Yes, getting merit aid from out-of-state flagship publics can be very difficult. It is less difficult at non-flagships. But regardless, for each school I indicated what percentage of students received merit aid and indicated that the cost potentially/might get after merit aid. I would suspect that with OP’s GPA and AP scores would figure out that if only 7% of students are getting merit aid that her chances are much slimmer than if 93% of students are getting merit aid.
I also agree that private schools are often more generous with merit aid than their public counter parts (see DePaul and Loyola Chicago on my list above). As OP indicated that she wanted larger universities, I think I put 8,000 as the smallest undergrad population, which eliminates most private universities. Should she decide that a medium or smaller school is worth considering if it gets her more of what she wants at a more affordable price, there are certainly many other schools that could be mentioned.
You should start looking through the lusts of colleges which give a large amount of merit funding. While that 3.9 UW doesn’t put you in the top 10% of your graduating class, it is still an excellent GPA, and will qualify you for merit funding at a large number of colleges.
You can also look at colleges which meet all demonstrated need, and see whether their EFC is affordable. While none will be a 'safety", at least a few should be targets, which makes them better choices than, say, BU and half of the UCs.
I’d like the college to be located in sort of a college town or possibly a city with manyyy internship opportunities. Diverse students is also a plus, and I’d like a school with good school spirit and very involved clubs. Good study abroad programs and research opporunities similar to UMD’s YADIRA lab (studies about racial and ethnic health disparities in substance abuse and dependence in urban and young adult populations). At the moment, those are all the factors I can list off the top of my head that I’m taking into account for college.
My mom wants me to attend UNT because I already got automatic admission into it, but I don’t really find anything that draws me in, to be honest. As for UT Austin’s CAP program, do students usually end up studying their applied major? I’m not sure since one of my reccent senior friends got cap’d and could only accept the offer is she pursued a liberal arts major, rather than bio. I’d have to look into Puget Sound because I really like the Tacoma area! I just feel like I won’t be able to find real friends there because the campus is so small.
I apologize for that. I wasn’t exactly sure what FAFSA was until reccently because my mom just always said I will apply for aid as her income qualifies us, so I just made assumptions.
In my earlier years of high school, I intended on attending a small LAC because of seminar-based classes, but I’m not too sure about the Midwest because aren’t those colleges usually located in areas that don’t have much to do internship and social life wise? I feel like the community might be more accepting, which is a plus.
What does your mom mean? You need to find out. Everyone who completes a FAFSA qualifies for the Direct Loan which is $5500 for freshman year. If you are low income (your post above implies that you are not low income) you could qualify for a Pell Grant or a portion of it…but the max for that is about $6000.
Most important question is…what can your family pay annually for your college education?
@MWolf above suggested looking at some schools that meet full need. BU does now meet full need for all accepted students as BU calculates that need to be. Each school that meets full need for all calculates this need their own way, some being more generous than others. And some do still require either the ACT or SAT…so what is your score?
I would suggest you look at University of Delaware.
My daughter just graduated from UD and it checks a lot of boxes. I wouldn’t call it diverse, and they don’t have the same support for athletics as some of my kids’ schools (although there will be tons of parties on game days). You would probably be offered $15,000 with your gpa, my daughter got $18,000 but before Covid it was based on test scores, my other daughter with a 3.9 was offered $15,000 in 2021. My daughter was in the honors college.
A rich friend of mine lives in north Frisco. He wanted his two kids to go to UNT. I guess it’s a bit closer for commuting. They both decided on UTD and one picked it over A&M. As long as the parent(s) give their college kid space, commuting to a solid school like UTD can save a lot of money while being academically challenging.
As far as making friends at a small school, you will probably do well. You’re already putting yourself “out there” on this forum and being on a residential campus, or being involved in clubs, allows you to meet plenty of people.
Early on the OP stated she didn’t really want to go to school in Texas for several reasons, but a lot of responses are really focusing on Texas schools. I know there are valid reasons that people are pointing to Texas schools, and it should stay on the list, but primarily for safety (academic and financial) reasons, it should not be the focus.
Without knowing more about your school, (is it an academically challenging school, do a lot of students end up at top universities, etc) your stats seem very solid. Test scores would help if you are planning to submit them. I think the ECs look good, and how you tell the story of your ECs in your essays will help. You should definitely talk to your guidance counselor to see what input they have.
Without knowing more about your cost limits - and your EFC, its hard to say what sort of aid you would receive. From the larger school standpoint, you can always look at schools with auto-merit like U of Arizona, Mississippi State, U Alabama - there are others. Many schools have calculators or tables on their website that let you calculate what your merit award would be based on GPA and test scores.
You will notice that most of the schools on it are smaller liberal arts schools. I think that college students can have rich social lives no matter the student population, so long as it is a residential campus (most students living on campus). Commuter campuses, on the other hand, tend to have a much harder time building the same social opportunities and school spirit that residential campuses do.
Goucher is #2 on the list with 86% of its students studying abroad and is a small liberal arts college in Baltimore. It’s also a member of the Baltimore Collegetown Network which allows students to cross-register at other colleges like Johns Hopkins, U. of MD Baltimore Campus, Towson, Loyola Maryland, etc. and a shuttle that goes among the campuses. Here is an article from a JHU freshman on going to college in Baltimore.
#3 on that study abroad list is Agnes Scott where 83% of the students study abroad. It’s another small school but it’s in one of the most walkable areas of the Atlanta area and is part of the Atlanta consortium of schools allowing cross-registration with other schools including Emory, Spelman, Morehouse, Georgia Tech, etc.
Would you consider smaller colleges if they’re hitting a lot of your other wishlist items? And I don’t think we’ve received any kind of budget, and that is a HUGE and ESSENTIAL component of any college search. People can throw college suggestions out until the cows come home, but if they won’t work for your budget, then they’re pointless.
UDel says that over 30% of students participated in study abroad, and is the first university to offer it. They have a winter program if one doesn’t want to go for a whole semester with a longer winter break than other schools (my daughter was supposed to spend winter 2021 in New Zealand). They also have their world scholars program. World Scholars Comprehensive Plan | University of Delaware