Undecided STEM girl with non-perfect stats

College Search & Selection
1

Major- undecided, math, chemistry, physics, engineering, computer science are all on the table, but cannot decide at this point

Career goals- work outdoors or have flexibility to travel and be outside a lot

Family budget- 40K/year for 4 years

EFC- 70Kish but we are not willing to go there.

Grad year- 2020

Diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexic dysgraphia, no in school or testing accommodations. Highly gifted but grades are weak due to difficulty with writing and completing all homework in a timely manner. On ADHD meds.

SAT- not taken, based on PSAT predicting 1500+ in March, missed NMF for California, will be commended
GPA- 3.5UW, 4.4W nearly all classes are AP/honors no C’s but lots of Bs

subject tests- Math2- 790, taking chemistry and USH in June, predicting 750+ in both

APs taken- Euro- 5, Comp Sci A- 5, HUG (pre meds LOL)- 4
APs on plate this year- Chemistry, Calc AB, Physics 1, Lang, USH
AP’s senior year- Micro/Macro, Lit, Bio, Art History, Calc BC
Expect 4s and 5s on all. Would like to get substantial credit for flexibility in study abroad or double major.

ECs- 2 varsity sports (swim and cross country), Elementary Math team Coach, Girl Scout leadership positions. Applying for Student Conservation volunteer back country program this summer.
Job- Lifeguard and swim instructor

Wants- interesting city, strong LGBTQ community, access to skiing, backpacking, sailing, kayaking or other physical outdoor activities. Not recruitable but enjoys running and swimming and will want to continue recreationally.

Applying- UCSC, Davis, Humboldt, Cal Maritime(big maybe), Willamette, Lewis and Clark. In UK applying to Durham and Cambridge for Natural Sciences

She has no idea what to add to above and I am struggling as well. Thinking of Colorado State and University of New Mexico or other WUE/merit state schools.

2

If undecided, one criterion to include is that all of her possible majors are not excessively competitive to change into after enrolling. Also, it may be preferable to start as an engineering major, where first year course work mostly overlaps with physics, chemistry, and math, and switching to those other majors is typically easier than switching from one of them to an engineering major.

3

My gut is she’s not an engineer at heart, all those years of Lego playing aside. Too rigid a program, but maybe I am wrong.

4

Don’t ignore the University of Utah. It has strong math and computer science departments, as well as a lot of environmental science, conservation and other outdoors focused options.

SLC isn’t as conservative as many Californians assume and the outdoor activities (skiing and backpacking in particular) are unbeatable. The merit aid is excellent and strongly tied to SAT/ACT scores (34-35 ACT is OOS full tuition this year, it’s not clear if/how much GPA impacts this) and in-state tuition is available after the first year.

5

If your EFC is $70k but you want to pay $40k you need somewhere she’ll get merit,has that been a criterion in the schools you’ve chosen?

Sorry to be blunt about this, but Cambridge is a very long shot with those stats, especially for natsci. I’m not overly familiar with the natsci tripos but in general the UK system doesn’t suit those who are not pretty sure what they want to major in.

6

Arizona and Arizona State could be schools worth looking into for STEM. Possibility of merit aid at both if the projected SAT hits 1500.

7

We have experience with ADD and dysgraphia and lots of issues with getting homework done etc. College can be more of a challenge. I definitely suggest paying attention to the academic counseling resources at schools. And once she has a school, get in touch with the appropriate counseling and encourage her to contact them and establish a relationship before arriving. That can create great accountability, besides offering great support. They are there to help bright students with learning challenges. They are people who there because they want to provide help and know how to provide it, including in the context of that school. Schools will often offer tutoring, classes and groups on transitioning to college, how to manage a college schedule, etc.

I love that she embraces the outdoors. That can be very helpful to ADD young people. It was practically a cure for one of ours.

Colorado State seems like a great choice. Apply early to all WUE options–sometimes spots are limited, though I don’t know much about precisely how and where. How about Nevada Reno (UNR)? It’s urban but you have the Sierras and Tahoe right there. I’m really, really impressed with the people I know there, and it just got a bump up to the highest Carnegie research ranking. It’s strong in environmental areas, science AND humanities.

Here’s an interesting thought along the lines of L&C and Willamette (smaller school, no engineering)–Sewanee. Really outstanding academics and it’s on top of a mountain with tons of trails, etc. Really a unique environment. Check out their video “Our Story” here,

http://admission.sewanee.edu

I don’t know the culture well enough to say how LGBTQ friendly the school is. It’s very outdoorsy and has an Episcopalian affiliation, so I’m not sure how all that plays out in 2019. We looked at it 5-6 years ago. Worth researching.

UNC-Asheville is maybe another school to peek at. It’s not another large public research university, like say UCSD or UCLA to Cal in CA. It is a public LAC. It’s just outside downtown Asheville, a terrific, funky town right in the Great Smoky Mountains. It’s a top hiking, outdoorsy school. Again, no engineering and probably does not attract tons of STEM kids, but would be fine for math. I’m pretty sure it will be under $40k for OOS students, all in tuition, room, and board.

University of Vermont would be an option, except I think it’d probably be too expensive, though you could check. Burlington is another excellent town, right on Lake Champlain, with beautiful sunsets over the lakes and the Adirondacks on the other side. Lots of outdoorsy students. Skiing nearby. One downside, darn cold, so hard to be outside all the time, which is a great advantage to a more southern school like Sewanee.

Another out-of-the-box idea–Montana State. It’s in Bozeman, which, like Fort Collins, is a great western town. I’ve seen it ranked as the top hiking/outdoors school. It does have engineering. I’m not sure if it is part of WUE (I’m East Coast), but love Bozeman and will be visiting there when the snow melts. We know one current student, and they love it.

http://www.coe.montana.edu

If I add Northern Arizona in Flagstaff, then you have suggestions for all my favorite towns (Fort Collins, Bozeman, Asheville, Flagstaff, and Burlington), college or otherwise.

Good luck!

8

Regarding University of Arizona, https://financialaid.arizona.edu/types-of-aid/scholarships/freshman-transfer#incomingfreshmannon-residentawards says that 3.5 unweighted GPA and 1420+ SAT will get a $20,000 merit scholarship, reducing net price to $33,950 (list price is at https://financialaid.arizona.edu/cost/freshmen ). If the “3.5” is rounded up from 3.49 or some such, the merit scholarship with 1420+ SAT is $18,000, for a net price of $35,950.

9

For Arizona State University, there is a scholarship calculator at https://scholarships.asu.edu/estimator .

10

Also, as a California resident, only two UCs and two CSUs are of interest?

11

3.5 is rounded down from current based on my worst case scenario. :slight_smile:

Arizona is too hot except Flagstaff. I’m struggling with how many state schools to add that would be “better” than her California options. I feel quite good about her chances at UCSC. Colorado is going back on the list. It keeps coming off and on.

Cambridge is a long shot but if she gets 5’s on Calc, Chem and Physics, she will go for it. Natural Sciences allows her to take math plus 2 other subjects first year and then narrow down.

12

If engineering isn’t a hard requirement, and she’s open to women’s colleges, Agnes Scott? She’d be eligible for guaranteed merit (https://agnesscott.edu/admission/financial-aid/trailblazerscholarship.html) assuming her transcript reports weighted GPA, which brings the net price down to $32k. Good physics program, cross-registration is possible (but not particularly easy) with a bunch of other Atlanta schools. Stone Mountain Trail is right next to campus, and the local Master’s swim team (my kid who likes to swim but doesn’t like to compete does workouts with a Master’s group) swims in the ASC pool. Generous AP credit, strong emphasis on global learning including a week-long trip abroad for first-year students (https://www.agnesscott.edu/global-learning/first-year-global-learning/journeys.html)

13

She’d get merit at both Eckerd and New College Florida. Both have friendly, year round sailing programs that she could walk on to (Eckerd’s team is more competitive than NCF but both are open to walk ons). Both are within minutes of white sand beaches and the colleges themselves are right on bay water. Swim, run, kayak, sail year round.

Eckerd is strong in outdoor sciences. NCF punches way above its weight in getting students into prestigious grad schools (it’s one of those hidden Ivy types, pardon the hackneyed phrase) and has innovative programs. Good quality of life at both.

14

@ucbalumnus she is going to have a tough time GPA wise with the UCs don’t you think? SoCal is out.

15

Is UC GPA somewhere around 3.8? Calculate at https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/ .

It looks like the 2018 frosh admission rates are now up at https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/freshman-admissions-summary . For the non-southern California UCs, the 2018 admission rates by UC GPA were:

UCB: 10% for 3.80-4.19, 1% for 3.40-3.79
UCD: 52% for 3.80-4.19, 14% for 3.40-3.79
UCSC: 70% for 3.80-4.19, 33% for 3.40-3.79
UCM: 95% for 3.80-4.19, 82% for 3.40-3.79

16

I would encourage you to add Smith College to your list. It meets most of your wish list. It is one of the 7 sister schools, excellent academics (ranked #11 in US News & World Report LAC), strong LGBTQ community, located in a small but very trendy city, has all the outdoor activities you listed nearby.

17

Wouldn’t we be FULL! pay at Smith? I would love to be wrong on that!

18

@tgg that is a great and helpful list!

19

https://www.smith.edu/admission-aid/tuition-aid will estimate the answer to your question.

20

I agree that Smith is not going to be affordable, even if your daughter got some merit money (which I agree is unlikely). Same with Bryn Mawr / Mount Holyoke / Scripps - merit is too scarce and too small for them to make sense. Mills has insufficient depth in the sciences. If she really wanted a women’s college, that would be one thing, but I don’t think that they’re the best solution to your problem.