Hello, the college search has begun for D2. She is undecided on an exact major but has a strong interest in international development and sustainable development and is showing interest in schools with majors in this area as well as politics, math, and communications. She definitely wants to travel/study abroad. We are visiting some Pacific Northwest LAC’s next week, and she’s shown interest in Centre College. Any other ideas? Until we’ve visited it’s hard to say whether she’ll love the small LAC vibe or not but she tends to be adaptable. Her safeties are our state universities, and we’re going to need pretty much a full tuition scholarship to realistically be able to consider out of state schools. We won’t qualify for much if any financial aid and we will have two in college for three or maybe all four of her years in school. She does have strong grades and test scores, class rank in top 5% and ECs that reflect who she is and show leadership, so it seems reasonable to aim at some scholarships. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Well, what are her stats? Schools aren’t going to just award based on a chosen major.
What do you want your net costs to be?
yes yes. I do understand how scholarships are awarded. We’ve been through this once before and CC was a great source of information.
She has a 3.8/4.6gpa, no C’s and the only B’s were freshman year. 6AP classes so far, everything honors that was available as honors. AP Calc BC as a junior. 1540CR+M/2180 SAT. 32 ACT. Also will have four years of theatre (with some leadership too) and two years as president of math club, community service, has done some international development work already. Plays three instruments, was top at her school on one of them until she quit after sophomore year. Is that enough detail?
We need total cost to be in the neighborhood of $15k, which is why we are looking for full tuition possibilities.
Well, since she needs a full tuition award, then I would focus more on the list of schools in the below link that give assured full tuition merit for those stats.
http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com
An ACT 32 is the cut-off for many of these awards for full tuition.
Will an instate public cost only $15k?
her major isn’t probably that relevant for merit, but you’ll use that for list down-selection. Does she want a business major with an international concentration?
Her ECs aren’t probably all that relevant for merit unless she’s being considered for competitive merit and they’re used for down selection.
Yes, with merit, the instate schools are in the $15k range, at least right now. Scholarships cover nearly all of tuition and fees for top students, although I’m not holding my breath that that will continue in our state.
we are trying to put together a list of schools that offer merit aid (large merit aid, automatic or competitive), AND have a selection of majors that in some way encompass global studies, international relations, international development, sustainable development, have culture of service, and strong support for study abroad. Yes, she might consider business with an international concentration. She’s even still considering majoring in math, but every school has a math major. LAC’s seem to offer more of what she wants, but she’s not fixated on any particular type of school yet.
The process seems like a guessing game at the moment. D1 had a very specific major in mind that was offered at a limited number of schools. We compared that list to the scholarship lists on CC and went from there. Not so simple with D2! Any suggestions of schools to consider would be helpful.
OP what state are you in? It sounds like you have quite a lot of info to go through and gaining some preferences from DD to steer you forward…
We are in Arizona. In state options are limited, and limiting by distance eliminates almost every school. Not a lot of familiarity with the eastern half of the country. So far, schools that have interested her the most are Centre College and University of Puget Sound. Visiting Puget Sound this month along with a couple other schools in the PNW. Hopefully that will help her narrow down what she likes and doesn’t like, at least, but we are running out of time to make an application list.
I think that you should make a new thread in the Parents Forum…
State that you’re looking for full tuition and that your budget is $15k per year, and won’t qualify for aid.
Give test scores and GPA
intended major and career interests
Then include bits about the type of schools that DD wants…(indicate choices: small, large, quiet, rah rah, rural, city, if Catholic schools are ok, Greek life ok, cold/snowy/rainy or warm)
I think the parents on that forum can better direct you.
Thanks. I think I’ll try that when we get back from the planned visits, and hope that helps her narrow down what she wants.
Some LACs that I would look at for excellent academics and good international relations., international development and sustainable development. They all offer merit, but I’m not sure to what degree. Smith, Macalester, Colby, Davidson, Grinnell.