<p>My daughter is interested in Concordia but I am having trouble finding any information about its reputation. She will be an out-of-state senior with SAT 2150, GPA 4.04, good EC’s and community service. She is interested in majoring in Business. Any advice on this college? And what are her chances of a merit scholarship?</p>
<p>Thanks for the response. I was beginning to worry that no one had even heard of it! The link you mentioned is x’d out. Any other input would be welcome!</p>
<p>My D and I just visited Concordia last week. It is nice but very small. If I heard correctly, all classes are held in one building. I would call and ask them to send you the materials they hand out during campus tours. This should give you a lot of information, along with what you can get from their website and other college sites, like collegeboard.com, etc.</p>
<p>Your daughter is over qualified for CUI. [College</a> Search - Concordia University - CUI - SAT®, AP®, CLEP®](<a href=“College Search - BigFuture | College Board”>College Search - BigFuture | College Board) </p>
<p>Just looking at admissions stats she would easily be in the top of the applicant pool. Sure she would get lots of scholarship money, but she also have a shot at getting lots of money from schools like Santa Clara that has a better reputation and business school.</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses. I’ll have her check out Santa Clara. She also loved Loyola Marymount, so she might like Santa Clara. I’m not sure if she has any chance for serious merit aid at Loyola, and it’s more expensive overall.</p>
<p>I do think that Concordia may have an Honors program which would help if she decides to pursue that.</p>
<p>SCU and LMU are a lot alike (SCU is better for business though). SCU also gives out notoriously better aid than LMU or most schools for that matter. I think she will without a doubt get a Dean’s scholarship from SCU and maybe more or into the honors program. CUI is a fine back up, but just looking at her stats I know she could do much better.</p>
<p>Any guess on her merit chances if she applied to any of the Claremont colleges? And which one(s) are better for Business?</p>
<p>Claremonts tend to give little merit aid. Pomona is generally considered the best one for anything other than engineering (Harvey Mudd takes the cake for that one). I hear Scripps has the best aid of the bunch. If you want merit scholarships from California schools take a look at</p>
<p>SCU
LMU
USC (great school with equally great scholarships)
University of the Pacific
Chapman</p>
<p>Those are the main ones I can think of now. I am a just graduated senior and these schools impressed either me or my friends when we applied. If it helps I got full tuition scholarships and into the honors program at both SCU and LMU. I had a 2100 SAT score and 4.33 weighted GPA and 3.8 unweighted GPA. </p>
<p>Other friends with similar stats were Trustee scholars at USC, pres scholars at UoP, and Chancellor scholars at Chapman. </p>
<p>I’m not an expert, but I can just tell you about what I’ve experienced :)</p>
<p>Congratulations on graduating! The information is really helpful as we start to narrow down a list of colleges to apply to. Thank you!</p>
<p>Just out of curiosity what other schools are you thinking of? Is your D set on California?</p>
<p>LilyEmery: Yes, my D has her heart set on California. We are limited since we’re out of state, though. So far, the list is:</p>
<p>Concordia
LMU
Scripps or Pomona
Claremont McKenna
SCU - Thanks for suggesting! It looks like a good fit.</p>
<p>She is also considering University of Alabama and a couple of local colleges close to home here in the NorthEast. She’s taking the ACT in early September to see if that would strengthen her applications. Are you applying to Graduate Schools?</p>
<p>That’s a good list. I’m from California and those schools are well respected, especially in this area. Honestly, her SAT score is great so the ACT may not add much, as she doesn’t have anything to prove. Her grades and scores make it obvious she’s smart. </p>
<p>I’m actually a graduated high school senior. Sorry for the confusion. I just applied to schools so all this aid stuff was fresh in my mind (it’s so expensive, best of luck getting scholarships). I’m going to be a freshman at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA.</p>
<p>Haha! My mistake. I should have realized. You and my daughter will be trading coasts then! I looked at the California schools and can’t imagine wanting to leave there, especially since you got full tuition offers! But my D is also set on an adventure far from home. I’m having a hard time getting her to even look on the east coast. Good luck at Holy Cross! Did you get to visit there?</p>
<p>I sound a lot like your daughter, the adventure aspect is very appealing. Holy Cross meets full need, so money wasn’t an issue. I visited and loved it, so off I go. Good luck to your daughter! My advice: start applications now (rough drafts of essays/just look at the common application online) and don’t worry, it’s not as bad as you think it is.</p>
<p>Thanks again for the great advice. Holy Cross is sure lucky to have you!</p>
<p>You should consider Occidental although I’m not sure what their financial aid is like.</p>
<p>We did visit Occidental and my daughter did really liked it. The admissions person who spoke to our group in June stated that their highest merit award would be half tuition, but then on their website, they say “Each year, we award 12 different types of merit scholarships ranging from $2,000 annually to full coverage of tuition & fees, and room & board.” Half of tuition would still leave $38,000 of the cost of attendance left which is not possible for us. Anyone have any experience with Occidental merit aid?</p>