Visiting colleges between New York and Montreal

Parents Forum
21

<p>When any college says you can get aid up to an income of 150 or 200k, be aware that still depends on family details. I remember seeing that example (pre-NPC) and the family had 6 kids, several in college at the same time. Need to run NPCs to see what may be more affordable than somewhere else. </p>

<p>And, note that OP only has a week and they start in NYC. They may not be able to include every school that seems like a possible match. From Boston, head west on the Turnpike. Smith and Amherst are about 30 minutes north of Springfield. Easy. </p>

<p>From there, you need to really look at what it would take to visit both Dart and Midd. Plus her D may not want those remote locations. Plus you have to factor in tour schedules and the time that can take, when or where you want to overnight.</p>

<p>(From Amherst, it’s 3 hours to Midd. If you want to see Williams, it puts you on a different route to Montreal. and Williams is another small town, not near much. Whatever, you need to see the maps.)</p>

22

<p>

</p>

<p>Before you make a decision like that, run the online Net Price Calculators for a few of these schools. Merit aid and need-based aid work rather differently. A merit-focused strategy works better for some; a need-focused strategy works better for others.</p>

<p>A couple things to keep in mind:

  1. Merit money typically offsets (reduces) the amount of determined need.
    So, if Northeastern offers you $30K in merit money, then chances are, any need-based aid you would have gotten will be reduced by a corresponding amount.
  2. The more selective the school, the better (typically) the need-based aid and the worse the merit aid.</p>

<p>According to IPEDS data, for families with income over $110,000 receiving Title IV Federal financial aid in 2011-12, the average net prices for these schools were as follows:</p>

<p>$42,505 Barnard
$41,890 Boston University
$37,818 Northeastern
$36,282 Vassar </p>

<p>For families with income of $75,001-$110,000 receiving Title IV Federal financial aid in 2011-12, the average net prices for these schools were:</p>

<p>$34,593 Boston University
$33,217 Northeastern
$26,680 Barnard
$19,887 Vassar </p>

<p>For families with income of $48,001-$75,000 receiving Title IV Federal financial aid in 2011-12, the average net prices for these schools were:</p>

<p>$29,391 Boston University
$27,749 Northeastern
$15,723 Barnard
$11,152 Vassar </p>

<p>Source: <a href=“IPEDS”>http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Your mileage may vary. Run the online NPCs to get estimates better-tailored to your situation. If your income is very much above $110K, then with your D’s stats you may well get lower prices from a merit-focused strategy than from a need-focused strategy.</p>

23

<p>I know that it is kind of hard at this point, since she is not clear on the “parameters”. We will definitely have a more clear picture after this visit. </p>

<p>Why McGill - DD has Canadian citizenship, she is studying French and thinks that after 4 years in Montreal she will be fluent. Plus no stress of studying in a foreign language. </p>

<p>We did run a lot of online calculators a year ago, when DS was applying, so I basically now what kind of need based aid we can expect from some of the schools, no idea though about liberal arts schools since he did not apply to any. Any idea how to they rank as far as need based aid? </p>

<p>DD will most likely apply to quite a few schools, looking for best offer.</p>

24

<p>It will still boil down to the NPCs. A lot depends on your circumstances. Mostly, the privates were talking about can be generous. But it’s your details that matter. That’s one issue with the ipeds data, above. Eg, saying Vassar consistently comes in at a lower cost ignores that “averages” include some kids with the max and others with very little aid, depending on the student body. If 50% get full aid and 50% need none, your family won’t necessarily pay that average. Start with your NPC.</p>

25

<p>Does your daughter have dual US/Canada citizenship? If Canadian only, applying as an international puts another twist on admissions and aid. In any event, casting a wide net is a good idea.</p>

<p>The most selective LACs – Williams, Amherst – provide excellent need based aid. (I don’t have information on Wellesley), often all grants, limited loans and work-study. Again, packages vary.</p>

<p>Since you only have a week, you might want to cut out Yale this time and concentrate more on schools that give “credit” for demonstrating interest by visiting. If she gets admitted to Yale and the money works, she’ll be able to visit then. </p>

<p>My vote for a week’s trip would be Boston University, Tufts, Wellesley, Amherst, Smith, Williams, Middlebury, McGill. This group is reasonably geographically compact and will give her a range of size, location and culture. She can build her final list based on the environment and academic style that appeals to her. If you can start in Boston instead of New York, you’ll save some time.</p>

26

<p>If you are going to be looking at any schools in NYC, I suggest that you take a look at Fordham. They give full tuition scholarships to most NMSFs, have a great honor program, and small classes.</p>

27

<p>@Kelowna, you started our class of '15 thread, haven’t seen you post in awhile :)</p>

28

<p>I know, I should be heading that way :)</p>

29

<p>The combo of languages/IR and science sounds like Tufts to me. I don’t think I’d do Vassar, because I don’t think science is their strength. Definitely check out Smith and maybe Wellesley if you want a woman’s college in a suburban location.</p>

30

<p>So I suppose McGill Arts & Sciences is your D’s absolute safety…</p>

31

<p>If you’re possibly in need of some serious merit money, why not visit a school that’s actually near Montreal, like St. Lawrence University? <a href=“http://www.stlawu.edu/admissions/merit-scholarships”>http://www.stlawu.edu/admissions/merit-scholarships&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

32

<p>Taking careful notes…
I don’t know if McGill is an absolute safety, but since they are basically all about numbers she has a good chance of getting in. They also give automatic merit oif certain conditions are met.
She is also considering Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne…</p>

33

<p>

</p>

<p>Vassar is building a new, very impressive science center.</p>

<p>

</a></p>

<p>Additionally:

.
<a href=“Integrated Science Center - Vassar College - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/vassar-college/1503712-integrated-science-center.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

34

<p>The DD & I were on the Vassar campus for a field hockey clinic just prior to Christmas. I walked past the new science building and other on campus capital improvements - lots of on-going contsruction. The administration is spending the mony raised to improve the campus.</p>

35

<p>^Nice to hear. It’s been a while since I’ve been on the Vassar campus. At that time it was Bard that had the bright new shiny science building. :D</p>

36

<p>Who said you get to Montreal on the Mass Pike? If you are travelling from Boston, maybe. If you are travelling from New York, though, anywhere you go on the Mass Pike is out of the way, and anywhere you go on the Mass Pike past exit 2 (Lee) is really out of the way. Montreal is a straight shot north on I-87 from NYC up the Hudson Valley, through Plattsburgh on the west side of Lakes George and Champlain. The other quality interstate route would be I-91 to I-89, and it would take you through New Haven, Hartford, Springfield, Northampton, Hanover NH, and Burlington VT. It’s a swing east out of the way, but probably worth it in one direction due to the quality of the colleges along that route.</p>

<p>The I-87 route takes you past Sarah Lawrence, Vassar, Bard, RPI, Skidmore, and various SUNYs. The I-91/89 route takes you past Yale, Wesleyan, Trinity, Amherst, Smith, Mt. Holyoke, UMass, Hampshire, Dartmouth, and UVermont. In between the two routes you can see Williams, Bennington, and Middlebury, but thanks to the rivers, lakes, and mountains there are not lots of ways to get back and forth from those places to the main highways without driving on pretty twisty roads. (Not that you shouldn’t do that, but it’s not some little side jog.) That is pretty much the list of colleges “between New York City and Montreal.”</p>

<p>There are a bunch of colleges to the west of I-87, including Cornell, Ithaca, Hobart, Hamilton, Colgate, Union, and St. Lawrence, but they are really pretty far west of the route, except for Union. Clark, Brown, Connecticut College, and anything near Boston (Wellesley) are a few hours east of I-91. Anything in Maine, like Bowdoin, is really very far east, and there aren’t a lot of easy east-west roads to drive on to go back towards Montreal.</p>

<p>Of course, compared to driving in the West, none of this is tough. But going to the Boston area or Providence, or to Cornell, or Colgate “on the way” from New York to Montreal, is really committing to substantial extra driving time.</p>

37

<p>OP and D want to visit Wellesley and Amherst, first post. Plus Yale, so they are headed up 95, at some point. It’s about 3 hours from 87 in Albany, to Cornell. Plus back.</p>

38

<p>I am glad someone piped up about the Mass Pike. I didn’t want to pick nits, but… now that it’s been mentioned, I-90 (Mass Pike in Mass) will take you to Toronto, Ontario, not Montreal, Quebec. Montreal is several hours closer to Boston than Toronto.</p>

39

<p>Done the route from the Boston side. From the Pike, we went north through Albany. That’s 87. The other is 91. Remember OP said a visit to Amherst. So she is on the Pike.</p>

40

<p>Quote was "You can get to Montreal on the Mass Turnpike. " No, the turnpike does not take you to Montreal. It goes to Buffalo and Toronto, but anyone with access to Google Maps, can figure that out. Speaking of which, when my son was looking at colleges in the South, we made our own Google Map with all the colleges marked on it. I can’t remember how we did that, and plus, Google Maps has been revamped recently, but it was very helpful.</p>