Tweaking the College List

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I'm a junior at a highly competitive high school in Upstate New York. I started the college search last spring (around May) and have been pretty engrossed in it since. I'm interested in mainly neuroscience/cog sci (so I won't go to a school that has no neurosci/cogsci program/concentration/minor/major/SOMETHING), although I'm not sure if this could change to psych, econ, english or maybe even physics. </p>

<p>I'm a pretty outdoorsey guy who could really see himself in a quaint,rural, little college town. However, sometimes I think I might also thrive in an environment near or around a big city. I don't like boiling hot weather that much and I don't want a college with a 'deep south' culture. Distance from home is not an issue. My most important factors in selecting a college are research opportunities and professor-student interaction. I am interested in LACs mostly but I have a few small unis on my list too. Division III athletics is a must. Not an overly liberal campus. </p>

<p>So here's my problem: I fall into the middle/upper middle class income bracket so I am not going to get very much financial aid. My parents cant afford to foot my entire college bill and I don't want to rack up a lot of loans. I realized that alot of the schools on my list offer very little, if any merit aid, but I don't think I could just eliminate those schools because alot of them feel like they would fit PERFECTLY otherwise and who knows if I could win some outside scholarship or get lucky with fin aid. So I'm wondering If you guys could help my possibly suggest some schools based on fit or schools that give awesome merit aid and kinda fit that would be awesome. If you want to you can tell me schools that I should remove off of my list (its kinda long)</p>

<p>Wow I wrote alot I hope I didn't bore you to death. </p>

<p>Here is the list
Amherst, Bowdoin, Carleton, Colby, Colorado College, Franklin and Marshall, Grinnell, Hamilton, Lawrence, Middlebury, Pomona, U of Rochester, SUNY geneseo, Swarthmore, Tufts, Williams, I saw a thread on 'think outside the box colleges' and for some reason I've been intrigued by Chicago so I guess thats sorta on my list too. </p>

<p>My Stats
93-94 average
school doesn't rank
All honors classes so far, opting out of spanish 11h this year because our schools
Will be taking AP Psych, AP Lang and Comp, AP Chem, and AP US this year
Spanish program is insanely difficult
last year I took AP Euro-5
Cross Country all 4 years JV, JV, JV/V (its up in the air), V (probably)
Nordic Skiing JV 8th grade, V freshman year
Indoor Track JV, JV, V(probably), V(probably)
Outdoor Track JV, JV, V(probably), V (probably)</p>

<p>Model UN
member freshman year
co-VP sophomore year
Secretary junior year
Going to the Netherlands this winter for 2 weeks to participate in the THIMUN conference</p>

<p>LitMag contributer/editor as sophomore, junior, senior
Managing Editor (basically editor-in-chief) as Junior</p>

<p>Internship at Rochester General Hospital over the summer in the neurology department with a friend of mine
Member of the Town Youth Court since creation this summer
will be youth court co-advisor Senior year
spanish club sophomore/junior year</p>

<p>SAT II's
770 World History
700 Math I</p>

<p>taking the ACT next week (will probably take it again)</p>

<p>So...yea. any input would be awesome</p>

2

<p>The most important issue in choosing colleges IS what your family can afford. There are no financial aid miracles and large outside scholarships are very unusual unless you are a URM or have truly exceptional stats–top of class whether school officially ranks or not (colleges know), 2300 plus SAT and stand out ECs.</p>

<p>If you’ve run the calculators and your family is not willing to meet the EFC, you will be wasting a lot of time with the many need only schools on your list.</p>

<p>To suggest merit aid schools we’d need a projected score in addition to knowing where you fall in your class, colleges will give you a rank.</p>

<p>In general, to get significant merit aid, you must be at the top of the college’s pool. So a student who is a good candidate at Williams, Amherst and Swat would probably get significant money at a second tier LAC that offers it. You could look at schools like Rhodes.</p>

<p>At the top of the financial aid board, there’s a very good merit aid thread.</p>

3

<p>Another option for increasing your chances of aid are to look a bit further down in the rankings. There are some excellent LACs that will use aid to entice students with high stats. A few years ago someone from our hs was given a full ride at Albertson College of Idaho. It’s very small, but would fit the outdoorsy part. It’s less expensive than other LACs (~$26K). Doesn’t have a neuro concentration, but some recent grads have gone on to Neuro grad programs and you might conclude that you’d rather stay broad through undergrad.
There are lots of other lower ranked schools that could provide what your looking for.</p>

4

<p>Thank you hmom5 and bingle for your help and suggestions; I’m looking at that thread right now. One question about need based aid and how much debt would be reasonable and what is out of proportion…
If my EFC is somewhere around 38,000 and my parents (as of right now) have promised to pay 15,000-20,000/yr for college would it be absolutely unreasonable IF I received my total demonstrated need package to cover the difference with loans, a part time job, etc ?</p>

5

<p>IMO, it would be unreasonable. At most colleges, loans and work (both a school year work study job and income from a summer job) will already be a part of your package. So another seventy or eighty thousand in loans and work on top of that would be crazy.</p>

<p>Your best bets are going to be generous merit aid schools backed up by SUNYs. Unfortunately, there are many, many kids in this position.</p>

6

<p>ok so seeing as merit scholarships are kind of eratic, would my circumstances allow me to apply to more schools (maybe 12-15) or would that just still be outrageous?</p>

7

<p>Anyone can apply to more schools. I’ve seen many on these boards apply to more than ten. Make sure you have a safety you are willing to attend (and in your case that should also be a financial safety, like a SUNY).</p>

8

<p>12-15 schools is pretty typical these days though probably not necessary of you know what you want. Merit aid is not that unpredictable if you do your research well. Most schools are fairly clear on what you need to get what and some guarantee merit for certain stats. The hard part for most is understanding you need to go considerably below where you could get in, stats wise, to get significant money.</p>

9

<p>I’ve significantly revamped my list accordingly and am open to any feedback on it. </p>

<p>Swarthmore
Carleton
Colorado College
Grinnell
Kenyon
University of Rochester
Franklin and Marshall
Lawrence
Beloit
Denison
Centre
Rhodes
Goucher
Geneseo</p>

<p>I know I have plenty of time but right now I am just wondering if I would be better off simply applying to just Swarthmore, Franklin and Marshall, Grinnell, Lawrence and Geneseo. I seriously could see myself at any of the 5 colleges but I’m not sure if that list is ‘cut and dry’ and that I would miss something if I just cut off the majority of the schools on my list solely based on the facts that I just don’t know enough about them (ie goucher, beloit, kenyon). I’m kind of deterred by a few schools on my list (denison, centre, rhodes) and their greek scene, and their only on my list because of the opportunity for merit aid. I’m just not sure if fit becomes before price in a situation like this and If I can cut out the above three schools without having to worry about going into massive debt for a quality education.</p>

10

<p>I see a number of crossovers from my D’s list last year. We’re in the midwest, so there weren’t as many East Coast schools on her list. She had very high SAT’s and GPA, good EC’s. </p>

<p>She applied to Carleton, Grinnell, Lawrence, Kenyon, Denison, Williams and Middlebury. She was accepted to Grinnell, Lawrence, Kenyon, Carleton, Denison as well as Whitman and Smith. She was waitlisted at Williams and Middlebury. </p>

<p>We were in a similar situation financially with minimal possibility for need-based aid. Carleton gave very little aid, only NMS and a small amt of need-based. Lawrence was very generous, less expensive for her than an in-state school, Denison was also generous. Grinnell, Whitman and Kenyon were similar in the amt of aid, they brought the cost down, but still 10K more than in-state options. We decided we could manage it with D taking out some loans during the 4 years, hopefully not too many.</p>

<p>Good luck in your decisions, I was very impressed with the schools on D’s list.</p>

11

<p>oh wow i didn’t know Whitman gave merit aid. I considered it for a while, but eliminated it because it didnt have a neuro program and was pretty far away. Ur post just got me looking into it again and I guess it has a pretty acclaimed psych program were I could essentially have the same opportunities as most neuro majors. </p>

<p>After thinking about it though, I guess Whitman is back on my list (for the time being) on the same level as Kenyon.
Just out of curiosity, were did your D end up choosing?</p>

12

<p>Rugg’s Recommendations</p>

<p>NEUROSCIENCE
Claremont McKenna
Pitzer
Pomona
Scripps
UC Berkeley
UCLA
UCSD
Colorado College
Northwestern
Bates
Bowdoin
Colby
Johns Hopkins
Amherst
Boston U
Brandeis
Harvard
Mt Holyoke
Wellesley
Colgate
Columbia
Cornell
Hamilton
NYU
Duke
Franklin and Marshall
Lehigh
Brown
Rice
Washington and Lee</p>

<p>BIOPSYCHOLOGY
Earlham
U Michigan
Washington U St Louis
Barnard
Hamilton
Vassar
Bucknell
Carnegie Mellon
Franklin and Marshall
William and Mary</p>

13

<p>Gourman Report ranking for neuroscience GRADUATE programs</p>

<p>YALE UNIVERSITY 1 4.93
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 2 4.92
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-SAN FRANCISCO 3 4.91
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-SAN DIEGO 4 4.90
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 5 4.87
JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY 6 4.83
STANFORD UNIVERSITY 7 4.83
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-BERKELEY 8 4.81
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 9 4.78
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA 10 4.75
WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY 11 4.73
ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSI1Y 12 4.72
DUKE UNIVERSITY 13 4.68
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON 14 4.67
CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY 15 4.64
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-LOS ANGELES 16 4.62
MASSACHUSETIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOlOGY 17 4.61
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN-ANN ARBOR 18 4.57
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 19 4.53
BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE 20 4.51
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE 21 4.48
CORNELL UNIVERSITY 22 4.45
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY 23 4.40
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON 24 4.36
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA-CHAPEL HILL 25 4.33
VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY 26 4.31
ALBERT EINSTEIN COLLEGE OF MEDICINE OF YESHIVA UNIVERSITY 27. 4.30
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA 28 4.24
STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT STONY BROOK 29 4.22
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA 30 4.19
MAYO MEDICAL SCHOOL 31 4,17
BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY 32 4.14
EMORY UNIVERSITY 33 4.13
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA-TWIN CITIES 34 4.11
UNIVERSITY OF OREGON 35 4.10</p>

14

<p>Do you go to McQuaid? Brighton? Pittsford?</p>

15

<p>Have you taken any practice ACT tests? What would you estimate your score is?</p>

<p>Again, that would help us point you towards the best schools, especially towards those that would offer you reasonable scholarships.</p>

16

<p>collegehelp—I go to Pittsford Sutherland</p>

<p>and I’ve actually seen both of those lists on another thread, but thanks anyways</p>

<p>And I took the ACT early, kind of expecting I would have to take it again (I did do some studying and practice tests though). My prep book didn’t give scaled scores, but I would guess my score is somewhere between a 29-32 with the eventual goal of getting a 33-35.</p>

<p>I’m not really sure what my SAT’s scores are projected to be since I’ve never taken a practice test but I would be pretty satisfied with a 2100 or higher. I’m thinking of taking the December test and so I guess I should start studying now.</p>

17

<p>As a in-state student, you definitely should apply to a SUNY schoo for financial safety. Genseo is a great school but is not safety. Perhaps you can add New Paltz to you list.</p>

18

<p>D ended up at Smith with a great scholarship and research opportunities. Unfortunately not much help for you :slight_smile: </p>

<p>I would definitely recommend looking at Whitman. Great school, lots of opportunities to enjoy the outdoors. If you sift through some old college-specific posts, you might get a better feel for what kind of merit aid might be possible.</p>