Strong academic record [3.9, 1510/34] but light on EC’s [most likely political science or business; IL resident; <$50k]

Chance Me / Match Me!
61

One daughter applied to McGill, and also applied to multiple universities in the US. Generally speaking university applications in Canada are much simpler compared to applications to universities in the US. Thus while I did not think that she used the common app to apply to McGill, nonetheless the effort to apply was relatively small. I also applied to McGill (and was accepted) but this was so long ago I do not remember much about it (except that the application was vastly easier than the MIT application).

McGill appears to have some sort of rolling admissions. How quickly you hear back will depend upon both when you apply and how strong your application is. It appears that if they look at your application and know that you will get in, then they just send you the acceptance early. If you are closer to the cut off, it can take quite a while longer to hear back.

While McGill is known for STEM, it is also very good for multiple other majors. Music and psychology are two examples (the music library at McGill is very impressive). I think that Leonard Cohen got his bachelor’s in English Literature at McGill.

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62

If he loves California have him look at cal poly slo . It’s more stem than humanities but it’s top notch and people love it and it’s less money than UCs.

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Funny, Lenard Cohen is one of two musicians I am taking to the desert island with me.

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64

If I were to believe his Naviance scattergram, Cal Poly SLO is a lock. But, Naviance also shows Richmond and W&M are affordable after ‘average grant aid’…

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SLO will be full price, so you would have to be okay with that. But it’s in California and less than the UCs.

Or try some of the private CA schools where he might get merit even with his ECs?

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I think by average grant they are talking about need based aid. Am I understanding correctly that your family will be full pay?

67

Yes, more than likely full pay.

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68

What cali privates with merit would that be?

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Chicago suburbs + want warmer weather + Jewish, my first thought would be Tulane, and they do have merit scholarships. Worthwhile looking at IMO.

Tulane is one of the colleges here that does not get enough love (like UIUC, BTW), but you should look at it.

Your username brought back memories of when my kid was in middle school…

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Naviance has a Cost tab, click on the drop-down for average price for a family making over $110k and it shows under $50k for Richmond and W&M. Now I guess that number does not include room and board.

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At the expense of possibly outing the name of his school, Tulane is like his HS 2.0. It’s full pay and over budget. Funny enough, when I plotted his gpa/sat against applicants from his hs in the last five years, he looks to be the best academic candidate.

Lol. I did steal the username from one of my boys who played a ton of Minecraft in middle school.

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Clarifying that you want no religious affiliation, or no affiliation so strong that it’s evident in the name?

It probably did include room & board. But the more one earns above $110k, the smaller that pool of people is. Thus, it could be a family of 5 earning $120k and they have two kids in college (which won’t impact things in the future for FAFSA schools, but has up until now). Their financial aid picture would look a lot different than a family earning $250k and only having 1 kid in college.

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The information on Naviance about costs is meaningless. Each school will have a net price calculator on their website. You can input your financial info and get a realistic estimate of what the cost would be for you. I linked the one for William and Mary.

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Bottom line - we make too much for a family of four and have too many financial assets, a penalty for diligently saving for college in the last 17 years.

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@TheMobileMinecrafter

While founded by the Methodist church, SMU is nonsectarian in its teaching. Like Weslyan Univ, they no longer have a religious affiliation.

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76

I know, but it is very likely a dealbreaker

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77

Okay, I am moving ahead on the assumption of no colleges with religious affiliations (unless they’re Jewish).

Some schools you might want to consider include:

  • Butler (IN): About 4500 undergrads
  • Christopher Newport (VA): About 4500 undergrads
  • Mercer (GA): About 4900 undergrads
  • Truman State (MO): About 3900 undergrads
  • U. of Alabama - Huntsville: About 7600 undergrads
  • U. of Denver (CO): Already mentioned; about 5900 undergrads
  • U. of North Carolina - Asheville: About 3200 undergrads
  • U. of Tampa (FL): About 9900 undergrads
  • U. of the Pacific (CA): About 3300 undergrads
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78

Thank you for the list. Call me an uninformed snob, but I do not know academic reputation of these schools and would not know how to present these schools to the kid, except that they would fit the budget.

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Well for Huntsville, which would likely be full-ride I think, you present it with a large check or a car with a giant bow on top :wink:

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Sold! He complains about driving his mom’s old crv.

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