I am a current junior from MD. Im looking for a medium school (3,000-20,000) that is not too far away. I have a 4.0 unweighted GPA and around 4.3 weighted and am also enrolled in many AP classes. I am also top 10 in my class of 300 with an SAT score of 1550. Im also in most of the honors societies, a community service club, mock trial, model UN, and SGA. One school that checked off all the boxes for me was the college of William and Mary. I visited and fell in love with campus and overall student atmosphere. I planned to apply early decision until I did some research and realized that I likely wouldn’t get much financial aid. I won’t be eligible for much need based aid in the first place, and we wouldn’t be able to afford the out of state costs for W&M. I’m having a lot of trouble finding schools I should apply to. Any suggestions or schools similar to W&M that are maybe a bit more generous with financial aid? Thanks!
You might try running the Net Price Calculator for the University of Richmond and see what you’d qualify for in terms of need-based aid there. They meet full need as defined by their formula, and their admissions are need-blind… and I would think that many students who liked W&M would like Richmond too. Wake Forest could be another to look at.
In terms of OOS “public ivies,” Miami of OH is less competitive than W&M but has some of the same positive attributes, and you would be guaranteed significant merit aid with your stats. https://miamioh.edu/admission/merit-guarantee/
Ditto Miami of OH. Try UT Knoxville, USC (in Columbia), U of Alabama.
Umd cp honors
Umbc is a great school where you could definitely receive a huge merit discount.
St. Mary’s would also give merit for your stats, and may be more similar to William and Mary.
Umd College Park is a great school, but large and a very different atmosphere than W/M. You probably would be accepted to the honors, but may get Scholars. Only honors gets a chance at Banneker Key scholarship, and merit can be stingy there otherwise.
Washington College on the Eastern Shore could give lots of merit perhaps.
What are the boxes that W/M checked for you?