[Quote=Mom2aphysicsgeek]
For schools that offer merit aid, it is possible to have a general idea as to whether or not the student is at all competitive for schools’ available scholarships. If their stats are not in the top 25%, they are not going to be in the running for competitive scholarships. If all they have are test scores and no ECs and lacking top rigorous courses, they are not going to be in the running for competitive scholarships. If that type of scholarship is the only thing that will make a school affordable, again, there is not point applying.
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This.
We knew without merit aid, school wasn’t happening, so we did the research. We looked at schools where daughters stats would put her in the top 10 to 20 percent of applicants. Then we combined that with schools with reputations for giving merit aid, and schools that stacked scholarships. We also made sure her EC were great to offset her lower stats. Her stats weren’t bad, but far from perfect. She has some major learning difficulties, and her school refuses to offer any accommodations, so she’s far from a straight A student. Because of that, we weren’t trying for ivy leagues or top schools. We knew realistically she wouldn’t get into those and definitely wouldn’t get any money. The goal was to find a good affordable school that would allow her to be successful in the field she wants to go into.
We found quite a few that fit what we were looking for. Schools with programs ranked in the top 25% for her field, but not top 20 schools or anything. She ended up receiving 50 to 75% of tuition in merit aid from every school, with options to go back and compete for more at about half. 4 of the schools wanted her badly enough to offer discretionary funds to bridge the remaining gap. One school even offered to pay to fly us all out to the school. I can guarantee you the top schools wouldn’t have thought twice about us, much less offered to pay for plane tickets.
I feel like people think it’s either an Ivy League education or nothing. Like you have to choose between community college or Harvard. The truth is millions of people go to lesser known schools and still go on to lead successful lives. Every school we’ve looked at has had 100% job placement for her major (with most being offered jobs before graduation) with positions starting around 65,000 to 80,000 a year, and these schools are giving her the merit aid she needs to be able to go.
I did let daughter apply to one reach school for the fun of it, and only because it was a tuition exchange school with an amazing program in a great city. She knew her chances of getting in were basically zero, but she was curious. She ended up waitlisted which surprised me. I thought for sure she’d be outright rejected. They only had a 30% acceptance rate, and her stats were below their average.
However, in general, I agree with others. I see no point in applying to schools where you don’t come close to meeting their criteria or that you can’t afford. One reach is ok if you have the time and resources to spend on it, but you really need to have realistic options first. Do the research. Find schools that will give you the aid you need. If your child just barely scrapes by and gets in as one of the academically lowest students, they aren’t getting merit aid. In addition, how well realistically do yo think they are going to do in that type of environment where everyone else did better? Encourage them to find the right fit, not necessarily the most prestigious one.