There is a student with good stats and accepted to Pitt and Penn State facing the reality now that the cost of instate PA publics are too expensive for a low FAFSA EFC student.
State Grant, Pell and student loan only cover about $15,000. Costs are $32,000.
The family can’t help pay.
With those stats she could get good merit at U Alabama, Temple, maybe Ohio University, WVU.
Start with automatic merit schools and schools where she is way above average.
Then a few where merit might be possible, Pitt (apply early), maybe U Richmond, Lafayette?
Some schools give only need based aid so run the net price calculator on the website to see if your income and assets is too high to qualify for aid.
My D is at Pitt, not business but has found likeminded friends who aren’t into partying. She joined a professional fraternity, but wasn’t interested in joining a sorority.
@Musicmom2015 Lehigh weighs demonstrated interest very highly, so visit, interview, have your child take photos and post them on social media and tag them appropriately so Lehigh knows you’re actively doing things. Email them with questions (even if you don’t really have any). Last year (only year I paid attention since my D applied there) they seemed to reject a lot of high stats kids… i assume yield protection/thinking they were an Ivy backup or something, which probably makes the demonstrated interest even more important.
What about University of Miami? Those stats could easily be in the running for their Stamps/Singer full rides + stipend scholarships.
@Schadret thanks! She just asked me today about schools in Florida. I think she likes the idea of warm! I don’t know much about U Miami but worth a look.
excellent results, well done! I can make a couple comments on the schools my daughter looked at:
Northeastern should be a match.
Please don’t make the mistake of assuming American is a safety. If she applies there, make sure she shows interest. AU is notorious for denying or waitlisting high stats applicants (something you can see again this year in the results thread, with a few in this situation saying “but I considered it a safety”). Applying business should be a better chance though.
GW should be a match. Will she be happy with an urban campus? It’s a great location but not everyone likes the set-up. I can’t remember all the discussion upthread, but if you’re visiting in DC why not look at Georgetown too?
Thanks! DD is thrilled she improved so much.
Since she liked American and DC we decided to give GW a look. We initially did not because it’s so urban and she doesn’t seem to want urban( didn’t like BU). But we are driving thru so figured we’d take a look. Initially Georgetown was a no for the Jesuit affiliation, then I encouraged her to take a look, but she decided it’s a no. She’s not comfortable with it. Plus it’s a reach.
I think she will apply to Emory without a spring visit. Just not enough time left this spring.
If your D didn’t want urban, what accounts for Northeastern on her list? Since you will be in DC, look at Georgetown. My oldest D went to Georgetown McDonough and loved it.
We thought GWU definitely “felt” more urban than BU, so if she felt BU was too urban she will probably think that of GWU too. But still worth a look to figure for herself. DC is such a wonderful city to study in, I think.
Northeastern is on the list because she liked it when we visited. BU was too urban but Northeastern was much more of a campus within the city. When we first went to DC we started with American which she liked. Since we are going to be in the area again and now she has more of an idea of how different urban campuses feel we thought we would check out GW. I’m guessing it will be a no but worth a look.
Sometimes when I’ve thought she would really like a school, she ended up not liking it at all. So the visits have been important for us in both directions. I’m hoping this trip will add 2-3 schools to her list.
Run the NPC at U Rochester to see if it’s worth a look. With her stats, she should be competitive for merit aid and they offer need based aid. The airport is 15 minutes from the school. My lad flew in and out with Southwest often.
Hi Musicmom2015, kindly pardon the off-topic note! Posting here because this appears to be your latest post. Could you please share info of the admissions consultant that your family was happy with? Thinking of hiring help for our son. Thanks!
UVA- loved it. It’s he first or second choice now along with Cornell.
William and Mary - I loved the campus and Williamsburg but she didn’t like the campus vibe
UNC - added last minute seeing what she was liking. Worth the trip. She liked it even though it is mostly in-state.
Wake Forest- I expected this to seem like a smaller private version of UNC. Impressed with the campus and info session but it didn’t really click with her. And the Jewish life did not seem active enough or large enough for her.
GW- I got this one right. Too urban. We drove back over to American and she still likes that one.
Not sure if we have a good enough list yet, but it’s looking something like
Cornell
UVA
UNC
Michigan
Emory
Northeastern
Penn State
American
We have visited all of these except Emory and Michigan. Maybe add one more safety? Maybe Indiana?
Does that seem reasonable? She has a 4.0 unweighted, 4.6 weighted and 1560 SAT. Good ECs with lots of leadership but nothing super unique. Thanks!
I haven’t read back through the whole thread to check what state you are from, but just a reminder that the first 3 publics you have there are all reachy for OOS.
American seems slightly odd for business, and please don’t make the mistake of treating it as a safety - your daughter’s stats are in the “yield protection” zone that she risks being WL - make sure she still shows lots of interest even though she’s already visited if she decides to apply. If you have Naviance - take a look. At my daughter’s school, no-one with those kind of stats got an admit - all WL and even a rejection or two.
Your daughter’s list so far seems good but all the schools are reaches. I would highly recommend taking some time to find two more schools, both of which should be true safeties. With her stats and such…look for the “Miami of Ohio” schools which would love an applicant like her and she would also qualify for amazing automatic merit scholarships.
I couldn’t find a budget in the previous posts (apologies if I missed it) but also make sure you know what you are willing to pay. If you are full pay and comfortable with that - congratulations and don’t think about this again. But if you aren’t, the current list might have financial issues as well as admission reach issues.
I think it is so hard to know what admission results you will get with your daughter. She is clearly a super strong student, so she could be admitted everywhere she applies or be rejected everywhere she has currently listed (because the schools are so competitive with admission rates). Find a couple of places she would love to go that she is sure she can get in. Acceptance to the reaches can be gravy at that point.
Bear in mind that for schools like Penn State, the business school is much more competitive than the liberal arts school. There are no safeties on this list. She needs to find a couple of schools she is certain to get in and be able to afford; none of the schools on this list qualify.
As @beebee3 says, your daughter could get into every school on your list. However, every year on CC we see kids just like your daughter, talented, high-stats kids, applying to lists just like the one specified, who get rejected from every school, and then their shocked parents come in to CC whining about unfairness. Your daughter is terrific. She should have safeties on her list. She might not need them, but if she does, you’ll thank us.
From your post I take it your daughter is a middle class white Jewish girl from the Northeast? That demographic is way overrepresented in the applicant pool, especially at schools like UVA and UNC which struggle with gender balance. Strongly recommend adding some matches and safeties.
Yes I want to make sure she has a few safeties. Her guidance counselor says Penn State is safe and honestly from our HS it is completely green from the high stats like hers all the way down to much more moderate ones. We have visited American twice and she will continue to show interest.
Indiana?
Other safeties could be Delaware and Maryland but she hasn’t seen those. Would Syracuse be safe? Kids here with much lower stats got merit there. Naviance all green there too.
