For schools where you should get a good amount of aid, look at RIT and WPI.
Lafayette and U of Rochester may be possibles but you would need higher than a 2180 SAT to be competitive for their big merit awards. Both of them have half and full tuition awards and from what I’ve seen on their website students who get the half-tuition have at least 2250 SATs.
@crepes Thank you so much!!! That’s really helpful.
Yes, applying RD and comparing financial aid packages is usually the best strategy.
Look closely at what CMU has to say about how they award financial aid. They explicitly make it clear that the best financial aid goes to ED applicants. CMU has very limited merit but also one of the few schools that will reconsider your package if a peer school gives a better package.
If you are a junior, take the SAT again to improve and before the new one comes out in March (unless you already are familiar with the new version).
For merit go to the school’s CDS and look up the stats for accepted students. Aim for being at or above the 75th % if that school gives merit. There are schools that give merit on high stats but these are usually the lower tier schools. You can still get a quality education at these schools. It has to be affordable for your family.
OK, a few things.
First, your W score on the SAT may not be considered by some schools for merit aid.
Second, you should consider schools that have strong CS programs that also give good merit aid. Lafayette is one example, others would be Denison in Ohio and Trinity University in Texas. Both are Tier I in Rugg’s Guide for undergraduate CS, both well-endowed, and both generous with Merit aid for your stats.
Good luck!
@ColdinMinny
Thank you so much!! I appreciate that
And I know 
I wish I could take 20-30 points from Writing and add it to Math. But, alas.
Be careful about what you consider safeties, per the stats listed above. As @goingnutsmom said, I think people are just saying that you shouldn’t count your chickens before they hatch.. Going to a graduate school for 1 - 1.5 years at one of the premier/prestigious CS programs might be the smart way to go. There is no need to spend $35k-$60K on an undergraduate CS degree, when the same education can be had for a fraction of the cost. I have seen some exceptionally talented computer science professionals who graduated from state universities (or even community colleges). The son of a friend, graduated from a local CC with an associate degree and became an “expert” in database design (SYBASE?), etc.) and makes over $100K per year.
In addition to the Macaulay Honors College, CCNY has a special scholarship targeting Stuyvesant high school graduates.
How about considering the 3+2 Engineering Program at Liberal Art Colleges? Columbia University, WUSTL, Caltech (although CS to Caltech is kinda impossible) are prestigious schools that have this program with a lot of affiliated LAC. Columbia even have a guaranteed admission plan. Some of the LAC you can qualify for high merit that I know are:
Also, I heard from OWU admissioner that CMU offers this program too, but unfortunately I cannot see the information anywhere, so maybe you can do the homework yourself.
One last suggestion, retake the SAT. Try to break M+CR 1400 in 1 sitting and you will have some full-tuition offers.
@Jamrock411 I’m aware the data on the site conflicts, but I’ve looked at school-specific stats and these are safeties for me. I’m not trying to brag in any way-- my stats are good but I know they are not great. I just have seen the numbers that reinforce the lenience towards Stuyvesant students. Thank you for making me aware of the CCNY Stuyvesant program. While I’m probably not considered an ‘outstanding’ student at my school, I will look into it. Thank you so much!
@lhtanh98 Thank you for making me aware of these schools/their merit aid!
And I appreciate the suggestion. I heavily considered retaking when I got my score on Thursday, but to be honest I am quite pleased with my score (even though most CC’ers would not agree). Plus, I don’t know how much I could really improve in CR and M. I’m very proud to have only gotten 3 wrong on the math. I am smart, but not so good at standardized testing to be error-free in Math. And as CR goes, it’s very inconsistent for me (I’ve ranged from 600-780 on practice tests), so I don’t want to risk retaking and getting lower scores.
Your current list includes private schools that are too selective for your stats and OOS public schools that you won’t be able to afford. You should have a good shot at admission to Lehigh, but may not get enough merit aid from them to close the gap between your EFC and what you actually can afford.
A few other private schools could give you a somewhat better shot at adequate merit aid. Check out Case Western, UMiami, Tulane, or George Washington. Also consider schools such as the University of Alabama that guarantee large merit scholarships for minimum stats. For Alabama’s full tuition merit scholarship, you’d need to raise your CR + M scores to a combined 1400.
http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
For state schools like Berkeley and Michigan that have high OOS sticker prices and no merit aid, the net cost may be too high no matter where your brother goes.
@tk21769 according to the data specifically from mu school, I am in good range for these schools (aside from reaches by definition). I really am not being over realistc. I’d post screenshots, but my school has switched data centers so the information is currently unavailable (and i don’t have a Naviance yet because I’m a junior).
Thank you so much for your suggestion about other schools I could look into!
And yeah, I took off the UC system altogether because the cost and because it’s so far. Will need to do more research about the other state schools, but I know a kid who got about half tuition from UIUC last spring from my school.
Thank you for raising these possible issues for me to consider. Much appreciated.
I have no idea how colleges really factor in high school name compared to actual performance compared to peers at that high school and test scores from a paricular high school, but your posts do sound like you are relying a lot on the school name to carry you into admission vs yourself. Your test scores are not that strong considering the educational advantages you have from attending a national top high school.
Maybe someone with better understanding of admissions might know, but I do wonder if your scores compared to your school could actually have the opposite effect. Anyone know???
Fwiw, I wonder bc there are lots of kids from less “stellar” backgrounds who have extremely significant accomplishments without the background academic support. But, my perceptions may be completely off. I am just thinking in terms of most merit scholarships requiring 1400-1440 or NMF ranking. If you need merit aid, you might find that many are very numbers/stat based. Not taking the test again aiming for at least 10-50 pt gain may really reduce your merit $$ options.
If your EFC is 35k I’m pretty sure it will get split up between you and your brother next year.
This is not a chance thread. All I an asking for is recommendations for schools somewhat similar to my list but with lesser standards for merit aid.
I appreciate the advice from everyone who posted, but I am not retaking the SAT and I am not asking for chancing for the schools on my list.
Please respect this and only answer if you have an answer related to my original post.
@fprosk my last comment had nothing to do with your post. Thanks fir the info!
But that is the actual point. Even most much lower ranked schools don’t have “lesser standards” for merit scholarships. Most scholarships are numbers driven. X test score with n.n GPA = $y
@Mom2aphysicsgeek
How would lower ranked schools not have lesser standards for merit aid? There’s no way a school like Caltech and a school like WPI have the same standards for what students are particularly exceptional and outstanding among their candidates.
This post is asking for schools geared towards technology that would give merit aid to someone with my stats. I only included my list to give an idea of my general interests (area, focus).
I am not asking for any other information. I am grateful for anything relevant.
Schools like Cal Tech do not offer merit scholarships. Most top schools don’t. They typically offer need based aid in terms of institutional grants that are based strictly on CSS and FAFSA profiles.
Somemhigher ranked schools do offer some scholarship $$, but whether it is enough to make them affordable is another question. For example, Case Western gives out a lot of scholarship $$, but again it is stat based. Their largest award is around $30,000, but it seems to be given to kids with much higher stats than your have posted. you wouldn’t qualify for full tuition at Alabama with your current test scores.
No one is disregarding your question. We are sharing what we know. I have an 11th grader who is also currently seeking schools with scholarship $$. If her scores were a 1390, she would know she would have to retest bc that is just not high enough.
Now that I am on my desktop, I thought I would try to help you understand a little more about how merit scholarships work. Your brother, for example, will not be awarded any scholarship $$ from Tufts b/c Tufts does not offer merit scholarships, only need-based aid. You will find that is common amg top schools.
Step down a little and you will find some merit $$. BUT…and here is the big but…if you qualify for any institutional grant money bc the school awards some need-based aid, the difference in merit and grant is often a wash. Attending these schools with having full tuition met and only needing to pay room and board is atypical if your EFC is fairly high.
(FWIW, the poster who said your EFC would be split in two is incorrect. It is very school dependent, whether the school meets full need, and 120% of EFC, iow 60% for each student, is more realistic if both attend meet full need schools. Many schools do not agree to meet need. Run calculators like your brother is already in school and you are a sr in order to see what different scenarios are projected at different schools.)
In terms of merit $$ for full-tuition to full-ride, those schools are going to require higher SAT scores (which is also going to be true of the merit $$ of the schools I describe in the 2nd paragraph. Those scholarships are competitive and are going to very high performing students.) To see what some require, here are some well-known large merit awards for out-of-state students:
Ole Miss: 33+/1440+, 3.0+, $7,344 + $13,230 towards non-resident fee
Bama: A first-time freshman student who meets the December 15 scholarship priority deadline, has a 32–36 ACT or 1400–1600 SAT score (critical reading and math scores only) and at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA will be selected as a Presidential Scholar and will receive the value of tuition or $103,800 over four years ($25,950 per year) to be used towards undergraduate or graduate/law studies.**
UKentucky:
The Otis A. Singletary Scholarship: Four-year awards providing the cost of tuition and an allowance for room and board. Requires a minimum test score of 33 ACT or 1440 SAT (M+CR) and a minimum unweighted GPA of 3.80 on a 4.0 scale.
The Presidential Scholarship: Four-year awards providing the cost of tuition. Requires a minimum test score of 31 ACT or 1360 SAT (M+CR) and a minimum unweighted GPA of 3.50 on a 4.0 scale.
UAH: you would qualify for full-tuition
It takes moving down the rankings to find higher merit awards. And even then, above a 1400-1440 is often the norm. Dropping down to a regional public like UAH leads to a higher award w/o breaking a 1400.
That is just a slice of the bigger picture. Merit is not a given at higher ranked schools. It takes being extremely competitive to win larger awards at the more competitive schools which actually do give merit $$.
It also really depends on just how large of an award you need. If your parents can afford $30,000 just for you vs. $15,000 just for you, the list of schools radically changes.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek
I appreciate your attempt at helping, but these really are not the answers I’m looking for. If I could delete this forum, I would. The issue is resolved, no need for further discussion.
Moms2aphy, yes I do believe the high school you go to is factored in to the admission process. On one end, the ‘feeder’ schools are nearly all private high schools and they do feed the ivys. On the other end, the public high schools are given categories. Our high school is in the “J” category, the highest in New Jersey. The high school’s Navience system is quite good at measuring where you stand in terms of your chances for admission. So I would agree with vook99, if her Navience indicates her admit rate is high, it is high. Of course, nothing is 100% guaranteed.
Voo99, you are very mature for a junior. I suggest you apply to the schools of your dream and then make the decision on finances later. Focus on the “match” schools and do the reach schools as an outside chance ( as you said, by definition). I know parents (like me) are concerned about finances. But you won’t know if you could have gotten a merit scholarship or financial aid unless you apply (of course within some reason, some colleges just simply do not hand out merit scholarships). We don’t know what special attributes you have that may spark a scholarship. Don’t let a 99% failure rate keep you from trying.
Also retake the SAT and ACT. Since it is super scored you have nothing to lose and everything to gain (except for the $65 fee and time for studying for the test). In my opinion, It is hard to improve on aptitude. But you can improve on speed and stamina. That’s what it takes to do better. If you are as sharp on the last question as you are the first question (after 3 hours of intense concentration), then you have maxed out on what you can score with these tests. But until then, there is room for improvement.