Sorry, just to clarify I’m not sure what I want to do in CS but I do plan on double majoring
Thanks for the advice, if you’re comfortable with it, could I ask what school your daughter attends?
Possibly interested in AI, only thing is Colby is need aware haha (side note: could anyone tell me how much Colby’s need aware policy really affects admissions?)
There’s no perfect way to measure the impact of needing financial aid, but I’ll not that Colby’s net price is pretty close to that of the need-blind NESCAC schools, and lower than many of the other need aware ones. This MAY be a suggestion that they have more $$ to spend on aid and thus a sign that they take need less into account.
It could, however, also be a result of significant reliance on pell grants, meaning that they might not support “family makes more than pell levels but can’t pay full tuition” as much, though this is very common across many need aware schools.
https://news.colby.edu/story/colby-expands-opportunities-for-lower-income-students-by-72-percent/
Would anyone be able to tell me more about Middlebury’s CS department in particular? I really like the school for other reasons and if they have a good CS department I’m fairly certain I would apply ED
I’m not sure what you are saying, here. Pell grants have a cap of ~$8000 - not enough to cover more than a small fraction of the sticker price for attending Colby. Expanding the number Pell Grant recipients is not a good strategy for stretching financial aid dollars. That being said, Colby is an excellent college and it is definitely worth taking your chances, even if it is need-aware.
1 Like
My DS '22 is admitted to ED to Middlebury with the intent of studying CS possibly double major with whatever other interest he may find. Due to its larger size than the rest of NECSAC sLACs (not counting Tufts), Middlebury has more faculty and courses. Other than that, the CS programs at those schools are quite similar…
Many of the sLACs start putting more focus on data as without good data there is nothing for AI to work on. For Middlebury, check out MiddData: MiddData | Middlebury Offices and Services. I am sure you can find similar resources at other NESCAC schools.
If you don’t mind looking beyond the northeast, Grinnell has a great CS program with many alums working for top tech companies or becoming PhDs. They also offer generous merit-based aid to incentivize top students otherwise might hesitate to go to a Midwest school.
That makes sense about the pell grants. Just wondering though if the need aware policy affects the culture in anyway (i.e. is there a higher proportion of full pay (read: wealthy) students?)
1 Like
@xndou great to hear about Midd! Your son is entering next year, correct? Would you happen to know anything about the career prospects coming out of midd for CS majors?
You can check how rich the students are at:
Most highly selective colleges have students who are much richer than the average American.
1 Like
@SouthYankie beat me to it. 
Do you qualify for a Pell Grant? The max Pell is about $6,300, and families making typically less than $60K per year can qualify (sliding scale).
Do you know your EFC estimate? If not, do this with your parents and tell us the answer: Expected Family Contribution (EFC) – BigFuture | College Board
Next run each school’s net price calculator to get cost estimates. The NPCs may not be accurate if your parents are divorced, own real estate beyond a primary home, or own a business…are any of these the case for you?
Many of the questions you are asking are answered on school websites. I encourage you to continue researching reach schools, but please spend as much time researching matches and safeties. Have you identified at least one affordable safety? What state do you live in?
Many of the nescac schools do have a high proportion of full pay students (40%+). The financial section of the common data sets will show this data. Here’s Midd’s, showing 48% (1229 of 2551) students in ‘20-21 (section H2 D and A) qualified for need based aid (so 52% full pay):
https://www.middlebury.edu/system/files/media/CDS_2020-2021_2.pdf
Look at Midd’s CS guide here: Choosing a Major or Minor | Middlebury Offices and Services
Most schools have post-grad data in the career section of their website, if you don’t see what you want, call the career center and ask.
CS majors are in demand and students at schools/LACs from all levels of selectivity are getting good jobs.
2 Likes
It’s not scientific but LinkedIn is a good source to check career outcomes for most schools. For example Middlebury:
https://■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/school/middlebury-college/people/
You can further filter by their major. However, one word of caution is that you don’t need to have a CS degree to work at any top tech company, even as a software engineer. If you further search among alums by job title, you will see this…
In terms of career services, it’s one of the tiebreakers for us to choose Middlebury. Recently ('19? if I am not mistaken) they created Midd2Midd private networking site to connect alums with students to offer career/life advice. Since it is on a volunteer basis, the alums signed up care about the current students and dedicate their time for the mentoring. And the program help pair up the mentor/mentee. The success rate is much better than students cold-calling/emailing alums.
https://midd2midd.middlebury.edu/
1 Like
That’s great to know about midd2midd, sounds like a nice plus! Also will definitely check out LinkedIn
Thanks for sharing the major guide from midd!
1 Like
A 2017 NYT article listed these colleges as having the greatest family income disparities in comparison to that of the U.S. population:
- Washington University in St. Louis
- Colorado College
- Washington and Lee University
- Colby College
- Trinity College (CT)
- Bucknell University
- Colgate University
- Kenyon College
- Middlebury College
- Tufts University
You’re welcome…many LACs have something similar. Also look for ‘First Destination’ Reports which sometimes will show specific jobs at specific companies that CS majors are getting, and average/range of salaries.
I also sent you a PM, look for the green circle in the upper right, next to your account logo.
nvm
That’s about 10% of the cost of one year. That means that bringing in only Pell students versus only “needs full aid but not Pell eligible” brings about a 10% shift in the overall scholarship budget. Those are extremes, and so unlikely to be realistic, but given the amount of money we are talking about in aggregate, that is not inconsequential.
My point is that schools who heavy pursue Pell eligible students to stretch their financial aid budget can end up with ONLY Pell students or full pay students — a barbell strategy. It can mean that being in between makes it harder to get in.
Though recognize that these data are about the Class of 2013, and so pretty out of date. Many of the schools at the top (worst?) of that list have made numerous and significant investments to avoid being on future lists. It would be interesting to see updated data.
1 Like