Neither the state of Indiana nor the state of South Dakota would meet the location criteria specified.
1 Like
Ahhhhh - I forgot - this is the Alaska student. My bad - you are correct. Rice too then. Oops.
Safeties are tough then - Clarkson, WPI, RPI, maybe Kettering but itâs not a large rep.
Too bad School of Mines is too pricey - sounds like a good fit. They have some merit. Donât know enough about the NM school - itâs definitely not as selective.
First-Time Freshmen: New Mexico Tech describes NM Techâs admission requirements. It is not obvious whether the minimum requirements (2.5 HS GPA and either 21 ACT or 1070 SAT, or 3.0 HS GPA) mean automatic admission, or if admission is competitive beyond that. Scholarship consideration requires SAT or ACT. Scholarships are described at New Mexico Tech Scholarships: New Mexico Tech . WUE and WUE Plus scholarships are listed there.
Biology, computer science and engineering, and math are among the majors offered, although the student should check course offerings to see if they are plentiful enough.
Did you say what your juniorâs GPA is?
Ps. What exactly is a âfly-inâ, the visit to MIT? Was it organized by your kidâs school or MIT orâŠ?
These are programs arranged by universities to expose students who might otherwise not be able to visit. Here is one example:
3 Likes
For a likely admit school, check out Kalamazoo College. Itâs been mentioned here already, but we were very impressed when we visited. D26 has already been accepted (early action) and they gave us a very generous merit aid package. In fact, the cost savings may end up putting it in the mix as a final contender. They have very strong STEM programs, trimester schedule and it seems to be very liberal and inclusive. The campus actually backs up to Western Michigan U, and students can take classes there, as well as use their research libraries.
5 Likes
OK, since this is active again, maybe I should try and put more info here rather than a new thread. I will try and remember the stuff that goes in the chance/match threads.
I talked to my mom last month and she says the 529 account she has for kid has done really well and now actually has enough for $50K per year! Which is crazy, and I know the stock market can go down too, but means it probably is OK to put a few of the more expensive schools on the list. I donât know how to update the number in the title.
The listed fly-in is the exact one my kid did.
School: Alaska public correspondence school = homeschool with official oversight.
GPA: 4.0 for now, but take that with whatever grain of salt since itâs only a subset of classes that have outside grading. The school adds 0.21 gpa points per AP class semester if you take the test, nothing for DE, which put her at 2/162 kids as of 10th grade, but again, itâs a weird school situation so donât know if that matters.
SAT: will know first try results in a couple days â will update. She wants to make it into MITâs middle band, and practice tests suggest she can, but donât know if the first try will do it.
Coursework through 11th grade (finished, in-progress, and planned for next semester)
English: English 9, 10, 11
Social Sciences: World History, US history, AP Psych, Govt
Foreign Language: Spanish 3, 4
Science: Advanced Bio (AP but couldnât label AP because 8th grade â 4 on test), Molecular Basis of Bioluminescence (summer program), AP Chem (4), AP Physics C Mech (4), AP Physics C E and M (5), Principles of Genetics (DE), Systems Biology (DE), Vibrations and Waves
Math: Precalc, AP Calc BC, Multivariable Calc, Differential Equations, Calculus-based Probability, Mathematical Statistics
CS: Java Programming 1, Data Analysis programming, Interactive Data Web Programming, Digital Signal Processing
Other: required health and PE, a Board Game Design elective
Activities:
A long running citizen science/programming project. Semi-quantitative intertidal surveys at low tides 2-4/month since 2018 on several local beaches, coded a data visualization tool to see trends, has updated it over many years with different sorts of displays and smoothing and ways to filter things, added water temp data, etc⊠There are some cool things to see like species range extensions, recovery from sea star wasting, seasonal trends. Used tool on the checklists a local environmental ed group had from their kid programs as a kind of internship for a year or so. Poster at a local conference, will do another one at the state marine science conference next month.
Volunteer trail building a few weeks every summer, including joining the leader training events the last few years, and now can do stuff like lay out trail designs for other volunteers as well as build the trails.
Family wilderness expeditions up to 1 month in length.
Roleplaying, world building, and roleplaying system design.
Ceramics.
Backcountry skiing
No awards other than the ones you get for doing well on AP tests.
Her only outside teachers are from online classes, so probably not as detailed of recommendations as some kids.
Essays: hates to write about herself, but has plenty of good material to work with, so who knows?
Schools: list very much still developing, so she might take any of these off and would like suggestions for others.
Reach = MIT, Carnegie Mellon (state is a bit more iffy, but local area likely good, and she likes their computational bio program), Caltech, Harvey Mudd
Middle = WPI, RPI, University of Rochester
Safety = this is where we need the most help with ideas! I think something like Oregon State University would work with WUE for finances and coursework, but itâs huge. Most of the smaller schools weâve looked at that are easy admissions donât have computational/mathematical biology and bioinformatics courses (she doesnât expect a dedicated major, but feels if they donât have any courses in the subject they might not have the depth she wants). Maybe something like RIT?
2 Likes
I like Colorado School of MinesâŠ.it will slightly budget bust - but not much with merit. Itâs very well respected but not the hardest in. Itâs smart kids in focused study. But the majors may not quite fit but take a look. But I think the school itself is what you seek.
Montana State is STEM focused to an extent. Would be smaller than OSU.
Susquehanna is not the right rigor but has what she wants - the COA for everyone posting is mid 30s and below - an LAC so another rec like Kalamazoo above (good choice). Union in NY may work as well. @James_West just wrote a beautiful review on it - Iâll copy and paste below. Lafayette for a tougher admit - probably a target.
New Mexico Tech has the right programs and I assume, while less selective, is foucsed - take a look.
WPI/RIT - might not hit the budget - same with Rochester. I think RIT is bigger than what you seek (as is Montana State) but since you mentioned OSU which is 2x the size.
Curveball - UC Merced - also WUE.
Good luck.
Undergraduate Programs - Academics
Undergraduate Academic Degree Programs: New Mexico Tech
From @James_West
Our S26 will more than likely not go there because he wants something bigger, but Susquehanna is really a hidden gem. Going through this process with three kids, we have probably visited a dozen LACs. If you are looking at the kind of âmid to higher levelâ LAC like a Gettysburg, Dickinson, F & M, Muhlenberg, Lafayette, or even Bucknell, put Susquehanna on your list as a safety. We have probably toured three dozen schools, and this may be our favorite campus. It also has a great vibe; it doesnât feel cliquey at all.
Academically, it has an excellent communications department and a good, small, real business school, which is rare for an LAC. Also, the net COA is just a little over 30K a year. Every kid who gets accepted gets at least 44K a year, and most are close to 50 K. Our son got 49.5. Susquehanna seems very well funded. They have an active and supportive alum network. The one negative from our son was that it felt a little like high school 2.0
1 Like
RPI would hit the bill with budget likely!
1 Like
Budget: I think we can benefit from a combination of need-based aid and the grandparent funds at some of these. (Because the amount the college fund can pay per year is possibly larger than family annual income). For example, the net price calculator for WPI said something in the $30K range when I checked it. I donât think any UC schools do WUE, but some other California publics do.
I mentioned OSU because it would have the classes, but not the size. Looking at Kalamazoo briefly, it might have the size, but not the classes (didnât seem to have any bioinformatics or computational bio classes). Kids are supposed to be excited about their safeties, so itâd be better if she found some that didnât just seem like a compromise on which of her important criteria to ignore. After visiting, she is good with MIT-type size.
Will look at New Mexico tech. I do worry a little bit about whether very rural areas in overall trans-safe states are culturally accepting enough, but can maybe find info on it.
I said Montana State. Crap. Missed that last part again sorry.
run the NPC at school of Mines.
Merced is the only WUE UC. So a great deal.
Your kid sounds great. Period, full stop.
I know itâs a sensitive subject to raise, but there are a few strategies for locking in gains on a kidâs college fund to make sure that a downturn, recession, long bear market, etc. doesnât materially impact the kidâs financial picture. If thereâs a tactful way to discuss this with your mom, Iâd encourage you to do so. I could write a novella (not quite a long novel) about what happened to actual college kids I know in 1987/88, 2009/2010, etc. Itâs one thing to have your kidâs college choices have to shift when the market shifts- itâs another thing to tell your college junior âwe canât afford to send you back for senior year, sorryâ.
And yes, colleges WILL revisit the financial aid award when your finances change. But the âweâll make you wholeâ awards are typically for families where both bread-winners have lost their jobs (I know several Bear Stearns/Lehman families. Wife at one, husband at the other. They blew up within days of each other). The âMy investment account has lost a lot of moneyâ awards are frequently NOT as generous as those for families who have lost their income.
3 Likes
I did talk a little with her when she told me the amount. Basically, my poor person view is âWow, thatâs a lot of money! Maybe time to stick it all in a sock under the mattress.â What she ended up doing was shifting it all into one of the designations that had the graduating year of the kid on it. Which Iâd hope means thatâs somewhat more safe anyway, if not as much so as the sock would be. Sheâs pretty open to talking, so if I had reason to think that year-based account wasnât safe enough, sheâd probably listen, but she knows more about this stuff than me. And has done well with investing over the years, so inclined to think having money invested in some way is better than stuffing it in a sock.
2 Likes
Colorado School of Mines has a full tuition grant - under the Harvey But the Presidential Grant is up to $16k tuition, room and board is about $65k next year so could hit $50k
Perhaps you can reach out to someone in this group âŠ
UC Merced does: Western Undergraduate Exchange (WUE) | Undergraduate Admissions
However, the WUE cost would probably be $37-46k tuition+room+board, $44-53k total (including books, misc, health insurance).
All rumor, but Iâve heard it enough times to suspect it is true, that women accepted at Colorado school of Mines get more money as they are always trying to attract women. I do know that my nephew who attends, and who is a Colorado resident, got a lot more money than originally offered and has continued to get more money each year or funds for special programs (study in Italy, club hockey) It is a medium sized school but in a smaller town, and close enough to the city (30 minutes by light rail) to get to anything sheâd need or want (theater, sports, meetings at hotels, special events). It probably takes about an hour to get all the way from Golden to the airport by light rail.
Unfortunately, it is not a WUE school. For that sheâd need to look at Colorado Mesa (Grand Junction) or Colorado State, and both are much bigger schools but in nice, smaller cities.
2 Likes
Those are minimum requirements and do not guarantee admission.
Tech attracts a fairly good number of high stats in-state students due to NMâs generous in-state FA policiesâwhere NM HS graduates with a 3.0 GPA basically get a full tuition scholarship to NM public colleges.
Tech punches way above it ranking when it comes to STEM grad school placements.
The National Science Foundation ranked Tech:
-
1st among all public universities for percentage of bachelorâs students who later complete a Ph.D.
-
6th in the nation among all Physical Science and Earth Science universities
-
18th among the top 50 universities that produce Ph.D. students
Tech is close to plenty of âoutsideâ space. Thereâs a golf course on campus (unexpected at such a small university), but there is also world class rock climbing nearby canyons. Road biking, mountain biking, hiking, rock climbingâŠ.all near by. Downhill and X-country skiing at Ski Apache is about 2 hours away.
And NM is definitely a blue state, although there are pockets of deep red in some areas. The far SE and NW corners where oil is the predominant industry. (Soccoro is not among the red pockets.)
3 Likes
Thanks all. Writing down suggestions and adding them to a list for her to look into more after winter break is over.
She did take the SAT in December and got 1540 (790 math, 750 english), so I donât think thereâs any reason for her to do it again (especially with the expensive overnight out-of-town travel required, that left her stuck for a second night due to weather). Donât know that it makes any difference for the suggestions, but wanted to add scores in case they are helpful.
6 Likes
Depends on list but on cost benefit - heck no - sheâs done.
She can look into CSU. S23 is a Wildlife Bio major, but has added statistics, GIS, and data science/bioinformatics (I canât remember which one he ultimately settled on). Itâs a WUE school and has a dorm that is made for kids like her (houses both the Outdoor Leadership and Gender Inclusive RLCs). It would be a safety for her and she is very likely to get into the Honors Program (great program with additional money, preferential registration, and interesting classes)
It is a large school, but Honors reduces the number of huge gen ed lecture hall type classes she will need to take. Honors classes are small, interesting and interdisciplinary, so some of the more humanities-type gen eds. can be through a STEM lens.
S23 graduated in a class of 70 and one of his roommates graduated with 18. In a way, I feel they were MORE prepared for a big school than their classmates who went to very large high schools. They were never able to hide, so they had to advocate for themselves rather than just hoping no one noticed them. Lizardkid is also really impressed with research opportunities. He got one right away and will (hopefully) be published next Spring. They just released a statistic that 40% of undergrads are involved in research and 20% are published by graduation.
All that to say, itâs not a small school, but has a lot of what she wants. It might be worth a âsafetyâ application.
3 Likes