Review list of Mid Atlantic/ NY schools and offer advice, thank you so muchb

College Search & Selection
1

We are looking at mostly private colleges in Maryland, PA, NY. We would like to visit schools with the following:

  1. Cost per year lower than $55,000, including room and board. So merit scholarships are of interest Stats: Attends competitive Maryland public high school in Montgomery County Fits in with creative, fun, smart, laid back, hard working students
    GPA: 3.8 UW, 4.5 W 6 AP courses 2 College Credit courses ( grade: A in both) SAT: Combined 1380, will retake at end of the month Good ECs: 2 varsity sports (tennis, poms), Captain of Forensics (Speech/Drama), County awards in Forensics, Actress/Dancer Summer Theater productions Would probably not qualify for any financial aid Would like LAC colleges with Business, Computer Science and Engineering, if possible Would like medium size campus and student population between 3000-10,000. I Isn't interested in drinking. Enjoys healthy/fun environment for socializing. Probably won't pledge a sorority, if it takes too much of her time.

Our list inludes: Loyola University Maryland, Villa Nova, Bucknell University, University of Rochester, Ithaca College, University of Maryland College Park (only public university, but drawback is large size)

Any first hand experience at these schools? Do you think we should consider other schools to visit?
Any suggestions would be very much appreciated!

2

If you are looking for merit aid, you should become very familiar with the common data set element H2An Number of students in line a who had no financial need and who were awarded institutional non-need-based scholarship or grant aid (exclude those who were awarded athletic awards and tuition benefits). For example at Villanova, the number is 79 (out of a population of ~800). Also, the potential majors that you list are the most competitive. The two things together can really impact the universe of appropriate schools.

3

“Isn’t interested in drinking.” = This might cause one to eliminate Bucknell from a list of schools.

What was the student’s math SAT score ?

Although large & public, consider the University of Pittsburgh as total out-of-state costs are well below your maximum & Pitt offers merit scholarships & business & engineering.

4

Since you have Catholic schools on your list, I would add Fairfield University. They have a B school and Engineering. You are also likely to get them into your price point.

5

Just a note about UMD CP - if your D can get her SAT score up, she could get an invite to one of the speciality live/learn program - honors, scholars, fire, etc… They instantly make a large school feel more intimate.

6

URoch’s estimated COA next year is $82,000. Not sure if she’ll receive enough merit to get you to the $55,000 range. Catholic U? Manhattan College? Seconding UPitt. Not an LAC but Clarkson is strong in all those majors and gives great merit for females. I know several successful recent grads, and d’s best friend goes there currently and loves it.

7

I like the Ithaca area. It’s pretty but it’s fairly remote. You’re in a tough spot. Most privates are above $55k/year. There’s merit but you need a little higher stats unless you look just below the top schools.

Look at Pitt or Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. Duquesne is a Catholic school. Maybe St. Joe’s in Philly, Delaware, or James Madison? A few are larger than 10k students but they aren’t huge either. William and Mary would be at top end cost wise but her scores would be in the middle of the averages.

8

Demonstrated interest is particularly important for Ithaca College.
SAT is low for OOS @ W&M, and there is no
Checkout UVt- it’s headline COA is $60K (incl books, etc), and she would have a good shot at some solid merit money.
U South Carolina is under budget, and if she can get into the honors college that can be a good experience.

9

Take a look at Union in Schenectady. The social scene is vibrant but maybe a little less intense than Bucknell. As little smaller than she’s looking for.

Agree that St. Joe’s and Delaware could be worth a look too although neither is a LAC.

10

*edit on W&M- the rest of the sentence was “there is no merit money”

11

With UMD CP in your backyard I would have a hard time over looking that with with the Instate tuition esp if she were to go into STEM. My D is going there this Fall in the Honors College. Stats of incoming 2023 class (950 students; 295 high schools, 22 states, 82.2% from Md; 41 had perfect SAT or ACT score; Middle 50% SAT 1460-1540 ACT 33-35 Average GPA 4.6. They offer Merit $ as well. Our D got into Villanova as well EA Eng. It was very comp. $0 Merit. That and PITT were the only schools that did not offer merit money. Of note, PITT did not offer her merit $ because she did not score a 1500 on her SAT. That was the cut off last year.

12

Clarification on my post: Those are the Honors College stats.

13

If you are not eligible for financial aid, and your budget is $55k , state schools, both in and OOS, would work, a number of Catholic colleges, and those private schools where your DD’s stats make her competitive for merit money.

Though , there are private colleges with full sticker prices at or below the $55k mark, with schools crossing that $80k+ mark, some schools with name recognition are following suit. Many are discounting heavily. Back, not long ago, a $20k merit award was rare. Seeing them more and more now, but that’s because full price is wY up there

The PA state schools like West Chester, Penn State Harrisburg, Slippery Rock, Millersville, Bloomsbury, Penn State Behren and others will fit a lot of your DD’s reqs. Indians U of PA has an Honors College getting good press. Catholic schools like Duquesne, Scranton, St Joseph’s Lasalle, also. Private schools like Drexel, Robert Morris, York. Drexel will be a stretch for enough merit money but with paid co-ops maybe doable

Maryland has Salisbury State , Frostburg as well as Loyola.

New York has a number of SUNYs that will fit your bill, literally. Binghamton would be my top choice. Geneseo is well regarded but very few OOSers.

Private independent schools include Rensselaer Polytechnic, RIT, Hofstra, Pace (in Manhattan) , Clarkson, Adelphi

Catholic schools include Fordham at Rose Hill, Marist, Siena

These schools all have a shot of coming in under $55k with their sticker prices and realistic chances of your D getting scholarship money. They also meet the size requirement. Whether they have the academic programs that your D wants, she will have to research.

14

Union’s social scene is really Greek life dominated and alcohol heavy, just like Bucknell’s

15

Connecticut College would be a good place to look, lots of lowkey social options there and fit the academic desires I think

16

Have you looked at Lafayette? They are pricey but have a decent scholarship program for top kids.

17

I was also going to recommend Union. Really fits the bill.

18

Oh, thanks sooooo much.! These are all great tips. I decided to put Binghamton University and Fairfield University into our college road trip plan for next week. Lafayette, I don’t believe offers any business courses. So, we won’t look there. I decided to take University of Rochester off of our travel plans, due to high cost and low merit assistance for her stats. We already visited Loyola Maryland and will return to walk on campus.

Duquesne seems like the campus is too small with just 50 acres of land space. My daughter would like a medium size campus to walk around.

I really appreciate your replies and find them extremely helpful. I had no idea that Bucknell students were heavily into drinking, which would be a drawback.

19

Marist is only $55k per year and with her stats she would probably get merit money. They have business and computer science. My D and I visited and I was really impressed. Both with the campus (it was gorgeous) and the quality of the education and the eventual outcomes. There is no Greek life so it didn’t strike me as a huge party school.

We visited Bucknell today. There were lots of Greek houses and they were right on campus.

20

What about St. Mary’s College in southern MD? State school with LAC feel.