<p>I'm a rising senior, attempting to compile a list of colleges I will apply to. I thought I'd figured out where I wanted to go for the most part (there are still a few that I want to visit the campus of before applying). It stood as: American University, Northeastern, Georgetown, George Mason, BU, UC Irvine, University of Washington, and UNC. When I was looking it over however, I noticed that 4 of my 8 schools are state schools, states in which I don't live (I'm from Massachusetts). I know that in general, if you're looking out of state, it's recommended to apply to private schools over public, so I was wondering if anyone had feedback on my list in this regard. Any suggestions for additional schools would also be appreciated: my intended major is public health/international health, ect.</p>
<p>To give you some context as to what schools I would be capable of getting into: My GPA is (unweighted) 3.9 on a 4.0 scale, taking all honors and AP classes. I got all 5's on the four AP tests I have taken sophomore and junior year, and will be taking another four APs senior year. My SAT composite score is 2240 (750 critical reading, 770 math, and 720 writing) and my ACT composite is 35 (34 science, 35 reading, 34 math, 35 writing). My SAT subject tests are a little low, 750 in biology and 740 in math 2.</p>
<p>What can you afford? OOS publics are pricey and often don’t give great need based aid to OOS students (not always true, but usually). If you can afford them, then I don’t see anything wrong with your list.</p>
<p>I am looking to get financial aid. My parents are divorced, and in the settlement they already agreed that combined they were only go to pay $25,000 a year for my education.
I’m scared for what aid schools are going to give me though - I live with my mom who makes ~ $60,000 a year, but my dad makes ~$120,000 (I’m not sure if that income bracket is too high to get good aid or not)</p>
<p>UC Irvine is in Orange County.<br>
There are other private schools in Orange that could give you decent merit money but, a lot of them have an affiliation-religious. </p>
<p>So if that doesn’t bother you, go 'head on: Pepperdine, Chapman, Loyola Marymount. </p>
<p>In LA County: The Claremont Colleges: Clairemont McKenna, Pomona, Harvey Mudd, Pitzer. Try Azusa Pacific, Occidental, Mt. St. Mary’s, and USC. </p>
<p>In San Diego: University of San Diego, Pt. Loma Nazarene (on the beach). </p>
<p>UNC says they will meet full-need (as they define it). Quite hard to get in to OOS, however (out of HS; transferring in is much easier if you are OOS, but I don’t know what the fin aid promise is in that case). The others do not guarantee to, but if you’re high stats and they want you, they’ll probably cobble together an attractive merit & fin aid package. Look in to merit scholarships at all of these places. You may need a fair amount. I know that Georgetown doesn’t give any merit aid.</p>
<p>UCI, BU, and I believe American and NEU have some big merit awards. I haven’t looked in to GMU but they almost certainly do as well.</p>
<p>BTW, this is a rather eclectic list. What’s the reasoning behind them?</p>
<p>@PurpleTitan it’s hard finding schools with strong public health undergrad programs, typically its offered at the graduate level - I’m open to any recommendations though</p>
<p>Some OOS Publics will give you merit for your stats, but not likely much/any from your listed OOS publics.</p>
<p>The privates on your list (like NU) will look at both parents’ income…and they will expect more than $25k…</p>
<p>Is your dad or mom remarried? If so, new spouse’s incomes count, too.</p>
<p>Apply to a few schools that you want just to see (NPCs won’t work for well for you), but also apply to a few schools where your stats will get very large merit.</p>
<p>Does your dad pay your mom child support for you?</p>
<p>Public health is a grad school emphasis, is that correct? If so, what do you want to major in as an undergrad?</p>
<p>Neither parents are remarried. Yes, my dad does pay child support.</p>
<p>Typically, public health is a graduate program, but all of the schools on my list have it also offered as undergrad (or some variation: international health, ect). So yeah, that’ll be major</p>
<p>With a parental contribution of $25,000 per year, your yearly net price limit is:
$25,000 with no loans or work.
about $30,000 with federal direct loans (up to $5,500) or work.
about $35,000 with federal direct loans and work.</p>
<p>Run the net price calculator on each school’s web site to check need-based financial aid. However, expect disappointment because:</p>
<ul>
<li>Out-of-state publics other than UNC-CH tend not to give good financial aid, so only the ones with lower out-of-state list prices may be within your range.</li>
<li>Most schools with good financial aid consider both parents’ income and wealth, and require both parents’ cooperation with financial aid forms. So include both of their income and wealth in the net price calculators, unless the school uses FAFSA only. A total income of $180,000 may result in a net price significantly larger than $25,000 to $35,000 at most schools.</li>
</ul>
<p>Why wouldn’t they work, if the OP includes both parents’ income and wealth when putting numbers in the NPCs of schools that require both parents’ information (which is most of them except UCI)?</p>
<p>It does look like the OP needs to focus on big merit scholarships, low cost schools, and in-state public schools.</p>
<p>U MN Twin Cities still has a lower cost tuition for OOS students than many publics, I am not familiar with whether they have programs matching OPs interest, but that might be a possible for the list. </p>
<p>University of Iowa has automatic merit money for high stat OOS students that could bring tuition to close to $20k range. </p>
<p>OP, any chance of National Merit Finalist? If so, look into U of Alabama. Odds are that your current list of schools are mostly unaffordable, as are many other suggestions (most of the Claremonts, for example). As mentioned above, most schools take income of both parents into account, and will expect more than $25K/year from a family with combined incomes of $180K. So even a meets needs OOS like UNC isn’t likely to be affordable.</p>
<p>Agree with U of MN-TC and UMass as options you need to look at.</p>
<p>I’ve run NPC on several schools and generally got around $30,000 or a little higher (one thing I forgot to mention is I have two siblings also in college which probably helps me). So I’m hoping for some merit scholarships and am willing to take out students loans as well if I need. I feel good about NEU, BU, and GMU in terms of merit based scholarships/affordability (I’ve done a lot of research).</p>
<p>Alright, I’ll be the one to channel juillet. Making college choices based on an undergraduate major that is a) offered in so few schools, and b) requires a graduate degree anyway, is perhaps to be avoided if possible. </p>
<p>I’m glad to see that the schools that offer this major are large and will have many other strong majors to offer if the OP changes his or her mind, but I encourage the OP to make sure that the SCHOOL the OP chooses is a good all-around fit and not just the winner of the major and financial aid sweepstakes. Find a college where you fit, OP, and allow for the possibility that your college experiences will shape your major.</p>
<p>UM-TC has a scholarship that would bring tuition for OOS to in-state levels as well. Gold National, I believe.</p>
<p>And NMF can get you full-tuition at many schools. UT-Dallas. Both big AZ publics. Also half-tuition at USC if you get in. There’s a list of them.</p>