Look at SUNYs. Also, see if University of Arizona big scholarships for your stats makes it affordable.
Will your divorced parents be cooperative? Many of the private colleges use both parents’ finances for financial aid.
Sexondi g Connecticut college, St Olaf, Denison, Bryn Mawr, WPI as matches.
Adding Lawrence in Wisconsin, top-notch for physics.
Run the NPC but these should meet need for a girl interested in physics.
Uarizona+honors but may not be affordable.
Another reach but Smith should be looked into.
Agnes Scott and Mount Holyoke could be another safety and high match.
Fill out the Request info form now and click on the info they send you.
@larapal. This is very helpful, thank you. The first thing you will need to do is to determine affordability. The most competitive schools that are on your initial list (often also most generous with need-based aid that is not loan-based) typically require the CSS Profile and want financial information from both parents. Are your parents willing and able to work together and contribute financially to pay for your college? That is step one.
If the answer is no, then you will need to focus on FAFSA only schools or schools that offer generous merit for your stats. Here’s why - as an example, St Olaf, which was the school that first came to mind, costs 61K per year. Merit-based scholarships can get you a maximum of 50% off. That leaves over 30K to pay; financial aid may further reduce that or may not because typically merit is generally not added on top of need-based awards. Many CTCL schools offer merit in this range with a similar amount left to be paid. Is an amount like that feasible for either or both of your parents?
If not, then you should target schools that offer merit, ideally where your stats place you in the top 25% of accepted students. These stats can be obtained by googling. For example, Mt Holyoke, which is excellent for women in STEM, offers some full-tuition scholarships. Less of a reach than MOHO is Muhlenberg in PA (co-ed), which offers a couple of full-tuition scholarships for STEM-oriented students. I am not sure about the physics program, but I know it is strong in biomedical. Rhodes (TN), Hendrix (AK) and U Richmond (VA), Denison (OH) also have full-tuition awards. Check to see what U of Rochester, Lafayette, Lehigh, and Clark U offer by way of merit; I am not current on these. Full-tuition awards are very competitive and should be considered long shots. Keep your expectations realistic. However, if you got one, you’d have to cover room, board, and personal expenses (which can still run 15K/year or more.
Finally, as mentioned above, there are a number of public universities that offer automatic merit for GPA/test scores. If those are of interest, we can provide more details. Good luck!
It is possible to get shut out of all of those schools. In fact, it wouldn’t even surprise me. It’s fine to apply to them all but it’s a quick and easy, lazy way to do college search. Just go to a list of top rated or most selective schools. Takes no work at all
The real work comes in finding like schools that will certainly take you. A school you can enjoy, where you can thrive and grow and make your home. It takes work and maturation of self to find such schools. Pick some schools where you have half a chance of getting accepted along with that sure shot. Getting that wrapped up early would be nice.
I think I would apply to SUNY’s like Buffalo, Binghamton and Geneseo as both financial and acceptance safeties. Maybe Stony Brook though it has a reputation for being a commuter school. The other thing you could do is look at some of the smaller tech schools that still have to work extra hard to attract women. WPI and RPI both fit the bill there. I think both are likely to offer you merit aid as well. Both are part of larger college consortiums, but I don’t know how many people actually take advantage of that. Also, any school that accepts you EA is automatically a safety. Both my kids went that route as opposed to putting all their eggs in one basket by applying SCEA or ED.
@LaraPal, my daughter was accepted or waitlisted to several of the colleges on your list. That said, none are safeties, and most aren’t quite matches, either. And then there are the need-aware, yield-focused colleges; even (or especially) if your stats are over the 75th percentile, one might not get accepted.
I agree about St. Olaf—excellent merit aid from what I’ve heard from my daughter’s past HS classmates. The more highly-rated SUNYs are a great choice, too.
Reed provided my daughter with a very good FA package, but I’ve heard of even high-stat students not getting in. I think the college really looks at the right fit (and takes a looong time to get their acceptances and FA packages out via snail mail).
From our experience, the application process is full of surprises.
Wishing you the best with your college search!
I would add Binghamton University.
A safety is not only a school to which you are certain to be admitted, it is also a school to which you are certain that you can afford to attend.
Hunter College, SUNY Binghamton, SUNY Stony Brook, and SUNY Buffalo should be researched.
Sit down with your parents and find out what they can afford, and what you think you can comfortably contribute. Then run NPCs for the schools on your list and make sure they are affordable.
Schools that guarantee to meet full need determine your need. It’s not what YOU or your parents consider need, or even possible. Many a student has been caught where schools that guarantee to meet need, are not affordable.
Your list are mostly reaches, with only a few matches. There are no safeties in this list at all.
Some of the advice you are getting is excellent!
- Consider SUNY Binghamton, SUNY Geneseo (excellent Physics dept), SUNY StonyBrook, SUNY Buffalo, and SUNY New Paltz. As matches and safeties.
- Get the book, Colleges that Change Lives, and find the website. https://ctcl.org/
These schools are excellent academically and many of them offer Merit Aid (scholarships based on your academic accomplishments). Many of them also offer need-based aid (more on this later). Many of these are matches/safeties, but you'll love them. Some rigorous schools in this bunch with strong STEM: Reed, Denison, St. Olaf, Allegheny, Clark. - There are some other excellent schools for you to consider that aren't in the CTCL list but are very similar: St. Lawrence, Dickinson College, Gettysburg - all offer solid merit aid. Some, simply based on test scores and GPA
- I would add Connecticut College to your list. It's a very strong school. Definitely a match.
- Regarding financial aid. Merit scholarships are based on your academic accomplishments. Need based aid is, well, is based on the financial situation of your divorced parents and their spouses. The parent you spend at least 51% of the time with is your custodial parent. The parent you spend 49% or less of your time with is your non-custodial parent. There are excellent schools that claim to be need-blind, but there's a kicker: many will require FAFSA and CSS profiles. Here's the deal - FAFSA is a federal form that's used to determine federally guaranteed loans and PELL grants. The CSS profile is a form that delves deeper into your parent's finances a and often includes their real-estate assets into the calculations. Let's start with FAFSA - they only look at your custodial parents income and their spouse's income (if they are re-married). The CSS, most of the time, looks at the Custodial and Non-Custodial parents and their spouse's incomes. The very elite schools you are interested in will, most of the time, use the FAFSA and CSS forms. Schools generally fall into 3 categories:
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FAFSA only (which will significantly increase you need-based aid)
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FAFSA + CSS (custodial and non-custodial parent). Most of the CSS profile schools are here.
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FAFSA + CSS custodial parent only (rarer, and is somewhat like being FAFSA only).
Here’s a listing of the schools that require the CSS and it tells you if it includes the non-custodial parent.
https://profile.collegeboard.org/profile/ppi/participatingInstitutions.aspx
So, one way to reduce cost, is to apply to FAFSA only schools, and FAFSA + CSS custodial parent only schools.
What does this all mean? Let’s run 3 scenarios.
- Let's start with a SUNY school. They offer little merit aid, are almost all need based, but are FAFSA only (meaning the non-custodial parent's income doesn't count). So they will be pretty affordable if your custodial parent doesn't make much money and isn't remarried.
- Let's take one of your elite liberal arts schools. They often don't give much merit aid, and base it most often on need. But...they use the FAFSA and CSS forms bringing both parents into the equation. So middle class kids with divorced parents who don't have a lot saved up for college don't get much aid from these guys.
- Let's take one of the CTCL schools that is FAFSA only. They may give you a $25K - $35K merit scholarship (for your GPA and SAT), AND significant need-based aid, based only your custodial parent's income and will cost significantly less that the more elite liberal arts school.
Also…remember not all merit aid (scholarships) is equal. Some of them require you to maintain a 3.0, 3.2 or a 3.25 GPA. If your GPA falls below a threshold, you lose your scholarship. Some schools offer merit aid with no exploding GPA requirements. You just need to be passing your classes (example Knox College and Allegheny College).
The best thing you can do is look at the Net Price Calculator of the school in question, and figure out if they are FAFSA only or FAFSA and CSS (custodial parent only or both custodial and non-custodial parents) and see if they offer merit based on your GPA and SAT scores. This will give you a good sense of what it would cost. The admissions criteria will tell you your likelihood of getting into that school.
Hope this helps.
Juniata has an excellent reputation in the sciences and would likely give quite a bit of merit aid for your profile.
OP,
Others have hit the highlights. You need to know your family’s financial situation and figure out cost guesstimates on the schools on your current list (every school’s website has a net cost calculator). The good news is that many of the schools you have listed meet full need, but most do not offer merit money; your family will pay what the FAFSA and the schools’ own forms say that it must pay, and then the schools will take care of the rest. Many of the private LACs on your list will not package loans as part of your financial aid. That’s great, but it’s also part of what makes these schools so selective. The CTCL schools are nice options, but only a few guarantee to meet full need, and nearly all will package loans as part of your financial aid.
The importance of safeties is that even though your stats might seem perfectly in line with the average admitted student, the acceptance rates at very selective schools are so low that that every year on these boards we hear success stories (“OMG, I can’t believe I got into Bowdoin!”) and very sad stories (“I thought I would get into one of the schools on my list, but I was denied or waitlisted at all of them!”). Thus, even though part of me thinks that you’ll get into at least one of the schools on your list, there’s no guarantee. Check out some of the school-specific threads on this site where students with very impressive overall profiles–and I mean very impressive-- are nevertheless being denied or waitlisted at schools like Middlebury and Bowdoin.
@Theoden that’s a post that should be pinned for the ages - the best analysis/explanation of the FAFSA/CSS issues I’ve ever seen.
Are either of your parents married? Those spouses’ financials can count in the financial aid formulas of most of those colleges you have listed. For FAFSA only schools only your custodial parent’s and spouse’s financials are counted. Do they own homes, businesses?
Most importantly , how much is available from them and you for college. SUNY schools are not renown for full ride packages. The Excelsior will pay about $7k, covering tuition only, and as a last dollar award. Though SUNY tuition is relatively inexpensive and NY is generous in covering it, not so much the expensive room and board. Living away from home runs around $18k.
I’m looking at some tuition covered awards for a cousin whose family is not going to cover much of his school costs, and telling him he had better start saving up some of his summer earnings and whatever he can during the school year and give investors it to his parents to cover his ongoing expenses so that they can maybe match those amounts. Student assets get hit up at about 20% with no protection allowance whereas parents get some asset protection and are assessed only about 6% so it behooves a student to save that way. Even full need students generally are expected to pay some of the cost, so it’s wise to cover that base.
In this young man’s case, his family is not going to be able to cover what is expected from them by NPCS or even FAFSA EFC, it is clear. Even if he gets into Colgate, Reed or those schools on your list, he cannot come up with the money they are going to expect from him and his family. Even though they guarantee to meet full need, it’s not enough. He needs to find substantial merit money and your list is not one that offers much hope in that area. He’s even short the $18k of a SUNY if full tuition is covered. $10-15k, including loans ($5500 freshman year) is all he can muster right now.
That’s why it’s important to do an affordability check
@theoden, I wholeheartedly agree with @tkoparent! I couldn’t like your post enough times.
@whidbeyite2002 thanks!
@tkoparent thanks!
@cptofthehouse. If the OP’s mom is not remarried and OP sticks with FAFSA only schools and her dad will contribute to her education it might work out.