I couldn’t remember if it was Seton Hall or Seton Hill, but that’s the kind of thing he wants – lots of good music opportunities for non-majors.
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Secret heart is $70,000 a year. I think my daughter got quinnapiac down close to $40,000 with a 3.95 gps 34 act. I had 2 merit chasers (actually my daughter ^^^) got into the 6 year DPT program there and it was on the shortlist. My high stats kids struggled to get public oos schools to come down to in state Rutgers at $32,000.
Have you checked out the University of Scranton? My D25 just got her financial aid package and it’s $40+. They have an undergrad OT program.
If any of the schools offer EA, apply EA, since they or popular majors may become more selective in RD due to filling up in EA. A similar thing applies to rolling admission schools – apply early before they could fill up.
Also, if an EA or rolling school delivers an early admission with affordability, then it becomes a safety, so it may be possible to reduce the list of other colleges to apply to (i.e. drop those which are less desirable than the one admitted to).
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You need a stated budget. Do you have a figure ?
You can ask each school if the OT program is a harder admit or stats for it. Because it’s a bachelor first, it may not be.
The reason you need a stated budget is you can apply to these thinking you’ll get there but what if they don’t.
You need a full cost at budget in back up.
Also, what will be the cost of year 5-6 ? Can you handle that ?
This ls where you start adding more schools.
I do have a figure for the total, although the grad school situation makes it a little confusing. We could pay more per year at a school like Duquesne, where the combined degree program is 4.5 years, than out our state option where both degrees would take 6 years. Plus some schools seem to have a consistent price for all years, and some the price rises or falls for the grad school years.
At most of the schools, I haven’t run them all, the NPC comes in under budget with most of the numbers I’ve run. Our financial situation is complicated for a variety of reasons, and we don’t have SAT or ACT scores yet, so I’ve run them with various numbers.
But other than the one school that’s instate for us, which we can afford full pay, and two out of state schools where he’d get guaranteed merit for his stats, none of them are guaranteed to be affordable, as far as I can figure, which is one reason to apply for more than one.
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OP-- I am impressed with how forthright you have been- and the amount of research you are doing.
Just a quick suggestion to make sure that any college you choose will have robust offerings in case your kid switches gears midstream. Even the most confident “I know my path” HS kid can change- something more compelling comes along, a practicum type class convinces the kid “I really don’t want to do this with my life”. So it’s great you are budgeting for grad school, it’s great your kid has direction. But don’t box yourselves in too early.
He may be the most ambitious planner in the world- but many careers aren’t what they appear to be when you’re slogging through the course work. So make sure his top picks have great options if/when he changes his mind.
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Thank you! We’re trying to be thoughtful.
Most of the schools he likes are in the “regional university category”. They’re smaller, but they have a variety of offerings.
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As you are looking at various programs, one thing you might want to look at is what are the requirements to successfully stay in the program. My friend’s daughter went to Nazareth for their PT program and I remember her telling me that in the first couple of weeks of class they made it clear that they had high requirements to stay in the program and said (I believe) that less than half the kids that start the program finish it.
Did he like Elizabethtown? We visited and while it was a bit small for my D who’s looking for music ed it was a school she would have considered more if she was interested in OT or elementary ed. Because we visited and was on the mailing list they sent her a link to what the initial scholarship would be and it brought the price to the mid 30’s without even applying or auditioning for further music scholarships. Your son’s advantage is a male interested in a predominantly female program and while they aren’t allowed to discriminate, I would think with holistic admissions for a largely female small school he’d stand out. I also like that their 5 year program costs the same tuition compared to a lot of the 3 + 2 or 3 + 3 programs.
Look carefully at what the criteria to stay in the program are and how financially secure the program or school is. Some requirements are really tough to maintain and still not a guarantee to continue on with the grad school portion, I think Pitt was like that. I can’t tell you how many schools to apply to but I’d apply to a few that maybe weren’t a perfect fit but have the program he wants and that offer other majors of interest in case he changes his mind. Good luck!
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He liked it but it isn’t at the very top of his list. It is likely to be affordable though.
I don’t know much about applying for music, but I think it is great you are doing your research. The main thing (aside from finances obviously) is that your student loves their list and has a realistic range of wildcard, reach, target and “safety” schools, emphasis on target. My D25’s college counselor was really adamant about this and it has worked out pretty well. She did not get in to her top choice school EA but feels like she loves her other options (and her stats are very similar to your DS). It is also important to spend time visiting if that is possible given schedule, and not necessarily for “demonstrated interest” but to determine fit which only your child can assess. We did a lot of visiting and several schools that seemed great on the web were crossed off in person. Several schools that were questionable beforehand were upgraded. I just ran into a friend who told me her D25 who goes to a very elite private school in our area and also doesn’t need to consider the financial side applied to 26 schools. IMHO that is way too many and a lot of extra work. Sorry if that sounds like I’m judging but I think it is better to do the research up front and use a balanced list. I also agree with the poster who said to check out the financial strength of the school (I think Forbes has a list).
What is a “wildcard” in this context?
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A wildcard is a school with a very low admission rate where anyone, even those qualified, have a slim chance of getting in. My D’s wildcard has a 14% overall admit rate.
This was a few years ago and it seems like the process evolves with every passing “season,” but we visited two dozen campuses. Some were drive-bys, not even getting out of the car (say, Lehigh & Brandeis), some self-tours, and a few scheduled visits and campus day (one more time, the Syracuse open house was outstanding.)
Of those 16 schools where DD applied, 5 were in Europe, spent time on the campus of her ED choice a few times, did a campus walk-through for her EDII choice, we ultimately visited 10 of the 16, a plane ride for only one of them, but yeah, for 14 months, our family vacations usually involved a campus tour or quick check-in. “Hey, you know we’re driving through PA, let’s swing by Lehigh & Muhlenberg,” or we’re heading to Boston for a wedding, “Let’s leave a day early and stop by Wesleyan & Brown,” that sort of thing.
Her list was a mix of two state schools (one with a guaranteed acceptance), three T20 schools, our two alma maters, five UKs, one SLAC, two LACs and one women’s college.
As others have said, the music/audition factors changes the equation from most of us here, but 10-12 schools is not a crazy number, especially if a few of those schools offer a free application (we paid application fees on 9 of the 16 schools.)
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I thought that’s what a reach was?
Target / Match
Reach / Wildcard
You say Potato. I say Pototto