<p>Southern Methodist University. </p>
<p>I thought this poster needed just about a full ride. Would she get that at SMU? </p>
<p>I am trying to pick 2 reach schools to appease my dad and I’m still struggling to find one… so far I have researched Tulane and Wake Forest and have ran the NPC and looked at the Common Data Set. Wake Forest offered me more financial aid (tuition 62000 and was offered 44000) and does offer merit scholarships but I do not know how it affects the aid and it is a competitive school…Tulane offered me less aid and is also competitive… do you think Wake Forest could be a reach (I mean reachy reach) for my list? Or should I look for a reach that offers me more?</p>
<p>Well… in this case it sounds like reach is in the eye of the beholder. To me it sounds like your dad considers “schools he has heard of” as reaches. You could run Wake Forest by him to see what he thinks.</p>
<p>@intparent are there any reaches (I know the term is subjective but some more well known small to mid sized universities) that are known to give good merit aid and that I have an actual chance to get that you know of?</p>
<p>Your dad wants you to apply to Tulane and Syracuse…so apply to those schools. Just add them to your list. </p>
<p>@thumper1 I didn’t mean he wanted me to apply specifically to those schools just ones that are better known “by name”. I’m trying to find schools like these maybe a tier below those super hard schools like the ivy leagues but are known for some generous aid for merit which is why I am broadening the list to well known schools with good merit and financial aid. The tricky part is finding ones where I am in the upper percentile. In wake forest I get a lot of aid 2/3 but I am neck to neck with a lot of people with my stats which is why it is a reach but still a possible reach…i’m trying to get what he wants whiles still maneuvering to be more realistic </p>
<p>Well, like I said… don’t go looking for reaches just to look for them. From one of your previous posts, your dad hasn’t heard of a lot of great schools, and considers some to be reaches that I wouldn’t really consider a very high quality school (eg, Syracuse, sorry to anyone on this thread who is attached to it…). What about Wake Forest? I mean, it is ranked #23 by US News for National Universities. I just looked at the US News list, and don’t see anything above it that looks like a more viable reach from an affordability standard. </p>
<p>So @intparent in your opinion it is a viable reach for me? Do you know schools similar to Wake Forest that are in that percentile of aid and merit? Any suggestions are helpful but I’m leaning towards LACs</p>
<p>kudos to you, OP, for doing such a great job and building a realistic list. Your insight is so refreshing!</p>
<p>Well, I don’t know how Wake treats merit. Even if you get some, they may just take away some of the need based aid to cover it. But reading your posts, you may have to pick a couple of schools that make your dad happy, but may or may not be affordable if you are accepted. If it is borderline and it makes him happy, add it to the list. I think you are still probably around only 10 schools, even with UF, USF, and Wake on the list in addition to your initial list, right? That is a reasonable number of schools.</p>
<p>I’m narrowing my list down to 2 safeties, 3 match, and 2 reaches (the ones my dad wants or I can convince him of) I am planning to contact their financial aid departments of all the schools to see how they treat merit and so forth. I just wanted some more suggestions for reach schools. For match schools I’m sticking to LACs who give a lot of aid and where my stats are above theirs. </p>
<p>What are your preferred geographic boundaries and major interests? (sorry if I missed it)</p>
<p>If you really need FA, you may want a couple more schools on the list. Seven is not very many for a student who needs to compare FA offers. Can you give us your current list?</p>
<p>I’ve had to start over so all I have is one reach wake forest and safeties are Louisiana Tech and I am missing another one…i’m still beginning on my list but any suggestions are helpful…I’m also narrowing my list because I don’t know how many fee waivers I will get from my GC…@saintfan my preferred geographic boundaries are the east coast but I’m not against the west entirely and my major interests are psychology and a good pre med program as well</p>
<p>There are 2 guaranteed full tuition schools, though, so as long at OP would be happy with them it seems like that angle is covered. </p>
<p>Is Temple gone then?</p>
<p>I’m still debating it cuz i’m not sure about it yet as a safety</p>
<p>Awww . . . I see you need ACT of 32 or M/CR of 1400 for the top award at Temple</p>
<p>It might be outside your geographic area but I would give St. Olaf a look. You look like a great candidate for their top merit scholarship. They also have service scholarships and meet full need. The merit $$$ are subtracted from the grant. They have great pre-med support, research opportunities, study abroad for pre-med, shadowing at The Mayo etc. Feel free to pm me if you have questions.</p>