If Ohio State is a possibility, I would recommend applying for both Eminence and Morrill.
You haven’t mentioned race, but Morrill isn’t exclusive to minorities. The intent is to boost diversity on campus. This can take the form racial, ethnic, geographic, and gender diversity. Plenty of rural white kids. For your daughter, what jumps out to me is female in STEM with collaborative interests with other students and other colleges. Instead of being the girl supported in STEM, she could be the girl supporting girls in STEM.
Both Morrill and Eminence are big on serving others.
I always enjoy it when people update their threads and let us know how things are going, so I am trying to do the same periodically.
D20 has decided to apply to USCal, Trinity (Texas), Alabama (RRS), Nebraska (Raikes) and Florida. I think I have listed them in her order of preference, but it changes from week to week. Her safety is Alabama without RRS. I suppose there could still be a late charge from a school not on her list, but it doesn’t seem likely.
USCal: has a data science BS, and a Math/Econ combined major. She would aim for a double major in the two.
Trinity: Math/Econ/CS as a second major. They also have a biological mathematics minor that is intriguing to her. The CS as a second major is almost the exact same number of credits as USCal’s CS minor!
Alabama (RRS): RRS is really the draw here, as it is kind of a data science program that she can tailor to her desires. Other than that, she would be looking at Math/Econ with a minor in CS.
Nebraska (Rakes): If parents were choosing, this would be higher. Raikes school looks like almost the perfect combo for her, but D20 is wary of the small cohort and whether she will be stuck with other kids she doesn’t get along with. If you look carefully, you will also notice that this is by far the coldest location…
Florida: Benacquisto full COA. Has statistics major, which is appealing. Would combine with math and a minor in CS or econ. Tour didn’t go great, or it would probably be higher. Parents are worried that Benacquisto won’t be around forever and wonder what will happen to students who are attending when it gets pulled.
I really do appreciate all of the good advice and encouragement that people have given. Both directly to me and to other people that I have co-opted.
@VryCnfsd I’d cross NCSU off the list (if still under consideration). Your D doesn’t have the ECs and awards to be competitive for the Park, which is their only big scholarship.
The same goes for Trinity unless the stats-based award will be sufficient. It’s not just about stats.
Another high reach to consider: Harvey Mudd College. Likely fails the “friends have heard of” criteria, but it has excellent CS and math. HMC is a small school (800 total), but is part of the claremont consortium (7000 total), so the entire campus feels larger, and is in the suburbs of LA. It is very intense, but collaborative, and has been a leader in increasing the number of women in STEM.
They offer a limited number of full tuition president’s scholarships, mostly aimed at underrepresented, first in college, etc, so you will have to look at their description to see if that might fit.
@itsgettingreal17 thanks for the feedback! NCSU never made it past the first cut. I know Trinity is tricky, but removing it leaves her with only 4 choices. One of those is USCal, which I think is probably just as tough to get as Trinity.
@coolweather Rice is a good thought, but I checked the NPC and we don’t qualify for enough financial aid to make it work.
@“Miles Perrara” thanks! I love Harvey Mudd for her, and I think she would love it there. I will bring it up to her as a(nother) high-reach so she can look into it.
Purdue offers $10K a year to out of state if thats enough. The OOS costs at Purdue are a true bargain is why it could work out. Its got the best data science undergrad degree, and very good in CS.
U of Southern Cal is super super expensive, but does have a few full rides.
The National merit half tuition award leaves a huge bill for USC, most cannot afford it from Colorado. Living expenses are ridiculous at USC, and housing is a problem too.
Case Western is much less expensive and also offers some full rides.
Look at in state public programs too.
U of Maryland has some fantastic out of state awards, and its truly super for stats/math/Cs.
Ohio State is excellent for stats and math and CS, and some merit is available there.
Also, Case Western most definitely does not meet full need, nor does it claim to. Worst FA package my D was offered, BU was even a little better. Both many thousands away from the next worst which were CTCL-type LACs that also didn’t claim to meet need but got at least within $10k of it.
CWRU has been vacillating between various need-based financial aid models. I believe its current policy is need-aware but meeting “full need” (as defined by the college, of course).
@1NJParent - I see that they currently are - my bad. Very interested to know if that’s improved their FA offers in any way! The list of all the types of loans they offer currently scares me.
UF also offers $80,000 Gator Nation to out of state kids up front. If thats enough… She can get fantastic summer work in Data sciences in Atlanta Georgia, or west coast. to help pay her own tuition , room and board.
@OHMomof2 CWRU chooses to spend its relatively limited financial resources on merit-based aids (essentially tuition discounts) to attract a large portion of its student body. For an applicant with high need, CWRU generally isn’t a good choice.
Thanks for the further responses! I am very familiar with Case, and I just don’t believe the odds are good for it being affordable in the end. I do love the school, though, and if we could afford a bit more it would be on the list! If D20 gets Florida with Benacquisto, it is going to be interesting to compare it to her other choices. It would be hard to turn down a full COA scholarship to such a good university!
@1NJParent According to their web site that’s no longer true, they meet full need as of 2017. But I admit I’m skeptical that the packages would improve much.
@OHMomof2 Yes, CWRU claims to meet full need. However, it’s also need-aware in admission, so an applicant with high need will likely face additional hurdle to be admitted in the first place.
I think an additional hurdle is less likely, since most applicants will fall either above the cusp (before the aid budget is exhausted) or below (wouldn’t have gotten in anyway). But a few could indeed be impacted.
It seems to me that CWRU has been trying to spread out its aid budget (both merit and need based) to cover more students, so high need applicants would likely be disfavored as they would use up too much of its limited aid budget.