The bulk of my admission decisions have come in, and I am looking for thoughts and insights since so many of you have such a great wealth of knowledge!
My goal is to eventually become a clinical forensic psychologist.
Here is my list of acceptances: Appalachian State- no merit $37,355 total for OOS Baylor- $24,000 which still leaves a little over $45,000 a year in costs plus travel from NY Belmont- $10,000 merit which leaves a little over $45,000 per year Clemson- merit announced in late March but from what OOS do not seem to get more than $6500 a year which would leave almost $47,000 per year if I were to get that much. They take my dual enrollment psychology credit, but my stats credit and 6 Spanish credits only count as electives as well as 3 of my AP credits. Florida Institute of Technology- $21,000 leaving $36,000. They will take my dual enrollment and my APs all for actual classes needed for the gen ed requirements rather than just as electives. If everything fits scheduling wise, I could graduate in 3 years. They also have a Forensic Psychology major of which I’ve been admitted, and a great clinical psychology Psy.D program. Furman- $34,000 which leaves almost $39,000 Nova Southeaster $20,000 which leaves about $33,000 they take dual enrollment and APs as gen ed credits. I’m worried that it is mainly more of a graduate campus since that is the bulk of their enrollment. Stetson- $33,000 leaving a little over $38,000 They also take my dual enrollment and AP credits for gen ed courses. TCU- $20,000 leaving $52,000 University of Tampa $16,000 leaving about $33,000 per year. I have to check how my credits will transfer still. UNC Wilmington- I’ve applied for some scholarships but I think it is unlikely to get anything as an OOS incoming freshman. $35,495. They also take all of my dual enrollment and AP credits for gen ed classes. My sister also lives in Myrtle Beach so I would be closer to her. My grandparents also spend the winter in Myrtle.
I won’t qualify for anything really from the FAFSA besides maybe at TCU, Baylor, and Furman since their cost is higher.
I am definitely not a party girl and am very focused on school. I like anything outdoors, hope to play for club volleyball, and need to have outdoor space to take a walk and decompress. And, please don’t come at me, I really don’t want to be anywhere that is super political, full of protests, or super liberal. Since I know I want my doctorate I need a school that is going to help me get there!
Best value for money would be Furman - sounds like a perfect fit for what you want. Definitely the strongest academically for that price point.
Did you get into the Honors college at App State or UNCW?
I would cross out Nova, UTampa, and Stetson because they’re not as strong academically as your other choices.
Thank you! I haven’t heard back from App state about honors yet. I don’t think I applied for honors at UNC-W. I did get into the honors program at TCU.
I didn’t love the campus or surrounding area at Nova and they were at the bottom of my choices. I felt like the dorms were kind of old at Stetson, and I haven’t visited Tampa yet!
I loved the Furman, Clemson, Florida Tech, and UNC-W campuses!
Sounds like you really like Florida Institute of Technology. Consider combination of Cost and Fit. Also look at projected tuition cost increase. Private tuition may jump faster. Are you from FL? Do you get FL scholarship?
Also if you are leaning conservative, there is probably no better place than FL.
Oh, I don’t know how I tagged transferring! I’m not lol I am a senior and will be a freshman in the fall. I have 12 dual enrollment credits, and will have 5 APs that will transfer so I guess 15 credits or more depending on the school as some offer 4-8 credits for the sciences.
I took off the transfer tag!
Affordability wise, obviously the lower the cost the better! My parents can contribute about $15,000, and will co-sign any loans I will need.
You are going to need about $100,000 in loans for even your least expensive option. And for your career goal, you will need need at least a masters degree, if not a PhD.
That is a LOT of loan debt.
Do you have any more affordable options? No SUNY schools on your list?
I don’t know if it’s changed but because Florida Tech has a large international student body, they had smoking on campus. Yes in limited areas but it carried.
Forensic psych is different - so I’d find the best combo of what you want to study curriculum wise with what you can afford.
Different schools will have different elective options. So check the course catalogue - not just for offerings but then the course schedules to see how often those classes are offered.
One thing is - with outdoors - do you like green or water. Fl Tech, for example, is close to the Melbourne coast while Stetson is with reach of Daytona . Wilmington and Tampa will also have coastal access. Furman is inland but does have outdoors etc.
Also note some are religious. A Belmont won’t work with your mindset. Very conservative.
You have great choices. Yes, some may be perceived as higher academically but I see nothing wrong with Stetson and Fl Tech - my opinion - academically. Maybe U Tampa - very high in adjuncts and on the parent panel, not a single kid had found a job although they all liked the school.
SUNY or CUNY would have been my rec as well.
For clinical forensic psychology, you (OP) are going to need a graduate degree and that will add another $200k in loans. You are likely to work in public section making 50-120k a year after and if you rack up $350k in loans, you will drown in debt.
Ok, so, your budget is ~25k…
That changes things.
(15k from parents, 5.5k federal loans, whatever savings you have or can earn (if you don’t have a job look for one immediately-food/retail are hiring everywhere, some with better pay than others). Let’s say you make 2.5k from a part time job till graduation then switch to more hours and make 2k a month each of June and July, that’s a MAXIMUM of about 25-26k total budget. )
Which SUNYs have you applied to?
For a job in clinical forensic psych, what you want is a decent, general psych degree (with solid science&quantitative components) at the best value THEN the highest ranked program for your Masters. IOW, spend money efficiently - on the graduate degree (keeping in mind all SUNYs are decent to excellent).
Furman, App Stare and UNCW remain your best value offers - hopefully scholarships will come with Honors and decrease the price. (Apply to Honors at UNCW, justifying with elements of the honors curriculum.)
But even these 3 wouldn’t be a better value than, say, SUNY Geneseo.
Congratulations on all of your admittances! You’ve also received some very nice scholarships, so you are obviously a desired applicant!
Since you’re interested in forensic psychology, that’s a field where you’ll likely need to go on for a doctorate. So although nearly all schools have majors in psychology (that are usually quite popular), that doesn’t necessarily mean they will all have students who are equally interested or successful in going on to earn a PhD. Looking at the schools and seeing how many of its alumni went on to earn a doctorate in psychology can be an illuminating exercise (and not forgetting to factor in the size of the schools).
These are the results for the schools that you’re currently considering (source):
Appalachian State: 81
Baylor: 159
Belmont: 25
Clemson: 87
Florida Tech: 12
Furman: 90
Nova Southeastern: 19
Stetson: 33
TCU: 82
U. of Tampa: 15
UNC – Wilmington: 75
In this field Baylor is obviously a heavy hitter (not just with the most, but it’s half the size or less than a couple of the other schools) so is Furman, which is about a fourth the size of Baylor. TCU and the North Carolina publics as well as Stetson would probably be the other schools that impress me the most on this particular factor.
In hearing your budget, however, I am extremely concerned, as you don’t currently have any schools that will be affordable even with subsidized loans, and the more in debt you go, the harder it will be to get out.
I don’t want to stay in NY… I hate everything about it lol
I’m applying for outside scholarships and I am a semi finalist for one that gives $10,000 per year for 4 years. I know that isn’t a guarantee at this point. My numbers were all based on highest dorm and meal plan as well. So I am hopeful that after my first year I can get the cheaper plan (I don’t eat a lot) and knock off a few thousand.
I’m hoping with my credits coming in I can be done in 3 to 3 1/2 years and save some money that way.
I know I’m not getting out of undergrad without loans. I’ve done some virtual sessions with Florida Tech, Furman, and Nova in the psychology and neuroscience departments and they have said that many of the clinical psych Psy.D programs are often grant funded because of the research component. The Psy.D program at Florida Tech is roughly $31,000 and is 3 years and then a 1 year residency. My parents will still contribute at least $15,000 for that as well.
I’m going to continue applying for outside scholarships and hopefully I can get some more money to offset the cost and not have to take out huge loans!
Based off your application list, I gathered that you were wanting to leave the area and preferably head south. What’s your GPA (weighted and unweighted) as well as any test score results? There may be other options to consider. For instance, U. of Louisiana - Lafayette has some very generous scholarships, and with its top scholarship your costs would probably be less than $10k/year. @2plustrio’s son visited it and considered it last year.
Yes, I want to be in the south! I will check out Louisiana! My unweighted is currently a 3.98 and my weighted is 4.45. I’ve got 5 APs and 12 credits through dual enrollment in which I received all As.
I took the SAT once and it was not a good outcome 1140…I cannot focus in a large auditorium of 500+ people breathing and sniffling and the sound of pencils and people shuffling in their seats. I got 4s and 5s on my APs so it isn’t a matter of grade inflation or anything like that.
I should mention I got into Wingate with a 31,500 scholarship that brings the cost to about $20,000 and Randolph-Macon with $29,000 which brings the cost to just under $30,000. I applied because they were free and kept sending me emails to apply, they have psychology programs, and are not overly large schools.
This is something that surprises a lot of applicants, but money from outside scholarships is usually a LOT harder to get than merit money directly from universities. There’s a few big ones, and some for highly specific groups, but most of them are only 1-2K and have annoying apps that aren’t worth the time.
It’s also important to know that sometimes when you get them, universities will reduce your aid by the amount of the outside scholarships. Your best bet is to make sure you’ve applied to schools that are very generous with merit aid for applicants with your stats, etc.
I am concerned about the potential debt for you, and it is hard for young people to understand how crippling it is. For context, my spouse and I both have STEM PhDs, are professors, have a child in college, and are still paying our student loans. Believe me when I say it has not been awesome. We didn’t even attend expensive schools!
Our kid is not planning on grad school and will likely make more money than us once he graduates, but we still limited him to the federal loans only (~$28K total). He was mostly restricted to schools where he got huge merit aid and he ended up with lots of great cheap options: both in-state and out of state, public and private. I think that you should try to send in a few more apps to southern schools that give big merit $. Can you apply to SUNY/CUNY and commute from home?
In addition to ULL mentioned above, these are some schools that you may want to consider:
U. of North Texas: Deadline to apply for scholarships is March 1 (link)
U. of Texas - Dallas: Unsure about the deadline, but you can check out their site
U. of Texas - Arlington: The deadline to apply for scholarships of up to $8k is February 14 (source)
The deadline for U. of Houston has already passed, and I’m pretty sure the same is true for UT - Austin (which is an extraordinarily difficult admit for out-of-state students) and Texas A&M.
I’m focusing on the Texas publics here because a lot of them will be able to get you a waiver for out-of-state fees if you get even a $1k/year scholarship from them. Texas has some of the lowest in-state tuition costs in the country, and it’s obviously a place that you’re considering. For instance, if you got even a $1k scholarship from UNT and got the waiver, then you would likely be looking at $20k for tuition, room & board there. I suspect the costs at UT-Dallas and UT-Arlington would be similar. And of course, you might end up getting even more than that in scholarship money. Additionally, as you’ve noticed, public schools tend to be much more generous in accepting AP credits and such to apply toward your degree.
I’ll continue to think of some additional options for you to consider so that you can get your annual costs down.