usually counsel people to avoid student loan debt like the plague, but even if your family had to borrow every penny surely the value of this type of degree makes economic sense. Think of how quickly your two older daughters could have paid off a $50k student loan with their Wall Street jobs…
These are not bad problems to have. Seriously. You have great kids and they have successfully navigated a competitive system. Life is good.
Back to your question about other great CS programs she might want to consider: Harvey Mudd and Carnegie Mellon.
@milee30 admission to these colleges is a crap shoot. No one knows what happens and thus we are looking for casting a winder net. Harvey Mud and CMU are very difficult for CS. Daughter will apply there. Do you know any other good colleges that provide good CS. I know RPI and WPI , Northeastern also provide good aid.
Sounds like her list of colleges to apply to is a good one. If she’s writing good essays and has some interesting outside ECs, she may not get into Harvard (luck of the draw and all that), but surely she will get into at least one of those on her list. She will be fine. More than fine.
It appears WPI is very interested in improving the female to male ratio and may be putting some merit money toward female applicants. Perhaps your Asian daughter has a hook here!
Both WPI and RPI give some merit, but neither school meets the demonstrated financial need of ALL admitted students. According to last years data from the US NEWS the percent of need met by matriculating students are:
MIT meets 100%,
Smith College meets 100%,
Lehigh meets 97%
CMU meets 85%,
WPI meets 81%,
RPI meets 80%,
Stevens meets 68%
The above college selection was based on an earlier discussion. It also concerned a CS major. :bz
It might be helpful to clarify how much you can afford per year and what is your cost-management strategy. Will you focus on merit scholarships, or will you focus on need-based aid? Typically, the schools with the best merit awards are not the same as the schools with the best need-based aid.
In this thread, you seem to be focused on “elite” reach colleges, which tend to offer generous n-b aid but little or no merit money. Are you able and willing to cover the Expected Family Contributions for any of the top ~20 research universities (Ivies, etc.)? If so, then for your reaches you may want to focus on schools your daughter likes that also have the lowest EFC estimates (as long as you don’t think they’re out-of-reach). There really won’t be too much difference in the CS department quality among “elite” research universities … so, you can afford to focus on net cost and personal preferences. If you don’t agree with me on that, you can look up their CS graduate program rankings (here, for example: https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-science-schools/computer-science-rankings).
If even the lowest EFC estimates for these schools are too high for your budget, then you may do better by seeking large merit scholarships. Check out the following lists: http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/ http://competitivefulltuition.yolasite.com/
Note that the merit scholarship application deadlines already have passed for some of these schools.
The remaining schools will tend to be much less selective than the Ivies and other “elite” schools.
For what it’s worth, US News ranks the University of Southern California #20 for CS (tied with Yale). That’s a graduate program ranking, but if it’s at all accurate, it should have some bearing on undergraduate program quality. USC is somewhat less selective than the Ivies. It claims to cover 100% of demonstrated need, like the Ivies. Unlike the Ivies, it also offers merit scholarships. Its location should be quite good for CS internship opportunities. About 20% of entering USC students are Asian/non-Hispanic; that pct does not include internationals.
However, USC’s net price calculator can give very different answers than those of the Ivies. Use the net price calculators instead of taking “meet need” claims at face value.
Try schools that are known for strong undergraduate programs but not ranked for their computer science grad school - Vassar, Amherst, Williams, Barnard. (All of those assume your daughter has stats to be competitive for Harvard!)
I know folks on CC don’t give UT Dallas much love and it’s not the college for everyone (no football team but an amazing chess team!) UTD has an good comp sci program. National Merit is a full ride, highest regular merit is about $5K short of the COA but if she really has top stats she might look into their McDermott Scholarship it’s a full ride plus lots of intangables. Past McDermott scholars have turned down iveys in favor of the this scholarship.
Good advice. Yes, you will see variations in the net price estimates for the ~60 “meet need” colleges
(although I still would expect even the least generous of them … if their claims are accurate … to offer lower net prices to high-need families than most private or OOS public schools that don’t make the claim). Typically, the most selective “meet need” colleges seem to be the most generous.
Here are some net cost estimates I get for a family in CA making $150K/year with $75K in cash assets, $75K in other financial assets, $75K in home equity, and 3 kids in college next year:
$38,410 … Michigan-AA (OOS)
$31,457 … University of Southern California
$24,782 … Cornell
$22,063 … UCLA (in state)
$20,901 … Harvey Mudd
$18,133 … Columbia College & Columbia Engineering
$14,643 … MIT
For UCLA, I couldn’t find CDS Section H (financial aid) data for 2016-17.
Michigan’s CDS claims that on average, it covers 89% of demonstrated need. The percentage may be higher for in-state students or for families below a certain income level. The others claim to cover 100% of demonstrated need on average (although clearly their definitions/formulas do vary.)
Definitely run your own estimates for any schools that interest you.
UCLA does not meet need norvdoes it give FA and little merit aid to OOS students. Not sure where the $22K costs are coming from but in-state students pay close to $30K. I know the above is an example of the varying costs attributed to the NPC’s but UCLA is not close to being an option with a $20K budget. Think $60K/ year for OOS.