Chance + Match Me; Delaware student looking to major in international relations at good college [4.0 UW, 1580 SAT]

Chance Me / Match Me
21

OP is hoping for a full ride. UD in state – if living at school is $31K minus merit. Can they get to $15K. I don’t know?

Which safer, need blind school, will assuredly get them an admittance and $15K that’s in the NE - besides a service academy?

Less reachy - yes - but as Lafayette showed in acknowledging they rejected 200 kids they would have admitted due to needing too much than who is that assured school. And if OPs family makes $110K, will the Connecticuts of the world come in that low? Maybe the schools like Susquehanna or Clark or Juniata or Wheaton or Washington College that are more desperate for students will come in lower - but $15K?? Not happening.

Not to quibble - but I don’t know of any.

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22

I think you have provided some safety school options that are affordable which is great. I think I am trying to help find a different category of schools - match schools which meet full need. OP has a very good profile and I think they’ll have good shot admission and have the financial need met by the school. Perhaps a Vassar or Colgate type school.

I’m not quibbling either, but I think OP needs some schools in that category. It shouldn’t all be reach and safety.

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23

I agree - those are two great additions and maybe Union and Lehigh…and would fit in nicely with this list.

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24

I agree it is problematic to treat American as a Likely with your numbers, as they may waitlist or even reject you if they think there is very little chance of you yielding (and realistically–isn’t that right?).

Like others, I think diversifying beyond your current Reaches into some suitable Target/Match, or possibly more Likelies, is probably a good idea.

To me, it is possibly helpful to focus on Arabic. Good departments for IR and French are pretty common, but serious departments for the study of Arabic and Middle Eastern cultures are maybe a little more of a distinguishing feature.

In that spirit, one college I like to recommend to people with such an interest (and good numbers) is Bucknell. Bucknell is normally better known for things like being an LAC with business and engineering. However, it turns out Bucknell also has a really robust Arabic and Arab World Studies program:

You can do a full major, or a minor. They have dedicated study abroad, and an Arabic Club.

Kenyon is then another college with a really robust Arabic program:

One of the cool things about their program is the different track options:

The Arabic program offers four years of instruction in language, literature, and culture. Students may minor or major in Arabic. We offer three different tracks to declaring Arabic as a major: one-language (Arabic) track; two-language (Arabic and another MLL language) track; and the interdisciplinary (Arabic and another discipline) track.

Not surprisngly, French is one of the other MLL languages if you decide to go in that direction:

Obviously you need to check the NPCs on these sorts of colleges. Both also do have some merit, though. And without promising anything, I think they could see your profile as worth chasing after.

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25

For full tuition, room and board, and books, consider UMd. The Banneker/Key scholarship provides all of this to about 50(?) kids/year. The Honors housing is lovely. Also, it’s quite easy to get into downtown DC for an internship.

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26

Just curious - with such a high test score, are you a National Merit semi finalist ?

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27

Yes, the money is for healthcare purposes, mainly for an aunt that broke her back from an earthquake and a grandma who is just very old and can’t take care of herself. I personally think the reason is 110% valid; do you see this as a potential obstacle?

When completing NPCs, I (of course) didn’t mention this, and the parent contribution turned out to be about $15k. We can likely make that work, but it would be much less stress if the parent contribution could be as close to $15k as possible. I am looking for scholarships to help with this.

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I’ll be honest, Fordham and IU will not work whatsoever if I don’t get full tuition, and even then, it will be very strenuous. Full ride is what I am looking for.

In regards to American, their NPC claims to give enough money that with a bit of negotiating, I should be fine.

UD will also not work if no scholarships are given, but I do expect something to be given (please tell me if this is arrogant of me), and the max we would have to take out in loans is ~3k per year. Not ideal, but if that is the only choice at the end of the admissions cycle, I will not complain—I wouldn’t really have a choice anyway :confused: I intend to apply ASAP to Delaware, just finishing up final edits on my personal statement. I have a good draft for their honors college question (or at least what I think it is).

Honestly, I have no TRUE true safety. There is no school that combines high acceptance with perfect affordability (I’ll consider fit and liking the school after these). I make do with what I can :slight_smile:

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High Schools notify students of the National Merit state cutoff scores/semifinalist status in September of the students’ senior year. That has not happened yet.

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I was thinking of Lafayette after one of their AO came to our school! Thanks for the recs :slight_smile:

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31

Thank you so much! I’ve looked at Colgate and determined that they don’t quite meet finances as much as I would like, but I’ll reconsider them and take a look at everyone else you have mentioned. Thanks!

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32

I have to admit, I have had an absolute STRUGGLE finding match schools that meet financial need. I know the traditional definition of match is 50th percentile GPA/test scores, but of course, I’m not a match with all the T20s…

True match schools with financial aid would be great; a lot of people here have given me colleges that seem to fit this category, which I am very appreciative of!

33

I hadn’t considered that approach—to look at schools with robust Arabic programs rather than IR—so thank you! You are right that Arabic programs are harder to come by than IR programs. I’ll take a look at Bucknell and Kenyon (and their respective NPCs) and hope that your intuition about my profile is right!!

I didn’t realize that yield protection at American is high (bad research on my part, admittedly) so I’ll consider that as a Match or “Hard Match” from now on. Thanks for that alternate point of view!

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34

I’ll look into it! I completely missed the fact that UMd has a full ride scholarship; I had checked them out earlier this summer but didn’t catch on. Thank you!

35

And yet you could - Troy, likely Ole Miss (which is outstanding as I noted). And probably more.

You have to adapt to this or potentially go to a CC if an affordable choice doesn’t happen

So don’t say you don’t have - that you don’t is by choice

36

I’ll be right on the cusp—I got a 1460 (220 National Merit Index), which will likely either be the lowest possible index to qualify or the highest possible index to not qualify. Wish me luck :confused:

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37

Did you look at Goucher? It checks a lot of your boxes and you are likely to get merit $.

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Luck and if you get NMSF Tulsa - for now is a full ride. NMF - Alabama is 5 years free tuition, four years housing. And $4k a year which will buy most a meal plan. Yes it’s the south but schools like these make it possible. UTD is another and some others have free tuition so with room and board you’d be $15-18k ish. But again, likely out of region

Something to think about.

39

That’s a completely fair point! I did check out the Croft Institute today per your suggestion, and it certainly isn’t bad, to say the least.

I may have to adapt.

40

Honestly, I’ve never heard of them—just did a quick Google search and it seems you’re right. I’ll add them to the “review” list, thanks!