Demographics
US Citizen
SC
Public STEM high school (11/12)
White female
Intended Major(s)
Biology - Currently most interested in Microbiology, Marine Science, Botany/Plant Sciences
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
GPA: 4.0 UW; 5.3 W
SAT: 1540
Coursework
AP: Human Geo (4); Biology (5); US History (5); Spanish Lang. (4); Dual Credit - Eng 101 & 102
“Above AP”: Microbiology; Neuroscience
Senior Courses: AP Stat; AP Physics C; DC Calc; Marine Science; Botany; + 3 semester long English electives (African American lit; Sci Fi; & Gender Studies);
Awards
Strong chance of NMSF but will know for sure in Sept.
Extracurriculars
Summer research (after 11th) - 6 weeks at University lab studying Peach trees; will present findings at a research colloquium this fall
Theater - Actor, Student-Director; Club VP
School Ambassador
Affinity/Diversity Club - Co-Pres
Tons of volunteering - 100+ hours required by school, will end up with more
Gardening Club (Hydroponics team)
Family Support: Provided summer care (after 9th & 10) for sibling w/ special needs
Art/Ceramics/Fiber Arts
Beta/NHS
Essays/LORs/Other
Still working on finalizing but is a very strong writer and school has a great college counseling team to help guide them
LORS: 1 from Bio teacher and 1 from English teacher - both Jr. classes that she really excelled in; Can also get additional as needed for honors/scholarships from Admin team to reflect leadership etc. as part of the Ambassador program
Cost Constraints / Budget
$25-30K BUT she would love to get cheaper so that we could stretch these dollars to help her with Master’s/PhD costs instead. Looking for those that meet full need or have a good merit opportunity that gets us close. Will have overlapping kids in college in years 1, 2, and 4 so need to be careful on needs-based cost projections as year 3 could see a big jump in our EFC. We feel her stats are good enough that she should try for some big full tuition scholarships but are realistic enough to know she could get nothing!
Schools
Would love a liberal/diverse campus but has grown up in the South and is willing attend more conservative ones for the right price and good access to Undergrad research opportunities (her thoughts not ours!). Open to all sizes and locations of schools but leaning a bit more to those in cities (probably because they tend to be more “blue” even in the red states). So far we have toured Rhodes, Vanderbilt, and Clemson and despite being WILDLY different, she found things she liked at all of them. While she is not opposed to some reach schools, she is currently not interested in applying to any Ivies.
Safety (certain admission and affordability)
UMaine (if NMSF)
U of SC
College of Charleston
Match
Clemson
UGA
Rhodes
Ohio State
Case Western
Agnes Scott
Since money is the object, you should look at Alabama, UAH, Mississippi State, Arizona, etc…the big merit schools. Some fall into cheap - regardless of where as you noted. Arizona is a blue school in a red state. There’s other dirt cheap too…
As for your list - Clemson is a safety, UGA is a safety (tough admit but for you a safety - but not likely $25-30K, Rhodes is a safety, Ohio State is a safety and Agnes Scott is a safety. U Miami is a match and Case a low reach. UNC CH is a reach.
So - you need to be at $25-30K. Do you have demonstrated need? Run the NPC for U of Miami and see what it says. In other words, you are unable to spend but that doesn’t mean the school says you have need.
If I were chasing $$ - I’d have the SC schools - Charleston (she needs to apply for Honors and get made a Fellow - my daughter’s scholarship OOS is $5K more than tuition. U of SC and Clemson Honors.
Arizona and UAH in cities; Bama and MS State.
Then I’d go for some home runs - the Presidential at SMU. The Johnson at Washington & Lee. You can try the Morehead Cain at UNC, etc. Seattle U has a full ride - so do many more. I’d do an FSU instead of. a UGA - since you are chasing cost but you can get UGA down to either in-state although it won’t be easy - more likely is none or half the difference. You may also look at a WVU and Mizzou.
If money is really that critical - you can look at a school like Troy - it’s way beneath your daughter but she’d get free tuition and housing. Or a school like South Dakota State will be cheap…under $22K b4 merit. New Mexico and Wyoming are two more.
My concern with your schools - your OOS like Ohio State and the privates like Rhodes - you won’t get close to cost unless you have need (as they determine) and then the publics, outside of UVA/UNC don’t meet need. If you want privates, run the NPC for Hofstra and Bradley - they will estimate scholarship. Berea, a solid Christian school in KY, is another to check out - free tuition I believe.
Unless you are independently wealthy and are doing it for fun, nobody pays for their own PhD. In fact, many programs will not accept a student unless they have full funding for the student for 5 years. So there is no reason to worry about funding a PhD.
It’s always good to save money, though and luckily, your kid has many opportunities to get substantial merit funding.
Check out which colleges give substantial merit. Some, like Agnes Scott are pretty good, and friends of ours sent their kid to Rhodes, and that kid got a pretty good deal from Rhodes.
Smaller colleges with good finances will often offer merit aid which is not directly on their website to attract kids who have good academics. So colleges like Beloit will do it, as will many public schools. If your kid’s test scores at GPA are up there in their top percentiles of students attending the college, there is a good chance for substantial Merit Aid.
Now, if your kid is a NMF (if she’s an NMSF, 99% she’ll end up an NMF), the opportunities are bigger.
As an NMF, she may want to look at Fordham, and, of course, Arizona, Arizona State, Alabama, because it has the best deal out there (full CoA +), Washington State, and some more.
Last year (for D20) EFC on Fafsa was right at 30K. We’ve never done the CSS profile but will have to for some of D23s schools. I’m unclear on how the new Fafsa format may change these numbers and whether we’ll still get a decrease in EFC by having 2 in college. We’ll probably run it as soon as it opens on Oct 1st!
Thanks for the input. To be clear, the choice will not be ALL about the $ but saving $ would be really nice. The school must have a pretty expansive bio dept (with courses not just for pre-med track) and provide research early in undergrad - which we’re learning can be tough at some schools. We’ve run the NPC at almost all the schools (guessing a bit on EFC until we see the new Fafsa) and all can work - although some are much tighter than others - and some only work with a big merit award (so might be a safety for admissions but a reach for finances). We know our state schools have the majors and would be affordable (esp. with SC lottery scholarship) but she’d like to explore other options. As long as she doesn’t overload herself with too many reaches, I’m fine for her to take a shot at some of these other schools that have a great culture/vibe or more expansive course opportunities than some others.
Her counselor gave us some great options we’d not ever previously considered like Rhodes and Case (both of which seem to be great fits). We appreciate any and all recommendations as we want to make sure we’re learning about any others we should seriously consider while there’s still time!
For marine bio, look at some of the Florida schools. Florida Tech has a great program and gives a lot of merit money. My daughter’s roommate was a marine bio major, then got a masters and is working in the field. It also has a textile museum and a botanic garden with several hundred types of palm trees. FIU has a separate honors campus in Jupiter (beach town). Eckerd College, also on the beach (just the gulf side). Florida Southern has a very good bio program and is a seed depository so lots of research; it is very inexpensive and has a lot of merit aid, and a surprisingly good theater program.
I think at most any college one can do research early . My son’s gf did at Bama. She said the problem is …kids don’t ask. You have to pull weight. Nothing anywhere is handed to you. And with your daughter’s #s she can do SC or Clemson or Charleston Honors or go Coastal and be standout if she seeks it…doesn’t wait for it to come to her.
CSS and Fafsa don’t necessarily match. How much of your home is equity, what’s in retirement, etc and other things may be of interest.
If marine bio, you had Maine. I read UNH gives solid merit. I’d look at Duke given her stats. Eckerd. Our friends kid goes there for 40k. Fl Tech…underrated. My son got 1/2 tuition with #s not quite as good…34 ACT.
And we’ve had several kids from our hs in TN go to Coastal for their marine science program. That’s in state for u.
I think most that dream of phd never sniff it and many who do work first. I wouldn’t worry about that at this point. And most academic degrees will come with stipend of one is even accepted to a program.
Perhaps consider applying non-binding early (Nov 1) to the University of Maryland, College Park, which considers all for merit and scholarships (Banneker-Key, President’s…) without separate applications. UMD has a strong program in marine biology (Marine-Estuary-Environmental Science, School of Agriculture) at the graduate level, which might be useful for interested undergraduates to explore for potential opportunities. Your daughter’s interests in the marine sciences might help her to stand out among other applicants with strong stats in the merit competitions.
If you’re looking for NMSF money, U. of Louisville is definitely worth a look. Also, U. of Louisiana-Lafayette would probably be a full ride and with its location near wetlands and swamps and such, it could be a very interesting place for someone with your daughter’s science interests. Louisiana is not, however, blue, and though college campuses tend to be, the big blue dot for Louisiana is New Orleans. Lafayette is a city of about 120k people.
Other schools that your daughter may want to look at that I think could give her very generous aid and have many participants in her areas of interest include:
Don’t cut Miami from your list regardless of what the NPC tells you if you like the school. They seem to be a great fit and I’ve seen kids get great merit aid from there (well within what you’d like). It’s very competitive, but so is your D. Don’t fall in love if it’s out of your range on the NPC, but don’t give up without trying for more either if it’s a desired college.
Otherwise, yes, Eckerd is terrific for Bio and Marine Bio, but I don’t know if you can get it down to your price level. My youngest went there, got a top award, and it didn’t quite come so low as you’d like, BUT his stats weren’t at your daughter’s level. Maybe they have more? I’m not sure. And if they do, they might not offer it for Marine Bio because that’s their most popular major since they’re such a top school for that field. Still - no harm to try. Two advantages with Eckerd (and why my guy preferred it to Miami) is there are no grad students, so undergrads get to do everything, and they are directly on the water, so no van ride to get to their research center some distance away.
I agree with this and UMD, etc. the big thing is - when chasing cost - make sure you have a winner in the bag from a budget POV and it sounds like you will with the SC schools.
You have 20 common app spots. Use them. Take some home run swings like Miami.
Get on all the info lists. Any school that might be an interest so it might be 30 or 50. Some will send you app waivers. We had 6 of 21.
A school like W&L - the Johnson Scholarship - how can it be good for marine bio ? They are a member of the Duke Marine bio consortium and you can study there (see attached link, scroll to bottom). The area or student body may or may not work but four year full ride makes it worth a try for any top student IMHO. vs other top scholarships, it’s more avail as 10% of incoming are awarded it. And they have full tuition opportunities as well.
My daughter at Clemson gets $8000 a year, UMD offered $3000, UMASS $16,000, UDel $15,000 she had a 33 act, her sister got $18,000 from UDel with a 34). I’ve read that a few years ago Clemson was more generous. ETA honors at UDel is free, Clemson is $1000 a year.
So, getting into a Phd program is easy. Getting into a top tier PhD program is hard…like DO school level hard. Especially in microbio right now.
Do not attend a non-R1 level school and among those, focus on schools with large PhD programs that get a lot of NIH/NSF funding.
Also, your kid should be paid through a fellowship for a PhD program, not the other way around. I would use all of your EFC but advise against loans.
Yes. We have one at Clemson right now so we know they are not known for being overly generous with merit BUT the SC lottery scholarship + Stem supplement + small NMF $ would all help chip away at the cost and get it within range. They also have a great microbiology department there.
Clemson jumps around on top
OOS merit money. D18 got 15k. In 2019 they gave 20k. D21 got 10k offer I believe. D18 got 24 offer at udel. D21 got nothing at Maryland Virginia tech or Wisconsin. Got 18 or 19k at Udel, 25 or so at Bama and 38k at Miami of Ohio. Guess where she is going…lol
What about Texas A&M? I remember meeting a marine bio student in the Keys. She was working with seals and rehabbing turtles. She said they had a good program.
The school must have a pretty expansive bio dept (with courses not just for pre-med track) and provide research early in undergrad - which we’re learning can be tough at some schools. We’ve run the NPC at almost all the schools (guessing a bit on EFC until we see the new Fafsa) and all can work - although some are much tighter than others - and some only work with a big merit award (so might be a safety for admissions but a reach for finances). We know our state schools have the majors and would be affordable (esp. with SC lottery scholarship) but she’d like to explore other options. As long as she doesn’t overload herself with too many reaches, I’m fine for her to take a shot at some of these other schools that have a great culture/vibe or more expansive course opportunities than some others.