<p>My middle d marches to her own drummer, to say the least; she does performance art, plays ukulele, loves math (the more theoretical the better), is a very skilled ice dancer (gold level/competing) and wants to compete in ballroom dancing as well. I can’t even begin to suggest schools to her! She’s said she wants a place that is not too small, that is diverse in student body, doesn’t have a big Greek presence, and gives her plenty of room to “be herself.” She’s at about a B+ average in very rigorous courses (AP Calc as a junior), but doesn’t want an engineering school.</p>
<p>And from my side, I’d like to not pay a fortune. How do I start the search?</p>
<p>Thanks, NJ Mom of 3</p>
<p>Check out the Claremont Colleges. They have a strong hispanic presence, great math - and courses at Harvey Mudd would be available even if she were in a different college, and an award winning ballroom dancing team. No Greeks, and not too small when you consider all five colleges as one. And amongst the 5-C’s she should be able to find one where she feels she fits.</p>
<p>*
And from my side, I’d like to not pay a fortune. How do I start the search?*</p>
<p>You may need to figure out how much you can pay and how much (if any) financial aid you’ll qualify for.</p>
<p>I would expect that state colleges would give her the variety of people to find tose with similar interests. Who knows, she may need to start her own club and get additional devotees of ice dancing/ballroom/quirky people. I would make sure that the math department is top notch as a start and work from there. I recommend Rugg’s book fora varity of schools with good math departments.</p>
<p>What is Ruggs’ book? Sounds like a good place to start!</p>
<p>Rutgers is very good for math and probably a decent bet for net cost if you are in-state as your user name implies. But you’ll have to research the other desired factors in the performance art and music, as well as admissions likelihood and more detail about financial aid and net cost.</p>
<p>Starting the search will be fun. Check the college finders on this web site and on the College Board web site.</p>
<p>Now I’m throwing out ideas…</p>
<p>I think that Virginia Tech and Michigan State might both fit as far as good math, good ballroom dance, not too fraternity-oriented, not too hard to get into, and perhaps not too expensive. I know oos kids can get in state with scholarships at MSU. I think OOS tuition at Virginia Tech is about 22K, with some scholarships available.</p>
<p>I think the University of Texas might be a good fit except for the "I’d like to not pay a fortune: diverse (well, few Black students, but lots of Hispanic students), "mathy, good very active ballroom dance, not too fraternity-oriented - but OOS tuition is high and rising and there are not a lot of scholarships or tuition waivers available. I wonder if some other Texas schools might be nice fits. (Don’t worry if a school has thousands of kids in Greek Life as long as there are thousands of others who are not.)</p>
<p>DePaul maybe? mathy, not too fraternity-oriented, and not too hard to get into, fairly diverse. Competitive ice dancing in Chicago, but I don’t think DePaul has ballroom dance.</p>
<p>I bet there are a number of schools out there that would be great for her. This is an interesting search. A challenge.</p>
<p>What kind of test scores has she gotten?</p>
<p>And, when you say B+ student , what do you mean on a 4.0 scale.</p>
<p>Merit scholarships often require a 3.5+ GPA and high test scores.</p>
<p>If she has high test scores and a high GPA, then merit scholarships are possible at the schools that give them. However, if her stats are average for a school, she’s not likely going to get anything in merit scholarships.</p>
<p>Since this is your middle D, does that mean that you have a child in college now? Do you know what your EFC is for one child?</p>
<p>She has a 3.6+ on a 4.0 scale. Very rigorous courses though, the HS weights her at 4.15.</p>
<p>So far only PSATs, these were 680 math 710 writing 650 CR.</p>
<p>“Hooks” include ice dancing, ballroom and synchronized skating, lots of good work experience (counselor, assistant coach, volunteer skate coach for autistic kids in the special olympics)–and, I guess, the hispanic-female-who-wants-to-major in-math thing.</p>
<p>First child went NJ in-state–scholarship. This one really wants to go out of state (ds1 didn’t care), though will consider in-state offers.</p>
<p>Once she has test scores, it will be easier to suggest schools that will give her merit scholarships (if that’s what’s needed.).</p>
<p>Do you know how much you will pay per year? From that amount, we can determine how much merit she’d need. </p>
<p>Have her take both the SAT and ACT.</p>
<p>I will. Meanwhile, I would love to hear other suggestions!</p>