Please help with suggestions in the South/Mid-Atlantic

Right next door to Tulane, Loyola New Orleans. My D got merit with numbers not quite as high. They offer a few full tuition scholarships as well. I think she’d have a shot at those (my D was invited to interview but didn’t snag one).

UNC Wilmington has an excellent Honors College.

I recommend looking at The Honors College at the College of Charleston. Also , since your daughter is a junior, have her GC submit an application for Furman Scholars and Wofford Scholars. They must be submitted Jr year. Both offer the opportunity for substantial merit opportunities .

She may also receive an athletic scholarship from a D2 school. There are a ton of them in the south, and the althetic skill level is really all over the place, like the other divisions. You just have to find the right academic fit and the right athletic level.

Washington and Lee University is wonderful and they give VERY generous merit aid to a significant percentage of each incoming class.

I’d also suggest looking at the list of Colleges that Change Lives located in the southeast. A nice list.

Went through this a couple of years ago with D1. Stats were lower than your D (3.5 UW; 30 ACT). Were looking for warm weather LACs. After merit, CoA was fairly similar at the LACs where she was accepted (about 30K/year). If you care to read about the journey and those of others, I started a thread on CC a couple of years ago that has some good information from several people.

My recommendations have been mentioned by several others here. However, I will post my suggestions in not any particular rank order: Richmond; W&L; Centre; Sewanee; Davidson; Elon; Guilford; Furman; Wofford; Agnes Scott; Emory; Rollins; Eckerd; Hendrix; Southwestern; Trinity (TX); Rhodes.

As an example of what to expect for merit aid, here is the Rollins page: http://www.rollins.edu/financial-aid/as-cps-financial-aid/scholarships/

You might find public colleges in the south like College of Charleston will also be affordable given your D’s stats. Don’t forget these.

If weather is a major consideration, should also check out colleges in Southern CA; however, CoA is likely to be higher. Oxy; Chapman; LMU; Redlands.

PM me if you’d like my specific thoughts on any of these colleges.

Good Luck and Happy Hunting!

SMU is very generous with merit aid to high stats kids. The Presidential and Hunt Scholars programs are excellent. The Dallas location might appeal to her if she wants an urban vibe.

Thanks so much for all of the additional suggestions everyone! I am happy to hear your thoughts that she might have a good shot at merit at some of these and we’ll be sure to check them out. We’re trying to be realistic with the money concerns and her chances at the competitive merit scholarships, but also keep her hopes up and hopefully have her end up with a few affordable choices.

Thanks for the thoughts on her sport too - I’m going to encourage her to continue to talk to coaches and just see where she ends up with that.

@Emmycat if you going to look at Wofford or Furman there is a deadline of spring of Jr year to be nominated by the GC. There is no fee, so it might be worth your while to go ahead and have them nominate her.

For stats-based automatic merit, Miami and Tulane are good bets. Tulane also has a decent amount of additional competitive schollies (i.e. that require a separate application) that go up to full tuition.

Vandy, Emory and Rice have competitive/separate application merit schollies that go up to full tuition. Those are very competitive, but you never know. Those might be your “reach” schools in terms of merit money. Go for it, but don’t count on it.

Also, it seems to be easier to get merit money from Emory if you apply to its Oxford campus for the first two years rather than main Emory in Atlanta.

Another vote for Tulane and SMU. I expect you would get approx. $30,000 merit at each from regular application and potential for full tuition or more with other programs. Tulane has Dean’s Honor Scholarship and Paul Tulane, each of which are separate applications. SMU invites a select number to interview for Presidential Scholars which is a full ride. Hunt Leadership requires an application.

National Merit Finalist opens up many more: Baylor, Oklahoma, Bama, Ole Miss. probably more.

Be warned about ‘yield protection’ at Tulane. There are kids with 35’s getting denied every year. If it ends up on the list student should know why, and show them the love! But even with showing lots of interest, they have a way of sniffing out when they’re considered a safety. SMU maybe not so much. Don’t know abut Miami. Tulane definitely suffers from Tufts Syndrome.

^ yes, Tulane is all about demonstrated interest. Campus visit is huge, but if not possible, frequent contact with their admissions reps by email and at college fairs is a must. They also integrate community service into curriculum for all students, so a demonstrated history and desire is important. And the Why Tulane essay is critical. It’s your chance to show them not just why you want Tulane, but why they should want you. If you show them you’re a smart, successful, service minded person who loves Tulane, you’re in.

Thanks for the thoughts on Tulane. My D hasn’t visited yet, but we hope to make it there this summer. If she likes it, I’ll let her know she needs to be sure to email the admission rep, etc. and to take a lot of time with the Why Tulane essay. Thanks again -

Merit is usually more contingent on GPA and test scores than on ECs and leadership. Oh, and tell her to make a case that being a dedicated participant is every bit as valuable as being a leader. Leadership is way overrated, IMO.

My son’s leadership roles were rather light, but he got a nice merit scholarship anyway.

Not always. Take Tulane for example.

You can get up to $32k (based mostly on stats) just by sending in the regular admissions application.

But then they have about 150 additional scholarships in four programs (PTA, DHS, CSF, Stamps) that require a separate application and which are more subjective/competitive. ECs very much count for those. Which will bump you up to full tuition/full ride.

This thread is so helpful. Thank you wonderful CC parents!

  • To help your daughter- Agnes Scott is in Atlanta- its in Decatur.

University of South Carolina …would she be a candidate for the McNair Scholarship?

The honors college application to SC is a doozie, but well worth doing. If she applies there…both the application to the university,and the honors college application have very early filing deadlines.

The McNair is a full ride. In addition, SC has OOS scholarships that reduce to the instate tuition rate plus a scholarship amount.

We loved the school…and it was our kid’s second choice.

College of Charleston is another excellent suggestion. Their honors college is also well worth it. And they have some good scholarships for high achieving kids.

Another suggestion to look at Trinity (TX), SouthwesternU, Centre. We visited all of these–all great schools. I think for STEM, Trinity would be the strongest of the three, depending on what she is leaning toward studying My kid looking for big merit at LAC’s also looked at Knox and ClarkU. She got enough at all of these to get them into your range or better. Her stats were a tiny bit lower and she had lots strong EC’s and no sport. From our experience, good strong merit aid is likely at schools in this range for high stats. It takes more than grades/scores to get the competitive full tuition and full ride scholarships though.