<p>I have been using a variety of different college match tools and websites, but I would love advice from real people for more guidance. Mainly, I'm looking for some suggestions of match colleges and/or colleges that would give me merit aid.</p>
<p>A little about me:</p>
<p>2100 sat (680CR, 730M) but I'll be taking the ACT in a few weeks and the sat again as well. My school doesn't use a 4.0 scale but I'm assuming it's 3.7-4.0 UW.
ECs are kind of weak-- captain of the Science Olympiad, interned at a political campaign, etc. Nothing spectacular.
I should have one excellent teacher rec and another decent one; probably a weak/average counselor rec due to school size. There are no rankings at my school.</p>
<p>Location wise-- I'd like to stay within the continental states at a city or at least a suburb with close proximity to city.</p>
<p>Size wise-- I would prefer a medium sized college, but I can make exceptions.</p>
<p>Majors-- here's my biggest flaw, unlike many others, I really can't decide on what I want to major in yet. I'm mostly considering a social science (IR, econ) or something relating to pre med or similar (public health or psych? Idk). Because of this I would prefer a well-rounded college with the flexibility to explore. </p>
<p>Income Bracket-- around 70K-80K and will be applying for financial aid
State: NY
School Type: Public, graduating class of 1000+</p>
<p>I have looked into a couple of reaches and safeties so I'm just looking for suggestions of match colleges and/ or colleges that would consider giving me merit aid (preferably out of state since I have researched some Sunys already)</p>
<p>I will look into all suggestions as I am a little inexperienced as a first generation college applicant.</p>
<p>Thank you guys! And sorry if this was a little incoherent; it's a little hard getting my thoughts out on an iPad keyboard.</p>
<p>It is a smaller school, but you might get some merit aid at Dickinson. They are strong in IR, econ, and I know psych majors from there as well who got jobs after graduation. </p>
<p>Do you know about the net price calculators on each college website? Look on the financial aid page for the college and have your parents help you enter their information to see what your expected cost of attendance might be.</p>
<p>The University of Rochester may be something to consider. It’s in a major city, but it’s in New York, if you want some more in-state options. They give fairly good need-based aid but you’ll have to run the calculator. Intellectual atmosphere and well-rounded. Would probably be around a match with your stats.</p>
<p>With your SAT score you would receive full tuition at the University of Alabama.</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestions so far. I will ask my parents on how much they can afford, use an EFC calculator, net price calculator etc. and update this thread as soon as possible.</p>
<p>You might get a scholarship at Tulane or Occidental. You also have an excellent chance of earning a merit scholarship at Temple, and possibly Pitt, Fordham, Goucher, University of Miami, SMU,or American. </p>
<p>My parents are telling me that at the moment, they can afford 13K more or less. Of course, this could change by the time acceptances (hopefully) com along. I will run a NPC later today, but in the meantime I would love to get more school suggestions!</p>
<p>So you have to go through and run the NPC for every college on your list. Each one uses different methods to calculate financial aid. And you will need your parents to help you do that. What they WANT to pay and what the colleges expect they will pay are completely unrelated. </p>
<p>Definitely run the NPC at each school. I’d also look at some of the SUNY schools for sure, in particular SUNY Geneseo might be a good fit in terms of the size school you like (perhaps SUNY New Paltz as a safety) and SUNY BInghamton is a big larger but would be a solid choice as well. For merit aid, look at schools where you fall in the top 25% or so of applicants. You might get merit aid at a school like Fordham or Muhlenberg for just a couple of examples. And begin undecided for your major is not an issue at this point, just go to a school that has a wide range of classes and majors that you might be interested in studying.</p>
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