I’m a high school junior and I’m getting more serious about my college search. I’ve built up a decent list of schools so far (that later), but I’d like to get some recommendations on some that I might have looked over/not known about.
- I live in Maryland and I would really prefer not to go outside the mid-atlantic (call it a must have).
- I'm looking for a good business school with some sort of business analytics major/minor/concentration (again, call it a must have). Doesn't have to be a major, just something.
- I have a 4.0 GPA with around a 4.5-4.6 weighted. I'm in the top 5% of my school, I believe. I took the SAT in March and haven't gotten my score back yet, but I got a 1460 on the PSAT, so I'm expecting it to be around that. I think the schools should be a little bit under my GPA/SAT given I have weak ECs (I'm working on them).
- I don't have much of a preference on school size. I'd prefer that it not have religious affiliation. I won't be too picky about a setting, but I'd prefer something more suburban. An urban setting is fine, but I don't want it to be rural. I'd prefer it to be on the liberal side, but not on the extreme.
The colleges on my list so far are UMD (target), UVA, Villanova, George Mason (safety), George Washington, and Carnegie Mellon (probably the highest reach). What recommendations do you all have?
Loyola University Maryland - they have a really good business program
Just checked, Loyola doesn’t have any analytics degree 
Have you talked to your parents about how much they’ll spend each year?
William and Mary apparently has a business analytics minor and seems like it would fit right in with your other schools.
@mom2collegekids I’m pretty sure my dad said he’ll supply 20k per year. I think I can apply for financial aid under my mom’s income, but I’m not sure about that. (parents are divorced)
William & Mary, Rensselaer, and if you can ease up on location, Babson.
Financial situation needs to be clarified first. This could be a decisive factor, so you might as well sort it out now.
Good luck!
BOTH parents will be factored into the EFC and thus financial aid. If any parent remarried, the new spouse’s income will also be factored in.
In addition, OOS public universities do not offer financial aid to OOS applicants, so that you’d need to earn merit scholarships.
Your safeties (need 2) must be affordable, so start there.
First, calculate your EFC.
Second, run the NPC (Net Price Calculator) on each of the schools you listed for your original post - and yes you have to do it for each, since they’ll all calculate differently.
Then, bring the results to your parents and discuss them.
The fact your father says he’ll give you 20K indicates that he’s probably not able/willing to pay his EFC, so you’ll probably have to hunt for merit, perhaps big merit.
FAFSA-only universities (like UMD) may be your best bet because they won’t take your father’s income into account.
You should add Univ. of Richmond to your list. With high stats you may be eligible for consideration for some of their scholarships.
I second the recommendation for Richmond, especially if you want to stay in the mid-Atlantic region. Great business school, possibility of scholarship, gorgeous campus, but maybe a bit too rural?
Richmond is NOT rural. Maybe suburban?
I’d consider Richmond suburban. It’s just 5 miles from downtown.