That is a really good summary. Thanks!
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I missed this question.
I suggest researching the auto-merit schools. You know exactly what the cost will be before you apply. And you have even more options in this category as NMF.
Then move to the schools that offer merit tuition discounts to attract high stat students that may possibly bring you to your budget. Rhodes in Memphis. College of Charleston. Trinity (TX). Univ of Dayton.
Lastly go for a few competitive scholarships. Certainly try Vandy since you love it and Vandy loves high stats. SMU is another good one where you have a better chance. URichmond. Those are well-worth the effort. Keep an eye on the early deadlines and other requirements.
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My older D (with inferior stats to yourâs) got to a COA below $25k at Ohio Wesleyan (4 yrs ago) and I know Wooster also is big on merit aid. We do not qualify for financial aid. My younger D also received a large merit scholarship from Whittier that would put COA at $30k per. Most of the smaller LACâs to which she has applied are in the $30-40k range after merit scholarships and you would likely qualify for more merit at many of these schools.
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If you like UNM for the skiing and merit $, consider U of Utah as well. The access to skiing and other outdoor activities is unparalleled. Theyâre generous with merit for high-stats students and also offer a path to residency after the first year, which could make it highly affordable. The Honors College offers robust programming and great honors housing. Music opportunities are excellent too.
The maximum merit at Scripps is half tuition, which only drops the net price to about 50K. (I believe CMC has a few larger scholarships, but itâll be a long shot to get to your price point.) If a womenâs college within a consortium appeals, maybe look at the Massachusetts 5-College Consortium. Smith, like Scripps, maxes out at half-tuition merit, but Mt. Holyoke has some full-tuition scholarships. The Five College Astronomy Department is a collaboration among all 5 schools https://www.fivecolleges.edu/academics/astronomy
As for WashU being classified as a target⊠itâs definitely a reach to get the necessary merit. (Whether an unaffordable ED acceptance would be more likely, which it probably would be, is moot.)
Another big-NMF-merit school with a good honors college and strong astronomy/astrophysics is UCF. But with whatâs going on politically vis-a-vis higher ed in Florida, Iâd be more wary than I would have been a few years ago.
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Yeah Iâm not going to florida for that reason. I had someone else tell me university of Utah so Iâll start looking more seriously at that. Iâll look at Mt. Holyoke. I like the idea of a womenâs college if there are coed colleges nearby
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Thanks! If you donât mind and you remember, what were some of the other smaller LACâs?
Womenâs college wise, you might take a look at Agnes Scott College in GA. They have some good merit scholarships, and they participate in a consortium with cross-registration at Georgia Tech and Emory. The college has its own observatory and planetarium, and offers an astrophysics major.
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Ha. I was just coming here to suggest that. 
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She has received merit from Seattle U, Univ of Portland, LaVerne, Pacific Univ, and Willamette.
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I would say her info is outdated. It definitely was a âsuitcase schoolâ a generation ago, but the school has really invested a lot in campus resources, housing etc. to attract students who want a strong campus culture. One of the ways they do this is by bringing in strong OOS students with their National Merit full rides. One of my sonâs good friends from high school is there on NMF full ride, and she is thriving. She has made a ton of friends in the honors college from all over the country. The dorms are great, Dallas is a cool city with lots of arts and cultural opportunities, and there are a lot of fun clubs on campus.
For the right person, UT-Dallas has great school spirit! Not in a rah-rah Big Sports or Big Greek way, but rather in a âWe are smart and nerdy and love our schoolâ way. Their astronomy and astrophysics is part of their physics department. Their mascot is a Comet. They are super strong in just about anything STEM, and offer a music minor.
Also University of Tulsa is a terrific small private university (~3,000 undergrads, 4,000 students total.) Tulsa is a young, fun and hip city. I have a number of friends from all over the country who live there and love it. Strong in multiple departments. The school is making a huge push to attract even more NMFs, so they really treat their NMFs well.
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My d22 got a wonderfully generous offer from Mount Holyoke, so they are very much worth a look. (Only Barnard beat it.)
Also, itâs small, but Allegheny gives amazing merit, like crazy amazing.
For the OP, Barnard does not offer merit.
Just pointing out that this example includes need-aid that would not apply to the OPâs situation. Mount Holyoke is a great suggestion for merit, but I donât want the OP to misinterpret and think that Barnard might be as well.
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Thank you! I was very unclear there. Mount Holyoke gives merit. Barnard does not.
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How serious are you about biomedical engineering as an option? If itâs something you think is a legitimate possibility as a major for you, then I would look at which schools have that as a major. There are 175 schools in the U.S. that are ABET-accredited for bioengineering & biomedical engineering (1 field) and biological engineering (different fieldâŠdonât know how it differs from biomedical engineering).
U. of Alabama - Birmingham âŠdonât think of this as U. of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. This is classified as a residential school (as compared to a commuter campus) that has about 15k undergrads, so much smaller than LSU, Arkansas, etc. It is well-known for its medical/health fields and research, and is likely to give you very generous merit aid. This would probably be a safety, but double-check on the merit aid charts.
Kansas State: In various surveys, this school usually ranks as having one of the happiest student bodies in the country. There are about 15k undergrads here, and you would qualify for the Wildcat Non-Resident Award, which would waive the out-of-state fees, bringing this school within budget.
Marquette (WI): This school of about 7600 undergrads has a scholarship estimator which should give you a pretty good idea as to the minimum you could expect. Depending on the results, I might put this as a target or a safety. Thereâs lots of school spirit (especially around basketball) and itâs in a big city, too.
Iâd also take a look at:
- Miami (OH): Can offer very generous merit aid, but usually only has a range on its website; about 20k undergrads
- North Carolina A&T: An HBCU of about 12k undergrads
- Saint Louis U (MO): About 9k undergrads
- U. of the Pacific (CA): About 3300 undergrads
- U. of Hartford (CT): About 4k undergrads
- U. of Louisville (KY): About 15k undergrads
- U. of Kentucky: About 20k undergrads
- U. of Maine: About 10k undergrads
- West Virginia U: About 20k undergrads, safety based on this merit chart
- College of New Jersey: About 7k undergrads
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With divorced parents, you need to check if colleges require both parentsâ (and their spousesâ) income and assets for financial aid purposes. Some do and some do not. If they do, then you need to put all of their income and assets into college net price calculators. Most of the âprestige privateâ colleges do, except for Chicago, Vanderbilt (usually), and Princeton (if your custodial parent is remarried).
Surprised nobody has mentioned Texas A&M for NMS/F and itâs a top 10-20 engineering school. For NM Finalists you get instate tuition and the scholarships are minimum $10,500/yr. youâll get just about full tuition covered.
Univ AZ is excellent for NMF $38K/yr covering full tuition for OOS. ASU not so great only $15K yr for NMF so youâll end up with $23K/yr tuition.
Tulsa is full ride plus about $5K/yr for travel/research. Not too bad. I think bama is similar.
These are all good, but your best engineering school with NMF scholarships is Texas A&M.
However, biomedical engineering is one of the most competitive majors for secondary admission (ETAM) based on college GPA (3.75 auto-admits) and essays.
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Is it that much - just trying to add up the #s tuition is $39.5K and if Iâm reading right they get$14K. Or what am I missing? It mentions a waiver but the wording is a bit confusing (to me).
But good call if itâs the case - but Iâm not sure I would say one school is âbetterâ in engineering than another if theyâre all ABET but Iâll concede that US News might.
Yeah Iâm looking into u of arizona but Texas A&M is way too big for me
UvA doesnât really give merit just need based. There are a couple merits that are not associated by UVA the school but other entities that give them such as Jefferson scholarship but nearly impossible to get- need to be nominated etc. OOS tuition is about 52,000 alone. It also doesnât give any money for NMF.
Apply UsC early to try to be selected for one of their merits and they give half for NMF. Itâs not a match but you seem like a strong candidate for USC.