<p>After looking at some of the 2012 admissions, I'm feeling a little overwhemed! Do you have any suggestions for schools where my DD should apply, where she has a reasonable chance of getting merit aid? (in the 12- 20K range at least.) Is that even possible with her grades and scores? </p>
<p>Her stats:</p>
<p>GPA 3.8 uw (approx.) 4.2 w
Rank - 15 out of 148
Mostly honors/AP (but her school doesn't have many AP classes.)
ECs - 2 varsity sports (4 years); science team; Interact club (community service) "buddy ball" (assistant for rec league.) NHS</p>
<p>SAT: CR 620 M700 W680</p>
<p>She wants a LAC with decent sciences (preferably neuroscience, or the ability to design a program)
Geographic location (in order of preference) Northeast/midatlantic/ midwest/pacific northwest</p>
<p>I'd appreciate any help I can get. Thank you.</p>
<p>$12,000 to $20,000 merit aid against a $55,000 to $60,000 list price would mean that you can afford $35,000 to $48,000 per year?</p>
<p>University of Minnesota - Morris is only about $23,000 per year at list price (even for out of state), has about 2,000 students, has a “design your own major” program, and has departments in biology, psychology, and other subjects that neuroscience is commonly an interdisciplinary combination of. Your daughter may want to check the course offerings to see if she can construct the desired major from the course offerings there.</p>
<p>Yes - the amount of merit aid isn’t really the issue - it’s Cost of Attendance. If you can afford 40K - then there are quite a few LAC’s that might give her 15K or more in merit aid.</p>
<p>yes, thank you, that’s a better way to say it. DD wants a small LAC, and I need to keep the price at around 40K - not really more than that. I’m hoping to find options where she can bring the price down to that range with merit aid (or schools in that range to start with.)</p>
<p>I would suggest you pick a school (or two) that fits the bill and run their Net Price Calculator. This will give you an idea for where you stand.</p>
<p>For instance, since you said Northeast, Drew University is a small LAC that gives merit aid to 30-40% of students. Their calculator includes merit aid estimate:</p>
<p>That will tell you how much need-based aid you can get, but for merit the key is to choose schools where you are in the top 25% of applicants AND that do merit aid. I’d suggest trying to study a lot and pull up SAT’s a bit if you can - those are used a lot for merit aid, or try the ACT and see if you can get that one up to 32 or 33. I think the GPA is within the range for decent merit aid at a number of LAC’s - a few that come to mind are Beloit… possibly St. Olaf, Gustavos Adolphus, Willamette in Oregon… and I’m sure other people can suggest more.</p>
<p>I have heard that Ursinus in Collegeville PA offers substantial merit awards. A colleague of mine has a daughter who considered going there, but decided to attend Muhlenberg, who offered her less merit than Ursinus. She was also accepted to Brandeis (no merit).</p>
<p>She has a 1320 Math + CR. Merit is often based on the M+CR score. I suggest that she retest to bump that up a bit. The closer she gets to 1400, the better. Right now, her equivalent is just under an ACT 30. And, she should take the ACT as well.</p>
<p>It looks like you need at least a half tuition scholarship to make a LAC affordable. her test scores need to be well-within the top 25% for the best chances at that size of merit.</p>
<p>What else does she like in a LAC? </p>
<p>Also…be sure to have her apply to some schools where here stats will give assured merit as back up schools.</p>
<p>may have out of state list prices lower than your $40,000 per year cost limit (so even if she gets no need-based aid or merit scholarships, you can afford them). Of course, she needs to investigate whether they have the desired major, or a combination of subjects and courses from which she can construct the desired program of study.</p>
<p>She wants a smaller school, with a core curriculum, because she isn’t sure of what she wants to do. She likes the idea of a place that focuses on undergraduate teaching.</p>
<p>Thank you for the website - it seems very helpful.</p>
<p>There are a few LACs here in the Pacific Northwest that we have looked at that list their merit aid upfront, which I find very helpful. Some will be better than others as far as the Neuroscience part goes…
Whitworth University here in Spokane has a COA of about $42,000 and your daughter should be eligible for at least $17,000/year X 4 years. Lots of personal attention by really excellent professors and staff.
Also take a look at Pacific University in Forest Grove Oregon. Their COA is a about $5000 more than Whitworth’s, but about the same Merit.
Over near Seattle, Pacific Lutheran University offers about the same merit as the other 2 but I think they only award it to 120 out of 600 applied. </p>
<p>I think if I were you, I might start my search with schools that have a COA of $50,000 or less. Then with her grades (even at schools without high merit awards), you should be able to put together a good-sized list that will cost less than $40,000.</p>
<p>Washington College in Maryland used to give an automatic scholarship to NHS members. St. Mary’s College of Maryland is a public honors college in a pretty little town.</p>
<p>Take a look at St Olf College. Not as well known nationally but definitely up and coming and gives tremendous merit aid. Both my kids and some of their high achieving friends got significant non-financial aid money, some in the range you are looking for. It is a LAC, gorgeous campus, in a charming Minnesota college town one hour from Minneapolis (Carleton College is also there). There have a beautiful new science center and a great neuroscience concentration. They send some amazingly high percentage of their science students on to grad school and med school. Excellence everywhere and could be a good safety school for your daughter, and a great value esp if she gets merit money. More than half the students come from outside Minnesota now and they have a huge international presence both in terms of foreign students enrolling there and international study programs. Great sports and world class music, too.</p>
<p>I second St. Mary’s of Maryland. S was offered an $8,500 annual scholarship (OOS) which brought the cost of attendence way down. If he hadn’t gotten a better deal from our state flagship, that is where he would have gone. His stats were the same as your daughter’s. It is an Honors LAC.</p>