Looking for good schools to apply to. Already applied to Georgetown (deferred), Hood College, Elizabethtown College (accepted with good merit aid). Waiting to hear about JMU, University of Maryland, and Emory. I live in Maryland. Obviously Georgetown and Emory are reach schools… Hard to find middle of the road schools that are somewhat selective but affordable or offer good merit aid. Hoping to stay close to MD. Prefer small college atmosphere with the option to continue to swim either for the school team or as a club. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
SAT-1990
Unweighted GPA- 4.0
Class rank 1/160
National Cancer Institute Intern (currently)
AP classes-2, also Duel enrolled at local community college for 18 credits, in addition received 4 college credit from Stevenson University for Cellular Biology (Biomedical Science Program through Career Technology Center)
EC’s. Club swimmer, high school swim captain, NHS,It’s Academic Team, Volunteer for the ARC,
Your SATs are a tad low; however your GPA and class rank are excellent… have you looked at University of Washington St. Louis? They offer competitive full rides, including a whole scholarship category for students going into the biological sciences. You might be a strong candidate. Deadline is January 15: http://admissions.wustl.edu/scholarships-financial-aid/Freshman-Academic-Scholarship-Fellowship-Programs/Pages/College-of-Arts-Sciences-Honorary-Scholars-Program.aspx
You can check out Temple… I believe there’s still time to apply and be considered for merit aid: http://admissions.temple.edu/cost-and-aid.
Luckily UMD is really generous with merit aid–it’s generally one of my top recommendations when people ask about generous schools. Your stats are super solid for them–I’m sure you’ll get in.
@proudterrier it’s Wash U in St Louis (UW is in the state of Washington) and this poster is not competitive for that school.
OP, can your family afford JMU? That’s an OOS public U for which you would get little to no aid.
it is in the same cost range as Hood College and Elizabethtown College. However both of those colleges offered good scholarships that cut the cost about in half. I guess it depends on the merit aid I may qualify for.
I can tell you Umd certainly is higher ranked school than Hood or Elizabathtown. But I also can tell you I just had a dinner with a recent (2014)Etown graduate who is now in a Phd program in Leighai and has been recruited by Google, who is starting the job before he got his Phd.
College is what you can make out of.
For merit scholarships, you would need to look for colleges that are low match to safety level for admission.
Here is a school near Maryland where you can get a full tuition scholarship if your SAT CR+M >= 1170, and you apply before the scholarship money is all offered:
http://www.howard.edu/financialaid/grants_scholarships.htm#Freshman
There are more you can try for listed here:
http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
Have you looked at St. Mary’s College of Maryland?
I second @intparent’s suggestion. St. Mary’s College of Maryland is a good school. You’ll qualify for in-state tuition and they even offer some merit-aid too. They have a swim team that you could swim for and it’s located right on the water. Its under 2,000 students. I have visited twice and love it. I would highly recommend it!
I would also consider Washington College. They are a bit more expensive, but I suspect you’ll get generous merit-aid. It’s very similar to SMCM. Good luck!
Gris04 - I’m also from Maryland and my DD is in the same boat as you w/ similar stats. What area of Maryland are you from? Have you come up with anywhere else interesting? We applied to many of the same schools as you. Its a waiting game right now!