Hi. I’m looking for some good matches. I have a lot of reach and safety schools, but really need some good match schools that offer merit-based scholarships.
Limited to: Either the NE or California, urban setting (or nearby with easy reach), over 3,000 students (preferably 10+). Since I am looking to go out of state, I’m focusing on private schools who will offer merit-based aid. Also, I’m looking to major in communications.
My stats:
4.0 unweighted, 4.56 weighted
12 APs (all 4s and 5s)
Accomplished and active musician, but with no competitions
Three years varsity track
Class officer
Yearbook editor-in-chief
Volunteer at hospital for five years
Math and music tutor
SGA
FBLA (officer)
Key Club
NHS
We’ve found that similarly ranked private and public give the same amount of merit to get the final number down to about $30,000 tuition. My daughters had/have similar stats (plus 33/34 ACT, lots of UC’s). top 10 in their classes out of 300+. Dd19 applied and was accepted to UD, UCONN, URI, quinnipiac, Scranton, Rutgers in state so final cost $25,000), plus Villanova (zero merit offered), dd21 so far UD (final cost $37,000), Temple, and UMASS Amherst, waiting on a lot more). They could’ve applied to more competitive schools but needed merit and wanted to stay in the NE.
Private, 53% acceptance rate, over 5000 undergraduate student, huge city in California, #113 2021 Best Colleges for Communications in America according to Niche.
Also check out Occidental College. 37% acceptance rate, LA, a lot of merit scholarships, BUT they only have about 2000 undergrads, so might not be the best fit for you.
I can suggest some more if you would like to consider some other states.
Excepting their precise acceptance rates, Syracuse (44% overall acceptance rate), Fordham (46%) and U San Diego (suggested above) appear to meet nearly all of your stated criteria.
In CA, consider University of San Diego, Loyola Marymount , Santa Clara and Chapman—all have good communications programs and reasonable admissions rates. More broadly, look at SMU, Villanova, Boston College, Wake Forest, George Washington, American, Fordham, Trinity College, and Clark University.
Based on the information provided (ie., they’d provide merit scholarship, no idea whether they’d provide enough to be within budget):
Ithaca, Northeastern, Clark, Brandeis, UVermont, USouthern Maine, SUNY Albany, Temple.
If you’re a girl: Bryn Mawr (bigger than just itself due to consortium), Simmons (small but in Boston).
I would not pick schools to apply based on an arbitrary acceptance rate range. These numbers can be manipulated (free apps). There are also great schools with “high” acceptance rates due to a self-selecting applicant pool.
It is hard to find merit scholarships that are “match”.
Automatic-for-stats merit scholarships would be “safety” if you meet the required stats. But competitive merit scholarships should generally be considered “reach” because there is much less information or transparency about how difficult they are to get, compared to the information about admission.
I understand the need to balance merit aid with going for best schools possible. That’s kind of where I am right now. UCONN comes up a lot; I will look into it. Thanks.
I have applied to Fordham. They seem to have generous scholarships, so keeping my fingers crossed. I love the Lincoln Center location. Syracuse seems like too much of a party school, which is why I’m not applying to Tulane (even though I have family in NOLA and love that city). You’re the second person to suggest SD, so will definitely check it out!
Thank you!
I originally nixed BC because I didn’t want a religious school, even though I love Boston so much, and now I missed the Nov. 1 deadline for scholarship application, so I’m really bummed.
My budget would depend on the school. Since I live in Florida, I qualify for full tuition (minus room and board) at all state schools, including UF. So, when considering costs for out of state, I have to take that into account. Now, if I get accepted into a highly competitive school, my parents can go a bit higher (say $40k), but it would depend on the school and if it’s that much better than UF.
I am applying to Northeastern and BU, but avoiding single gender schools. Do you have any specific input into Brandeis? In my research, I find a lot of mixed reviews.
If it weren’t for the scholarship factor, I would probably put myself closer to a 15-25% rate for a “match” school, but have raised it because I agree that scholarships make it that much more competitive.
Are you considering UMiami? It has a 32% acceptance rate, an urban setting, the just-over-10K size that you prefer, a whole school of communications, terrific music opportunities… and it takes Bright Futures scholarships as well as offering its own merit $. I know you’d rather go out of state but Miami seems to check every other box.
URichmond is another - still southern but much different from Florida… I think their biggest merit scholarships have an earlier deadline, though. But 30-ish% acceptance rate, “rhetoric & communication studies” major, great music, and Richmond is a nice student city.
UConn is decidedly not urban, fwiw.
If you’re sure about communications as a major, consider adding Emerson to your list of Boston schools, as this is what it’s most known for. It would give you the urban setting you want, and a top-notch communications program. Around 4K students, 36% acceptance rate. It’s also part of the ProArts consortium, which would allow you to cross-register at Berklee/Boston Conservatory and the New England Conservatory, among others. They also have a satellite campus in Los Angeles where you could spend a semester taking classes and doing an internship. And they do have merit scholarships.
I’d consider American and George Washington - acceptance rate stats are about right for you (30-40%), size is also about right, both in an urban setting. American is just outside DC in a very nice suburb that’s a short metra ride away, and GW is downtown, a short walk to the mall, monuments, Smithsonian.
A match school must have 20-25+% acceptance simply because under that % it’s much more like a lottery, almost all applicants are qualified and there’s no way anyone can be a “match” (50-50 odds) when multiple unknown criteria are applied.
Brandeis has strong research and is smaller, so more personalized than the giant universities (like UF, which is excellent, but a huge school).
I wouldn’t pick UConn for someone who likes urban (it’s in the middle of nowhere and not easily accessible) and needs merit scholarships (AFAIK they’re not very generous with OOS students).
UVermont would likely work better.
Are your safeties all in Florida?