Thank you, I will look into Colgate.
My common app is done and I have one counselor and teacher recommendation (getting another one for Princeton and private schools like Lehigh or Lafayette). I only need to choose. Thank you for the advice!
btw; since you asked, 'Nova does NOT meet full financial need.
Rice is another top engineering school that meets full need. As an URM from NJ you might have a better chance there than out east as well.
From their website:
“That’s why there’s The Rice Investment, one of the nation’s most generous financial aid initiatives that increases access to an affordable, quality education for low- and middle-income students. Beginning in fall 2019 under The Rice Investment, middle-income families with typical assets will receive grant aid to cover full tuition if they earn up to $130,000 per year, and half tuition for families earning between $130,001-$200,000. In addition, students with family incomes below $65,000 will receive grant aid covering not only their full tuition, but also all of their mandatory fees and room and board. Students receiving aid under The Rice Investment will have all demonstrated need met without any loans.”
Send your essays via PM for review.
Thank you, I will add Rice. Now I’ll apply to Princeton, CWRU, Lafayette, Lehigh, Northeastern, Rice.
Have you chosen one for ED? It’d give you a huge advantage.
No.
Ok, I’ll start entering info about them and people can complement this, so that you can find an ED college that fits your personality. I assume Princeton and Rice would be the most generous but all other colleges are likely to be very interested in your application.
Princeton: obviously, an elite college. A bit more conservative than other Ivies. High strung, competitive (less so now that the “limited As” policy has been dropped). All students are required to conduct research and write a thesis senior year. Unimaginable resources and opportunities. More undergrad-focused than other Ivies. Meets need and is need blind (ie., even if your EFC is zero and they promise to meet your full need, they don’t hold it against you and in fact use it as a boost for you because they want more Pell grant students.)
Lafayette: more low-key than Princeton, not as exclusive. Total focus on undergraduates. You’ll have a lot of support. Small, interactive classes. Good resources.
CWRU: urban, in a really cool part of the city, great neighborhood. More “nerdy” than either Princeton or Lafayette. Doesn’t necessarily meet need but has been known to offer excellent packages especially to URM students with high test scores.
Lehigh: work hard/play hard - excellent academics, competitive students + Lots of fraternities, with drunken excesses and costs these incur. Not as residential as Lafayette, not as urban as CWRU.
Rice: “house” system, like at Yale (or in Harry Potter). Near a bustling metropolis, one of the country’s largest cities, but residential campus. Excellent resources and support for students. A bit nerdy, collaborative. Bonus: good weather most of the school year. Meets need and is trying to recruit more EFC0 students.
Northeastern: very pre-professional - the co-op system is great (and you make money part of the year) but you don’t see your friends and classmates for half the year so the experience is more dispointed than at the other colleges. Urban, right in the middle of one of Boston’s swanky neighborhoods. Meets need but admission is need aware.
Note that urban universities can be more expensive because you need to pay for entertainment in the city, v. residential colleges where entertainment is free or low cost because it’s paid by the college.
Thanks so much for the help!
My vote is for Lafayette or Rice. Mainly because small classes are a big bonus. Like a really big bonus, because you will get to know professors more easily. Lafayette is a Liberal Arts College. It’s very small compared to the others, which means probably about 2000 students. LACs have devoted fans here on CC, and professors like their own kids to go to them. Rice is a little less conservative than others, except Northeastern. Northeastern and CWRU are probably the ones with the least “collegiate” atmosphere. Lehigh is absolutely beautiful, has lots of Greek life. Obviously Princeton is great, but it’s soooo hard to get in, and though you have good stats, I feel your one ED card should be used more wisely.
I don’t know if you care about having other Latino students on campus, but I looked up demographics for you. CWRU and Lafayette are lowest, 6% and 7%. Northeastern and Lehigh are at 8% and 9%. Princeton and Rice are at 10% and 14%. Overall, Northeastern and Princeton are probably most diverse. CWRU and Lafayette are probably least diverse.
In terms of size, small to large, it’s Lafayette, Rice, Lehigh, CWRU, Princeton (all are pretty similar in size) and Northeastern, which is much bigger.
OP, it would be good to know what your vibe is. Any of those colleges will give you a great education and wonderful career options, but if you apply ED, you should choose a college that you have a legitimate chance at getting into AND where you can see yourself being happy for four years.
I think you should consider Vanderbilt and if you like it, think about going ED or ED2 for a big admissions advantage. It is fairly small (freshman class of 1600), the campus is beautiful, Nashville is a great city, and the campus environment is friendly and welcoming. The financial aid package would likely be competitive with Rice or better (compare NPCs for both) but not as good as Princeton.
My vote is Lafayette or Rice too, whichever has the lowest net price on the NPC.
I just ran the NPC on Lafayette and Rice for an EFC0 student and you’d likely pay less for attending either one than for living at home (where, presumably, you eat and use transportation 
). All you’d have to pay is your transportation to college and your books, everything else would be covered - tuition, fees, room, and board (with the all you can eat 3 meals a day meal plan!)
I should have also said that I vote for Lafayette because I think as a Latino with good stats, you have a GREAT chance of being accepted ED.
I visited Lafayette twice, with my daughter and my son. I liked it both times, and it has all the benefits of an LAC along with engineering. Their grads get great jobs. It’s also not a plane ride away.
Look at all these colleges on Niche. It’s student-driven, and you will be able to get a good idea of vibe from actual kids at these colleges. I can’t link Niche. You can google the name of the college and Niche. Lafayette gets an A+.
… and its net price calculator indicates affordability. No point in “wasting” your ED on a college that will be unaffordable and where you will have to turn down the ED admission if admitted (non-affordability is typically the escape clause to back out of an ED admission, but then you will have “wasted” any gain in admission chances on a college you would not be able to attend anyway).
Yes, the diversity is a tradeoff. The more diversity-challenged a school is, the more of a “hook” your URM status gives you. The Lehigh Valley colleges are a little island of low-diversity which could give you an edge if you don’t mind being in an under-represented group once there. That can be burdensome at times, but then again if it buys you a great, well-funded educational opportunity and you don’t feel as if that aspect would dominate your experience, it could be well worth it.
I agree with the assessment that applying SCEA to Princeton could be a waste of your “ED card” - applying early doesn’t confer much advantage there, and it’s a really long shot. Rice at least has a significantly higher ED acceptance rate than RD, but at 15.5% I’d make that my ED school only if you strongly preferred the school or if it were a lot more affordable based on the NPC.
I do think you might like Northeastern, but since they have EDII and EA as well as EDI, and the ED acceptance rate isn’t vastly different from EA, I’d lean toward the non-binding EA application. Likewise, CWRU has EA also. I think that what others are suggesting - applying ED1 to Lafayette - makes a lot of sense. It is a school that was already on your radar, and a school that is looking for strong URM/1st-gen candidates like you. The relatively self-contained campus experience would minimize incidental expenses, so the economic disparity between you and your wealthier classmates would likely not be as keenly felt as at an urban school like Northeastern or CWRU where social life often revolves around off-campus excursions that aren’t free. Lafayette fills half its class in the Early Decision round, accepting more than 45% of ED applicants (compared with under 30% of RD applicants). Travel costs would be low and you could get home whenever you needed or wanted to. Your stats are above median (which they’re decidedly not for Princeton and Rice). I agree with Lindagaf that you would have an excellent chance of getting in ED. It’s a great place to do engineering - a strong program with great employment prospects, but not a program that’s so competitive to get into that you’d be in a position of having to “catch up” with a cohort that has much stronger STEM preparation. If the net price calculator shows a favorable financial picture and you like Lafayette, I’d very strongly consider making that your ED school. If you were accepted but, for some reason, the aid did not meet the expectations set by the NPC, then the offer would not be binding, and you’d still have potential offers from your EA schools and the others you’ve already applied to, to fall back on, plus the possibility of choosing an EDII school and filing more RD applications. But I think Lafayette, if the NPC looks good, is a great first choice ED school.
Chicago and Duke specificities Target first generation, so they are good ones to add to the list.
If you can give your GC and recommending teacher a list of things you feel important about you—working for instance, a good idea. They are often under the gun in writing recs and writers block is a real thing. They will be grateful
Ok thank you
Drexel!!!
^ Drexel doesn’t meet need and is need aware. It’s a bad choice for an efc0 applicant.