Help me decide what schools fit me best [NJ resident, 3.8 UW, 1450 SAT, business/psychology]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Guidelines

  • Please check back to answer questions.
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  • Please do not include your race.

Demographics

  • US domestic (US citizen or permanent resident) or international student

US citizen - not first generation college

  • State/Location of residency: NJ
  • Type of high school (or current College for transfers): Catholic Prep school
  • Other special factors: (first generation to college, legacy, recruitable athlete, etc.)

Cost Constraints / Budget
(High school students: please get a budget from your parents and use the Net Price Calculators on the web sites of colleges of interest.) budget is not an issue

Intended Major(s) undecided or business and psychology as of now.

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores UW 4.6, W 3.8 top 20% if class of 250

  • Unweighted HS GPA: (calculate it yourself if your high school does not calculate it)
  • Weighted HS GPA: (must specify weighting system; note that weighted GPA from the high school is usually not informative, unless aligned with the recalculation used by a college of interest, such as CA, FL, SC public universities)
  • College GPA: (for transfer applicants)
  • Class Rank:
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1450/1500 waiting for next test

List your HS coursework
AP English
AP calculus AB
AP CHEMISTRY, honors biology, cp as a freshman physics
AP Statistics
honors history
Honors theology
Honors Italian
IB psychology

(Indicate advanced level, such as AP, IB, AICE, A-level, or college, courses as well as specifics in each subject)

  • English:
  • Math: (including highest level course(s) completed)
  • Science: (including which ones, such as biology, chemistry, physics)
  • History and social studies:
  • Language other than English: (including highest level completed)
  • Visual or performing arts:
  • Other academic courses:

College Coursework (Transfer Applicants)
(Include college courses taken while in high school if not included above.)

  • General education course work:
  • Major preparation course work:

Awards

Extracurriculars
(Include leadership, summer activities, competitions, volunteering, and work experience)
Math and English leader tutoring
FBLA member
debate team Member
Financial literacy club member
Founder of behavioral finance / psychology club as a sophomore with 30 members
Ambassador program in sophomore year and on
IRS volunteer program
Wharton school competition next year as a junior

Essays/LORs/Other
(Optionally, guess how strong these are and include any other relevant information or circumstances.) working on a meta ethic paper to submit

Schools
(List of colleges by your initial chance estimate; designate if applying ED/EA/RD; if unsure, leave them unclassified)

Aiming for a scholarship

  • Assured (100% chance of admission and affordability):
  • Extremely Likely:
  • Likely:
  • Toss-up:
  • Lower Probability:
  • Low Probability:
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If you want schools that fit you best, we need more information. Do any of these matter?:
Geography
Size
Greek Life
Sports
School Culture
Other schools you’ve seen and how you feel about them
Any “quirks” you’d like/ not like

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I’m a little unclear on your financial goals as you say both that budget is not an issue but also that you are aiming for a scholarship. So perhaps you can clarify what you are trying to achieve and why.

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Fordham comes to mind as a good option to consider. It would be a Likely/Extremely likely (for admissions) school for you based on your stats, and you would receive merit money I predict, as long as you demonstrate interest (write any optional essays etc.)

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I’m new to this page. I don’t know how to update the original post so that I can add more information.

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Just reply in this thread with any updates.

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Also adding Psychology independent study
Likely to get a scholarship
Budget is $40k but we have assumption that will get some financial aid (according to ChatGPT).
Northeast or south east and perhaps as far as Midwest for the best possible options
Size is mid to small size
Sports is fine but not likely into Greek life lr parties
Looking for research options or at the very least great internships or coops

In a city or nearby but not opposed to more suburban

Saw BC and fell in love. But also it was one of first three seen.

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OK, that is very useful for us to know.

Rather than using an AI, you will need to get comfortable using the Net Price Calculators available at various colleges. Like, I agree Fordham sounds like a great potential fit, and here is their NPC:

https://www.fordham.edu/undergraduate-financial-aid/financing-your-fordham-education/net-price-calculator/

If the NPC comes back within budget, you are in good shape. If it does not, you are not necessarily done, you can then check about merit. And Fordham does have merit:

https://www.fordham.edu/undergraduate-admission/apply/scholarships-and-grants/

Usually the next question is how likely it is you will get enough merit. Sometimes colleges actually publish a “grid” (or similar) showing you what qualifications will get what merit. Some colleges use their NPC for this purpose. But at others, you don’t know.

In cases like that, you can just apply and hope. However, you can also look up some basic merit information that they publish in their Common Data Set. College Transitions, in fact, has scraped the 2023-24 CDS for relevant information and put it into a convenient chart:

To be frank, Fordham does not have the most generous merit program you can find. But not the least either. And you can take that sort of thing into consideration when finalizing your list.

OK, but this really all starts with learning how to use NPCs.

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I am the parent. I have to be honest. I don’t understand when it says budget on the question for match me what I am supposed to add. Is that what I can afford out of pocket a year without considering any financial aid? So meaning cash including 529 and other things.

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That’s right, the total amount you can contribute to help pay all college costs combined, which includes all of tuition and fees, housing and dining (on or off campus unless living at home), books and supplies, mandatory health insurance, travel, and incidentals.

Knowing this is useful for us because then we can generate different ideas for meeting that budget. Some colleges are less expensive to begin with. Some have need aid. Some have merit aid. But colleges can also be ruled out if they could not possibly meet that budget–too much cost, and either no aid or not enough.

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I recommend you try running the Net Price Calculator (NPC) for Boston College and see what it says your Student Aid Index (SAI) is. Without any aid the estimated cost of attendance is $96K per year. Since you said you are willing/able $40K per year (is that right?) you can use the NPC to see if you are likely to qualify for enough aid to make it affordable. If not, you should probably move on and look at other options. It’s best to run the NPC for each school you are interested in.

With your child’s excellent stats there are likely schools that will give good merit awards, including Fordham as mentioned earlier. But Boston College only gives significant merit to a very small number of students.

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For business, consider SMU Cox in Dallas, Texas. Offers lots of merit scholarships.

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Just add to this. The only merit aid offered at BC is the Gabelli Scholars Program. This is a scholarship that is granted to only 18 students. That’s it. BC offers no other merit aid. It does of course offer need-based aid, so I’d echo the recommendation to check its NPC to see if it would be affordable.

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For right now, I’m going to start with schools that could get to $40k via merit aid for a profile like your kid’s or that has a lower start price. For this post, I looked at schools in the northeast or southeast (with one exception).

There are some colleges that I think your kid could have a good shot of getting the price within budget:

  • Bryant (RI): About 3200 undergrads

  • Emmanuel (MA): About 2k undergrads

  • Ithaca (NY): About 4400 undergrads

  • Loyola Chicago (IL): About 12k undergrads

  • Manhattan U. (NY): About 3k undergrads

  • Merrimack (MA): About 4200 undergrads

  • Randolph-Macon (VA): About 1500 undergrads a little outside of Richmond

  • Rhodes (TN): About 2k undergrads in Memphis

  • Springfield (MA): About 1900 undergrads

  • St. Joseph’s (PA ): About 4800 undergrads in Philadelphia

These are some colleges where it might be possible to get the price within budget via merit aid, but the chances are slimmer than those above:

  • Brandeis (MA): About 3700 undergrads

  • Providence (RI): About 4200 undergrads

  • Fairfield (CT): About 5k undergrads

  • Furman (SC): About 2300…might be just over, but could be under $40k

  • Loyola Maryland: About 4k undergrads

  • Union (NY): About 2100 undergrads

  • U. of Rochester (NY): About 6800 undergrads

  • Villanova (PA ): About 7100 undergrads

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If we add midwestern states, then these are some additional schools that your family may want to consider:

Likelier to hit a $40k budget

  • Butler (IN): About 4500 undergrads at this Indianapolis school

  • Creighton (NE): About 4300 undergrads at this Omaha school

  • John Carroll (OH): About 2300 undergrads at this school in the Cleveland suburbs

  • Lake Forest (IL): About 1800 undergrads at this school in the Chicago suburbs

  • Marquette (WI): About 7700 undergrads at this Milwaukee school

  • U. of St. Thomas (MN): About 6k undergrads at this Saint Paul school

  • Xavier (OH): About 4700 undergrads at this Cincinnati school

Less likely to hit a $40k budget, but not out of the realm of possibilities

  • Case Western (OH): About 6200 undergrads at this Cleveland school

And another northeastern option that might still be considered midsized (albeit on the larger side) is Rochester Institute of Technology which has about 14k undergrands and one of the oldest (the oldest?) co-op programs in the country.

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In the end, how much can you pay - whether from a 529 or from cash flow or investments or all of the above.

BC, as an example, is $72K just for tuition. $90K with room and board - so you need to ensure you have need or take it off.

You can find Jesuit schools - like Loyola Chicago, Maryland - I don’t know if they’ll hit your price but might. Seton Hall might get close.

You noted SE - you’d easily hit cost at large (and very Greek but still most aren’t) - U Alabama - with a 1450 ACT, you’d be $23K or so for tuition room and board.

A bit smaller and less crazy is Mississippi State and even smaller - 10K kids - is UAH. These are publics. There’s other smaller publics too - but when you are out of state, most charge more. But these have auto merit and can get you in the low 20s. There’s others too to get you under budget - Tennessee Chattanooga, as an example.

In the NE, U Maine will likely match Rutgers tuition. The SUNYs can be lower cost - you might try a New Paltz or Oswego.

You can find regionals that are smaller like TCNJ or Millersville in PA or Salisbury in Maryland to hit budget.

You can maybe squeeze into to an LAC like Kalamazoo.

If you qualify for need, you should fill out a net price calculator to see.

I put U of Rochester below - they meet need.

Let us know how that goes.

Research is (or was b4 funding cuts) fairly widely available if kids ask…internships are more based on the kid than the school. But if you’re in, for example Huntsville Alabama - UAH - you have defense companies galore. If you’re in Oswego NY - not so much but that doesn’t preclude you from finding an internship in the summer.

Net Price Calculator

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Many of the Catholic schools do not have Greek life. Business, small to medium-sized, urban or urban-ish, I might offer St. Joseph’s, Loyola MD, Scranton, Siena, Seton Hall.

Duquesne is in a good location near downtown Pittsburgh. Drexel close to downtown Philly. Go Midwest you get smaller urban schools in DePaul, Loyola IL, Marquette. South and urban is tougher, you have College of Charleston, price works but higher on the party scale.

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C of C highly unlikely to hit $40K. And while most schools are cheaper off campus, C of C is decidedly more expensive.

Where it could work is the Honors College. The student would get accepted. There’s a sub group called the Charleston Fellows. That could get enough merit to get to $40K. Could…not assured.

The student certainly would be a reasonable candidate to be invited to interview weekend.

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A friend in Connecticut has sent both of his sons to Xavier University in Cincinnati, a Jesuit university. He says that they love kids from the Northeast to the point that both sons received a financial package making the cost equivalent to UConn. And they are not a high need family.

Xavier’s Business School offers 8 different majors. Their College of Arts & Sciences offers both Psychology and Neuroscience, which is another way of approaching psychology by studying the brain and the nervous system.

Sometimes applying to colleges outside the region where you live is an advantage both for admissions and for scholarships because the college is trying to expand their reach to recruit more students and because there is less competition with applicants from where you live. This appears to be one of those cases. Less than 2% of their student body is from New Jersey.

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