Rochester will be tough to get $50K on merit alone - so unless you have need.
In the end, if UTD or Alabama or USF/UCF, etc. are free - and you highlighted this yesterday, is it even worth wasting your time applying elsewhere?
And if you’re going to med school, expensive in its own right, then maybe saving that money is a good thing.
Look at Tulsa (the small school you may crave) and it’s full ride - or Bama with its 5 years tuition and four housing and other perks and look at its McCullough Medical Scholars program.
And a W&L gives you more “value” than an LAC that likely won’t get to budget or even if it does - will your family want to pay $200K over four years if they can pay $20 or $40K or nothing??
You could make your app life easier by answering those questions.
You’re right - some of these colleges do seem to reach or cross that 50K/year line. I will run NPCs before applying to make sure. A rule of thumb I’ve been told by peers in college is that if I’m applying out of state, it should be a college significantly better than my in-state options (UW Seattle for me) or significantly cheaper. So I’ll def keep that in mind. Really appreciate the help!
While a free or nearly free education is a consideration, there may be plenty of reasons that these schools would not be a good fit. So applications elsewhere would not be a waste of time at all. And there are plenty of other schools where OP could get significant financial or merit aid.
That’s also really true lol. I don’t know how much aid I’d get till after I apply. And my parents are saying I’m worrying more about financial aid than they are , so I shouldn’t restrict myself too much there either. Balance of both ig. Still appreciate all the advice tho. It may not seem like much to you guys but it clears up so much of my confusion. Even with all my online research, I know very little about colleges
You actually noted this in your first message when you called out the NMF type schools.
I think the rule of thumb is you find a college that you can get into (at least two), can afford, and would love to be there.
For example, if you didn’t love UW - (I’m not a fan of the campus, you may be, or the traffic that surrounds) - but if you didn’t love it or other in state options but you wanted smaller and more naturey and chose Montana/Montana State because they were right for you and you could afford them - then great!!
Everyone has a rule - I don’t necessarily agree with your peers.
In the end, you need to be happy - academically, socially, and your family financially.
But you seem jazzed by the high merit schools - so if that’s the case, then do you want to spend time applying to others that may be $150K to @200K more?
That is true I said that. Sorry for not being clear. Among NMF schools, USF and UCF stand out to me. Right now I’m particularly looking at USF, UCF less so after discussing with my family. I don’t mind paying for good colleges, but if I end up going to a safety, I’d like to ensure that I’m getting good aid. Elite privates are obviously my top choices, but they are reaches for anybody so I’m not going to attach myself to one lest come decisions and I find myself devastated
OP wherever you go to school you will have to be there day after day after day for four year. A students experience can be adversely impacted by bad food or lousy housing, class availability, weather, etc.
I would take a holistic approach to fit, unless cheapest is your only criteria. Even then we can try and find a variety of schools that may fall into “cheapest to attend” category.
OP is cheapest your begging, middle and end criteria or do other factors matter?
Not an issue - that’s why I said only you and your family can decide - and it’s fine to have options.
As long as you live within your budget…
If you apply to said school and it’s $65K and the NPC says it and you apply anyway, you’ve made a choice to “consider” it.
If it shows $50K but comes out $65K after admission, then you decide on that school.
If you have - throwing out names - Rochester at $50K and Tulsa at free - then you decide, is it worth it to your family to pay $200K for Rochester vs. Tulsa free.
Or UTD. or UCF - or whatever the school is.
As I noted - In the end, you need to be happy - academically, socially, and your family financially.
This is your search. Not ours. We just get to give you some things to think about.
Good luck.
PS - not sure if you’re familiar with Whitman in Walla Walla. It has a very good reputation on this website.
The neat thing about them is they’ll give you a cost estimate before you even apply - so you know if they’ll make budget or not. If it’s a school of interest to you, it might be worth a look - very good school - but you stand out - and that’s where you do better financially.
@jishm, you’ve been given lots of advice and suggestions. It sounds as though you’ve already started looking into some of the schools mentioned. You should continue to do so, and it’d be great if you could let us know which schools resonate (or repel) and why, that way we can give you better suggestions for what you want.
I think an OOS college can be attractive sometimes not because it is “better” so much as different. Like, different place, different size, different format, and so on. Like LACs are not just good for premed, lots of people like the way they do undergrad in general, and for sure they are different from a large public.
Obviously any viable alternative also has to be comfortably affordable. But between need and/or merit, a variety of types of colleges in different places might be able to get there.
OP, you seem to have a realistic and thoughtful outlook, which is commendable. You are accomplished academically and have a healthy budget that should lead to many options.
Apologies if I missed this in your responses, but has your family discussed the possibility of funding medical school (should you continue down that path)? Will they contribute to that in addition to the $50k/year for undergrad? Or will you need to find cost savings on undergrad for them to assist with med/grad school costs? Or is that not a consideration at all?
As others have said, I encourage you to prioritize finding the best fit school for your needs, which includes thriving for four years. Pre-med classes are challenging and competitive and happy kids are much more successful navigating that environment. So your best fit may not be the least expensive. Only you and your family can answer that. As I mentioned at the top your hard work has paid off and put you in a position many would envy. Kudos to you!
Something ive been searching more for is colleges that allow flexibility with where to apply, but also have strong departments in my fields of interest. I’m particularly considering pre-med, comp sci, or cog sci (interested in philosophy/linguistics aspect). I’d be open to college suggestions with any level of acceptance rate, but mainly looking for targets/low reaches. I’ve heard most Ivies are like that (although some do accept by school - Penn, Cornell, etc), and school like WashU, Emory, Rice are also like that. Are there more schools that could be considered “top 50” that may fit into this category? I’ve heard U Rochester is pretty good about this. I’ve also heard that LACs focus on an interdisciplinary education, although I’m less interested in those, mainly because they tend to be in more rural areas. If there are any LACs that are within reasonable distance of larger cities, and have strong STEM programs, I would look at them.
Occidental. Union. Swarthmore. Haverford. Wesleyan. Trinity. Colorado College. Trinity (San Antonio). Macalester. . Franklin and Marshall is in a smaller city. Puget Sound. Kalamazoo - the last two likely better for merit.
College of Charleston for a larger urban public LAC smack in the tourist zone.
, so I shouldn’t restrict myself too much there either. Balance of both ig. Still appreciate all the advice tho. It may not seem like much to you guys but it clears up so much of my confusion. Even with all my online research, I know very little about colleges