Smaller school with merit aid for Jewish girl B+/A- premed [really 3.95 unweighted HS GPA]

[twogirls]

Have you sat down with your daughter and discussed a budget? If not, I recommend doing that now.

The goal right now is to make a list of schools that are likely to give your daughter enough merit to make them affordable. This should be your biggest list- bigger than the 3 you now have. Much bigger. You are not only looking for academic safeties; you are also looking for financial safeties.

Once you have a strong list of financial safeties, your D can add whatever schools she wants, as long as she knows ahead of time that she can only attend if the school falls within budget. She wants Muhlenberg? Well….the total cost of attendance is somewhere in the mid 70’s and it goes up every year. While on paper it may be a match, in reality it is a reach because you need a large scholarship. Does your daughter know this?

I would add Binghamton. Leaving it out because you have Miami is a big mistake.

[momsearcheng]

She is not applying to her hate list.

[thumper1]

Deleted. I misunderstood your post.

[momsearcheng]

Neither Miami no Binghamton match even remotely with size. If they are twins there is no point to have both. We do not want too many big schools. If size would not matter, she would chose UMD for 5k (with work tuition help). We do not need more than 3 safeties. That would be definitely waste of money to apply to many schools that you would go only if you have no other choices. Schools that she is happy on the list are 10 matches. Reaches are reaches, nobody is counting on them.

[momsearcheng]

That is tuition reimbursement program from parents’ job. It has nothing to do with a student or GPA or location. It is guaranteed.

[tsbna44]

W&L is worth applying because of Johnson (100% merit) and Weinstein (tuition only). Short of that, you are then full pay - as my daughter was - but we applied given the possibility of these two - so for a merit chaser, W&L is a winner…improbable but not impossible.

Tulane caps merit and it won’t hit their # - most assuredly.

[twogirls]

The matches that are on the list are not affordable unless she gets tremendous merit. IMO her financial safety list should be bigger.

Bing is half the size of UMD.

I think your D should absolutely keep the big merit schools and schools she loves on the list. I think she should add more safeties.

[thumper1]

I misunderstood. But even so…will your daughter have a job the summer before college…and this summer, and also work while in college. Research shows that students who work 10 or so hours a week actually do better in college…and budget their time better…than those who don’t work.

[momsearcheng]

Agree. But with free app, you would not loose too much. Expectation is that she will not be accepted or accepted with 5K merit from waitlist after being deferred. I absolutely aware that Tulane primarily takes kids through ED with much lower stats and then plays yield protection game with high stat kids who apply EA or RD (to make sure that they go to other schools). I think BU (from our experience and our friends’) does exactly the same.

[AustenNut]

@momsearcheng

I have now 20 schools on the list

What are the 20 schools on the list?

[tsbna44]

Yes, but Tulane requires an essay - it’s an optional required - meaning it has to be done.

You’d be smarter to use a Common App slot on a school you have a chance at, requires less or no work, and has the “potential” to get you aid.

Tulane is time wasting for you and leading toward app burnout quite frankly - not to mention that it doesn’t hit your distance thread.

[momsearcheng]

I know. It is coming on an off my list. I was thinking that with 0 fee we may play that game, but we will see.

[momsearcheng]

I will post after we will visit all on the list. We are not fully done.

[AustenNut]

As @tsbna44 mentioned, there is a cost to applying to schools that goes beyond application fees even when there is a fee waiver. There is burnout, especially on composing customized essays for each school. Nearly all schools have at least a “why us” essay prompt and many have additional ones as well. The quality of essays may drop off in the effort of doing too many, which may also reflect in the quality of merit aid received.

Are there any other schools on your list that are similar to Tulane? By that I mean pretty much impossible to reach your target price because they don’t even offer merit aid of at least 50% of tuition? If so, I would take them off the list now so as to provide a greater opportunity for your daughter to investigate the options that are in the realm of actual possibilities.

If you are planning college visits, which is a terrific idea, have you considered trying to visit some financial safeties on the same trip as the colleges on your list? For instance,

• York College is less than an hour from Dickinson and only 45m from Gettysburg.
• Rider & College of New Jersey are both about 1h20m from Muhlenberg (and both are very close to each other…about 10m apart)
• SUNY Oswego is 1h20m from U. of Rochester and 1h6m from Hobart & William Smith
• U. of Hartford is 1h6m from Clark
• SUNY New Paltz is 1h20m from Union College and is literally on the route between Hofstra and Union

[thumper1]

@momsearcheng

I will post after we will visit all on the list. We are not fully done.

Will you visit all 20 schools?

I would hope there could be some back and forth after visits. If your kid really doesn’t like Miami, perhaps Bing could be considered instead.

If she hates UMD, perhaps UDel or Charleston could be considered.

Lots of kids have schools added to and deleted from their first run lists. And many apply…and visit the top three contenders after acceptances come in. Especially with EA and rolling admissions schools…this might be something worth considering.

[tsbna44]

Just to give an idea of “merit chasing” - I pulled up our old sheet. Again, we were seeking a strong Jewish life. My daughter had a 3.97, 4.5+ GPA with a 32 ACT. We chased merit - didn’t always get it - but we knew we’d have some schools that “could” work…the only one you have is UMD…so i’d be assured it’s guaranteed as you said.

In our case we let our daughter choose from the $50K and lower.

American - original top choice expected $25K - got $15K. Net cost $57,700

Alabama - $28K - net cost $21,424

Arizona - $30K merit - so $24,400 net cost.

College of Charleston - original co #2 choice - $16K merit (i thought $12k)…original net cost $35,848…she since gotten more scholarships but that was the net at time of acceptance.

Colorado - $6250 merit - $48,450 Net Cost

Denver - $30K merit - $43,590 net cost

Emory - WL…stayed on but never got off and would have gotten no aid.

Florida - $0 merit - $43,709 net cost

Florida State - OOS waiver - this should be an option - net cost $23,028

UGA - half OOS tuition - $37,822 net cost.

Indiana - $14K - net cost $39,566

Maryland - $0 - so $53,536 net cost

U of Miami - $25K - so $50,176 net cost.

Miami Ohio - $21K - net cost $33,708

Pitt - $0 - $49,744 Net Cost

Rice - rejected

U of NC - rejected

U of South Carolina - $22K - so $28,373 net cost - admitted Honors - one you should look at!!

Tampa - $17K merit - $28,910 net cost - while not a top school like Tulane, this would be a better use of your time.

W&L - admitted - nothing - $81,070 net cost.

William & Mary - WL, didn’t stay on. Was not going to be affordable but was hoping for the full ride they offer.

[momsearcheng]

Actually all schools that DD has even remote chance of merit aid will require extra work. She will not apply to the ones with automatic half ride for her. She said that she wants “competitive” schools and I underestimate her… That is why we do not keep schools with big acceptance rates but Ursinus and Miami. Most schools on her list have 45-65% acceptance rate.

[tsbna44]

They may not be her type of school - but short of Tampa, every school on that list is competitive (to get $$). Some are auto - but you still have to have the #s to get the $$.

Florida State is now a top 60 school and you need a 32 ACT last year to get the waiver. U of SC is the top Honors college in the country.

College of Charleston is the prime example where a kid that is “average” at Florida or UMD can become a fellow like my daughter - she’s a Charleston Fellow and International scholar - and our aid is now $3K more than tuition…so my bill is dirt cheap - they are paying 20% of her other expenses in essence. That’s what you need to be to get big aid - the superstar of the class. Her school BFF turned down Vandy, Rice, and Penn to go there…he’s in state and not paying a nickel.

Just showing you how a similar student (Jewish and chasing merit) fared.

It sounds like you’ll put a lot of schools on your list that everyone knows up front won’t get you there. That’s the crazy part.

They should at least give you a chance- hence why W&L is a smart add (in my opinion).

[MMRose]

But…one of your financial requirements is 50 percent merit!!! So how can she reject them out of hand? And have the two of you been paying attention to how many high-stat kids have been shut out these last two years of schools that were matches and even safeties in the past???

It’s not a matter of underestimating her. The “game” has changed. She should apply to one or two of them because next May might be even worse than 2021 and 2022z

[trops]

D22 with 3.9uw/4.5w and 32 ACT was accepted to some schools on your list with the following merit:
Tulane - 18K
Clark - 20K
Rhodes - 30K
Ursinus - 35K (+ opportunity for some smaller competitive scholarships that stack)

Maybe this helps (and maybe I already posted this further up but this thread is looong, so I don’t quite remember )