I wanted to comment on the poster who thought Oberlin might be too rural, much like Grinnell. My DD is a first year at Oberlin and loves it and it’s not what I would call rural at all. The campus has a really nice little town that is right across the quad with about 8-10 restaurants, some shops, a movie theater etc. It’s also about 40 minutes to Cleveland with buses going there every weekend. Oberlin has a lot of opportunities for science research and gives good merit money.
We also visited Grinnell and it has a totally different feel with regard to the town. The town surrounding Grinnell seems run down and not as connected to the college. You are also in the middle of nowhere with a long drive to a city. The campus is beautiful but it just didn’t have enough to appeal to my daughter.
Yes- by lower reach I mean a school that gives merit money but is challenging to get into. I am aware that the Ivy’s and some other reach schools only give financial aid- for which we do not qualify. I was looking for a school that only accepts a small percentage of the applicants but that does give merit money.
Case Western is another school where your D may get some merit.
Keep in mind that the large awards to schools such as Emory and Vanderbilt are not based on stats alone. Everybody has high stats. Those awards generally go to students that they want for some other reason… whether it’s geography, a kid who would otherwise attend Princeton, a student with a very unique profile or extra curricular involvement, etc.
This does not mean your D should not apply… she should, otherwise she will never know. What it does mean is that if you are looking for significant merit, you need to craft a list of schools that are likely to give it to her. I think you have received some excellent suggestions. Good luck!
While some of those schools may make admission offers, they probably won’t come with much (if any) merit money. At the extreme (w.r.t. acceptance) consider a school like UChicago, where even admission is unlikely, but admission plus one of the $10K University Scholarships may be completely out of reach. Ditto for the Duke Robertson scholarships. Go down a notch in admission selectivity to a school like Oberlin and you might have a more realistic shot at getting a little merit money.
Have a look at what US News calls “regional” schools, such as Loyola University Maryland or some of the other Jesuit schools in the Northeast. The percentage of admitted applicants at some of these schools is well over 50% but the average merit awards might be ~$15K to $20K, and your chances of getting one are much better.
Really, though, the best bang for the buck may be at your own state flagship (esp. if it has a good honors college.)Even if a place like Loyola (or Oberlin) comes through with a $25K award, the net cost still will be much higher than in-state public prices.
I think reach-but-merit is everyone’s dream. I’m assuming it is really the high level academics she is looking for?
My S18 is also looking for the reach-with-merit dream. His list includes Vanderbilt, Washington and Lee, CMC, and Washington U (super reaches for merit), and then I think hopefully more likely for merit choices USCalifornia, Trinity (Texas), Denison, Wooster, Miami Ohio, Richmond.
My D16 got merit at Pitt, Tulane, Kansas, Grinnell, Lawrence–chose Pitt and loves it there. Her thought after the process is that she wished she had applied to more big urban schools (because that was what she wound up liking.) She felt applying to the small LACs was wasted effort in the end. Not sure I agree because she took the year to figure out what she wanted. Anyway, if your D can narrow her “wants” more it might help. My S has obviously not achieved this (see his eclectic list above).
@tk21769 - unfortunately we live in PA so the flagship PSU is very costly and only gives about 4,500 merit for the honors program. DS is paying less at IU than if he stayed in-state!
Probably mid sized- though I can also see her doing well at some honors colleges at larger schools that give big schools a small school feel. She prefers near a city, not too rural and would like a campus feel.
How many schools does she want to apply to? It seems that she has a nice list so far. Have you looked into Wake Forest? They give merit, although getting it is not based on stats alone. Again… you need to have that certain “something” that they want ( my D has a friend with his own music business that he sold… think along those lines for significant merit to these schools).
How about Ohio State honors? It’s very big but she would likely get merit and the honors program may make it feel smaller. Watch the deadlines. I know somebody who received significant merit from Michigan State.