<p>krug, dunno if being Jewish is an admissions tip anymore at Vandy and USC, but I doubt it. Certainly it’s a lot less than it once was. If your D is interested, she should definitely apply to USC to see if she can get one of their very nice merit packages. The full tuition is highly competitive, but other money might bring costs down to your in-state. Don’t know about merit aid at Vandy. </p>
<p>Also, if you have a school that offers merit aid targeted and you want to get a sense of its jewish community, do a search on that school’s name within the Jewish B student thread. Lots of useful nuggets can be winkled out that way.</p>
<p>Re USC: my nephew was offered a full-ride at USC and attended. Other local kids have received good merit offers, but to get the full-ride scholarship he had to go through a very selective process and his stats and ECs were phenomenal.</p>
<p>BTW, Indiana Univ. (Bloomington) is very good with merit aid and has a wonderful Jewish population.</p>
<p>My D’s stats weren’t as high as your D’s and she received significant merit aid at: Tulane, University of Denver, Miami of Ohio, Indiana University, and University of Alabama. She was accepted ED at her first choice school, so we didn’t get to see how the rest played out. </p>
<p>I have heard that University of Rochester has good merit awards.</p>
<p>I was just going to suggest Goucher. There is a Kosher meal plan and a very nice-sized Jewish population. While it is not exactly an academic powerhouse, it will provide a solid foundation for med-school.</p>
<p>I just looked up Goucher, mainly because I have never heard of it but they seem to have very generous merit aid and only a 3.25 to renew. They also state on their website that about 30% of their 1st year students received merit aid–that’s a pretty substantial number. A 3.9/32 ACT on average got their top award which is a full tuition award–$35,000, out of $50,000 COA. Not too shabby.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the only definite “deal breaker” on colleges is all female institution which will take Smith and Mt. Holyoke off the list. We’ll have to try and sell Goucher since it has only became coed in the last decade or so.</p>
<p>:D-I had it in my head that your D was an S and thought, well, all-female would not work for him :D. </p>
<p>The 65/35 percent F/M ratio is pretty similar to many, many schools across the country so I don’t know that you would find it to be all that different than a lot of colleges.</p>
<p>60/40 is generally the female/male ratio of almost all LACs in the country. Big Us are also weighted toward women, but their sport teams and engineering depts. keep the numbers a little better. ;)</p>
<p>Pre-med students at the mid-tiers are not going to have a bunch of “average” classmates. The pre-meds at the mid-tiers (especially after a semester of weeding), will find that their classmates for Gen Chem, Ochem, and Physics to be the best of the best at the school…other pre-meds, Eng’g majors, Chem majors and Bio majors…because those are the ones who take those courses. It won’t be a cakewalk…no way. </p>
<p>YaleDad seems to think that these classes contain all the students in middle quartiles…they don’t. These classes are saturated with the upper quartile of the school.</p>
<p>SUNY Binghamton has a very high Jewish population, kosher meal plan, strong Hillel and Chabad etc. It is known as a public IVY in NYS. I know of many students that got into American Med schools after graduating from Binghamton. OSS tuition is still reasonable.</p>
<p>as Stevema wondered out loud, yes W&L is seeking to increase their number of Jewish students, have a beautiful brand new Hillel house, and offer a full ride Weinstein Scholarship to a Jewish student.</p>
<p>krug- I strongly suggest you check out the U of Miami(FL). My S is a freshman there on the pre-med track. His stats were similar to your D. They give significant merit scholarships, including the Singer (full tuition) and Stamps (full ride). He didn’t get those, but got a huge amount to bring total cost below our instate public flagship school. He loves it there and so do I. The classes are challenging and he works hard for his good grades. He has no problems getting to know professors as many of the classes are small. He has research opportunities lined up for next year. The premed advising office is excellent. There are plenty of Jewish kids (16% in the latest Reform Judaism magazine) and groups on campus. The people at the Hillel are wonderful. And it is not bad going to relax at South Beach or Key Biscayne in the winter. Good luck.</p>
<p>Too bad Smith and Mount Holyoke are off the table. Very likely she’d get merit aid, and good history of kids in sciences and getting into med school.</p>
<p>SUNY Binghampton already mentioned and a good choice. Lots of smart NY kids. Pitt is another good choice with likely merit for her stats.</p>
<p>Is your state flagship and option?</p>
<p>Union in Schenectady may offer merit for those stats. </p>
<p>Are you anywhere near qualifying for financial aid at any of the generous Ivy’s (under $150,000 - $175,000 in annual income)? If yes…they’re certainly worth a shot.</p>
<p>racquetdad, UM is at the top of our list. Our middle son is there as a Stamps so we know it well but we didn’t think that lightnings can strike twice!</p>