<p>Thanks for the input. We put UMich on top of the list not only for their strong engineering programs and in state flagship school, we actually live in Ann Arbor so we can save boarding cost too. In addition, most of her friends will go to UMich automatically. Nevertheless, if accepted and financially allowed, any of these prestige schools sound great too. We are just not so sure how much financial aid she may get from UMich as well as other schools. And we cannot afford applying too many schools so we may need to limit the number of reach schools on the list. These feedbacks really help.</p>
<p>Any more suggestions?</p>
<p>I would ED to Penn or Columbia over Cornell. They might be better for FA based on perception.</p>
<p>Not sure about UM but most state schools have a higher loan component in their FA. You might want to check with the school, may be in person since you are local and an admission is practically guaranteed.</p>
<p>^ I will meet with the FA office in September. I know there are a few students (~10 per year) with similar credential got free ride at UMich. The loan component is always my biggest concern. Most FA stat just say how much need is met without telling how much in loan. Because of the financial consideration, we are trying to avoid ED but we will do EA.</p>
<p>Merit scholarship is most on test scores. Retake ACT for a 36.</p>
<p>^ That would be something at the lowest priority although she is only a couple questions away from a 36 composite. That would give the impression of score obsessive to the admission office.</p>
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<p>Use the college’s net price calculator to get an estimate for your specific financial situation, rather than relying on generalized financial aid stats.</p>
<p>Fortunately, University of Michigan appears to be good for need-based aid for in-state students, based on tests with its net price calculator. At least you don’t live in Pennsylvania or Illinois – their flagships are quite poor with in-state need-based financial aid. Texas does not seem to be that good either in this respect.</p>
<p>EA (not ED) can be a good idea in that an early admission with sufficient financial aid can turn the school into a safety.</p>
<p>^ She will definitely do EA for UMich.</p>
<p>“Texas does not seem to be that good either in this respect.”</p>
<p>Most of the schools in Texas treat her like royalty - she is national merit. UT is the only school which does not do anything specific for national merit.</p>
<p>Note that a few schools (Stanford, Harvard, Yale, Princeton) have restricted or single choice EA. It is non-binding, but you agree not to apply ED anywhere or EA to other private schools in the US (check each school for exceptions – typically they don’t mind if you apply EA to public schools like Michigan, rolling admissions schools, early deadline for scholarship schools, or schools outside the US).</p>
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<p>I was referring to need-based aid, not merit scholarships (where NMF gets a very nice one from Texas A&M, for example).</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus:
That is great info. I did not know public school is excluded from the restriction of SCEA. Now I have verified that for a school on her list.
Thanks a lot.</p>
<p>Any more suggestions?</p>
<p>She would be a super-valuable candidate at any STEM school! Female engineering student with perfect credentials! Look into Carnegie Mellon, RPI, WPI (if she wants a smaller school).
If she likes a more liberal arts vibe then Bucknell, Tufts, U.Rochester…
What features is she looking for a in a college?</p>
<p>I think all the school mentioned are worthy. I went to Florida and we are ranked in the 20s, but I had classmates who went to Standford and Minnesota for PhDs. What you really should do is visit the colleges. For example, Princeton has 5,000 to 6,000 students, Delaware has less than 20,000 students and Michigan has over 40,000. Where is she more comfortable. Cost Minnesota’s out-of-state tuition is the same as Michigan’s in-state and Minnesota is the #2 ChemE school. Wisconsin is a couple thousand more. If she wants to continue with music who gives her the best opportunity. They were a couple thoughts I had.</p>
<p>^ Thank you so much. We are indeed going to visit several schools in the upcoming weeks. All the top schools in mid-west including those your suggested are on the list due to the shorter driving distance and also the mid-west student exchange program. Minnesota also offer $10k per year scholarship to National Merit Finalist if the schools is named as top choice by the candidate. So that would be definitely considered although it is around 10 hours driving away. She would like to keep music on the side but not put it as major or minor. We know UMich has an orchestra for non music major, but we are not aware of similar program in other schools. Hopefully we will find out more from the visits.
Thanks again.</p>
<p>My son was drum major in the marching band and in the concert band. He is not interested in a major or minor in music, but virtually every school we looked into has an ensemble available to all students. Also, distance is a huge thing. My son will be less than 2 hours away. It will make it easy for him to come home if necessary and easy for me to go see him if he is in the marching and/or concert band.</p>
<p>^ Yeah. Distance is an important factor too. Air ticket is getting more and more expensive. 10 hours driving each way would also be too much for me. ;)</p>
<p>Distance does not necessarily make airline tickets more expensive. A small airport with few airlines competing for the routes there may be quite expensive to fly to, compared to a distant airport on routes with more competition.</p>
<p>^ No. You misunderstood me. I said distance matter (within driving distance or not). Once it exceeds driving distance, it is too expensive for me as air ticket is expensive disregarding it is a long flight or a short flight.</p>
<p>If you’re a Southwest hub you can get pretty reasonable fares to a lot of cities where you can get direct flights. Also, two free checked bags is great for students that need to haul a bunch of stuff to/from school every time they go home. You can get tickets for less than $100 to a lot of places, which would probably work out to something like a ~6 hour drive depending on your MPG. At 20 MPG driving 75 miles an hour, you’re going to be spending $90 on gas each way (and taking 6 hours to do it).</p>