<p>Just a casual search but would really appreciate suggestions for schools which have excellent physics departments with possibly astrophysics as available minors/specialties. We will start some visits over Spring Break and this summer. Would prefer a LAC or major university which encourages girls in the sciences especially with opportunities for research while still an undergrad. Having a track and field team might be a help! DD is interested in the big names such as Stanford, MIT, GA Tech, Rice but will have to improve standardized scores a bit for those. Her hook might be athletics as she is ranked in the state in track. GA Tech she would be a legacy ( dad) as well as Yale( grandfather?)
She is currently a junior taking :
Latin 3 honors
AP Calc AB
AP Lang
AP Chem
APUSH
physics honors
JAVA programming
Cybersecurity Essentials</p>
<p>weighted 4.64 unweighted 4.0
SAT CR 760 CM 700 CW 730 Will re-take in June and plans to take ACT in Feb.
Math 2 SAT 750 World History 780
All AP'5 4's and 5's so far
Academic team JV captain, now varsity team
Cyber Patriots Captain
NCWIT National runner up and state winner
Varsity swim
Varsity weight lifting
Varsity track athlete AND student coach ( they don't have a throws coach)
Junior Classical League State winner X 2
National Latin exam gold X 2
National Honor Society
Summer robotics camp mentor/counselor
150+ hours community service so far in tutoring,camps,coaching,field research in a biodiversity study after the BP oil spill</p>
<p>Her GPA and SAT scores put her well inside the range for the top women’s colleges (good for need-based aid), which means that she should be in merit-money range for the next tier down. Ask her to look through the whole list here: [The</a> Women’s College Coalition](<a href=“http://womenscolleges.org/]The”>http://womenscolleges.org/)</p>
<p>Her stats also qualify her for a whole bunch of guaranteed merit aid and put her in the range for a whole bunch of competitive merit aid described in the threads at the top of the Financial Aid Forum. Have her read through those threads as well.</p>
<p>I know a young lady who graduated from [Guilford</a> College](<a href=“http://www.guilford.edu/]Guilford”>http://www.guilford.edu/) a couple of years ago in Physics with an emphasis in Astrophysics. She was very happy there.</p>
<p>It isn’t a safety, but has she considered Harvey Mudd? I would say her stats are competitive, it is easier for women to be admitted there. My D is a freshman there now and interested in Physics. Lawrence is probably a safety (it was my D2’s safety, she was accepted with a lot of merit aid). Possibly Carleton as a high match? Other schools where my D was accepted: Mt. Holyoke, Kenyon, Macalester (all with merit aid), Carleton, Swarthmore, U of Chicago.</p>
<p>@happymomof1 Yes I am a happy mom of 1 as well! DD has refused to consider women’s schools despite the plethora of stuff we receive in the mail. I think it may be just ignorance as we know nothing about them. Will show her the list you linked as it looks promising. @intparent Yes, Harvey Mudd is hardly a safety but we were just looking at the programs offered there the other day. We know a local girl who attends Mac and loves it but cannot speak to the sciences as she is a music major but Mac has sent DD lots of mail as well. In as far as money is concerned, we are a one income family and I doubt we could get much aid. We have the Florida pre-paid program which is transferable to schools outside FL but only at the prevailing in-state tuition rate so it won’t be very much but it will help. We also have some savings and I intend to go back to work as soon as D gets her driver’s license. :)</p>
<p>Can you get her to visit a women’s college? Mt. Holyoke would be a good one… my D2 wouldn’t hear of women’s colleges, then at the last minute I talked her into visiting. She liked it so much she applied, and gave it pretty serious consideration when she was accepted. They are more serious about academics than a lot of co-ed schools, and while students can have a good time, they are a lot less likely to have someone throw up in the hall outside their door on a Saturday night. They also gave D2 excellent merit aid.</p>
<p>Be sure you run the net price calculators on aid at each college. Being a one income family can work to your advantage, depending. You might be surprised – we are divorced w/ one parent remarried, a small business, and a trust, and my D2 still got some need based aid last year at a couple of her top choices.</p>
<p>I just got her to look at Barnard only because she knew it was associated with Columbia University. Am trying to look at programs known for excellence in undergrad physics education and Bryn Mawr actually came up from a physics task force report from 2003 so that is a start. Will look at Mt. Holyoke too.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the info about Agnes Scott. Will check it out! When my husband attended Tech way back in the 80’s, the Agnes Scott girls were very popular as potential dates! Tech has increased and diversified their enrollment since then. :)</p>
<p>Sadly no track and field at Agnes Scott but maybe merit aid? Would love for her to be able to start out at Agnes Scott and get a dual degree in engineering at Tech since she is really interested in a double major.</p>
<p>I think the colleges have changed a lot since the 80’s Check their website for info about deadlines to be considered for merit aid. They do have a 3-2 program for engineering with GA tech.</p>
<p>How about Stonybrook? Their math and physics depts are highly ranked. Physics and astronomy in same dept. so guessing there might be astrophysics possibility. I don’t have much firsthand knowledge, but D applied last year to math OOS. Her stats similar to your D’s. A bit higher test scores, but not so impressive ECs. She was offered a full 4yr tuition/fees scholarship. The OOS tuition is reasonable even w/o scholarship, but I think your D has a very good chance off getting money. They have a special program, WISE: Women in Science and Engineering, which is very nurturing. [Stony</a> Brook University Women in Science & Engineering (WISE)](<a href=“http://www.wise.sunysb.edu/aboutus.shtml]Stony”>http://www.wise.sunysb.edu/aboutus.shtml)</p>
<p>WISE students have scheduling priority, their own housing like honors, special WISE course sections and advising, special events, a huge emphasis in getting into research. </p>
<p>My D applied to regular university honors program (have to choose one or the other), so we didn’t look into WISE so much, but because of her intended major, got the same kind of treatment. They invited her to a special day touring Brookhaven Labs and talking to students doing research there and professors involved with the program. They had special WISE days at the college. It seems like a terrific program.</p>
<p>I think your daughter could get significant financial aid at Agnes Scott; I was offered a full merit scholarship when I applied (about 10 years ago, but they still have them) and my GPA and test scores were lower than your daughter’s, and my ECs way lower. They are trying to attract top women away from the top women’s colleges like Mount Holyoke, Smith and Wellesley.</p>
<p>Honestly I think a women’s college is the ideal place to be for a young woman in the sciences who wants that encouragement (I am, of course, biased - as a Spelman graduate) but I second the recommendation of Harvey Mudd. She may also want to consider Reed, as Reed is continuously ranked as a top producer of PhDs in the sciences.</p>
<p>Safer SLACs where she may be eligible for some aid are Wooster, Beloit, St. Olaf, Rhodes, Hampshire, Clark, Furman, Lawrence, Kalamazoo, Earlham, Muhlenberg, and Lewis & Clark.</p>
<p>Just because a university doesn’t have a specific policy in place for encouraging women in STEM fields doesn’t mean that students haven’t already established organizations which work towards this goal. For instance, I’m in a STEM sorority where the bulk of members are either engineering or CS students. We have mandatory study nights in one of the engineering buildings and often go to inner city middle schools to tutor students in math/science. Most schools with engineering programs also offer a chapter of SWE (Society of Women Engineers) and some of the major specific clubs host networking nights where women already established in the field make a conscious effort to reach out to female undergrads.</p>
<p>Since you mentioned safety schools, and it looks like you live in Florida, could any of the Florida public schools like University of Florida be 100% (or as close as possible) certain for both admissions and affordability?</p>
<p>Be careful with using small private LACs as safeties, since such schools are more prone to considering “level of applicant’s interest” in admissions, a signal that high stats applicants are likely to be assumed to be applying to them as safeties and waitlisted or rejected in the name of yield protection. See section C7 of the school’s common data set or the admissions tab for the school on <a href=“http://www.collegedata.com%5B/url%5D”>http://www.collegedata.com</a> .</p>
<p>Thanks for the info ucbalumnus. We really don’t know what to expect from the state of Florida in as far as acceptances. UCF would probably be a definite win but not crazy about the physics dept. FSU is a possibility and dad is a legacy for his PHd there and me for my BS. but we were hoping for a smaller feel for her. UF has gotten huge and doesn’t even guarantee freshman housing and many are forced to take online classes. It is also very tough for kids to get accepted there from our high school as we have many high achievers. Kids in the next county over get in with much lower stats. In as far as affordability, we are 100% already paid with Pre-paid and bright futures but want other options as well since all of these state schools are huge and not particularly noted for physics undergrad.</p>
<p>My D has a friend studying engineering at GA Tech and she is absolutely loving her college experience. I would also look into Cornell - my D has friends studying both science and engineering there. As a safety URochester might be a good option - my niece had a great experience there as a bioengineering major.</p>
<p>OP, have you considered New College of Florida at all? It appears to be a real up-and-comer and is starting to attract out-of-state students; for FL residents, it seems like an outstanding value.</p>
I think you underestimate the strength of UF and FSU’s commitment to UG physics education. There are certain majors at schools which make huge schools feel small and physics is one if them (assuming your daughter sticks with it).</p>
<p>Physics is a lot like engineering in the sense that because there are so many prereqs for various classes it’s helpful to go to a school where multiple sections of fundamental courses are offered every semester. At both UF and FSU they do this, while New College offers such courses only intermittently.</p>
<p>New College is a little too “independent” and I fear she would not have much of a true college experience there. Yes, we are always considering FSU and UF but regardless of the major, they are both very large and we are trying to explore some smaller schools with good UG physics programs where she might also be able to receive merit aid or could get a bit of athletic scholarship assistance and merit aid. With her current track stats, she could play for a Division 3 school and has already been contacted by some. I suppose we are looking for the happy medium- not too big, great undergraduate experience with the possibility of research experience, affordable with either merit aid or athletics or a combo of both. Another poster mentioned the Stonybrook WISE program. Something like that might appeal as well but not necessarily a women’s college.</p>
Check their website for info about deadlines to be considered for merit aid. They do have a 3-2 program for engineering with GA tech.</p>