New here, my daughter is going to be a junior. She doesn’t have any scores for SAT yet but we are starting to prepare for those. Has maintained a weighted 4.0 gpa I think 3.8 un weighted,both years. 6th in her class. Very good soccer player but only club, will be varsity for her junior year at her hs. In Leadership, National Honor Society, was Varsity Cheer Leader, does community services when available. Is giving up cheer for soccer. My husband and I are both retired and willing to move anywhere so she can get in state tuition if that is something we can do?. Been looking at schools in NC and Texas for affordability and really don’t want anymore snow if possible, at least not a lot. Can be Christian school or not, public U or private schools that have good merit scholarships. Starting to really get overwhelmed with the best way to go about this with her not going completely into debt if she does manage to get into med school. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Are you suggesting changing states (and therefore you daughter changing highschools) NOW in order to be eligible for in-state tuition to a potential college? I don’t even know if that’s possible, not knowing individual state requirements, and your tax return will be from where you lived in the year prior to her application. So I don’t know that I’d move anywhere on that basis.
Re: pre-med, if she wants to get into medical school it is essential that she get very high grades in college. If money is an issue perhaps she will be eligible for scholarships if her test scores are high and she maintains the grades. And of course going to a state school or someplace local can save money.
As far as playing soccer – varsity sports are very time consuming. She’d be better off focusing on her courses/grades. Lots of schools have intramural programs that allow you to have fun playing sports without the intense time commitment and practice/game schedules that a varsity sport requires.
Good luck!
Yes, it seems like you would have to move to another state soon. Does your daughter want to leave her high school before graduating? That wasn’t clear in your post.
We were thinking of moving right after she graduates hs. She would have to pay full price freshman year but hopefully have a scholarship to off set that year. Then by sophomore year we would be in state for 1 year and have a half a year tax return which is the typical time you need for claiming residency. She will finish up her high school she is currently at. Hoping that her medical school would be in the same state. I wonder what the chances of that are?
I think she would probably be fine doing the intramural program for soccer unless she got a scholarship but I think those are pretty rare. Plus not sure if she would be able to do premed and a varsity sport. I think she just loves playing and likes to stay active. She knows she needs to put premed first! Do most schools that have soccer have the intramural program as well as varsity?
You need to read the residency rules closely. Usually you don’t become a resident after a year if you actually moved there for college purposes. Having the tax return from the new state doesn’t make you a resident for tuition purposes. I think your plan will work in Idaho (or was it Utah?) Probably not TX or NC.
I have read the rules for a few colleges and basically it seems residency is based on where the parents live and most it states residency is after one year for consideration for in state colleges. Seems if it is only the child who moves it really is an issue as I guess they go by parents till the kids are much older.
I wonder if it would be better to move and enroll in a community college in that state and then transfer to a 4 year college. She is in a lot of dual credit classes this coming junior and senior year so not sure when she is done here what year she would actually enter college at. Plus I’m reading on this site that not all dual credit classes are actually accepted. It is all so confusing!
If you want to get instate tuition for your daughter…you need to move before the start of her senior year in HS…not after she graduates. Once she starts as an OOS student someplace, she will have to do a change of residency status. You will need to prove you did NOT move to the new state for educational purposes.
According to other threads, you currently live in ND which is mighty inexpensive for college for instate students.
You’d have to move one year before she applies, so by December 2016.
Unc Wilmington or College of Charleston are good for soccer. Agnes Scott may be interested.
You have a lot of mistakes in your strategy
1). CCs are not good for premeds…
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the best aid or scholarships are for incoming freshman at colleges…not transfers
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once a student starts as OOS, it’s hard to get that changed to instate…even if the parents move. Many states don’t care if the parents move.
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going to a CC first means forfeiting the best merit opportunities for incoming frosh.
If you want “instate rates” then have your DD apply to the schools that will give her merit for her stats so it won’t matter if she’s instate or OOS. Even if she’s OOS, the merit could be LARGER to compensate for the OOS portion.
For instance, at Alabama, if her stats are strong enough she’d either get essentially instate rates or FREE TUITION completely. If she gets an ACT 30 (or SAT equivalent) then she gets 2/3 off OOS tuition which means the net cost is LOWER than instate. If she gets an ACT 32 then her tuition is TOTALLY FREE.
What is your home state?
Have your DD take the PSAT this October. Make sure she’s signed up for that.
Regarding playing a sport and being premed…
Is she looking for Div I soccer?
I’m not familiar with the demands of Div 1 soccer, but I do know that it’s hard for some in Div 1 sports to fit in the premed prereqs because labs are often in the afternoon.
My son, who is a 4th year med student, has 2 housemates that are former Div 1 football players…one from Auburn and one from Oregon. Because they didn’t believe that they could get med school worthy GPAs while doing a demanding Div 1 sport, they followed this strategy: As undergrads, they completed relatively easy majors to get very high GPAs. Once they graduated, they did “premed post bacc’s” to complete the premed prereqs. This allowed them to apply to med schools with high GPAs.
My son plays D2 soccer and is STEM on a pre-med track. He has kept his GPA high enough to be competitive for med school but it has been hard work. D2 doesn’t travel as much as D1 but has similar practice schedules etc. it is definitely something to consider. D3 would not be as demanding and another option is to play on a college club team- much more competitive than intramurals but not as demanding as NCAA.
As others have said, it is unlikely your daughter would get in state tuition the first year if you move after her senior year. Depending on the school she might qualify her 2nd year(for example the UC’s would classify her as OOS all 4 years). While I know it is hard to figure out where to start, we took the approach of coming up with a list of schools based on academics and cost, and then narrowed in on the soccer aspect. Soccer scholarships are not a given (there are more for women than for men) so it is so important to focus on good academics in high school. Have your daughter come up with a list of what is important to her in a college atmosphere and then narrow down a list based in cost.
The changing states strategy, as others have explained, is out.
Soccer and good pre-med with good merit aid, at least 2 schools come to mind.
Creighton in Omaha gives good merit–assuming she does well on her tests–is strong in soccer and has an excellent pre-med program. May be too “snowy”, but better than NoDak.
Trinity University in TX, great merit, good pre-med and good DIII Soccer, which should be less of a time burden than DI. Plus San Antonio is snow-proof.
The key is to find an affordable undergrad program and get great grades and MCAT scores. The undergrad name on the degree is largely secondary. Go somewhere she will be the proverbial big fish in smaller pond and she can excel.
Good luck!
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wonder if it would be better to move and enroll in a community college in that state and then transfer to a 4 year college.
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that would not be advisable for a premed, nor would it be advisable for someone who’d want large merit.
What do you want your annual net cost to be?
No more then $12,000/yr. Hopefully she can get at least $10,000 year merit. I am looking at universities that are under $15,000/ yr. But that just leaves us instate or maybe University of Alabama or similar school. Unless we could figure out how to get in state in NC. Move earlier if it is that important to her. She doesn’t have any scores yet so it is hard to figure out if she could get any merit. Has the grades but just a waiting game till testing starts. I just ordered a bunch of SAT books for her to start studying.
Is your income below 75k? Below 125k?
If so, it’s affect our strategy because our best bet would be meet need colleges - and being from North Dakota is a precious commodity there since the state’s students are way under represented (it’s a hook).
$12K per year? Please ignore my suggestions of Creighton and Trinity U. Can’t drive the cost down that low unless you can get substantial FA. $25k might be doable, but no lower without FA.
NoDak is a hook, but do you qualify for any FA? Have you run any net price calculators at schools?
Good luck!
You have reciprocity with Minnesota state schools I think. What about someplace in the MNSCU system (Moorehead or Duluth)?
I’m from ID not ND. I will have to look to see if we have reciprocity somewhere for undergrad. The problem is we do have it with WA for medical school, but there is only one medical school. They take students from 5 states but that would be difficult. Reason we wanted to move somewhere where there are more medical schools and that they choose students mostly from the state they are in. I think I read Texas chooses 90% of their med students from Texas. At least if I am understanding correctly what I have read. There just are not enough medical schools out this way which puts her even more at a disadvantage to eventually getting into medical school.
NoDak is a hook
Is Idaho also a hook?
Neither ND nor ID are hooks. They might be a minor nudges if a school is trying to show broad interest from all states. Nothing more.