Keilexandra

At this point, any LACs that don't offer significant merit aid are out. Though I'll suggest Barnard, since she can play up the Columbia (=Ivy) connection to her parents.

Creative writing isn't an absolute must... she's an amazing writer, but I think her general interest is humanities (and she's not sure of her major).

I am VERY wary of JHU's writing seminars major, because a dear friend of mine (engineering major, writing sems minor at JHU) has not had a good experience with creative writing. She's finding it almost impossible, even as a minor, to get into workshops--she said the majors have difficulty, too, and don't bother trying if you don't have a declared concentration--and once in, her actual instructors have been of mixed quality as well. Certainly she's had much better experiences in summer creative writing programs.

But for this friend, with a general humanities interest, Hopkins might work.

Shrinkrap

NMF with a 2100 SAT? Full ride merit at Duke with a 2100 SAT will be tough. I'm just talking about SAT's of course, but from what I can tell, that's just barely meeting the admission threshold for URM's.

Keilexandra

Re: NMF, she lives in Georgia. And the SAT is 21-something, not flat, but not breaking 2200 either.

I added the notation about Duke merit but I think it's "prestigious" enough that her parents might pay if she got in.

OldbatesieDoc

Why not Midd? Well known for writing...No merit, of course.

Knights09

I wouldn't bank on NMF if I was her. Last year GA's cutoff for NMSF was 215.. Unless her PSAT was significantly higher than her SATs are I wouldn't say NMF is a certainty at all.

Keilexandra

^I asked her if she had made NMSF, and she said yes. Semifinalist results have come out already; I'm confident that her grades and recommendations will be more than enough for Finalist status. I think her SAT was around 2150, +/- a few tens.

Midd is both very rural (I love it, she won't) and offers no merit. Prestige is defined as "Asian" prestige, alas.

Keilexandra

Also, the merit numbers noted are the MAXIMUM possible award; as attractive a candidate as my friend is, IMHO, I doubt she'll win the lottery everywhere.

Shrinkrap

FWIW, someone I know had a similar profile (but not NMS, no TASP) and got merit offers from Santa Clara, Occidental (but just a token), and Mills. In, but no merit at Duke, Emory,Smith, Scripps.

tk21769

I think the strategy here is a little iffy. To have good chances at a large merit scholarship, you'd probably need to dive much deeper down, past Chicago and Hopkins, to the point where "prestige" starts melting away. If she pulls down $5K or $10K from anyplace "less" than HYPS, is that enough to make it an acceptable alternative to UGa? I'm afraid the kinds of students who get big merit scholarships from not-quite-Harvard schools tend to be truly remarkable kids. Math prodigies, chess masters, major science prize winners, etc.

Good luck to your friend though.

entomom

Not mentioned so far (I think):
WUSTL
CMU
Tulane
Brandeis
BU
U Michigan
U Wisconsin
Lewis & Clark

Is she NHRP? If so there might be some more possibilities there, check the threads on the Hispanic forum

Consolation

Do you know what the breakdown of that 2100 is? That's not a particularly good SAT for her top choices. Her class rank is great, and her big plusses are her potential URM status and TASP.

The U of C would be an excellent choice for her, given the stated criteria. It's too bad that they have this anti-LAC thing, because a number of them would probably be good matches. At the least, she should consider Wellesley and Barnard.

I agree with tk21769 about the iffiness of this strategy. Rochester is probably her best bet for a merit award.

Keilexandra

entomom - What's the cutoff for NHRP?

I just texted her for exact scores. 690 CR, 700 M, 760 W = 1390/2150. Jr. PSAT was 222 with -perfect- CR. And unlike writing, the critical reading section from PSAT to SAT doesn't change much. So she has plenty of improvement potential.

She likes LACs a lot, but I don't think she could convince her father to pay for them.

hollow

Well Keil, I wouldn't suggest this to everybody, but UC Berkeley might actually be something she would want to look at. Now, as far as prestige goes, just about every adult family member of mine on the other side of the Pacific Ocean knows UC Berkeley, and the immense strength of its graduate school can be seen in multiple sources. Cal is pretty close to San Francisco, and will probably be a bit cheaper than a full pay at a private school. I've talked with several English Faculty there, and I must confess that it is definitely one of the best in the nation. Now, it's not a northeastern school for sure, so you'll def want to take a closer look at that. Also, I'm sure you know that the student to faculty ratio isn't the best, but if size flexible is the case, than again talk with her. Anyways, see what she thinks about it: it's not northeastern, but it is great at Lit, close to Urban area, and absolutely prestigious if we're referring to the stereotypical Asian parent.

Knights09

FWIW, I don't think only 10-15K from non top-20 schools will be enough for the parents to pay full freight... This girl will at the very least get free tuition and a books allowance at UGA with the HOPE Scholarship.

Keilexandra

^I see. I knew that UGA had HOPE but wasn't aware of the magnitude. I'll try to get a firmer FA number.