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College Search & Selection
1

Hello! I am already applying to some schools but I am not in love with any of them so any recommendations would be great! I am applying as an undecided major to all of my schools

Applying to: SUNY Bing, SUNY New Paltz, Syracuse, Boston College, Northeastern, Smith College, University of New Haven, and RIT

Stats:
GPA: 99.9 weighted
SAT: 1440 (waiting on one more test)
Coursework: taking IB classes, a dual enrollment class, and I took AP World (5) and am taking AP Calc BC
Strong recommendations and averages ECs

I’m looking for a college in the northeast, I am not a big partier so I would prefer a school with a less prominent party scene, academics are important to me but scholarships are a need, I do not really like NYC but I love the Boston area, suburban is fine as long as there is a nice college town, I am a very down to earth person, and would like diversity in the school I am going to attend

2

As an undecided applicant with respect to your major, the University of Rochester may suit you better than RIT.

3

I was thinking of applying to Rochester but I have been told by family who live there that the area is desolate. Also since the college is very far away from home, the desolation may become a problem (even more so in COVID times). RIT is mostly on my list because I received an application waiver. Thank you for your reply!

4

Are you a NYS resident? What’s your budget?

5

Yes. Budget is >30,000 per year

6

below 30,000 sorry (<30,000)

7

However if it is for a school that is very highly ranked max would be 45,000 since I would consider it a great investment for my future.

8

How much are your parents able to spend without borrowing? SUNYs for state residents are ~$23k/year. For OOS residents they’re at least $30k.

9

I do not feel the need to go into specifics about the price as I already gave amounts. Feedback on colleges not focusing on SUNYs (I already have two on my list) that would be best would be great.

10

We do need to know a rough idea of your parents’ income in order to know whether we can recommend meet-need schools or not, and whether you’d need merit.
Have you run the NPC on RIT, Boston, Northeastern?
Since you’re applying to Smith and like Boston, why not apply to Wellesley?

11

I would need merit. My sister did not receive financial aid when she applied to colleges, but since she is in college right now I may recieve a small amount of financial aid.

12

Maybe look at Wheaton in Massachusetts?

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13

thanks for the recommendation, will definitely take a look at it

14

Clark University in Worcester, MA offers merit scholarships.

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15

Clark has an excellent merit scholarship program called LEEP, but its deadline is Dec 1 I think so hurry.
Look into all Colleges That Change Lives: they offer excellent academics and excellent merit scholarships.

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17

Getting the price down to $30,000 or less without need based aid may be a challenge. Less than $45,000 will be easier.

We live in the northeast and were looking for universities for two strong students a few years ago. We found quite a few that got to about $40,000 per year with merit aid. The only schools that we found that were $30,000 or less (in our case less) without need based aid were either in-state public schools or universities in Canada. Let me know if you want suggestions in Canada beyond the obvious well known ones.

You would have a good chance for merit aid at UVM. The NPC there correctly predicted merit aid for us. You might want to run it and see what it says. Burlington is a very attractive small city.

Reading your preferences and stats made me think of Wellesley College. I ran the NPC there for a daughter and the results were not encouraging, and nowhere near your budget. Of course your results may differ.

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