D22 has her almost finalized list. She is looking for a LAC and wants to major in journalism/communications or sociology. She wants a not too small (less than 2k) school where she can also participate in theater for fun and a good college town nearby. We are trying to cast a wide net because we need merit aid. Please let me know your thoughts and if you have suggestions.
4.0 uw gpa
Class rank: 11/407
8 APs (5’s and 4’s, 1 3)
Dual enrollment college French (4 years of french)
SAT 1330 730 eng/600 math (won’t submit to reach schools)
Rigorous senior course load
Officer in National Honor Society
Tri-M Honor Society
Foreign Lang HS
Rho Kappa HS
Show Choir
Habitat for Humanity Club
Civic Club
Drama Club
Community Theatre
SCMEA
NYSSMA
Student of the month
P/T job at Dunkin
First generation college student
On her list are:
SUNY Binghamton
SUNY New Paltz
SUNY Stony Brook
Boston University
Lehigh
Macauley Honors College @ Hunter College
Syracuse
UMass Amherst
Susquehanna free app
Muhlenberg
Lafayette
Washington & Lee
UNC Chapel Hill
Would love suggestions for other schools if any come to mind. Thank you!
You said LAC. These mostly aren’t. The first I thought of was W&L because it’s strong in journalism although not a great college town. You have everything …safety, reach, and target.
If you are chasing merit you need to look at schools (for journalism…everyone will have soc)….Arizona and Alabama will be your best merit….your tuition at both likely a few thousand (4.0 worth $35k at AZ and it’s a fine school). Both are solid journalism. ASU….less merit…is outstanding in journalism. FSU, Miami, South Carolina, Arkansas, Ms State, and Mizzou are other strong high merit choices. All have Honors Colleges which will provide a smaller atmosphere.
As for smaller schools to look at with potentially nice merit and journalism…Hofstra and Bradley will both tell you your scholarship on their website. Richmond, Denver, Emerson, Whitworth,Evansville, and Drake. Which is a ‘college’ town type area you’d need to investigate.
Good luck.
The stats are awesome although at UNC, W&L you are likely a test optional candidate. But at many schools I listed that 4.0 will get you paid which is why so many from the Northeast, Midwest, and West are heading South or West for school. Congrats to your daughter.
Thank you so much for all of these suggestions. We just added Emerson to her list and are looking at the others. I really appreciate it.
btw - you list above Susquehanna - free app. Not sure of your financial situation - but get on the email lists for any and all schools of interest. We were on 100.
I set up an email address for my daughter - just for college - so i can manage for her. You’d be amazed at how many schools - including W&L - will send you free app waivers. We applied to 21 and I think 6 were free - including Miami of Oh (after our tour) and Pitt (after we attended an info session). W&L was just - waived.
Also, if you’re looking to expand your list at the end just for the heck of it (since you are chasing merit), google Niche + no application fee and you’ll see a list of all schools that don’t charge a fee to apply. If any don’t have an additional essay over common app and you see they have journlaism - you can throw a hail mary to them.
Good luck.
For what it’s worth, I went to Syracuse Newhouse School. While they have a great track record and I can’t speak for today, back in the day, you rarely got practical experience and 95% of whom I went to school with are in nothing media. I had a friend transfer to Montana. When I visited her, each and every person had their own camera and mic - and coincidentally, I found out the entire class (15) got jobs as tv reporters/anchors out of school. Sometimes the lesser name may be better. Definitely research each program, ask questions, etc. and don’t just assume the best name is best.
One more thing- when I said Miami above (and the U is a great school) but for merit I was suggesting Miami Ohio. Miami (Fl) is a $25K merit - but still leaves you offer $50K.
Good luck.
Maybe look at DePauw. They seem to have a decent journalism program. Also offer nice merit aid. I think I noticed it more because I watch too much CNBC and know Jon Fortt went there as did James B. Stewart.
- edited to add that I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone rave about the local town however, but I don’t have any view on it.
Most of the colleges on your list are not LACs. I see a lot of SUNY schools, so I assume you’re instate for NY. Geneseo should really be on her list and is probably a better option than the other SUNY’s, except for Bing. Bing has 13,000 students though. Stony Brook has a huge percentage of commuters, which doesn’t seem like what she is interested in. Why are Boston, Syracuse, Lehigh, UNCCH, and especially UMass Amherst on the list? They aren’t LACs and some of them (none, I think) are very unlikely to give the kind of merit I think you hope to get.
LACs are small. It’s unusual to find a true LAC with much over 3000 students. Is she really interested in them?
We could be a lot more helpful if you told us how much you can afford and what your income is. Are you expecting your D to take out a fed student loan and work? Maybe you’ll qualify for better FA than relying on merit.
As a first generation student, she might have a little extra bonus on her app. She seems like a highly qualified applicant, but so are many others. Her test score could potentially make things harder for her, but she can retake, focus on math, and try to bump it up. I do think there are schools where she’d qualify for good merit aid, but I think most of the ones on the list aren’t going to work.
Seconding Geneseo.
Most colleges on your list arent LACS and/or are unlikely to offer merit.
Denison would meet your criteria and offers merit.
Most colleges on the list of Colleges that change lives would work.
Run the Net Price Calculator on every college.
We are instate for the SUNYs. What about Geneseo is better than the others? Syracuse has a good journalism program so that’s why that’s on there and UNCCH also has a good communications program. UMASS Amherst was recommended to her by a family friend. I thought most of them gave good merit but after your post I guess not. I’m not sure how to figure out who gives good merit then. We looked at each schools available scholarships. Should we redo her whole list? We will qualify for some need base aide but not much. Feeling really discouraged now. 
So - as I and others pointed out - if you want an LAC - then the list other than W&L is all wrong - but journalism is typically not at an LAC - hence I gave some small schools that have merit like Drake, Hofstra, Bradley.
Your bigger thing was chasing merit - and hence I gave you the Bama, Arizona, etc. list - because that’s where you save save save - with the GPA you have.
If you were to rank your schools listed by Reach, for example, UNC is a reach…very very difficult to get into out of state. You’d need to apply TO but I don’t see a way in quite honestly…but you should try. W&L is also a reach but if you show them love. And BU - your rank is good - but again, would be TO. I think those are your three most difficult with UNC being near impossible and the other two not likely but not impossible.
The others are match and/or safety.
But again, as I and everyone has pointed out - these aren’t LACs and not necessarily high merit. An SU for example, even if you get good merit, will be $50K+ a year. An Arizona will be $20K - and then you get in the Honors College to have it smaller - and get a kick butt dorm. But yes, you have to travel there and if there are issues they can’t come home for the weekend, etc.
Good luck.
Thank you. I just read this to her and she said she doesn’t really care if it’s an LAC. We are going to look up each school you mentioned and remove some. I appreciate the help. Clearly I don’t know what I’m doing.
You said she wants an LAC, and most on the list are not. I am not trying to be discouraging, but rather, realistic. You are looking for advice and we are giving you that. Yes, I think you need to rework most of your list.
I suggested Geneseo because it’s the only SUNY that’s effectively an LAC, albeit larger than a typical LAC. It used to be regarded as the SUNY honors school, though I think Bing and Stony Brook are overall more academically rigorous. Geneseo is a wonderful school though. I know several happy students there. They might offer merit too.
Syracuse offers limited merit aid. Its top awards will be for the best of the best, students they want to entice from HYP and the like. They are pretty stingy and your D’s test score isn’t going to tip the balance in her favor. You haven’t told us how much you can afford, but it’s $75k a year plus. She will not qualify for the biggest merit awards with her stats.
UMass Amherst doesn’t give much merit aid to OOS.
UNCCH is probably the same. Do they give any merit at all? Maybe to the most very tippy top applicants.
BU notoriously doesn’t give much merit, and then, usually to the cream of the crop applicants it’s trying to entice…like all the others.
Same for Lehigh.
In general, your D’s best chance of getting merit is to be in the very top of the top 75th percentile of accepted students. You can google ____ College Common Data Set and see the stats for admitted students. The best chance of getting merit is to apply to private colleges that are not super selective. BU, for example, is a reach for most these days. They are not handing out merit and are very expensive. Not a good option, unless you qualify for a lot of need based aid.
Can I suggest you start a new thread? Post in this same subforum. Give her stats and provide information about what you can afford, what your annual income is, what you expect her contribution to be. Explain that you need enough merit to cover $ , or need based aid to cover $_. Tell us what she wants to major in and what she is looking for in a college.
There are colleges she MIGHT get a full ride to, but they are unlikely to be any of the ones you mentioned.
Try colleges in the Midwest. Kalamazoo, Earlham, College of Wooster, Cornell (Iowa), or Lewis and Clark in Portland, OR. Maybe Eckerd in Florida. There are options, but prob not the ones you mentioned here.
ETA: Geneseo has communications.
I think it goes to what @Lindagaf asked?
What’s your budget?
Will you qualify for aid? A good way to see that is to go to a meets 100% of need school - you can use W&L since it’s on your list - and fill out the net price calculator. What does it show you?
Some people will not get need based aid - we didn’t. So W&L is $81K listed cost of attendance and it’s likely more than that.
While I can afford it (at least the colleges say so), I chose not to afford it.
So that’s why the budget is key - what you are willing to pay or what the colleges say you have to pay.
You say you NEED merit aid. Do you need it because you don’t have money - in that case, you may find out a school will support you - hence fill out Net Price Calc for W&L.
If it’s - you don’t qualify but you don’t want to pay a ton (good call), then you go to the list of high merit schools 
There’s many people who can afford the “top” schools whose kids go to what most would deem 2nd tier schools. Yet a college like Alabama has as many National Merit Scholars as any in the country.
One other thing to look at - Journalism and Soc - both really interesting - the first typically poorly paid and the 2nd definitely poorly paid and likely grad school (more expense).
Keep the questions coming.
Emerson has a huge, highly competitive BFA drama program. I am not sure how much room there is for non drama students in their productions. They also were not very generous with aid for my son with a high price point.
Thank you so much. I will post a new thread with financials.
Thanks so much. I learned a lot from your post. I am posting a new thread with financials.
Sure any time. Or pm me. Glad to help
Please check out my new post and let me know what you think if you have time. Thanks 
Here’s the link to your new post: