Match DD24 4.0/1460 seeking merit and a motivated student body

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Please review our list and give feedback on other schools to consider and schools we should consider removing from our list. I think this is a good list, but we are chasing merit and my daughter is concerned she’ll end up at a university where the majority of students are not serious enough about academics. She is looking to be enrolled at a university where the drive of her peers will motivate her and she can learn from them. At the same time she does not want to end up in an environment where the students are highly competitive with each other and she’s not interested in very small schools. She’s looking for mid size and larger schools.

Demographics

  • US citizen
  • State/Location of residency: PA
  • Type of high school *: suburban public
  • Gender/Race/Ethnicity (optional): female mixed race (Asian white)
  • Other special factors (first generation to college, legacy, athlete, etc.):none

Intended Major(s) business, analytics, data science, studio art

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 4.0
  • Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): 4.6
  • Class Rank: none
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1460 700RW, 760M

Coursework
IB Spanish (2 year course, total four years of HS Spanish, IB Art (2 year course), AP Calc AB, IB Physics, AP Econ (macro and micro), AP lang

Awards
National honor society

Extracurriculars
(Include leadership, summer activities, competitions, volunteering, and work experience)
HS and club tennis, studio art private classes, two restaurant jobs, volunteering at local museum, club founder, student council, mentoring, several other clubs

Essays/LORs/Other
(Optionally, guess how strong these are and include any other relevant information or circumstances.)

LOR - 2 from math and history teachers, strong

Essay - unsure how strong it is, seems fine to me

Cost Constraints / Budget
Looking for merit, willing to pay up to $50-55k total cost of attendance but ideal would be 35k total cost of attendance, will not qualify for need based aid. Trying to avoid loans.

Schools
She’ll be applying direct admit to business schools

  • Safety (certain admission and affordability)
    Miami of Ohio EA
    University of Delaware EA

  • Likely (would be possible, but very unlikely or surprising, for it not to admit or be affordable)
    University of Pitt - applying this week, rolling
    Penn State EA
    Indians Bloomington EA
    Ohio State EA

  • Match
    Santa Clara University EA
    Syracuse University RD
    Umass Amherst EA

  • Reach
    University of Maryland EA
    University of Michigan EA
    Tulane EA
    University of Southern CA EA
    Northeastern EA

2

Your D will find her academic peers at any of these schools. You should cross that off your list of worries ; )

Your D should be auto admit for IU Kelley with her GPA and test scores so that is a safety for admission. Not sure of your budget so can’t speak to cost.

I do not believe that U of Michigan gives merit aid for OOS applicants so if that’s a requirement, strike it from the list.

10 Likes
3

They do offer a few solely merit-based scholarships, but the majority of actual scholarships that are offered for both in-state and out-of-state have both a merit and need component (not grants).

Ross and Stamps also have their own scholarships.

2 Likes
4

Agree with @momofboiler1 that your daughter will definitely find her academic peers at the schools on her list. She’ll also meet students who will blow her socks off (in a good way, academically). :smiling_face:

I think the bigger issue with your list is how many will come in at the budget you are looking to spend. I think you’ll have several that come in at around the $55k mark, but not sure how many of them will be closer to the $35k mark you’d prefer.

I think Tulane is moving towards more need based aid than merit money, I’m assuming she’s trying for USC’s half tuition merit award (highly competitive), I don’t think Northeastern does much merit at all anymore. I think the struggle with your reaches will definitely be affordability.

I hope you’ll come back with her merit offers at the end of her process to give us all a bit of an updated look at where merit offers are with some of these schools at this point.

5 Likes
5

Academically this is a very good list and I could see your daughter being accepted at most of these schools. The bigger issue will be whether or not the most expensive ones (Syracuse, Northeastern, Tulane, USC etc) will come in at budget - I’m not sure how generous each one is with merit these days. All these schools will have plenty of academic peers she can learn from.

3 Likes
6

I think the best bets for both motivated students and your preferred price point will be the honors colleges/programs at the safety and likely schools. Admission to Penn State Schreyer, one of the best honors colleges in the nation, is very competitive, as you undoubtedly know, but is definitely worth a thoughtful application. The other honors colleges and programs may be somewhat less competitive for admission.

6 Likes
7

This is a good list from an admissions standpoint but I think all your reaches will be unaffordable. You might want to add more schools that are generous with merit.

4 Likes
8

SMU has merit, but unsure if it would get to budget. They are very strong in business.

2 Likes
9

You will find academic peers (and some not so) at most any flagship in the country.

Chasing merit is one thing - but what is the budget you seek?

If you want to be at $55K as noted above, then you need to lose Santa Clara, Syracuse, Maryland, Michigan, Tulane, USC and Northeastern. You can sub in schools like U of Denver (will be tight), Quinnipaic, Furman - they might get you there with merit - and there’s more. IU is the sure play here but you’ll need merit to get there and I suspect you will. But a UMN would give you a better shot. You already have Ohio State.

If you want to be at $35K, your list is entirely unacceptable - because short of Penn State, you’re not going to be in the same hemisphere.

You have to aim for schools that can get you there and short of your in state, I’m not seeing it. And even Pitt isn’t there.

So - the top school that comes to mind is Alabama. You’d be low 20s. Culverhouse is a FANTASTIC b school - and before you say, I won’t find my people, guess again. Yes, it’s an easy admit and like everywhere but moreso here, you’ll find many of those maybe not as attuned. You’ll also find more national merit scholars than any school in the country - and frankly, tons of smart kids go there because they buy you in. My son chose Bama over Purdue for engineering - and he was surrounded by brilliance. As an aside, likely in part because of cost, nearly 700 Pennsylvanians are on campus - and many states, like CA, Illinois and Texas send over 1,000 - again, what money will do. People find the money.

U of Arizona will give you $32K off $40K tuition and Eller is excellent. So you’re mid 20s all in. Beautiful honors dorm with a dining center at the bottom and gym/counseling center next door.

There’s others - FSU even at full pay - is close to budget and your daughter will get an OOS waiver making it mid 20s.

So many schools. A Kansas, Iowa State, etc.

But you have to first start with budget. There’s no point getting into Michigan - you can’t afford it. And at the cheapest schools you will find very motivated kids (and some not motivated - but that’s at most every school - even your top schools). An IU is also over your high budget but my guess is you get to under $50K or right at $50K with merit.

Others to consider, Charleston, South Carolina, Michigan State, Minnesota, Furman for small, W&L (no merit money but the Johnson Scholarship, while unlikely for full pay, is unreal and worth the hail mary), potentially SMU and their presidential scholarship, and Kansas for low cost/fantastic honors college - as many above do. Also, a SUNY - such as Binghamton. UGA will likely get you under $40K with a half OOS waiver with a chance of getting to your # with a full waiver. Terry School is strong (but not direct admit).

$35K is tough - and I gave you three to get you there and there’s more. But these above I mentioned should come in below $55K, most considerably so.

There’s zero point in applying to schools you can’t afford to attend.

If your daughter seeks out rigor and opportunity, she’ll find it. Between Honors programs and other things such as - what my daughter is in at her “safety” she chose because she loved it - and she’s had enrichment galore and will study in Washington this semester (and intern at a think tank) - so don’t dismiss schools based on “perception” alone.

Good luck.

Charleston Fellows Program - College of Charleston (cofc.edu)

3 Likes
10

Frankly none of your matches or reaches will be 35K all in. Not sure that many will even get to the 50-55K all in as well. All of the OCC public’s listed in those 2 lists ( maybe other than Umass which I don’t know about) give very little if no merit money. Take a quick look at each school Common Data set and it will show you the number merit based awards and the average amounts.

It looks like large and/or urban is the target. You might want to try some of the catholic schools in urban areas. Not large but urban. The sticker pice may be higher but for folks with stats like your D has they will give merit money to get her into the 35-45K range. Think Duquesne, Xavier, Marquette, DePaul, Creighton, St. Joes, etc.

7 Likes
11

One daughter went to UD with $17,000 merit a year, honors, 3.9+ gpa 34 act, her sister with the same gpa (1 B) 33 act got $15,000. I think they were both offered the top scholarship at UMASS ($16,000?). At the honors graduation many students were attending some selective schools after graduation (my daughter is at BU). She will find her people. ETA 33 act got $8000 from Pitt and $3000 at UMD. Saint Joe’s and suny bing were her most generous offers (she’s at Clemson, not so generous).

5 Likes
12

So at $58K (now), that could get the student into the low/mid 40s.

UMass is also about $58K - so that gets to low/mid 40s…before inflation with OOS often running higher on the annual increases.

Arizona State would be another like this - top Honors School but with $15K max, high 30s.

Hopefully, others like yourself will have direct anecdotes for OP to see the pricing on.

1 Like
13

Many of these schools will not come in at your price. I would add SUNY Binghamton- strong students and they give merit to OOS students.

5 Likes
14

Have you considered Temple & Fox School of Business? Merit possible, but without looks like $46k.

2 Likes
15

OP is instate for Temple. COA should be ~$35000, right at the OP’s preferred price point.

2 Likes
16

Which of these do you have concerns about students not being “serious about academics?”

For most of these schools, I don’t think she can expect much merit at all. This is not a merit chasing list. I know Pitt isn’t on it, but I am going to use it as a proxy for some of its peer schools because they publish SAT ranges by college. Her 1460 is right in the middle quartiles for Pitt’s schools of arts & sciences, information, and engineering; it’s in the upper quartile for business. Given that a 1460 is in the average range there, I am guessing it is in the mid-range for a lot of the other schools in your list. If she is falling within average SAT ranges, it’s hard to imagine that she will be considered for big awards.

Your list is pretty reasonably categorized from an admissions perspective. I would probably tweak a few, but overall it’s on target. But I think you need to recategorize and add some different schools if your goal COA is as low as an in-state school. While she will probably get some merit, especially from OOS schools, big awards seem unlikely — not impossible, but unlikely enough that most of your list will be unaffordable.

6 Likes
17

My main concern would be your matches: Umass and Santa Clara are unlikely to give merit and Syracuse would be surprising.

If you like Northeastern, what about Ucincinnati, pioneer of the co-op approach? (applying to Cincinnatus scholarship -and there are “honors within honors” in the business school).

5 Likes
18

I personally don’t have any concerns, but my DD being 17 and focused on the rankings, sees the high admissions rate of some and gets concerned.

I appreciate all of the feedback on the list and will reassess what we can take out and add. We have toured most of these schools and out of all of them she really liked OSU so I’m hoping that works out with merit. I know some of them are unlikely to give much, if any merit, but I’m letting her give them a shot “just in case” with the knowledge that it’s unlikely to work out and she knows that as well. I did suggest Alabama and ASU, but for some reason she’s intimidated by those schools as she has seen all of the tik tok videos of their Greek life and big parties.

I will have her look at some of the other suggestions made on here. As always this board has been such a great resource and all of the feedback is appreciated.

3 Likes
19

There are smart and motivated students at every single college. Just because a school has a higher admission rate doesn’t mean there aren’t smart students…and especially when you consider honors colleges at some lower ranked colleges with higher admission rates.

6 Likes
20

I completely agree and I have said this to her numerous times, so much so that I feel like a broken record. I was starting to doubt myself as this conversation keeps recurring. Hence this post to get everyone’s thoughts about this list I helped her come up with.

5 Likes