<p>Starting to create our college list and everyone knows the publics, but I am trying to find some private schools that will give decent merit aid to these stats:</p>
<p>SAT - 1950 (680 math, 630 cr)
ACT - 29
GPA - 3.8/4
Ok EC , but nothing great. </p>
<p>My son is looking for a medium to large campus with a "green" look as he likes to say. For example he loves UCSD, but the price is just not affordable OOS. </p>
<p>PA resident. </p>
<p>Also intended major is either computer engineering or computer science, but he doesn't want to go to a straight tech school just in case he needs options on major. </p>
<p>Syracuse is big and has merit aid, but I don’t know if you’d get it with those stats. The website is not very helpful! I suspect even with merit aid, you might get just as good a deal at one of the SUNY’s.</p>
<p>Are you thinking 15,000 students undergrad only or combined grad and undergrad? That’s on the upper end, size-wise, for private universities. I can think of one that would fit the size and engineering+not engineering requirements, but it is definitely not green-looking because it is in a city (BU). Not sure if he would qualify for merit at BU or not.</p>
<p>When you do your search, look at what the requirements are for merit awards. At many schools it is not automatic but the academic scholarship requires a separate application or earlier application submission. His grades are great! His scores are good, and clearly in the category of being able to handle a college curriculum. Are they good enough for a merit scholarship? That I do not know.</p>
<p>Is the testing again? If he were to get his scores to an ACT 30 or 1330 M+CR, he’d likely find more merit.</p>
<p>Right now, he’s just under the threshold for many schools’ larger awards.</p>
<p>You mention that UC’s are too expensive OOS (which they are), how much is your budget?</p>
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<p>We need to know how much you’ll spend so we’ll know how much merit you’d need. Obviously, a $10k merit award at a $60k+ school won’t be enough because that just gets you to OOS UC level.</p>
<p>UMiami isn’t likely going to give much/anything unless he retests and gets higher stats.</p>
<p>Agree with the retesting idea, if there is still time. My sense is the privates want to attract with merit the kinds of students who would otherwise go to a top 20 type of place, and a 29 ACT might not gain admission to those kinds of schools. Does your high school use Naviance?</p>
<p>His test scores fit into RIT automatic merit aid, depending on his class rank. It is mostly a tech school though, with some arts specialties. Good for computer science. (co-op school) Suburban-type campus. 15,000 undergrads.</p>
<p>Presidential scholarship requirements ($10,000 to $16,000 per year) - Freshman applicants with combined SAT scores of 1950 or higher (or ACT composite of 28 or higher) and a secondary school rank in the top 20% at the end of junior year, OR combined SAT scores of 1860 or higher (or ACT composite of 27 or higher) and a secondary school rank in the top 10% at the end of junior year. </p>
<p>I don’t know how much merit you are looking for, if that is enough. My S had an ACT of 31 and got the top amount. (His SAT scores did not make the cutoff) Earning money through co-op sessions can help pay for tuition also.</p>
<p>You said you’ve considered the public schools, but have you considered the ‘cold belt’? Montana, Idaho,Wyo, Utah? Many of those flagships are in the 10,000-15,000 student size, have environmental concerns when constructing buildings, and of course have engineering as well as other colleges to transfer into should engineering not work out.</p>
<p>U of Colorado also fits into the ‘environmentally award’ schools, just won a LEEDS award, but is a little bigger and a lot more expensive.</p>
<p>Oh. Well, the schools I mentioned, Utah, Montana, etc are gorgeous right now, with red and gold leaves everywhere, but soon will be white. Very very white.</p>
<p>Except for size, U of Rochester comes to mind. You can do a search for just the size and private universities and there’s a great variety of options, but there’s too many unknowns as some are strongly affiliated with a particular religion. As mentioned for other schools above, UR has a limited window of green before it becomes mostly white. </p>
<p>DePaul might not be as “green” as he’d like, but I think he might qualify for decent aid there, and they are less expensive than many private colleges. The architecture isn’t anything great, but it’s in a nice part of Chicago. It’s one of the largest private universities in the country, and the largest Catholic college.</p>
<p>Seriously, what’s wrong w Penn State? It’s a “public ivy”, has a gorgeous campus, has a large student population, has a nice college town, has super school spirit, and in-state tuition.</p>
<p>You might be surprised at how big some of the campuses of research universities with undergraduate enrollments of 6,000-8,000 “feel” when you’re there. Rochester, for instance, has around 6,000 undergraduates, which is just barely double the size of D’s high school. But since most students live on campus and there are also 3,500 grad students in the mix, it feels as large as some schools we visited that were twice the size. </p>
<p>McGill is another possibility, as a realistic “reach.” He wouldn’t qualify for aid there, but it is still less expensive than most private colleges and out-of-state publics in US. It’s right in Montreal, but it has a traditional academic feel to it. It has about 20k undergraduates. </p>
<p>p.s. @GMTplus7 - Many kids instinctively reject their own state universities. Here in NJ, they regularly spurn Rutgers in favor of UMD, Penn State, UConn, and Delaware. PA residents also have in-state tuition at Pitt and Temple. The OP mentioned that they are already looking at public universities, but her son might have an "anywhere but . . . " attitude toward Penn State. </p>