<p>Hey everyone! I've read College Confidential religiously for the past year while I searched for an applied to colleges. Now that I'm done with my adventure, I've turned to helping my sister find her match. She's smart, involved, and a hard worker but, unfortunately, she's preoccupied with prestige. She's looking for a preppy, intellectual, mid-sized school that has a strong political science or international relations program. The availability of merit-based aid is also important. I'd appreciate any suggestions! Here's her stats:
Pennsylvania
SAT- 2280 (taking the ACT in June)
GPA- 4.0 UW, 4.8 W
Class Rank- 1/ 340
ECs- Mock trial captain, debate, Students Taking Action Now Darfur, girlgov, Mayor's Youth Council, World Affairs Council, and lots of volunteer hours.</p>
<p>Prestige PLUS merit scholarships are more rare. The top schools that give merit, usually don’t give many awards. When they do, the stats are likely perfect/near perfect, and still not assured.</p>
<p>NYU has been giving considerably more FA to students this year than in previous years (just from looking at some of the awards students here on CC have been receiving). </p>
<p>NYU’s IR program is contained within the politics dept., and NYU is ranked as being one of the top 7 schools for international politics in the US. Politics generally at NYU is also ranked highly (15 in the country).</p>
<p>I think Michigan would be a good fit. It has a preppy and intellectual student population, a strong Political Science department and gives merit scholarships. It is not "mid-sized, but in all other ways, it seems to fit.</p>
<p>I’ll put in a plug for Wake Forest. It’s a good size, fairly preppy, and has a small but good political science/international studies program with a Wake-in-DC program. Extremely friendly students, a beautiful campus, nice weather, and lots of school spirit are extra perks.</p>
<p>Both need-based and non-need-based merit scholarships are available. I had very similar stats and got nearly a full ride, though Wake was a bit less selective then.</p>
<p>EDIT: Cross-posted with CArbington. Great minds think alike.</p>
<p>You seem to be very vested into political science. I think georgetown would be a good fit and maybe even Howard University! Both in DC. Perfect area for political science if you ask me.</p>
<p>Rice University gives excellent merit aid and has a fantastic Political Science major. They also have the Baker Institute think tank on campus that has many opportunities for internships!</p>
<p>How much merit-based aid is she looking for, or to put it a better way, what does her final cost need to be after all aid is factored in? There are several threads on competitive and guaranteed merit-based aid in the Financial Aid Forum. She should take a look at them. Her GPA and SAT scores put her in the range of some serious money.</p>
<p>What M+CR score is going to be competitive at these more elite schools? I would guess that the M+CR must be very close to a 1600 (like 1570+)</p>
<p>A 2280 SAT is very good, but it’s not “high” for the top schools that give merit (like Rice, etc). Even USC is expecting a higher M+CR for merit consideration. Even having the equivalent of an ACT 35 isn’t high enough for any kind of assured merit at USC. My friend’s D got nothing from USC with her 35. She’s going to MIT instead. </p>
<p>Unless this student retests and ends up with a 1350+ (1570+ M+CR), these highly competitive merit awards at top schools are high reaches. </p>
<p>Mouse: Does your sister NEED large merit awards in order to afford college? If so, then it’s fine to apply to some of these schools with competitive merit, BUT ALSO apply to schools where merit is assured for stats so that the student has financial safeties in case the others don’t work out.</p>
<p>Gettysburg College might be worth considering.</p>
<p>It is on the larger end of the spectrum for a LAC - not too small and not too large! Can be generous with the FA, including merit awards, for top students. Located in a historical area but only about an 1 1/2 from DC. Many of the political science majors spend a semester in DC via a partnership/program at American University. Also, the Eisenhower Institute has offices at Gettysburg College. They run some very interesting programs as well as bring in interesting speakers - [Eisenhower</a> Institute at Gettysburg College - About the Eisenhower Institute](<a href=“http://www.eisenhowerinstitute.org/about/]Eisenhower”>About EI - The Eisenhower Institute at Gettysburg College)</p>
<p>A hidden ivy, I believe, would be an excellent school academically that is not well known, thus, only prestigious amongst a small circle. That doesn’t sound like what she wants.</p>
<p>Would it help you to rephrase the question: Help find a prestigious school that might award my sister merit aid?</p>
<p>Some financial info would help here. How much can she afford?</p>
<p>She might want to look into Northeastern. They offer good merit aid (full scholarships for NMF’s). If she is really into the prestige element, the school offers co-ops at the United Nations, Senate offices, Clinton Foundation, or some IR consulting jobs like McKinsey. Those are some nice names to get on a resume. Michael Dukakis is also a professor in the political science department if that gets her excited.</p>