Just another senior looking for some help with my college search.
Background:
-3.7 Unweighted GPA
-Top 2% of class
-2 college level classes summer before junior year
-2 college level classes my senior year
-Exchange student to Taiwan junior year
-Involved in research at SUNY New Paltz w/ STEP program since freshman year
-Active in Youth in Govt, and Writing Club
-No SAT scores yet
-First in family to graduate from high school
-Fluent in Spanish and Mandarin
My current list:
Bowdoin College
Wake Forest University
Allegheny College
SUNY Binghamton University (instate-public)
Hamilton College (instate-private)
College of William and Mary
More than anything I want to find more matches/safeties and/or affordable schools where I could pay the instate tuition (I’m from New York.)
I would really like to major in geology, anthropology/archeology, or math.
The only schools I won’t consider applying are:
SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry - limited amount of majors
Stony Brook - I think the atmosphere there sucks
My parents have a combined income of $115,000 and we’re a family of five. The plan is that my parents will help me out with 10k (15k max) and the rest I’ll get through loans and work during the summer. How manageable would it be if I were to go Bowdoin or Wake Forest with both of them being like 47k a year?
Any schools you think I should add/drop from the list?
You might want to look at schools that give good merit aid. There are a lot of good LACs in the midwest that do so.
Some to take a look at (not all midwest): Dickinson, St. Olaf (very good math dept), Denison, Lawrence University, St. Lawrence, Beloit (strong in anthro), Bryn Mawr - if female (strong in anthro/archeology).
Since you have expressed an interest in both anthropology and the subfield of archaeology, you may want to favor colleges that have a range of offerings in all four anthropology subfields (cultural and social, linguistic and biological anthroplogy and archaeology). Of your listed colleges that I am familiar with, Hamilton is very strong in geoscience and math and offers all the anthro subfields. Bowdoin is strong in math and offers earth science, but appears to lack a traditional archaeology track. I definitely concur with the recommendations above of Beloit and Bryn Mawr and would add Grinnell. I’m not fully familiar with their programs, but you may already have a reliably affordable option with Binghamton. At William & Mary you would be at the mercy of the state of Virginia. For all of your choices you should consult the NPCs through the individual college websites.
Just checking - you know that being “instate” for Hamilton won’t affect tuition at all, right?
Anyway, definitely check out SUNY Geneseo. It’s considered the best or second-best SUNY (second only to Binghamton). Because it’s much smaller than Binghamton, its atmosphere would be somewhat closer to an LAC like Bowdoin or Hamilton.
I’m in the process of looking into all these, I’m really liking Beloit, St. Olaf, and Bryn Mawr. I’m kind of on the edge of liking Grinnell too.
@lalalemma oh I know that I would still have to pay the private tuition if even though it’s still in ny, thanks though.
I’ll look into Geneseo because I still want to have at least two SUNY schools on my list. Right now I’m trying to decide between adding Buffalo or Gen. Gen definitely has a more LAC feel but Buffalo has more options.
I’m thinking about dropping William & Mary since my only real interest in it comes from a visit I made there one time, nothing else stand out about it.
Grinnell lacks a geology department. Given its massive endowment, I’ve never understood why it’s missing a fundamental science program.
I’d drop W&M from the list for financial reasons. Wake is normally pretty decent with financial aid, but it lacks geology – that may be a deciding factor. It has a small but decent anthro/arch program (with ties to nearby Old Salem) with a nice anthropology museum on campus.
I second the recommendation of SUNY Bing. For anthro/arch there’s also SUNY Buffalo (Mediterranean archaeology) and SUNY Albany (Maya/Mesoamerican archaeology), but only Buffalo offers geology.
Take a look at Wooster, Dickinson, Franklin & Marshall, and Oberlin. If you’re willing to go further away, Tulane.
Have you taken practice SATs? If you do well on the SAT, you could snag a hefty scholarship at a university strong in your areas of interest – ASU, for instance.
@warblersrule: That was a good catch regarding Grinnell, and definitely something I missed. Their case is even more puzzling than you cared to state, in that their archaeology track seems particularly strong. Geoscience can be said to be the basis for understanding the challenges of archaeology, making the absence of a geoscience major at Grinnell additionally notable.
@orpheusdescendin: A few colleges offer geoarchaeology majors. The presence of this major, whether you ultimately choose it or not, can give you a quick indication of the strength of a college’s respective geoscience and anthropology/archaeology departments.
@warblersrule wow thanks for all your advice. I completely forgot that W&M is a state school so it’d be difficult to get any financial aid.
Thanks for the calculators too, I’ll start looking into it when I can find the 1040 form.
@merc81 thanks for the tip! that’ll definitly help me with revising my list and looking for new schools
Also Grinnell lacking a geology department was exactly why I was on the edge about it since otherwise it looks like a great school to me. I’ll probably though because they don’t have any supplemental essays and their app fee is exactly $0.
@csdad I took the PSAT during sophomore year and afterward I was too burned out to study for the SAT. Junior year I was living in Taiwan and I had planned on taking the SAT’s over there but in the end it was just too expensive $130 and if I were to buy books for the SAT there would be no way for me to realistically bring them back with me to the states.
I can reliably get a 2000 on the old SAT exams so I’m not too anxious about them, still aiming for higher but I’m not worried.
Ah the photo isn’t showing up for me so heres the list again:
Allegheny College
Bowdoin College
Hamilton College
SUNY Binghamton
Wake Forest University
Bryn Mawr
SUNY Buffalo
Dickinson
Grinnell
and the list of colleges I’ve considered and eventually dropped:
Brandeis University
Providence College
SUNY ESF
St. Olaf
SUNY Albany
Beloit
Tulane
Do you want a small or larger school. You have a somewhat odd mix of schools. William and Mary does have scholarships you can apply for-and they are awarded to OOS too.
If you’re interested in STEM and are in the top 10% of your class, you qualify for the NYS STEM grant which will pay your tuition at a SUNY. (This grant is available for state residents who are willing to remain in NYS for 5 years after graduation). If your parents give you $10k/year and you work over the summer, you could probably graduate with very little debt. If you live close enough to commute to a SUNY, you could graduate with zero debt.
