What do you all think about this list?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi, I'm new here but I've been reading the boards and the information here is great! </p>

<p>My son Chris is 17 and a senior in high school this year and we are working on selecting which colleges to apply to. His scores and classes are pretty good but I'm trying to be realistic because I don't want to pay a huge amount for him to attend college. He thinks he wants to go to law school later, so we really need to do his undergraduate years at a decent price. Here is his basic info:</p>

<p>GPA: 3.94 unweighted/4.46 weighted
SAT: 720 reading, 800 math, 730 writing
Current classes: AP Calculus B/C, AP Spanish V/IV, AP English Lit/Comp, AP Psychology, Anatomy and Physiology
Extracurricular: Varsity Soccer, Varsity Wrestling, Varsity Track, Prefect (student leader at his boarding school), School Tour Committee, Math Team, Debate Team, and he is trying to be a writer and has written a 250-page novel in his spare time. He has a lot of other honors, activities, etc. from his earlier years in high school, I've just been having trouble organizing this list.</p>

<p>And we are residents of Arizona.</p>

<p>Here are the schools we are considering applying to:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Stanford (his dream school...I don't expect him to get in, but he wants to apply, so ok)</p></li>
<li><p>UC Berkeley (my dream school for him...slightly better chance of getting in, but I don't expect them to give us a good price)</p></li>
<li><p>Arizona State University (our safety school...we hope they will give us a good price, and we are both ok with him going to ASU if we can't get a good deal somewhere else)</p></li>
<li><p>Tulane (we love, love, love New Orleans and Tulane seems like a really good match in a lot of ways. Plus they sent him a letter inviting him to apply for a full tuition scholarship, so why not try?)</p></li>
<li><p>University of Miami (I've read that they have some merit scholarships and I think the school would be a good match for him.)</p></li>
<li><p>University of Denver (great location for us and they might have some Merit aid?)</p></li>
<li><p>Colorado College (great location and I think the unusual class system would be a good fit for Chris)</p></li>
</ul>

<p>That is actually our entire list right now. There are a number of other schools we might add in to the list, but these are our top choices at the moment. Two important things about Chris that affected this list are: 1) He has asthma and he does a lot better in warm sunny climates or at least away from really bad cold weather and 2) Even though he is pretty smart, he gets very stressed out and anxious over his classes and grades, to the point of almost having panic attacks at times, so I'm trying to keep him away from the really intense, high-pressure, competitive schools where he might crack. I actually would love to see him somewhere like Tulane that's sunny and fun, in addition to being a good school.</p>

<p>What do you folks think? Do we have a shot at all for merit aid at any of these schools? Our financial situation is rather complicated and I honestly have no idea how much, if any, need-based aid we might get, though it's certainly not out of the question. </p>

<p>Any input would be greatly appreciated!</p>

<p>Thanks!
Chris' Mom :)</p>

2

<p>We loved Colorado College when we visited but I might worry about the block system being intense and anxiety producing. Maybe a current student could speak to that.
Stanford, Berkeley? Be careful what you wish for…with anxiety and panic attacks an issue</p>

3

<p>Yes, it’s definitely different! From what I’ve read it seems to be popular with students, but I guess everyone would react to it in their own way. My cousin attended a boarding school during his junior year of high school that had a block system like this and he actually loved it. He found it easier to focus on one thing at a time rather than juggling class work from a handful of classes. </p>

<p>Colorado is not too far from us so we will probably try to visit both CO schools on our list in the next few months. I’d love to have him fairly close to home, and he loves snowboarding, so the CO schools would be really nice. But honestly, the financial part of the equation is going to be a huge factor for us, so unless one of the schools on our list gives him a pretty good deal, he may just end up at ASU.</p>

4

<p>My friend just informed me of this new college fair tool. Maybe it helps: <a href=“http://college-cloud.co/student-home/”>http://college-cloud.co/student-home/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

5

<p>It would be helpful to know what he wants to major in and whether he has a pref for school size (doesn’t appear so). </p>

<p>Tulane is great with full tuition, but so too are Vandy and WashU. Chris might be on the bottom side of those getting full tuition from the latter two, but they love high stats kids they can steal from ivies. Chris already qualifies for a number of full tuition scholarships and perhaps some full rides (these things change each year and I haven’t looked at this year’s full rides). Here are some merit awards:</p>

<p><a href=“http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com”>http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com</a></p>

<p><a href=“Competitive Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1461983-competitive-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-p1.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

6

<p>I’m a CC grad, though from quite a few years back (context: my D is applying this year) and CC has an excellent track record with law schools. Yes, the block plan can be stressful at times. Try taking a year of organic chemistry in 7 weeks and following it up with a semester of biochem for another 3.5! But, overall, students do a great job balancing work with play. Block breaks REALLY help with decompression. And there are typically 300+ days of sunshine to boot- great weather :slight_smile: I absolutely loved my time at CC.</p>

<p>Your son sounds like he has some excellent options on his list, but CC definitely looks to me the outlier in terms of size and campus culture (small LAC). If he is drawn to the larger schools, CC will not be up his alley. However, if he is drawn to the smaller liberal arts colleges, there are some other regional options with great weather that are worth considering/exploring, especially if he is unsure about the block plan and wants to pursue law school:</p>

<p>Whitman College: Students LOVE this school. Excellent preprofessional programs. It is very selective, and I have no idea how generous they are with FA or merit aid, but wow what a school!! Lots of kids cross apply to CC and Whitman. He should absolutely look into this one if he is interested in CC.</p>

<p>Westminster College: definite safety for him, less selective but excellent in its own right. This school is in Salt Lake City and has a proven preprofessional program. Has an honors program to attract top notch students. SLC has lots of sunshine, and Westminster is much closer to skiing/snowboarding than CC. I know this surprises many people, but it actually takes a long time to get to a ski area from Colorado Springs (like at least 2 + hours to closest ski area Breckenridge; really the only time kids will be skiing is on block breaks). Apparently skiing is within 30 minutes from Westminster for better or worse. I believe Westminster awards merit money based on GPA and test scores, and it is very generous. </p>

<p>Carroll College: in Helena, MT. Excellent pre professional programs but maybe the weather isn’t as predictable as Colorado Springs or Salt Lake City? But worth looking into if he wants more safeties and merit monry.</p>

<p>What about the Claremont colleges or other CA based LAC?</p>

<p>Good luck with your search, this is quite a fascinating process, isn’t it?</p>

7

<p>I like your list, chris17mom. It looks like you have a good safety and a good mix of reaches and matches. </p>

<p>He should get the top merit award from University of Denver, but it is not full tuition. You might consider adding a few more schools in sunny places that have full tuition scholarships. Trinity University in San Antonio is very nice, but no snowboarding. USC is the only California school I can think of with full tuition scholarships but there must be others. </p>

<p>My D started out looking for sunny weather colleges (not for health reasons), so we thought through this as well. </p>

8

<p>Thanks for the feedback! I think that small to medium sized schools would be best. I want him to have a fun, social college experience, while still getting a good education in smallish classes. ASU actually has a huge student body of 60,000 or more, and that is definitely a drawback in my eyes, however he would certainly be in the honors college there so at least I know he’d be part of a smaller program. </p>

<p>He wants to go to law school after his undergraduate years (but who knows if he will stick to that), so he will probably major in something like political science or history. He likes international studies and is fluent in Spanish and he would really enjoy some sort of Latin American studies program. He’s also a math whiz, but he does not want to go into engineering, a fact I had to accept even though I had encouraged him in that direction. (I wouldn’t want him to be unhappy in his career!)</p>

<p>I have checked out the schools on both of the lists above, that’s actually how I found out about the University of Miami! There are a lot of good options to think about there…I guess I tend to shy away from the big state schools like University of Alabama. We are kind of your typical west-coast liberal types, and Chris is <em>very</em> outspoken (did I mention he wants to be a lawyer?) so I am also looking for schools that are going to have a population of more intellectual, politically-minded and tolerant folks, not super-mainstream kids that might populate big public schools in less interesting areas. (Sorry if that sounds offensive in any way; I’m just trying to describe the demographics that would be ideal!) As I said earlier, UC Berkeley is <em>my</em> dream school for him because I imagine it to be a hotbed of political activism and stimulating discourse.</p>

<p>Chris’ college counselor has suggested Vanderbilt and Rhodes for schools that might offer some merit aid, and they would be options I suppose. The weather in Tennessee is not quite as warm and sunny as I’d like and Tennessee is a little farther east than I prefer (but so is Miami!), but they both look like great schools that would have a very interesting and diverse student body. I don’t know much about Washington University, but the weather and location are about comparable to the TN schools I think, so it might be fine too. </p>

<p>Do you think he has a decent shot at a good scholarship at Tulane? Realistically, that’s becoming my top choice for him since I don’t expect him to get accepted to Stanford and I don’t expect UC Berkeley to give us a good financial package (if they accept him). What do you think? Tulane would be just about perfect I’m thinking, and I really hope they come through with a good offer. :)</p>

9

<p>Wow, thanks for all the great ideas everyone! Colorado College is sounding really good, as well as University of Denver. I like the idea of USC, but for some reason he doesn’t want to be in Los Angeles. That might be negotiable though. Another school mentioned by the counselor was Emory, but I think it might be more competitive…I think he’s got a better shot at merit aid at the slightly less competitive schools, though I still want him in a good school for sure. I’ll check out some of the other schools mentioned, I’m not super familiar with all of them, even though I’ve been working on this for weeks now! It is definitely a fascinating process!</p>

10

<p>You can try the net price calculator on each school to see what need-based financial aid looks like.</p>

<p>What major(s) is he interested in? Contrary to popular belief, it is not necessary to major in political science or English to do pre-law, since law schools have no specific undergraduate course or major requirements. High college GPA and LSAT score are very important, though – see <a href=“http://lawschoolnumbers.com”>http://lawschoolnumbers.com</a> . If he is interested in patent law, a science or ABET-accredited engineering major is helpful. Math and philosophy majors tend to do well on the LSAT, probably because the logic puzzle section is something they tend to be good at. See <a href=“http://www.potsdam.edu/academics/AAS/Phil/upload/LSAT-Scores-of-Majors.pdf”>http://www.potsdam.edu/academics/AAS/Phil/upload/LSAT-Scores-of-Majors.pdf&lt;/a&gt; .</p>

<p>Berkeley will probably be very expensive for an out-of-state student, unless he gets one of the rare large merit scholarships.</p>

11

<p>Have you run a few net price calculators to get an idea of how much need based aid you might be eligible for or does your “complicated” financial situation make NPC’s unreliable? </p>

<p>I wouldn’t eliminate Emory as they can be quite generous with merit aid…</p>

<p>I’d also consider some smaller liberal arts colleges. Pomona (need only) and Pitzer (some merit) are part of a larger consortium. I’d second Rhodes and add Davidson and Furman as southern schools that offer merit.</p>

12

<p>Ok great! Yes, I’ve run lots of net price calculators, and what I usually get is a small to moderate amount of need-based aid, but not really enough to make the more expensive schools affordable without merit aid. Also, because of my complicated financial situation I don’t think the calculators are necessarily going to be that reliable in my case. Another problem is that my income can vary a lot from year to year, so even if he was accepted with some need-based aid, I can’t be sure we would continue to get it for all 4 years, and I would hate to be in the difficult position of having to choose between paying $40,000 or more per year or transferring him. </p>

<p>Ideally, I would like him to get a full tuition scholarship at a good school, and I’d be left with just the room and board and expenses. I realize that can easily be $15,000 or more but that is a range I can handle. Anything over $20,000 is pretty much not do-able for us. (I really don’t want him to have to take loans since he may need to do that for law school.) A full ride scholarship would obviously be ideal, but I’m not willing to send him somewhere cold or somewhere he doesn’t feel good about just to get a full ride, since he will probably get a pretty good offer from ASU, and that is a reasonable choice for us that actually ticks off a lot of boxes, even though we are not particularly excited about it.</p>

<p>You’ve given me some great schools to research and possibly add to the list, thanks! </p>

13

<p>The earlier he applies to Tulane the better. It is possible that he would be awarded a 30K Presidential Scholars award with his acceptance from Tulane (I’m using merit award figures from last year; they might have increased, or Tulane might have revamped their award system). From there it’s possible he would be invited to interview for one of the Paul Tulane or Deans Scholarships for full tuition. The winners are the top 125 per class. Almost certainly, the candidate will have to write a very good Why Tulane? essay that addresses his or her interest in the school and persuades admissions that s/he is not just using Tulane as a safety; the interview will provide opportunities to continue to persuade TU of that interest. Tulane also has many merit awards below 30K. A fine school.</p>

14

<p>I actually like your son for Claremont McKenna as well, if you need another reach. They’re not much on merit, but there is some. The whole consortium thing potentially is very rich, and CM in particular is strong in social sciences. Run the net price calculators.</p>

15

<p>Why not apply to the most trouted school on CC, UAB? Alabama would be a safety for him and a guaranteed full tuition scholarship. </p>

16

<p>Did he apply to ASU yet? The deadline for the Barrett Honors College is 11/15 to be considered for the most money (they basically give it out til it’s done so you want to be early to the trough). After applying for ASU he can start his Barrett app but can’t submit it until he’s admitted. My DS applied in the summer and still hasn’t been admitted to ASU. I think his HS was slow with the transcript. He has classmates who were already admitted though. </p>

<p>We are going this weekend to CC for the Fall Open House; there’s another one in Oct. I love everything about CC. It’s where I want to go!</p>

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<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1678964-links-to-popular-threads-on-scholarships-and-lower-cost-colleges.html”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1678964-links-to-popular-threads-on-scholarships-and-lower-cost-colleges.html&lt;/a&gt; may be of interest.</p>

18

<p>In addition to the University of Alabama, the University of Pittsburgh awards many full-tuition scholarships. They also have like the number 2 philosophy department, which is about as good a pre-law major as you’ll find (learn how to argue well). </p>

19

<p>That’s good to know about applying early to ASU. It sounds like he would need to apply early to several schools to get the best chances for scholarships. (I know he needs to apply early to Tulane to be considered for their merit scholarships.) At Stanford, he cannot apply early because they only allow you to apply early to one school (Stanford) if you apply early with them. Since Chris will have to apply early to ASU, Tulane (and others?), this means we can’t apply early to Stanford. I honestly don’t expect him to be accepted to Stanford anyways, it’s just that it is his top choice so I can’t ignore it altogether. On the topic of early applications, would there be any benefit in applying early action (non-binding) to a bunch of schools? Or does that send a weird message? I really want him to have the best shot at scholarships…</p>

<p>I’ll have to look more into the U of Alabama, Emory, Davidson and Rhodes. They are all in reasonably warm locations and they all sound interesting…For California schools, we have thought about adding these schools to the list:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>UC San Diego (probably wouldn’t give much aid, but the location is ideal for us)</p></li>
<li><p>Claremont McKenna (a good match for his interests and I hear they have aid)</p></li>
<li><p>Occidental (a very good match and might have aid)</p></li>
<li><p>Pitzer (might have aid)</p></li>
<li><p>Pomona (might have aid)</p></li>
<li><p>USC (has merit scholarship aid)</p></li>
</ul>

<p>The problem is that he thinks he does not want to be in LA, and UC San Diego probably won’t be affordable, though it would be a good match in other ways. As convenient as California is for us, I’m thinking he may end up not going to a CA school. But we will certainly apply to a few anyways. </p>

<p>Gosh, this is such a tricky process! I’m literally spending 20+ hours per week on it, between researching colleges and working on his common app and scholarship applications. </p>

<p>Thanks for all the input! :)</p>

20

<p>You might take a look at Rice University in Houston as well, although merit scholarships are likely to be quite competitive there.</p>