TCNJ is definitely ranked higher than ramapo, my son was a very social person and into Greek life so he enjoyed his weekends at tcnj (and his very well paying job was through his fraternities). Ramapo seems to empty out on weekend (I know kids who transferred from ramapo to tcnj). Feel free to message me, I have 5 kids in NJ. I believe the best public universities in NJ are Rutgers and tcnj, but they are hard to get merit in state (my son’s friend got into Boston college but ended up at Rutgers honors with some merit, it’s really a solid school but honors/merit is for the top).
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I would look at Rowan’s honors college. The students are a very impressive group. Many of them chose Rowan because of the merit, but that’s changed a bit since D18 was accepted. I was always impressed at how bright they were without a lot of ego.
From what I remember, Rowan’s honors had a lot more interesting things going on than TCNJ’s when we were comparing. There is more to do in the area surrounding campus, and it doesn’t seem like the campus empties out on weekends.
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Quinnipiac is likely to meet the $30k tuition cut-off after merit aid, but not by much. I would certainly think it is worth looking into.
Have you thought about Hofstra?
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I’m not sure what the max merit at Brandeis is, but it certainly seems to fit the template you’re describing. Mid-sized university, strong in sciences and research, not preppy or fratty, large Jewish population (a little over a third of the student population), and a very moderate median family income relative to many peer institutions… and they do give merit.
Public-wise, I assume you must already have considered and ruled out TCNJ, but on the surface it seems to fit what you’re looking for. As already mentioned, Geneseo is sort of the NY equivalent. U of Maine with Flagship Match would be affordable, and it’s manageably-sized.
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Go look at the Elon forum, most recent topic. While their merit isn’t high, the cost is lower than most private schools and they have competitive programs with money attached.
With any school where she’s above average, make sure she shows interest. Not all consider demonstrated interest, but the ones that do will wonder about a high stats applicant who has not engaged in any way.
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Thanks for the suggestion. Will check out Adelphi as well. They are all somewhat less selective…high sticker price, then discount by $20-30K.
Elon may be an option…tends to be very preppy from what I’ve heard. Thx!
The last point you made is important…demonstrated interest. Will definitely begin to engage once target schools are identified. Thank you!
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Thank you for your input. I may indeed reach out to you!
My daughter is interested in going out of state…but I do think Rutgers/TCNJ are pretty good alternatives.
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Will check these out. Thank you for your input!
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Will check these out. Appreciate your input!
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I would be a bit careful with Hofstra and Adelphi as I believe they both have larger than average commuter and/or go home on weekend populations. They both do have more residential students then they did years ago but it is still worth asking about as you consider these options.
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In my opinion, Rutgers is an excellent choice for a bio major.
I know it’s a big school but your daughter has a good chance of getting into the honors college, which would give her a small school experience.
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Good point. I grew up on LI and remember a lot of kids commuted from home.
Daughter attends Miami U and son applied last year but did not attend. As a reference, D applied in 2019, had a 1460 SAT, and was offered $21K/year in merit. Son applied last year, 1510 SAT, $27K in merit. We are OOS and both kids had similar GPAs to your daughter, as well as strong extracurriculars but nothing ivy-league-amazing. Both kids were offered the honors program and my daughter is in it - it is a good program and does help to make a big school feel smaller. Miami has a preppy reputation but my daughter is not preppy at all (she’s a blue hair and doc martens kind of girl) and has still managed to find her people. Most importantly, I feel like she is getting amazing opportunities at Miami that she might not have gotten so easily at a more competitive university. She has been working in a lab since her freshman year, has published her research, presented at conferences, and recently won the Goldwater Scholarship which is a very competitive national scholarship for STEM. I firmly believe the “big fish in a small pond” factor is working for her - it is easier for her to stand out at a school like Miami whereas at Harvard, she’d just be another outstanding student in a sea of brilliant kids. I think Miami is a great school for bio (daughter is biochem so has taken many bio classes) and they are generous with merit aid. Campus and dorms are also gorgeous, a factor which I did not appreciate until I saw the dorm my son moved into a few days ago - it was pretty ewww. Miami also freezes tuition so what you pay on day 1 you will pay for your last semester. Again, that is a perk that I did not fully appreciate when she enrolled, but as I watch the parents of her friends complain about their tuition hikes every year, I am grateful for it. Also, once you move off campus, you can drop your COA by a lot - my daughter cut her housing costs by more than half – the dorms and meal plan are pricey. All-in, right now for her at Miami, we probably pay around $24K/year and that is for everything – tuition, off campus housing, food, utilities, books, etc. Considering Pitt and Penn State run about $35K in state, I consider that a bargain!
Based on what I saw between my son and his friends during this past year’s application cycle, you won’t get much money from Drexel (he got 9K, which barely makes a dent in the 70K+ COA) and I don’t know about Pitt - I think they give more to OOS than in-state, but my son got nothing. Lehigh gives mostly need-based aid - I don’t know anyone who got merit there including our class valedictorian in 2019. You might try Ursinus - it’s tiny but supposed to be very good for biology and pre-med. I know they used to give an automatic half-tuition for test scores which she’d qualify for but I’m not sure how much lower it would go and that would still leave you at $35K-ish tuition.
Good luck!
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Excellent input and color. Thank you!
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Does Brown’s net price calculator at Net Price Calculator indicate affordability? If not, it may be a wasted application, since Brown does not offer merit scholarships.
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Aren’t all North Carolina public universities part of the UNC system, regardless of whether they are called “UNC …”?
I came to the same conclusion. Wasted application and a lot of essays. Brown doesn’t give merit aid. Can’t afford $80-90K a year COA.
Thx!
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We learned this at Gtown. They said no merit aid. Got to the hotel that night, looked at our list of 110 schools and a bunch came off. The no merit didn’t even cross my mind.
When chasing merit, you want to find those schools that will 100% make your $$. Then after that you do the schools that ‘could’.
So it’s not your daughter’s favorite and that does matter because she has to want to be there - but Florida State hits your target waiver or not. We can debate if she’s a sure thing though because admitting 17k of 74,000 is no safety. Their admit rate has gone down a lot as it’s been ‘discovered’. A USF might be ‘safer’. But I get your point about FSU.
But once you have that sure thing then you can take your swings with schools that ‘May’ make budget. A school that could but may not get you there like Pitt. Or Miami. But again figure out the geography type she wants too - my daughter was stoked to visit Miami and Elon. We visited Elon b4 app time so it came off. Visited Miami after applying. We got $21k. It came off and would have even if free. So find the right urban/suburban/rural balance for her when selecting schools. For my daughter, it turns out not near society and little nearby wasn’t a fit for her.
So you are going about it the right way but you do need your daughter’s concurrence. At the same time she’ll need to acknowledge the trade off due to $$.
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Ursinus is a good suggestion.
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