<p>Bigdaddy88, </p>
<p>I think you might have your D look at Trinity University in San Antonio, TX.</p>
<p>It was a true safety for mine, but we were in your boat, and my kids refused to be saddled with loans upon graduation.</p>
<p>The campus is very pretty, and there are ~2500 UG students. It used to be D1, but now is D3. </p>
<p>Feel free to PM me if I might be of any help. The school is very generous w/merit aid.</p>
<p>The archives have a favorite CC old time Curmudgeon who relates his journey with his DD in finding the right school for her with merit money in the picture. The young woman has graduated from Rhodes College, she was a Bellingrath scholar there and in medical school. </p>
<p>This list might help you as well: <a href=“Colleges and Universities That Award Merit Aid - Graphic - NYTimes.com”>Colleges and Universities That Award Merit Aid - Graphic - NYTimes.com;
<p>*As far as finding the right schools goes…how do you know which school is right if you don’t know how much merit aid you will receive? *</p>
<p>You’re right. You can’t depend on “maybes”. You have to include some “sure things”. </p>
<p>You have to identify a couple of schools that you know FOR SURE will give her the merit you need. Those will be her financial safeties. These would be schools that give her ASSURED merit for her stats, and are schools that will accept her, she LIKES and has her major.</p>
<p>After she’s applied to those couple of financial safeties, then feel free to apply to other schools that MIGHT give her the merit she needs.</p>
<p>Hi Bigdaddy, </p>
<p>Hang in here with us and you will get a wealth of information. At the end of the day, money is going to be the big elephant in the room.</p>
<p>As m2k stated based on your D’s gpa/sat scores there a number of schools that your D can go to and make it work. Search some of the threads;</p>
<p>See what M2K has to say about Alabama (where your D may be eligible for full tuition scholarships based on gpa/sat)</p>
<p>Look through threads by Katwkittens, who has been through this process with 5 kids and hundreds of schools for merit/athletic scholarships</p>
<p>It is a great thing that Rhodes is in your back yard. Look through threads by curmudgeon, who was in your same situation; D had to turn down Yale fr undergrad because the money did not work. Took the money at Rhodes and did her thing. Now at Yale med (proof that your good kid too will blossom where ever she lands). Go to the sticky at the top of the forum and look at schools where your D maybe eligible for full ride scholarships.</p>
<p>The Bellingrath Scholarship at Rhodes that curmudgeon’s daughter won is not the same as it was then. At that time there were 3 full ride+ scholarships per year. Now there is only one per year, and it has been reduced to just tuition. </p>
<p>Still a nice award, of course.</p>
<p>A lot of reductions in awards. Back 15 years ago getting a full ride or at least a full tuition award at Pitt was an option that did not require the sky high stats that are so needed today. There were some auto awards as well, and that is not the case anymore. Pitt has also cut down on its merit awards. </p>
<p>When you are applying for merit money, it’s one more thing that has to be taken into consideration when evaluating the offers. Make sure that in addition to those schools that only have a few biggies in terms of awards, that you have some schools where the chances are better.</p>
<p>Not gonna lie to you. It’s not easy. My one son got scads of merit money, but all of it was under $5K, hardly a drop in the bucket for schools well in the $50K cost range. His best deal, as has been for most of my kids have been the in state schools. Even my national athlete only got one full scholarship offer and that was for a Catholic school that was his safety. My kid with near perfect stats got a full ride plus …at one of our state schools. It’s hard to beat a state school’s cost and if they throw in even a small merit award, the cost is usually as good as it gets for a school of that level.</p>
<p>Catholic schools have be offering all kinds of discounts and deals, by the way, and looking at some of those schools would be a good idea. Each year someone at our school gets a full ride or full tuition at Tulane which is a sweet deal, and a school with some Rs (Reputation, Recognition of name, Ratings) to it.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the replies…it’s really helpful!</p>
<p>We have already looked at UA. She has the stats to receive the full tuition gauranteed. This is a much more palatable option than UT. </p>
<p>As far as Cathoilc schools go, we’ve looked at Xavier and SLU. She liked but didn’t love either one.</p>
<p>Tulane is not an option as my DW would never let D go to New Orleans.</p>
<p>We have scheduled visits at Elon, High Point, Davidson and Furman in June and Coll of Charleston and Mercer in July. Have already visited U of Richmond, Emory and W&L. I guess we will have to add Sewanee and Rhodes to the list. ( D desperately wants to go out of state)…</p>
<p>Bigdaddy, DD1 attended Denison U on a NMF scholarship, DD2 attended Lewis and Clark College on a 1/2 tuition scholarship. Some other schools where they received some merit offers: Oberlin, Kenyon, Earlham.</p>
<p>Thanks Erin’s dad. We have talked about the Ohio and Pennsylvania LAC’s as possibilities. At some point you have to have a manageable # of schools to apply to. Between essays and scholarship essays and showing interest etc. you can’t apply to 25 schools!!</p>
<p>BTW, anyone familiar with Rollins College? On the list of rising schools and the location looks ideal.</p>
<p>It’s a great school. Also look at Eckerd and Stetson. They compete with each other for students.</p>
<p>My S is being quasi-recruited to play lacrosse at Rollins. I say quasi because he’s only a freshman and we know the asst coach from club lax.</p>
<p>Since you folks have been so generous with your responses, maybe you’ll indulge one more hypothetical question. I also realize the disclaimer that your responses won’t be absolutes.</p>
<p>So here goes…my D definetly wants to attend grad school. So, lets assume she cannot attend a highly ranked LAC because of $. Would she be better off at a so-called second tier LAC or a large public uni like UA as it pertains to getting into a good grad program?</p>
<p>It wouldn’t matter whether she went to a 2nd tier LAC or Bama or UTenn or SLU or wherever… </p>
<p>Grad school (and med school) admissions do not care that much about where you went to undergrad. Ad Coms care about: GRE (or MCAT) scores, cum GPA, GPA within major (or BCMP for med school), course curriculum, LORs, related research/ECs.</p>
<p>In the last 2 years, we’ve been thru the PhD and med school app process with both Bama sons. </p>
<p>My PhD son’s classmates come from a variety of undergrads…ivies, flagships, top and mid-tier LACs, and there’s even a student from an unranked directional public univ. </p>
<p>My med school-bound son’s future classmates are also from a variety of schools. </p>
<p>When you toured Bama, did you have the honors tour? or just the regular campus tour?</p>
<p>What is your D’s intended major and career?</p>
<p>I didn’t tour Bama. My D’s AP Lang class took a bus trip to UA to meet and discuss a book they read with the author. As part of the trip, they also took an official tour.</p>
<p>She’s interested in a PhD in psychology with a future as a college prof and researcher.</p>
<p>It would not matter. I went to a top 25 school with a highly if not some of the highest ratings in its graduate school departments and students came from everywhere. They came from state universities and small colleges that are names one rarely sees on this board, From regional school, all sorts of schools. </p>
<p>However, in order to get accepted by top graduate program, a student should be well prepared in the discipline so the undergraduate school needs to cover the material well. You don’t want to pick a college that does not have the courses in the depth needed for acceptance to a graduate program. It would be wise to ask about the percentage of students going on for graduate studies. It is possible to go to a regional school that focuses, say, in criminal justice, education, general business courses and not have the offerings in the liberal arts, like English or the sciences to prepare a student well for GREs in a specific subject. Though I know that my college did work with first year graduate student with intro courses to get them on the same footing, there were some students who came from schools where the UG prep work put them way ahead. For my DH, the math major requirement on the ug level at the school, plus a few extra courses put him in position to get a masters in year there, where it would be a good two years for most coming from other colleges. Also, for those seriously interested in a discipline, one should scope out the departments for those schools that are LACs or regional BA, MA schools to make sure they have the advanced courses so a student does not run out of courses.</p>
<p>My neighbor went to a local Catholic school and decided she wanted to go into graphic design, art, that sort of thing. Well, within a year, or so, it became very clear that her school did not have the advanced courses she wanted. She was going to run out of courses. So she transferred. Schools love transfer students of that sort, instead of those who are vague with reasons. But if a student already has a strong interest in a discipline, it is a smart idea to make sure that the courses and similar areas are well covered by the school. </p>
<p>Conversely, if it’s in the not so far in the back of a kid’s head that certain types of business, education courses are of interest, it’s wise to make sure that they are available at that school. </p>
<p>I’m not sure what you would consider a second or third tier LAC, by the way.</p>
<p>Going to a state school that has a graduate department in the discipline makes it highly unlikely or nigh impossible that the school will not have the courses and the content in them to make going on to a PHD program. My close friend’s DD is now in Berkelely for a doctorate. She graduated from a LAC in psychology. Worked in a lab at a college for very little pay for a year, and decided this was what she wanted to do</p>
<p>For the sake of argument, I would consider any LAC in the top 30 as ranked by US news as top tier and the next 30 as second tier. I realize this is arbitrary…but gotta have a cut off somewhere.</p>
<p>*I didn’t tour Bama. My D’s AP Lang class took a bus trip to UA to meet and discuss a book they read with the author. As part of the trip, they also took an official tour.</p>
<p>She’s interested in a PhD in psychology with a future as a college prof and researcher.*</p>
<p>You should have the Honors College set up your day. Very different from the standard “bus and walk” tour. The Honors College will set up appts with Honors College faculty and Psychology dept faculty. They can also arrange for a student to “sit in” some classes. Bama has a very good psych dept. It also has a ground-breaking program that partners psych students with students on the Autism/Aspergers spectrum…so very good hands-on experience there.</p>
<p><a href=“http://psychology.ua.edu/[/url]”>http://psychology.ua.edu/</a></p>
<p>BTW…ask your D if they only did the walking tour or if they did the “bus and walking tour”. If they only did the walking tour, then you may want to do the full tour on a visit.</p>
<p>Do try to visit Bama…I think you’ll be very impressed by all the new facilities.</p>
<p>If you do visit and want a full campus tour, first set up the campus tour online…try for an early morning time! Don’t bother with the “info session”, you’ll get that info here pretty much on the Alabama forum on College Confidential which is VERY active.*</p>
<p>[University</a> of Alabama - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-alabama/]University”>University of Alabama - College Confidential Forums)</p>
<p>To set up an Honors College arranged day, send an email to Allison and Susan. In the email include:</p>
<p>Student’s name and contact info</p>
<p>Date and time of the Campus tour that you’ve reserved (if applicable.) Otherwise, just provide the date and time you’ll be arriving on campus.</p>
<p>GPA and test scores (include NMSF status)</p>
<p>Likely majors*</p>
<p>Career interests (including med, law, mental health, etc)</p>
<p>Anything particular that you want to see. *If you have an interest in seeing the new Science and Engineering Complex, let them know.</p>
<p>Honors Recruitment
Allison Verhine
Coordinator
269 Nott Hall
205-348-5534
<a href=“mailto:allison.verhine@ua.edu”>allison.verhine@ua.edu</a></p>
<p>Susan Alley
Assistant Coordinator
270 Nott Hall
205-348-5599
<a href=“mailto:susan.alley@ua.edu”>susan.alley@ua.edu</a></p>
<p>Allison and her assistant will arrange the rest of the day…meeting with faculty related to major, honors college faculty, touring honors dorms, etc.</p>
<p>Sometimes mail goes to their SPAM folders, so call them if you haven’t heard back within a few business days. These ladies do an excellent job and work very hard.</p>
<p>Mom,</p>
<p>Thank you for your post! I really appreciate all the info. As you can imagine, my head is spinning with the daunting tasks ahead.</p>
<p>My D’s former teammate is a freshman at UA and has offered to host her for a weekend. </p>
<p>We will definetly add UA to our ever-growing list of colleges to visit this summer or early fall.</p>
<p>Thanks again!</p>
<p>You’d have to look at them and what course offering they have in psych and the other liberal arts. A true LAC should be fine. There are schools that are not really LACs and some of them are more limited in course offerings in certain disciplines. You don’t want your DD to run out of courses.</p>