Probably PhD, but well, he’s 17, so who knows. We’ve heard some things about doing PhD and MD simultaneously, not sure if that’s something he’ll end up doing. (Or if it’s even an option for him) .I have no idea if our school uses Naviance, it sounds like a great resource and I’ll contact his GC to see if it’s available. I know we’re heavy on reach schools, we may whittle down a few of them, we’re working on a more balanced list right now.
I also second the previous suggestion of Hendrix College: there is usually one or two kids from our high school that matriculate there each year; one family I know has a daughter there, and they are very high on the school. Your son’s statistics would appear to put him in consideration for the full-ride scholarship (Hays Memorial) that Hendrix offers: https://www.hendrix.edu/financialaid/scholarships/
Bonus points to you, OP, for making him add your state flagship as a safety. I’m always stunned when kids we know with high stats don’t add a likely admit school, geez.
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Keep in mind that the FA award offered will drop (disappear?) when the two Juniors graduate. I imagine you know this since you started your post looking for merit aid.
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That is a big concern. Run the NPCs of his schools and put ONE in college and REDUCE family size by TWO (since the older two will likely be out of the household)
Once the older two graduate, your income could be higher, your family size small (3 people), so you could end up being “full pay” during those years. What would you do then???
While UAH is a fine school, an OOS student may be lonely on weekends when many go home. It’s largely a commuter/suitcase school. Unless your child had some kind of “connection” (like on a UAH sports team), he may not like being there.
How much are you paying each year for your older kids’ college costs?
Daughter got surprisingly good out of state merit aid from Florida State.
Co-worker’s son went to Rhodes and had great experience and got great job in banking after college.
UA Huntsville isn’t all commuter – 55% of frosh live in the dorms, according to http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg05_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=468 . But it is more commuter than many flagship type universities (the other 45% of frosh not in the dorms probably are mostly commuting from their parents’ residences).
“Suitcase” tendencies (i.e. resident students heading back to their parents’ places most weekends) are harder to determine from available stats like this.
I don’t know if Christian Brothers in Memphis offers enough academically and financially for what your student wants - we visited and liked their honors program (otherwise not enough going on IMHO), but DD is in a much bigger engineering program (state flagship with good merit) and wanted bigger school/program as well. I just felt like we needed to check it out because we are geographically close. CB does coordinate with Memphis companies; students from Memphis might be commuter students to save on costs, which is why the honors program is key for students outside of the classroom.
Rhodes is good to look closer at. Based on where siblings go to school, what does this student think? We know several students who have been very pleased with Rhodes - one is now in med school. One is a history ‘geek’ and it is a great fit for him.
Student may get enough merit/aid with other schools than attending U-TN flagship.
Nephew graduated from TN Tech (was in state and had Hope) but that was in CS; he loved it there. Know some graduates that liked it there - one gal I know majored in accounting and her H was in engineering. Nephew’s first dorm there was a negative for parents (and for me) but he was fine with it. Nephew would not even visit U-TN - he thought he would not do well overall in that sized school.
The Hope scholarship may put an in-state program (public or private) a better financial fit.
UAB and UA should be looked at if interested in UAH - just to compare the campuses, fit for degree, etc - would have merit at all three. UA is the most ‘traditional’ campus. UAB and UAH do have a higher percentage of students that live close enough to leave campus on weekends - however both are bigger cities (UAB is in heart of largest AL city and has medical focus and many programs). UAH out of the three may offer slightly less in what your son is looking for in curricula. Depending if student has a car or doesn’t have a car too. Doesn’t need car if on-campus at UA, and can get by at the other two - may desire to have a bike on many of the campuses.
You may want to look at the threads that have schools good for OOS merit and see if any have a good program for student’s areas of study.
To be honest,I am not impressed with Cornell - esp the first few years where you have big classes and may have a lot of TAs. It will be out of the park financially too. My friend’s DD visited, and parents (one a MD) had a sigh of relief because they saw the drawback that I did, and when DD decided against going there - she was high stat and got into an even more selective program which was full tuition scholarship which she accepted as a EE major (which was also parents’ selection for her - on the education level and the $$). I know a school valedictorian (large public with lots of high stat kids) who did not do well during first semester at Cornell - she couldn’t cope with working hard against as smart or smarter kids and the academic environment overwhelmed her emotionally; she took a break from there and later attended a college closer to home once she received intervention on her emotional distress.
Vanderbilt may give at most 1/2 scholarship (very unlikely, as many applicants are high stat) unless Hispanic or student has a hook that matches what Vanderbilt is looking for (in past years higher stat Hispanic have received full tuition, less high stat 1/2 to 2/3) - those are much higher than ACT 31 (minimum to get accepted from a few years past, even with legacy). Perhaps a visit and a realistic FA assessment may have son decide not to spend the time on application.
I know people that have studied at Emory - one did graduate/PhD work in genetics which was a good fit for graduate school. Would have to see if Emory would be any kind of a fit with FA.
Duke is probably similar to Vanderbilt as far as high cost to attend and with admission versus # applicants.
Out of his list, Stanford IMHO is slightly even harder to get into than Duke or Vanderbilt, but they claim to meet need. So if he wants to apply to a reach, maybe Stanford would get my vote (unless chance at Vanderbilt with admission and FA and with the Hope scholarship).
He has a lot of choices with the good merit options - I would have him apply to all of those (maybe after visiting UA,UAB,UAH and deciding if he would be happy at any of those choices).
Visit the schools like Rhodes.
I don’t know if Birmingham Southern could fit with merit - it is an excellent school. If/when you visit UAB can arrange same day or next day. Friend’s DD was very high stat (4.75 GPA and 4 year varsity volleyball including team state championship; ACT 34) and received a full tuition scholarship from B’ham Southern (she wants to go into medical research). Don’t know if they stacked an athletic scholarship, but she will be playing volleyball for B’ham Southern. Her stats and athletic abilities even had Harvard sending a letter asking her to apply - however B’ham Southern fit better for a number of reasons, including distance from home and $$. She was deciding between UAB and B’ham Southern. I would not be surprised if she does graduate school at UAB. IMHO better chance for admission and merit there than Vanderbilt et al.
Good luck on the search. Fortunate to have some very good options geographically pretty close. We like having our students geographically pretty close (100 mi, 150 mi away) and with good scholarships. And they love their schools (UA and UAB).
A friend’s son was not fully given the 411 or adequate guidance by his parents - they allowed him to apply to a number of reaches (not feasible as it turns out) and his disappointment level was pretty high. He only applied to one safety, and now instead of attending that school, he is going to an expensive college for 2 years (that his mother attended - however her dad was a surgeon that could afford it) and may finish his original major with another 3 at another school which would be an OOS public (my bet is he will change majors and graduate from the expensive college in 4 years)…They may receive some family help, or take out ridiculous loans. They didn’t make him apply nor do a campus visit on a good merit OOS school with an excellent program in his major (environmental engineering). As a parent, I would have told him to do the quick application before the scholarship deadline (automatic scholarships based on stats) and that when all the answers are in March/April and you decide late in senior year, can always evaluate based on where admitted in your major. However that ‘fit’ wasn’t on the table because parents had no financial backbone, and probably thought one of his choices (like Coast Guard Academy) would work out.He may have been able to improve ACT score, but didn’t try doing that either after he scored a 30 during his HS junior year.
Make sure and check the academic common market. Tennessee is one of the states. Maybe genetics is one of the majors you can do at an OOS school for in state tuition…
Thank you so much for that thoughtful response @SOSConcern !
Let’s see…
Christian Brothers wouldn’t be the best fit, son’s not interested in religious schools.
We haven’t visited Rhodes yet, but it’s been creeping higher and higher on our list, son is a bit of a history buff as well as a science “geek”. You’re right that staying in state the Hope scholarship would be a nice bonus.
It’s a priority to us (and actually son brings it up more often than we do) that there has to be little or no debt. We can help out a bit financially, but we can’t give this kid a huge amount of college money and not do the same things for his brothers. It’s probably such a point to us because just about everyone in our family/friends circle has managed to get through school debt free in various ways. Some used GI Bills, others merit scholarships and/or company reimbursement programs.
Son doesn’t have any “hooks”, just his grades/ACT score and some EC’s (including some leadership positions). He’s a very articulate, socially comfortable kid, that may help if he gets a face to face interview somewhere.
My older two are commuter students at a local state college, they’re both doing well in school, both in the Honors College and perfectly okay (for now) with living at home. Youngest could easily (and for free) go to that same college and it wouldn’t be a problem. I guess you could call it a “super safety” LOL. However, he’s interested in a field of study where being near research/internship opportunities would make more sense
He’d rather go to UT Chattanooga than Knoxville, I told him he has to put one of those two on his list.
We actually DID put the other Alabama schools on the list since my last update. We can go visit them fairly easily and I think we’ll hold off on a decision until we’ve done that. Son’s not big into football/sports, so he’s worried that could be a bit much at Bama.
Interesting about Cornell, I really wish it would be doable to go take a look there, but that’s unlikely. I kind of have a feeling he won’t get in anyway, so it may be a moot point.
I did a bit of poking around for Vandy’s scholarships and it looks like they have quite a few full rides (still, percentage wise a long shot) I may be wrong though. He’s been there several times and likes the school.
Emory is on the list.
We’re waffling on Duke, his GC suggested it, but again, a huge sports school, which is perfect for some, but I don’t think it is for my son.
Birmingham Southern is a maybe on the list right now, we’ll go check it out, if their merit aid is fantastic, well, that would make it easier LOL.
Yeah, I’d love it if my youngest son stayed within a reasonable distance from home, but I’m okay with him spreading his wings.
You’re right, it’s so important to be open and honest with your kids about what is and isn’t reasonable This is definitely a time to gently guide them in the right direction. What it boils down to is that I KNOW my son will do well wherever he ends up. It would be nice if it was at a school where he can expand his horizon a bit, but otherwise, well there’s still graduate school.
@MichiganGeorgia , I quickly checked it the other day, I forget now which school it was, but there was an option on that list. If I remember right, it was regular Biology though, but that’s okay, he can specialize later.
I’ll throw out another suggestion that may be a low cost alternative – Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. Tennessee residents are included among the “Border States” that give in-state tuition rates: http://admissions.siu.edu/border/. Your son also might qualify for merit scholarship money with his grades and test scores: http://scholarships.siu.edu/types/freshmen/index.html
It might be a more palatable (and slightly less populous) option than UT-Knoxville.
@gandalf78 . Thank you! That’s actually one of the schools we spoke to at the college fair, I remembered one of the schools would give us “in state” tuition, I just couldn’t remember which school it was. Will add it to the list to be considered. We’re constantly adding and eliminating schools for various reasons, but I guess that’s the normal process. Our goal was 6-8 schools, but we may end up with a few more to try to get full-rides.
Son had to retake the ACT because our state test didn’t have the essay portion, his new score is a 35, that can’t hurt. Still waiting on the essay (not worried), the AP scores (not worried) and the SAT subject tests, I think we made a mistake there. He took Chemistry and Math I , probably should have taken Math II, so we may need a do-over there.
University of Miami
**New College of Florida
**FAU Wilkes Honors College (easy access to internships at Scripps Florida and the Max Planck Florida Institute, and the opportunity to study at the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute).
Excellent Merit Aid to OOS Students. Scripps Florida and the Max Planck Florida Institute, are within walking distance (pretty much right on campus) to the FAU Honors College in Jupiter, Florida. Outstanding research opportunities for undergraduate Biology/Genetics Majors.
NCF (New College of FL) has an excellent track record for graduate school admissions and Goldwater/Truman/Fulbright scholarships. Independent study and research projects are central to their curriculum. With the automatic scholarship my son (NJ resident) attends for less than he would pay in-state for Rutgers.