Hello!
I’m currently a Senior exploring the application process. I have roughly a 3.5 UW/4.4 W GPA, I’m a National Merit Semifinalist (Finalist pending), have a 34 ACT (35 superscored) and a 1490 SAT (although I’m retaking in November). I’m a pretty good writer, got pretty good recs, and have decent EC’s.
I’m looking for women’s colleges that give very good merit aid (close to full tuition/full ride). Any and all suggestions would be welcome. Thank you!
Agnes Scott and Salem both give lots of merit to high stats kids like yourself. You would be above average at those schools which could be a good thing for scholarships
I’m blacklisted at Salem College. Kind of a funny story but also a yikes. I’m also looking to get out of the South, otherwise Agnes Scott would be a better option
My daughter applied to 6 women’s colleges and so we looked into merit aid quite a bit for those schools! Smith’s top merit award is $25,000/year (Zollman) wig a $2500 research stipend on top of that. Bryn Mawr’s top award is $30,000/yr. Scripps is $27,000/yr (James E. Scripps award), and Mount Holyoke’s too award is the Trustee scholarship (full tuition). Barnard and Wellesley both offer no merit aid (although my D did get offered a paid summer research opportunity at Barnard in their Scholar program). They all offer very good financial aid too. My D is a first-year at Mount Holyoke this fall on a Trustee scholarship. In the end her top 4 that she was deciding between were Barnard, Smith, Scripps and Mount Holyoke. She loved them all (for different reasons), and she decided on MoHo because it “felt like home” and she could graduate debt free and save money for law school. She absolutely LOVES it there!
My DD is applying to 3 of those Women’s colleges: Scripps, Barnard and Mt. Holyoke!! She plans to study biology with an interest in plant biology and PhD grad school school track after.
I would love to know your D’s stats if you don’t mind. Here’s rundown of my D’s – would love your thoughts on likely of getting merit $$ from women’s colleges since your D did so well: NMSF (will be Finalist), 33 ACT (waiting for final scores next week which she thinks should make it 34 or higher superscored?), 4.0 unweighted GPA; attends two high schools, one of which is the online program at the state’s high school for gifted STEM students where she takes advanced science and math classes. ECs and leadership: national Spanish award, DAR Good Citizen award, Model UN awards, senior editor at her school newspaper, 4 years cross country (not fast tho) and co-captain this year, summer camp counselor, etc. Hasn’t cured cancer or won an Olympic medal, however, lol.
She has interviewed with all three and was really impressed with the MoHo admissions person who made it seem like lots of opportunity on campus – being TA, research, etc… But she likes Barnard and Scripps too and the fact they are directly attached to larger campuses seem coo. She’s applying to a number of other non-women’s colleges too; casting a wide net during RD.
Lastly – isn’t dating in HS but likes men – how does that happen at MoHo? ;0
OP – I’m not sure what Mills is up to with merit aid, but they just lowered tuition for everyone recently. Maybe to get out of the merit game altogether, but they might still be affordable for you.
@smcirish – forgot to tag you in my reply about merit aid at women’s colleges above! Would love your thoughts!
@AlmostThere2018
Barnard doesn’t offer merit aid. @smcirish described the other schools’ merit aid well.
Has your daughter considered Smith? They have the STRIDE program which offers guaranteed research right at the start: https://www.smith.edu/academics/applied-learning-research/stride-program.
Solid biology program at Smith, and the whole campus is an arboreteum, plus they have a great botanic garden: https://www.smith.edu/garden/plants/campus-arboretum
@springboard – tks! Smith has not been on her radar and I will pass this info on to her! Tks so much - very thoughtful for you to share.
My D was a JES Scholar. Potential good news…This could effectively be worth more than the 27k a year depending on your financial situation. They gave my daughter grant money (*note - NO loans) beyond to the JES to match her FAFSA EFC (as opposed to the higher number calculated by the CSS Profile).
Yes, they meet 100% need for everyone, but without the JES scholarship, that would have meant they met the higher CSS Profile EFC and package a small loan with it.
Of course none of this is relevant if your FAFSA EFC is higher than the COA-27k. Then you wouldn’t get any more than the 27k.
(You may want to confirm all this is current, I’ve never seen this in writing anywhere even in the 4 years my daughter received it. We only learned about it when we got our package and talked to FA about it)
@AlmostThere2018 My D had a 35 on her ACT and a 4.0 UW gpa (something like 4.7 weighted). She was also in lots of activities in high school–lead in multiple school plays, in multiple choirs and music activities, President of Gender Equality Club, Senior class President. She had a few other pretty good summer activities (a summer exchange to France after sophomore year and a Women’s Leadership Institute at Barnard after junior year), but she’s a white girl from the suburbs, so there was no other “hook,” and we’re from Illinois (not North Dakota or something), so there really wasn’t a geography hook either. One admissions person at Smith did tell me that they have a hard time getting students from the midwest, though, so maybe that IS a hook out there?
My D also cast a wide net–applied to 12 schools (6 all-women, 6 co-ed). As far as the dating thing goes, my D isn’t straight, so she’s pretty content at a women’s college (ha ha), but her roommate is straight as are many of her friends and they go to parties at Amherst, Hampshire and UMass and attend other events that involve the 5 colleges. There seems to be no shortage of guys to get to know! My D has found a truly wonderful group of friends at Mount Holyoke!
I hope that helps!
@smcirish – Tks for sharing – very helpful. My D is from the South so that should help. Feels like she’s in the ballpark to get some merit aid at those that offer… We’re in the bubble of not qualifying for much, if any, need-based aid but not able to afford sending all our kids to full freight private. We are lucky, however, b/c we have a great flagship public (UNC-CH) that I’m confident will be an option. It’s affordable – so it’ll likely come down to that vs. one or two privates that might come up with some money to make the decrease the wide gap between public and private. Tks again!!!
FYI Scripps has lowered their maximum merit to 22K unfortunately!
@Veryapparent - Well, that’s still more than the 20k my D got 4 years ago. Weird that they are going backwards (and their website says 27k, I assume you learned this from them directly?)
@ClaremontMom
From their website:
Scripps College offers several merit-based scholarships, ranging from $10,000 to $22,000. These scholarships are awarded to students based on demonstrated academic performance and school or community involvement.
@Veryapparent - That’s weird. I found the same verbiage here but still with the 27k. I even refreshed the page a couple times and it still says 27k.
That’s actually great! I My D is applying there! You made my morning. If I do a google search again it pulls up other info. Oddly here is original link I get. If I refresh I get same info that say 22k-It seems maybe the 27k is correct. I’m certainly hoping it is.
http://www.scrippscollege.edu/finaid/scholarships/merit-based
@Veryapparent - I would guess the 27k is correct as well. Only way to know for sure is to ask (or wait and if you get the award, then you’ll know!). If you do ask, send a link to both pages and so they know they should update their webpage!
Good luck to your D. If you have any questions about Scripps, let me know. My D loved her time there (I also have a S at Mudd).
We were there this summer. I just checked my notes and during presentation 22K was mentioned as maximum. I am hoping the 27K is a recent update. We loved our visit and tour. Gorgeous campus and access to all the other schools is great!
Cant speak for the others. MHC gives piles of merit $$$, including full rides. URM isn’t as important for quailifing for merit as strong GPA / Tests. For admissions MHC values strong EC and leadership and the interview counts. MHC gives a $3000 stipend for Un paid summer internships. Also the day to day COL at MHC is much less expensive than NYC or southern CA. MHCs meal plan is all inclusive. The bus to other 5 colleges and the local area is free. The college runs free events as do many of the 5 colleges. Students get s certain amount of free printing. Low cost busses to Boston and NYC and airports. I realize those expenses seem minor, but trust me it makes it much easier to keep on budget. And my daughter likes boys too. Dating was not an issue. MHC is an incredible experience, steeped in tradition, surrounded by a host of opportunity, and a world class education. Best of luck.