<p>My daughter has several schools in mind, but many are "reaches" and we could always use some other opinions. She isn't sure what she wants to major in, but she is considering Business, English, or Journalism. She would prefer to go somewhere out of state (we live in Utah). Her dream schools are: Princeton, Columbia, Stanford; she would also like to go to NYU, Vassar, and Georgetown. We would prefer somewhere that is less costly and/or provides significant financial aid. I will list her accomplishments here so you can get a feel for what her credentials are.</p>
<p>GPA: 3.9
ACT Practice Test Score: 31
Top 8% in class of ~300
Taken every Honors class offered, plus APUSH this year</p>
<p>*1st Place, DECA Regional Competition
*3rd Place, DECA State Competition
*Top 20th Percentile Test Score at DECA Internationals
*Top Score (I think top 20) in Role Play at DECA Internationals
*DECA Chapter Secretary
*DECA Student of the Year last year</p>
<p>*2nd Place for Team Event at FBLA Regional Competition
*3rd Place for Individual Event at FBLA Regional Competition</p>
<p>*NHS Member throughout high school
*NHS Publicity Officer this year</p>
<p>*Member of school's "Elections & Eligibility Committee" throughout high school
*Youth City Council Service Committee Member this year
*Volunteered for a year at our local charity thrift store (roughly 200 hours)</p>
<p>*In addition to these, she has been president of her church's Young Women's Group for one year and Counselor for around 2 years, as well as earned her "Medallion" given for accomplishing 80+ hours worth of projects promoting growth as an individual.</p>
<p>If you could list some reach, match, and safety schools that would be so appreciated! Thank you!</p>
<p>First, could you please clarify your financial situation. Does your family qualify for need based aid? If you don’t know use an on line calculator to determine how much you may be eligible for.</p>
<p>If your estimated contribution is in the ballpark then she can put together a wide list. If she’ll need merit aid, then she’ll need to focus on colleges that offer it. Most of the colleges on her current list are “need” only.</p>
<p>Many colleges/universities don’t offer an undergraduate business degree. Would she settle for something else like economics, political science?</p>
<p>It looks like she’s focusing on urban and medium sized. Is there some flexibility here? Some of the schools that offer top merit aid (as well as very good academics) are rural and small. Same for women’s colleges.</p>
<p>Any other preferences? She has a mix of politically and socially very liberal and more middle road. Is the level of activism on campus a factor for her, either pro or con?</p>
<p>I’m curious to know how Vassar made the list. It’s a fine school, but seems out of place with the others.</p>
<p>I believe that we would qualify. We are lower middle class. Do you know where I could find a calculator for this? Let’s just say that we won’t be able to provide much help with costs. I think that she would prefer a school with a business program; that seems to be her “thing”, although she is a great writer. I don’t think that the size is that big of a determining factor; she’d be flexible there for sure. She seems to like urban environments (though I worry that she’s not ready for life in a big city). I don’t think that she really cares about the liberality of the college; she’s not very political. No idea how Vassar got on there; she just found these somehow! Thank you!</p>
<p>She’s picked some very expensive schools and without that SAT score, it would be hard to say where she might get in.<br>
Stanford and NYU aren’t great with financial aid. You need to go to the schools’ websites and look at the financial aid page as well as the Net Price Calculator on those sites.</p>
<p>If an undergraduate business degree is non-negotiable, she’ll need to do some re-thinking as many of the colleges on her list don’t have a business major per se, though many of their graduates do go on to successful business careers. She should either research business schools, or keep an open mind on this issue.</p>
<p>Will she be able to do some visiting to firm up her list? Sometimes it’s difficult to visualize the differences from school to school without a first hand visit.</p>
<p>There are plenty of urban colleges – small, medium and large. Sort out the finances first, then the business part, then just pick a city and start researching the colleges located there.</p>
<p>I’ll throw out my favorite school of late…( I’m not an alum…but have toured a lot of schools with my kids over the years ). Lindenwood University is a mid sized LAC in a suburb of St. Louis, Mo. </p>
<p>Im also a big fan of University of Tulsa which is a bit more elite, although still cost effective with scholarships.</p>
<p>This is inaccurate for Stanford. Some 1/2 the freshman class received financial aid in 2012-2013 with the average grant $40000+. Stanford is need blind, and grants do not have a “loan” component.</p>
<p>Stanford is one of the most generous schools in the country for need-based financial aid. Net cost after average need-based aid is less than $20K. No contribution at all is expected from parents earning $60K or less. Parents earning $100K or less (with “typical” assets) are not expected to contribute to tuition costs. Stanford is a no-loan school.</p>
<p>Princeton, Columbia, Stanford, Vassar, and many other selective private schools do not have undergraduate business or journalism degree programs. Some have one or the other. UPenn has a famous undergraduate business school (Wharton) and offers a “Literature, Journalism and Print Culture” concentration for its undergraduate English majors (in its College of Arts and Sciences). It also has excellent financial aid. Northwestern has an undergraduate journalism program and an undergraduate business “certificate” program. It also has excellent need-based FA.</p>
<p>Stanford, Penn, and Northwestern would be reach schools. For safeties that offer business/journalism at relatively low sticker prices, check out what is available among your own in-state public schools. State universities often don’t have very good need-based FA for out of state students. However, some of them (e.g. New York and Minnesota schools) have relatively low sticker prices even for OOS students.</p>
<p>Here are some schools with business majors and the average net price after financial aid for families with incomes $48-$75K per year. Also included the 75th percentile ACT composite.</p>
<p>34 8642 Brown University
35 10548 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
32 12457 University of Richmond
34 13334 University of Pennsylvania
33 13513 Cornell University
34 14688 University of Notre Dame
33 15854 Johns Hopkins University
32 15948 Wheaton College
33 17089 Georgetown University
34 17483 Washington University in St Louis
32 21052 Boston College
32 22106 Emory University
32 22925 Washington and Lee University
33 23637 Case Western Reserve University
33 24140 Carnegie Mellon University
33 24479 University of Southern California
32 25618 Tulane University of Louisiana
32 27414 University of Miami
32 27830 Northeastern University</p>