Thank you! Every student and their situation is different but when my daughter applied early decision, she was advised by a coach not to submit a score below 1250. I would argue that if applying regular decision, SAT should be closer to 1300+. This was just prior to the pandemic however and I believe dickinson is now doing a test blind policy through 2023, so they won’t look at scores even if you submit.
If this is true… @momsearcheng take note. Is Dickinson still on your daughter’s consideration list?
This is very helpful. Thank you for your reply!
With many schools going test-optional (or even test-blind), how do you determine if this school is a safety or a target? Just by GPA? But schools/colleges calculate it differently. Plus they usually list UW GPA which does not reflect how rigorous the curriculum was. How do you determine where your student stands compared to others?
Dickinson seems to be a good school to keep on the list, but affordability is not guaranteed because nobody knows what will be offered, if anything. I would keep it so as to avoid the “what if” factor.
There needs to be a few schools with guaranteed affordability so as to provide choices. Salisbury was recently mentioned and I love it. Good size, strong pre-health advising, affordable (in state public), doesn’t seem quite as competitive as UMD (based on the OP report about UMD).
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Please remember that this thread is to assist the OP in finding schools suitable for their child. Users who want to ask questions about their own student should start a new thread. I’ve hidden some posts for being too off topic.
Mod hat off for a moment: I can confirm that Binghamton U has a very active Jewish community on campus. It’s also a super sociable school and very rigorous. They are actively courting out of state students. I think the OP should have her daughter look into it.
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Yes that what Dickinson said at information session. They were the only one that stated it. Muhlenberg wants score if possible. Tulane admin who visited HS said do not even think to submit any score below 1400. So this is our absolute minimum benchmark.
Sorry we have few very unhappy students in our immediate neighborhood from Salisbury. It is not on our consideration list.
If you are in MD, which I think I read you are, you should check out a new scholarship for people from the state of Maryland at Dickinson. It is from an alum couple.
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What about Marist? Seems to tick a lot of your boxes, especially the size requirement and I think has a decent size Jewish population. Many people think it’s Catholic but it has no religious affiliation. Kids seem to take the train into NYC pretty regularly.
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The OP is from Maryland
There are unhappy students at all schools. I would do encourage your daughter to do her research before eliminating a school that checks all of her boxes.
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Thanks. I looked into Binghamton. It is solid choice, but it does not have guaranteed scholarship as Miami of Ohio. We may consider visiting it this summer.
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Ugh - Binghamton would check almost all of her boxes! The only box it won’t check is size, but it is still considerably smaller than UMD.
I know OOS students who received merit and the school is looking to increase their OOS student population.
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Binghamton typically notifies OOS students first. She could apply and see if she gets a scholarship. I also think Marist is an excellent idea. I think she’d get some merit aid there. Maybe visit both if accepted?
@momsearcheng , should also say that if she is destined for premed, both Poughkeepsie and Binghamton have an abundance of hospitals and medical facilities nearby.
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Remind me again why UMBC isn’t being considered…since medical “things” are nearer to that campus.
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You clearly don’t have a complete grasp on what a “premed” is. There are several posters who have given you advice, to deaf ears. These are posters that are either MD’s or parents of kids that are. Your posts tend to seem like you don’t have confidence in your daughter. She can’t get a 3.5 at UMD? She can’t go off campus for religious reasons because she has too much to do, “pre med”? I am only one parent on here that had a kid doing all you said, plus 20 hours a week on a club sport, and my kid was VERY social. They also went to an EC, med related, that was a 40 minute drive each week. The road to being a Dr. is long, and full of compromises. You, and I mean your daughter, need to decide if it is worth it.
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When I ran the calculations earlier, it appeared as though Marist’s average merit aid package would leave the family with around $32-33k, IIRC.
I would not limit applications to only colleges that have a guaranteed chart of merit aid. There are others without a chart who are just as generous, if not more so, than those with a chart. If schools tend to give big merit aid packages, those are particularly worth your application fee even if you don’t know for sure how big your package will be.
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And some might give application fee waivers.
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Guaranteed scholarships don’t matter if they are not enough.
Schools like SUNY B or Stonybrook or U of SC, give scholarships. The question, just like Miami is, will they be enough. Miami will probably be $17k or so with the likely scholarship b4 room and board.