Suggestions for my sister

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I go to a top-15 school. Unfortunately, my sister won't score as high as I did on standardized tests -- as a sophomore in HS, she got a ~160 on the PSATs (it was her first time ever taking a standardized test). I have no idea what colleges to suggest to her as, unfortunately, I feel like my own search was in a completely different atmosphere than hers will be. </p>

<p>Assuming her scores rise by the time she takes the SAT for real, I'm guessing she should score somewhere in the ~1800 range? She has a top-10% GPA at her (typical suburban) public school, and as far as extracurriculars, she does a few but isn't really a standout in any particular arena. She enjoys drama club and runs indoor/outdoor track and field, both somewhat succesfully but isn't sure if she wants (or is good enough) to continue either at the college level. We are white, Catholic, and middle class.</p>

<p>As to major, she is completely undecided, but it will be something in the humanities or social sciences, not a hard science.</p>

<p>Now the hardball issues: she's looking for a school that:
-will be affordable to a family making ~$90k/year with modest savings (we are unwilling to take out loans more than ~$15k/year)
-is not too small but not Big Ten large. ideally, ~5k-12k students
-is in a decent part of a good city, or a nice suburb with access to downtown
-is academically as good as possible
-has solid extracurricular and cultural opportunities
-is within a ~10hr drive of Buffalo, NY</p>

<p>We live in Western New York, and personally I'm not enamored with the SUNY schools (neither is she). But can she get into a school that would meet enough need for us to consider it? Could she get into SUNY Geneseo? Even though it's not in a city, its academic rigor and comparative low cost make it attractive.</p>

<p>Schools that came to my mind as good fits include U of Rochester, BC, Tufts, UNC, Carnegie Mellon, and Case Western. But will she be able to get into any of those? If so, will they be affordable? Some probably, but I'm not sure. </p>

<p>So, CC, help me out. What colleges should I suggest to Sis?</p>

2

<p>Of the schools you mentioned, my guess is best chance of financial aid is Case Western if your sister has a high GPA.</p>

3

<p>Smith College is definitely worth considering—it meets the criteria you list. Smith has an open curriculum, and is known for academic excellence and small classes. Smith College students seem quite happy. Students are provided with terrific advising and mentoring, and available, committed professors. </p>

<p>Smith no longer requires SAT or ACT scores for US applicants. And Smith offers excellent, need-based financial aid.</p>

<p>Smith is part of a 5-college consortium (with Amherst, Hampshire, Mt. Holyoke and Univ Mass). You can take classes at any. There is a free shuttle bus to get to classes at the other campuses.</p>

<p>Here are some facts: <a href="http://www.smith.edu/collegerelations/SpeakingofSmith-0414.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.smith.edu/collegerelations/SpeakingofSmith-0414.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>^ Smith, at 2600 total undergrads, is a larger LAC but does not meet the OP's size criteria. Also, be aware that integrity09 constantly promotes Smith with boilerplate text. I like Smith as a school and I know an alum who loved her experience there, but it doesn't really mesh with the OP's suggested "good fits."</p>

<p>Speaking of which: drop UNC if you're OOS, and look for a list of test-optional schools and/or have your sister try the ACT.</p>

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<p>I realized that. I should also mention, though, that she would like a near-50/50 M/F balance, if possible. I should have mentioned that in the first post, but for some reason CC makes it impossible to edit.</p>

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<p>Tulane gives good aid and fits the bill, except for the ten hour drive part. With great aid, it may be worth paying to fly.</p>

7

<p>There are a whole bunch of great Catholic colleges/universities out there. Would she consider a denominational school? For example, both Notre Dame and Villanova should be within your 10 hour driving time. She can look at the list of Jesuit universities at <a href="http://www.ajcunet.edu/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.ajcunet.edu/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Since she has good grades, but may have somewhat iffy test scores, have her look at the colleges that are test optional at The</a> National Center for Fair & Open Testing | FairTest She sounds like a nice kid who will be just fine where ever she lands. But if money is going to be an issue, she needs to know that up front so that she doesn't let herself fall madly in love with a place that ultimately can't meet her financial aid needs.</p>

8

<p>I think she would really like Syracuse University. Great school for a student with her stats. They give good financial aid.</p>

9

<p>I think you're a bit early with this thread. I'd wait until her Junior PSAT scores come back first.</p>

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<p>There is no harm thinking about this right now, but it is early to rely on this sort of analysis. We need more data, most of which will only be available once she becomes a rising Senior. She should take the ACT as well as the SAT, if both are available in your area. Students sometimes do significantly better at one test than the other. Make sure she takes th "optional" writing part of the ACT, as most schools in the east require it to accept the ACT. You will need not only her standardized test scores, but also her GPA (w or uw), and an estimate of the level of difficulty of her school and course work. It would also help for her to have a clearer idea what she is looking for in school, and for her to develop one or two extracurricular activities that she enjoys, will help her to grow, that can be carried over to college to help her meet people, and as a possible side benefit, that look good on her resume.</p>

<p>That being said what we have at this moment is a high school student that is shaping up to be a better than average college student, with no obvious characteristics that make her stand out from the pack, and with severe financial constraints. Such students usually go in state to a local public university, do well there, and are happy there. Fortunately for her, while SUNY is far from perfect, it is one of the better state university systems, and provides a large variety of schools to choose from. Geneseo is a possibility, but unless she has exceptional improvement over the next year it is going to be a reach and it is much smaller and more isolated than her current ideal. Binghamton reads as if it is much closer to her ideal, about her ideal size, near an urban area roughly equivalent to a small city, and good academics. If she shows the improvement in the SATs that you expect Binghamton will be a high match. She should also check out New Paltz and some of the suburban NYC schools, although activities at suburban public colleges are sparse. I expect she already knows SUNY Buffalo fairly well, and that will give her an idea of what to expect at Albany. I am skeptical that she will find Stony Brook to be of interest.</p>

<p>She should also check out some of the OOS publics, but be aware that it is likely that she cannot afford the extra cost. She does not sound like a likely Penn State student, but she might find UPitt and some of the Philadelphia area schools to be of interest, e.g., Drexel. Delaware has a reputation of being a good school without an excessive OOS costs. She should also check out the College of New Jersey (Rutgers), Mary Washington, UMass-Boston, and UMD-Baltimore. If money becomes less tight, UConn, UVM and UNH are also possibilities.</p>

<p>It is difficult for me to recommend any private schools for her at the moment. The ones with the most generous financial aid also tend to be highly competitive. If she shows the improvement you expect Rochester and Boston college will be possible reaches, but I don't know what they provide in terms of need based aid.</p>

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<p>Delaware gives a lot of merit aid to OOS but tends to favor high-stat students. Unless she is competitive for the honors college, it may be out of reach financially.</p>

<p>Rochester meets full need and offers merit, but she will probably have to depend on the need-based aid.</p>

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<p>Thanks everyone for all your help and suggestions. I know it's a bit early to be thinking about this, but I just don't want her to get too enamored with the school I attend and the ones my friends attend, so I figured I would suggest some schools for her to look at that she would be interested in that are more realistic matches.</p>

<p>happymomof1, she would definitely consider a denominational school, but only a Catholic one. Most offer decent aid, right? I know the top ones do, but what about schools like St. Joe's in Philly or Villanova or St. John's in New York?</p>

<p>nmparents, thanks for the in-depth analysis -- you've pretty much confirmed my suspicions. Regarding SUNY schools: I am intimately familiar with SUNY Buffalo, and I know quite a bit about Geneseo, but I know next to nothing about the downstate schools. If she plans to live in Buffalo, do you think it's even worth considering Binghamton or Albany over Buffalo? Do you think schools like UMD-Baltimore or UMass-Boston are really worth the OOS cost?</p>

<p>As far as OOS publics: does she have a shot at a school like UM-Ann Arbor, UW-Madison, or UNC-CH? Obviously they are larger than she would like, but I think that academics and culture are more valuable to her than any of her other requirements.</p>

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<p>I think financial aid might be an issue at Michigan--they don't generally meet the full need of nonresidents. I don't know what her loan offer might be, and what additional loans might be needed, but they could exceed what you're described as her comfort level. Michigan is a wonderful place, but she may be able to do better from a financial standpoint.</p>

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<p>Don't forget the possibility that your sister might be able to raise her test scores significantly. I know a girl who took a Kaplan class and went up almost 400 points.</p>

15

<p>Your parents should calculate the EFC before anyone decides where to apply, to see more exactly what amount of money schools will expect them to contribute. It may be a lot more than $ 15,000 per year.<br>
The schools you mentioned - Rochester, BC, Tufts, UNC, Carnegie Mellon, and Case Western, are getting to be very competitive and just to be admitted she is likely to need a higher SAT score than you predict. Same for Michigan and Wisconsin - these receive a lot of out-of-state applications.</p>

<p>Two out-of state schools I recommend she consider are Tulane and the University of Denver. The former is nicely recovering from Hurricane Katrina and the latter has been receiving substantial donations recently to build up its curriculum.</p>

<p>SUNY schools are</p>

16

<p>On the SAT vs. ACT issue: In the USA every single college and university that requires a standardized test for admission will accept the results of EITHER test. You do need to investigate whether or not a given institution requires a writing test or not (in which case the ACT-with-writing would be necessary rather than the ACT-without-writing). SOME universities will accept ACT scores INSTEAD OF SAT Subject tests. Again, finding out whether this is possible requires that you research each institution.</p>

<p>On money: Your sister needs to have a very clear idea about how much money is available for her education, and just exactly where it is going to come from. She needs to know how much the FAFSA and PROFILE are likely to say her family is good for (and whether her family really can come up with that figure). She needs to know that many, many colleges/universities do not meet all of the need of their students (the practice referred to as "gapping").</p>

<p>I don't know anything in particular about any of the Catholic universities as to their financial aid practices, but perhaps if you visit the individual college forums here, you may be able to get a general picture of the situations on some campuses.</p>

<p>Best wishes to you and your sister as you head into this process!</p>

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<p>UNC-CH is almost certainly out of reach. OOS students there are the top of the pack.</p>

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<p>


It's around $13,000 per year right now. I've calculated it for my own financial aid. </p>

<p>


I figured as much for most of these schools, but aren't CMU and especially Case hurting for female applicants?</p>

<p>

NOOO you had to go all Sopranos finale on me</p>

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<p>I think that her SAT scores are a little low for Villanova as well. At least they were for 2008-who knows, the situation might change in two years. They offer very little merit aid. It could be a low reach. She would be in at St. Joe's and they are very generous with financial aid. How about Loyola College of Maryland? It is an up and coming school in Baltimore and Catholic affiliated.</p>

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<p>I would suggest:
Northeastern (a little large)
Fordham
American
Providence
Ithaca
Quinnipiac
Elon</p>