If you become less attached to the need for a degree in criminology/forensics, then these are some other universities that I would look into. This website provides the average merit aid package to students without financial need and what percentage of them receive it. This can give you some potential insight into your chances for getting some, and how that might impact the cost of attendance (COA). Several of these would probably be considered “match” schools.
College of Wooster (OH): About 2k undergrads
Connecticut College: About 1800 undergrads
Dickinson (PA ): About 2200 undergrads
Drew (NJ): About 1600 undergrads
Lafayette (PA ): Has about 2700 undergrads
Mount Holyoke (MA): This women’s college has about 2200 undergrads
SUNY Geneseo: About 4500 undergrads, and pretty reasonable for out-of-state students
I would also strongly suggest you apply to Western WA. Easy app, you can have a quick and early decision. My older D thought she was going to go to college far away and wound up at Western. Bellingham is really pretty and at least some distance from Seattle. She did a cool study abroad in Thailand and Vietnam.
Would definitely be affordable (just over $25k per year all in). Also a definite safety so you could keep it on the back burner and have it as an option later in the process. Both my daughters applied in late Sept/mid Oct and heard back within a couple weeks.
You write that Sewanee is too small, remote, and conservative. Be aware that small and remote is exactly how a lot of people would describe Vassar although obviously not conservative.
It’s too bad that you want to get out of the Pacific Northwest because Reed sounds a lot like the kind of environment you’re looking for.
My cousin’s daughter went to Scripps. She just completed her doctorate in psychology but considers herself a writer and is working on her first book. Scripps and the other Claremont colleges offer a lot of what you’re looking for. Obviously neither Reed nor Scripps are in the Northeast.
In a bustling community with a long literary history and where you would be surrounded by creative people both on & off campus, and where you can major in anything from neuroscience to creative writing is New York University in Greenwich Village. If you don’t want small and remote, this is the place to be. The Gallatin School at NYU has an open curriculum like Brown and a focus on individualized study. Barnard/Columbia obviously have the New York vibe as well - at least the uptown version of it - and have a little more of a campus feel.
Wesleyan is known as the mini-Brown because it has the same kind of open curriculum, attracts creative types who push the boundaries, and has produced writers and authors. They’ve even run a writers’ conference for authors and aspiring authors for almost 70 years. Compared to other small, liberal arts colleges, Wesleyan is bigger at 3000 students. It has creative types on campus, but if you’re looking for action, hustle & bustle, and not remote, Middletown, Connecticut can be a little boring other than having good restaurants on Main Street. It’s not NYC.
Is your mother Native American? If she is, so are you. This would very significantly raise your chances at your high reach schools, above and beyond the geographical diversity thing. It may also open up certain scholarship opportunities reserved for Native Americans.
Can you really formulate such definite opinions about schools based upon the short visit you may have made there? The way you described Harvard has absolutely nothing in common with my kid’s experience there, or that of their friends there.
You’re gonna run out of money. You’re very likely to be deemed full pay, which means over 80K at private schools that don’t award merit. Since private school is important to your family for your younger sibs, unless your parents are willing to cosign private loans for you to the tune of about 100K, you’re not going to be able to afford 4 yrs at a private college. You can either shoot for merit money at 3rd tier LACs, or plan on U Washington for in-state tuition. You sound as if you’d be missing the peer group you deserve by choosing the 3rd tier LAC merit route, so it seems to me that U W is the best course of action for you and your family.
Colleges are unlikely to factor in private school tuition burden for fin aid. Do the math. Assuming private school tuition of 30K/yr, that’s 120K for each of 4 kids, or 500K. Add in your parents allotted 200K/kid for college, that’s another 800K, or total of 1.3 mil in tuition, WITHOUT paying for private college. Add on another 800K (200 each kid) to make it private college for all 4 kids, and we’re talking over 2 million in tuition for all the kids. 400K/yr sounds like a lot, until you factor in living expenses for a family of 6 that probably has at least 2 cars, a big house, and some keeping up with the Joneses. That income, high as it sounds, won’t easily cover private school and private college for 4 kids. So even though you sound as if you might get into one or two of your northeastern reach schools, it just doesn’t sound as if the money is securely there.
I suggest you sit down with your parents and have a serious discussion about college and money. Lay it all out for them. They may not realize how much private college tuition has gone up since their days. If they really cannot foot the bill for 4 yrs of private college, you’re going to need to work within their monetary limitations. From the record you’ve achieved in high school, I bet you’ll have a similar record in college. You should be able to go to grad school, fully funded by the institution, nearly anywhere you like in the US.
In our experience, it seemed that some CSS colleges did factor in younger siblings’ private school tuitions when calculating aid. It is hard to know for sure, but the question was asked on the CSS for some colleges, and I think that the tuition I pay for my D22’s siblings might have been part of the aid differences that we found at meets need schools. However, I doubt that private school tuition would be a factor considered for a family with a 400K income, particularly since most such families have substantial savings and assets like home ownership.
Another way of putting it, if the OP’s parents don’t qualify for aid at their sibling’s private high schools, their choice to send the kids to private school seems unlikely to make a difference in how the colleges calculate need. Instead they might look at the money going to the siblings’ schools as discretionary income that could be spent on college tuition instead. But that is just my guess.
I’m sorry that it feels like an anti-competitive environment is ridiculously egalitarian, but I think colleges do regularly encounter students from such schools. Presumably your school profile will make clear that there are no awards or rank and the school (hopefully) has sent other students to the schools that interest you. In this case, the college advising office will hopefully be able to help you get a realistic idea of your chances at those schools. But going to a school “committed to anti-hierarchal egalitarian idealism” does not prevent kids from being accepted to competitive colleges (at least not in my observation).
Washington college in Chestertown Maryland. Extremely strong psych program and good neuro program. Research grants for
Undergrads (Cater Society) Excellent writing program, cool literary center with authors who come in for small meet and greets, Sophie Kerr Award, internships through the Starr Center, 24 hour read-a-thons, unique choices for “Freshman English seminars”, creative electives in art and music, eclectic students, tons of clubs where you won’t be a “number”, intramural soccer and frisbee football, great “Day Tripper” club that takes day trips up and down East coast (mentioning because you are west coast, so that may be fun for you!) and great merit—almost no one plays sticker price. Rural and small, super cute town (think Star Hollow) , eastern shore culture, great professors who really support and get to know their students.
Yes, Barnard will fit many of your criteria. For one, they do have a strong English and Psychology department.
Then, NYC, with its many performing venues/clubs, TV studios, theatres, etc. does offer up a breadth of opportunities hard to match elsewhere. (If I remember correctly, both Cynthia Nixon, and Suzanne Vega took the train downtown after classes, because they had gigs).
On the other hand, serving the Manhattan population are many hospitals, other universities, clinics, and private practices, that offer internship opportunities in the Neurosciences, Psychology, etc.
And Barnard/Columbia have an active student music/performance/production scene, with various clubs, publications (e.g. http://www.ratrockmagazine.com/), etc.
As a likely/match, consider Sarah Lawrence College. Close to Manhattan, small LAC, good writing and creative arts programs. You might also look at Hamilton College (reach…maybe match) and Davidson College (strong LAC in the southeast that has has a really great writing culture and is also in a great/nice suburb and close to Charlotte…likely not as liberal/progressive as some of the northeast schools but likely not far behind).
Midwest rather than Northeast, but Carleton seems like a great fit for you. Very smart kids, great D1 women’s ultimate. (Signed, a parent of 2 ultimate players, one HS, one D1 colllege)
All the schools mentioned above are great, but you should have a budget conversation with your parents. Families making $400k aren’t going to get any aid from the types of schools mentioned here which give out primarily (and, in many cases, only) need-based aid.
Right. I’m just wondering what people have presumed her actual score to be (since SAT results appear in 10-point increments, the 1395 can’t be accurate).
With test optional still on the table for most schools, this student with a superb GPA doesn’t need to submit scores, and unless she can achieve a significantly higher score, probably shouldn’t submit scores.
There are relatively few schools where a student with a high GPA would not also submit a 33 ACT. It’s also important to know which TO schools really value scores.