@evergreen5 We received quite a bit of literature from some of those need based schools and used the NPCs and the costs to attend HYP was around 15K which is slightly cheaper than GA schools after subtracting out Zell Miller scholarship. Once we throw in travel costs, in-state versus HYP is a wash. Some of my daughter’s schools will be sending aid packages/institutional scholarships offers soon.
I ran the NPC at Harvard just to see what came back, and the amount of aid provided was labeled “Your Estimated Scholarship.” Maybe that is why some people believe they have been awarded a scholarship vs. need based aid.
Is Tulane going to stack need and merit?
@Sybylla -They do stack scholarships. Even sometimes stack an academic merit with a community service scholarship.
What I would suggest instead of repeating all AP credit is for her to try the old final exams of the courses that she is allowed to skip with AP credit. This will let her know if repeating is a waste of time or really necessary. Taking the credit and advanced placement could allow her additional free electives during her four years of college, or could allow her to graduate in fewer than 8 semesters if she so desires.
Also, if the AP credit applies to a side requirement and she does not need to take additional courses that require that course as a prerequisite, then it may be worth skipping anyway. This most likely applies to general chemistry if she chooses an engineering major that is not chemistry dependent (e.g. chemical, biomedical, or materials engineering).
Students who repeat their AP credit (often pre-meds) can be tempted to paying too little attention to the course (because they “already know the material”), resulting in grades lower than the initially-expected “easy A”.
Probably an outside merit scholarship, as opposed to a UPenn merit scholarship that is not supposed to exist.
Some colleges do allow merit scholarships to replace unmet need and student loan and/or work expectation first before reducing need-based grants (i.e. limited stacking). But each college may have its own policy, so check its web site and ask directly.
You should go look up the ‘Smile and Nod’ thread. And practice the smile & nod technique.
When Grandma gets you or your DD on the phone and starts hassling you about “How come she didn’t apply to X, Y, or Z?” you do the verbal equivalent of 'Smile and Nod."
“Yeah, DD thought about that/those school(s), but we ruled it/them out for a number of reasons. We’re really pleased with the selection of schools she’s applied to.”
Then once she has all of her acceptances in hand along with scholarship offers and financial aid offers, you sit down as a family (without Grandma) and help guide your DD in deciding which one to attend.
Whichever school she chooses, you and your DD already know that you’re going to encounter people who: (a) don’t understand why in the world she would ever go there; or (b) insult the school and her.
People who do B are just ignorant or foolish about this particular subject and their reactions say a lot more about them than it does about your DD.
To people who do A, you could give them a couple of different replies:
- Something really generic - "DD is going to ___. She's really excited. We're very proud of her."
- Tell the person 2 things DD liked about the school she picked - "It has a really interesting ___ program in her major and unlike School X (Big Name School That Grandma Wanted DD To Attend), DD will be able to explore ___ as an undergrad. Plus, she really liked ___ about the school."
Tulane and Georgia Tech are excellent schools. I think that you should ignore all of the advice from people urging you to pressure your DD into applying to additional universities last minute. Your DD has picked the schools she wanted to apply to and she’s happy with her choices.
Does this qualify her for Zell Miller??
I’m no expert on the qualifications for Zell Miller… but isn’t that a full tuition award? That would be a hard thing to walk away from…UGA is a great school!
OP - what do you think your D will do after college? Many STEM graduates are getting 75-100+ base and 10-30+ bonus a year. They are able to pay off their 50-80K student loans fairly quickly. I do not think it is a bad thing to take out loans that can be paid off in 3-5 years.
Yes, assuming all the high stats are also in the ZM required classes, yes, it meets requirements for an instate student. That student had to keep the Zell Miller, and some don’t.
Is one of the parents employed at one of the atlanta HBCUs? Any opportunity for tuition reciprocity?
Sounds like the parent did address these schools.
In our house, we did have ONE parent choice on each of our kids’ college application lists.
Did your daughter apply for the DHS, Stamps or Paul Tulane scholarships? Is she a national merit semifinalist?
She made her mom proud! Good for her! It all comes down to her decision and all of those schools are solid choices.
@thumper1 The Zell Miller Scholarship is a full tuition scholarship for Georgia residents to any state school. The requirements are a 26 ACT or 1200 SAT with a Georgia GPA of 3.70, a certain amount of harder classes. To keep it, you have to keep a certain undergrad GPA (I think a 3.0) The rules have been adjusted for those in what are considered harder undergrad classes where they get a .5 booster ( C=2.5 in an Engineering class). My addition to the list was the pushing UGA and Georgia Tech on the list because of Zell Miller and having home-field advantage in admissions.
@oldfort My daughter is saying she is going to go to grad school for a chemistry discipline and wants to be in a lab doing research. I am not worried about a loan if it is the absolute best option, but wanted her to take ownership.
@jym626 We don’t work at the Atlanta HBCUs (wife and I just went to school in the AUC (Atlanta University Center)
I think your daughter has a great set of schools that any parent should be absolutely delighted with. Your daughter is going to be the one attending college, and she needs to select a school where she can be happy and her academic needs are met. “Impressing others” should not be a factor.
It’s possible that your daughter’s choice of so many HCBU’s may simply reflect a preference for being in an environment where she does not feel she is a minority and has something to prove. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. And obviously she wants a college that is not too close but definitely not too far from home.
So celebrate and ignore the critics. The best and most important thing you can do as a parent is to support and encourage your daughter, including showing confidence in her ability to make good choices for herself.
PhD study should be funded.
Chemistry bachelor’s degree programs are accredited by ACS: https://webapplications.acs.org/Applications/CPTASL/app_list_search.cfm
Chemical engineering bachelor’s degree programs are accredited by ABET: http://main.abet.org/aps/Accreditedprogramsearch.aspx