So, to keep ourselves from going crazy, son and I have been having 1 hour weekly meetings to discuss college plans. (I can highly recommend this approach!) We’ve weeded out quite a few schools by checking the NPC’s, reviews, majors,pictures of the campus etc.
To recap, he has a 35 ACT and 3.9 UW GPA , not a ton of EC’s , but a few he’s stuck with for years and has leadership positions.
He eventually wants to go to graduate school to study genetics, right now he’s looking at Biology but isn’t opposed to Chemical Engineering.
We will have three in college at the same time (that really seems to have an impact at the higher priced private schools. We have a fairly healthy income, but the NPCs seems to indicate that we’ll pay less than 10K/yr ). Both older boys (sophs right now) are planning to go to graduate school, so all will be in school simultaneously for the foreseeable future.
His safeties:
University of Alabama Huntsville (already applied)
University of Alabama (or “Big Bama” as we keep calling it LOL- already applied)
(Both of those for their fantastic merit aid, but they also have solid reps of course and aren’t too far away, we’re in TN)
Here’s where things get crazy, the rest of his schools are reaches. (think Stanford,Cornell, Vandy etc. Six of them in all) He insists he doesn’t need any “matches” because he’s fine with his safeties and says his stats are fine for the reaches which are reaches for everyone anyway. I kind of understand his logic, he’s reaching for the stars, but will be fine if he lands on his safeties.
I (Mom) would really like to add a few more schools, but I just can’t think of any that have merit packages like the Alabama schools, or even the private/Ivies that are on his list already. We looked into the TN public universities and those are actually more pricey and don’t offer many scholarships, big or small. He doesn’t care about size of the school or location (for practical reasons I’d like him to stay in the South East or East coast, but we’re open to suggestions.)
I don’t think his list is crazy, as long as all of the schools offer programs that interest him, and if he really will be happy if he ends up at Alabama. I presume he would be in the honors college there–it gets a lot of love here on CC, especially with the generous aid.
OU, OSU would both give money I think. (OU may give full ride) Auburn may give presidential scholarship. You may also check a website. (the link is on another post and I cannot find it)
I also don’t think it’s crazy if he really would be happy going to either Bama. I might see if he’d add schools on a hunt for merit, like Tulane or Rochester or Case Western.
I would say, your son’s logic is sound–if he is truly comfortable attending the safety schools listed. Some folks need more options to be content, or are required by circumstances (not stellar grades or tests) to really survey more options–that is not the case at present. If he is good, you’re good to go.
I am at work and could not be more specific. There is a great thread on all the merit aid schools that lists almost every one. The ACT score alone will give a lot of money. University of Alabama might be your best bet. But, I know OU has really competitive money as well. I am surprised Tennessee is not coming at you with money. You did not say class rank. Is he at the top of his class? Texas A&M has a scholarship they offer that you can apply for when you put in your application and it is free to apply to Baylor which has a GREAT pre-med program. In fact, they have a pre-med program that allows you to go into their med school upon graduation. http://www.baylor.edu/admissions/b2bmed
You say he doesn’t have a preference on size, but I don’t see any smaller schools on the list - including many that offer great academic scholarships. I can’t comment on the sciences majors specifically, but I know that many LACs (including in the South!) have great science departments with strong grad-school admissions and the ability to research directly with professors. You might look at Sewanee, Centre, Hendrix, Pitzer, Trinity University, Rhodes. He might get close to a full ride at some of those schools.
I could see him getting into Vandy . . .but not sure what they will give you for aid, especially if you have a higher income. He might surprise you with Cornell too.
I am also surprised that you’re not getting more out of TN state schools with that ACT score. My cousin is at Tennessee Tech (engineering but can’t remember which one) and loves it. I think he got some $$.
IMHO, your list is fine. It is hard to not worry that you’re overlooking something. I know that feeling! I keep worrying that we should be looking at smaller schools.
We looked at Baylor, their NPC comes out to about 30k/year for us, which isn’t going to work.I love that MD program though.
He hasn’t applied to UT, we looked at Knoxville and it ended up more than UA or UAH, now, it could be that they will offer him some kind of scholarship if he applied, but the school just isn’t high on his list.
He’s in the top 5% of his graduating class.
Texas A&M is a good suggestion, but isn’t it much harder to get into the TX schools as OOS ?
We did look at some of the smaller schools, especially Rhodes, but unless he gets the Banneker scholarship there (and there are only a few available) it would be too pricey.
Sewanee is an option, just did the NPC and it’s about 13K , but I don’t know if they took the 4K Hope into account for that. It’s a very barebones NPC LOL.
We’ll have to dig through some of the others at our next meeting.
@SouthFloridaMom9 LOL, he’s convinced he’ll get admitted to Vandy. His dream school has been Stanford for a few years now, but to be honest, I’d be thrilled if he got into Vandy. (And IF they actually cover what the NPC indicates).
@StressingMom - we looked at a couple of schools in TX, too, but when we boil it down I’m not sure son realistically wants to go back and forth to TX. That’s a good distance from TN (and Florida too).
My niece and nephews have little to no interest in UT(ennessee) and I’m not sure why. One of my nephews goes to ETSU. Then again two of my cousins graduated from UT (fairly recently) and loved it, so who knows.
@StressingMom - we toured Vandy back in September - you guys should run over for a visit. It was not our cup of tea for younger son but I could see it working well for certain students.
It is very expensive . . . to the tune of $62K per year?
My oldest just moved to Nashville for work, and lives right near Vandy. Loves that area. Lots of young people, good food, live music.
He’s been to Vanderbilt a few times on school field trips, he liked it. And no kidding on the price tag, but the NPC for us came out under 10K , without any loans. Not sure if that included the 4K/year Hope scholarship he gets if he goes to school in TN. I guess they took the three kids in college into account.
(We live about 45 minutes from Nashville, another reason I’d love for him to go there, it’d be easy for him to come home for long weekends etc.)
@StressingMom, I note that you said this: “Both older boys (sophs right now) are planning to go to graduate school, so all will be in school simultaneously for the foreseeable future.”
Just so you are aware, I do not believe that colleges take into account siblings attending grad school when they calculate financial aid, so your son’s last year might be pretty expensive.
One thing you may try to research is does where he gets his undergrad degree from impact his admissions to PHD genetic programs? I know a recent Ivy grad who was accepted into multiple genetic programs with all tuition paid & an additional sizable stipend. Could be that paying a little more for undergrad could pay off in the long run?
There is a great thread on all the merit aid schools that lists almost every one. The ACT score alone will give a lot of money. University of Alabama might be your best bet. But, I know OU has really competitive money as well. I am surprised Tennessee is not coming at you with money. You did not say class rank. Is he at the top of his class? Texas A&M has a scholarship they offer that you can apply for when you put in your application and it is free to apply to Baylor which has a GREAT pre-med program. In fact, they have a pre-med program that allows you to go into their med school upon graduation. 
