My dd is HS junior in Md. Stats: 3.9 unweighted, 5.0 weighted, 4 APS this year. ECs NHS, Math HS, internship at hospital, theater, community theater, volunteer work with children, etc. Projected SATs 2100 (she is not a great test taker - she gets near perfect scores on practice tests, then good but not great scores on the actual test). Interested in medicine and law. Wants to go to school with merit aid. Although we could pay full tuition, dd does not want us to spend lots on college (she is very thoughtful). We would not get any need based aid anywhere. She is not into party/greek scene, and is somewhat conservative. I do not see her going to a small school, or one in remote area. I think a smaller city like Pittsburgh would be good. We have UPitt on the list, as well as UMd. Mid-Atlantic preferable. Someplace with nice, accepting students. Nothing high pressure or competition. Any ideas?
There are no particular majors for medicine or law as an undergrad in the U.S. What is her M+CR score? She may qualify for automatic tuition at Univ of Alabama and that may be a good safety for her. There is a thread on automatic full or half tuition you can browse. There are more schools where you can get it but not guaranteed.
Thanks BrownParent. She has not actually taken the SAT yet, this is based upon her PSAT scores. Alabama sounds a tiny bit far away to me (may not to her!). Automatic full or half tuition sounds wonderful though. I have a friend whose daughter goes there and loves it. I will check out the link. Thanks again.
Assuming her SAT doesn’t change and that she doesn’t go to one of the automatic full tuition schools, your daughter might be eligible for merit awards of 10K (Pitt)-30K (Tulane). That will still leave mom and dad with 15-20K at UMD and 15-35K everywhere else that offers her merit. This desire to help mom and dad could cost her the elite schools, but I guess she’s already figured that out. She might like Boston College, Carnegie Mellon, Lafayette, William and Mary, UVA, Lehigh, Muhlenberg, Dickinson, George Washington, American, Catholic, Rochester. I’ve deliberately not tried to avoid the party schools because that would be nearly impossible to do in the mid-atlantic or northeast, but some of these schools have more conservative students than others have. My D’s at Pitt Honors and likes it even tho it’s nothing like the expensive schools on her list. For students interested in med and law, Bio-Eng double major is popular, and Pitt is a good place for double majors (not all schools are). I would not call it conservative, but there are certainly conservative students. There are many drinkers, but my D has no problem finding other things to do. Lots of activities available on weekends. She’s been to the museums, climbing, kayaking, hiking, and camping. She’s no more bored at Pitt than she would be anywhere else.
This may sound strange, but she is not into “elite” schools, or “brand” names. She is more interested in getting a good education at an reasonable price that is a good fit for her. UVA & Carnegie Mellon may be out of her reach. She also said she wants to be somewhere where she is toward the middle to the top of the class in terms of admissions stats. I am definitely checking out Pitt and the others. Thanks for the suggestions.
Where does that good sense of hers come from? Was she reasonable like that on her own, or was it something you had to teach over the years? I’m curious because that kind of financial maturity is rare in teens. What’s your secret?
I like pitt! maybe also drake university and muhlenberg college
I wish I could take credit. She has always been that way. She has saved almost every penny of money she received as a gift. I have to twist her arm to let me buy her something at the mall. No interest in material things.
If I had a S or D that was interested in Law, non-party school, and conservative, I would have that child visit Hillsdale. It is small and in a quiet corner of Michigan, but she will not get a better education. Tuition is very reasonable, and they give merit aid too, assuming her test scores come through.
If she visits, she will know about fit very quickly. Some of the nicest students and faculty you will ever meet. Terrific learning environment. You will have zero concerns letting her go off to college there, safe as can be.
Good luck!
@prettygoodmom - First of all I have to say…are you SURE you will not qualify for need-based aid? I hear people say that all the time followed by “we make $120,000 a year”…well, that would get you a LOT of need-based aid at many of the top schools in the country. So, do make sure that you really could not get any need-based aid.
Secondly, your daughter’s stats are pretty good, so I wouldn’t dismiss her from being able to be admitted to UVA or CMU…but if she doesn’t want to go to a school as good as those two, I see why you might not have her apply there.
I like the options given by @jkeil911 - very solid choices. I will add George Mason, University of Delaware, Rutgers, and Bucknell. Washington & Lee might work too. If she went as far away as Ohio, Ohio State University could be a possibility too, and she would be a candidate for a full-tuition scholarship there.
Maybe SUNY Binghamton or UDelaware (sounds like she wants larger schools from your list). It is probably worth your while to get a college guide book (I like Princeton Review and Fiske but there are many other good ones out there) and you and your D can read through a synopsis of many of the options and come up with some ideas.
She would say that NY is too cold. She is looking for something medium-sized, like over 3000 students. Pretty campus is a plus. Good food and large selection is probably higher on her list than it should be (which is funny because she is tiny!). Connection to city with good internship opportunities is also on the list. Study abroad opportunities are desirable. Thanks all!!
Which of the MD publics and privates has she looked at? Goucher might offer some merit aid. Towson might not be too big, and might offer some merit. Both are right next to Baltimore so lots of opportunities for internships and paid work. Happykid graduated from Towson, and friends of hers graduated from St Mary’s and Salisbury. All of them were very happy. The Salisbury student graduated in a science, and is now in a fully-funded PhD program, and one St Mary’s pre-med is now re-thinking her career goals while working on a full-funded two year project in a lab at JHU.
Towson is not too big, and she has looked at that. Don’t know much about Goucher. Heard great things about St. Mary’s, but is it small? Is there much going on in the town of Salisbury? That might be too small of a town. Glad to hear the kids got great educations in Md! Thanks for your reply.
How does UMD compare to UDel?
Cincinnati? Miami of Ohio? Two schools that give merit aid in the red state part of Ohio. Case Western might be a possibility, as well. They have a program that guarantees Med school admittance for incoming freshmen provided they meet entrance requirements.
Duquesne (in Pittsburgh), they said this year at a visit they were giving out merit scholarships between $10,000 and $20,000, of course there are no published gpa/sat guidelines for this, but it can save on some of the cost. Hopefully they will do this again next year.
Temple gave full tuition this year for Act 32 and GPA 3.8 I think.
For University of Pittsburgh you seem to need at least 1450 CR + M SAT and high rank and high GPA for merit, although for OOS to get $10,000 might be easier.
If she is a junior now, there is lots more time for test prep! And maybe try the ACT also.
Geneva and Allegheny are also giving some merit. Also don’t forget UMD.
We have seen those guaranteed med school admissions programs. The requirements seem pretty hard to meet, and are extremely competetive. I don’t think she will make it into those programs. It would be nice though.
And don’t worry about the PSAT score, not always a good predictor for SAT. My daughter didn’t do any prep for PSAt and got a 195 and then her SAT score (with prep) was much higher, 2200+