My point was that when people suggest the pacific northwest or Mass schools, or even Maryland, you say “Nope, bad weather.” If you’ve not live in the south, you may not find the weather any better. It’s not all sunshine in the Sunshine state. My nephew moved there at the start of 6th grade and there were immediately 4 hurricanes. Then there weren’t any hurricanes for 11 years. My daughter was evacuated twice from her college because of hurricanes in the last few years.
My kids really loved California because of the weather, but couldn’t afford to go to college there.
@twoinanddone I don’t think I’ve said that about the Pacific Northwest or Maryland. I’m not really looking at the Pacific Northwest because as I’ve kinda said in previous comments, it seems too far away because I know I’m not going to be able to visit before possibly applying so I just can’t really envision myself there. I’ve researched a lot of schools in that area (Reed, Lewis and Clark, Seattle U, Seattle Pacific, Gonzaga, etc) but I haven’t completely disregarded them. And I can’t remember if I specifically mentioned Maryland anywhere in this thread. Thanks for the input…
You need to talk to them about this in detail. 15k is about the cost of room and board at most colleges, roughly. If that’s your budget, that’s your budget. But it means you’re looking for about a full tuition scholarship, or very close to it, which is a lot more than many schools routinely provide.
You will need to add some financial safeties to your list with large automatic merit. A prime example would be U Alabama (honors college). The school is giant, probably with tons of greek, but perhaps so large that you would have no trouble finding your niche. (Check the forum for this school here on CC to read a bit more about the honors angle, as well as the out-of-state scholarship pages on the website and out-of-state cost of attendance.)
@got2laugh Thanks for the suggestions. I’ve mentioned Elon a couple times in this thread before- I’m just not very interested. College of Charleston’s average ACT is 25 (too low). New College of Florida is way too small. Furman is too Greek-heavy. I am very interested in Rollins College though (sorry if I sound too nitpicky, I really do appreciate the comment)
College of Charleston’s Honors College is TERRIFIC (and 29-32 is the middle range ACT) http://honors.cofc.edu/
Give it a second look :)… especially since you’re be hunting for large merit, meaning that you’ll need to be top 10% for that college (so, it’d mean 30-31 for CoC).
In addition, colleges near the water can really make “good weather” worthwhile.
I’m thinking of UNC-W, Eckerd, SDSU… However SDSU will not be affordable so you’ll need to look at the criteria for merit scholarships.
It’s going to be hard to find full tuition merit scholarships that aren’t insanely competitive if you’re not willing to have a far higher ACT than the average student. “I’m not eligible for need based aid and need a net price of $15k” is the biggest limiter on your list.
@sophiavictoria If you are looking for lots of merit aid for your stats, you might want to look at UT Dallas, Arizona State, or the University of New Mexico. There are good honors programs at all, which would make a large school seem smaller. Barrett Honors at Arizona is especially well-regarded and Phoenix/Tempe is definitely warm! Dallas and Albuquerque have short mild winters.
Needing a full tuition scholarship changes the picture. Absolutely put on your list some colleges with competitive big merit (where your stats are over the 75th percentile), but it’s challenging to get more than 25k merit out of, say, USD, SCU, and you would need much more. Cast a wide net and keep an open mind. You can find automatic merit amounts on the websites of the above schools, usually in charts. Some of them even have merit calculators.
@evergreen5 Thank you for this insight, I really appreciate it. My parents (and I) have been putting off the whole finance discussion so we do need to talk in detail. I think my mom is still kinda stuck in her early 90s era mindset where she got a full ride with a 31 ACT/As in class and I think she just sort of assumes I’m gonna get aid like that at these private schools (but I know that’s not necessarily the case). I have definitely been looking at automatic merit, and I’m starting to warm up to Alabama as a possibility. I think I’ve found similar scholarships at the University of Arizona and Ole Miss as well.
@mamom Yeah I know all about the Claremont Consortium. It was kind of my dream to go there (Pomona, Pitzer, or CMC) for a long time. But they’re all very selective, and the financial aid is extremely selective and limited, so I don’t think it’s realistic for me. Thank you though
However one thing that I’m worried about with honors colleges is that my gen ed dual enrollment credits might not transfer as well. Reps at many of the colleges I’ve visited so far (Belmont, Miami, Pepperdine, Chapman, LMU) made it seem like a lot of my dual enrollment credits (I’ll have 60+ by the time I graduate high school) will be able to transfer into gen ed requirements. But if I go to an honors college they’ll probably have their own set of gen ed classes that I won’t be able to satisfy with my dual enrollment credits.
We have been looking at the University of Arizona for our D20. So far, it looks like the honors college experience there would be good, especially since they are building an all-new honors complex (dorms, dining, classrooms, etc.) that will open in Fall 2019. Definitely worth checking out.
Please ask your mom to run a net price calculator on one of the schools she thinks would be a good match for you. You really need to nail down the financial part FIRST. Do you qualify for financial aid at all or are you merit only? That is what you need to know ASAP. You can’t really guess… your parents need to do the NPC. Trust me, this is the most important part especially since it sound like your mom is out of the loop on the insane cost of college.
An update: I just showed my mom the automatic scholarships I’m eligible for at U Arizona, Bama, and Ole Miss, and now we’re considering them alongside the private schools I’ve mentioned previously.
My oldest applied Bama as soon as the application opened in July. It was just a backup school for him, but after several visits, it is where he settled.
A friend had a daughter at Arizona. She never anticipated being at a large school.
Ole Miss is also a gorgeous campus.
Any of these 3 would be amazing schools on their own. The fact any of these could be your safety school puts you in a great position. Be certain to apply to more than one in case their scholarship changes.