I can't help but feel I'm missing something :(

[Darth_Nader]

<p>Location: Virginia
High School: Public
High School Type: sends many grads to top schools
Will apply for financial aid: Yes
Ethnicity: Caucasian </p>

<p>Academics:</p>

<p>GPA - Unweighted: 3.70
GPA - Weighted: 4.30
Class Rank: top 10%
Class Size: 556
VERY competitive schedule</p>

<p>Scores:</p>

<p>SAT I Math: 750
SAT I Critical Reading: 740
SAT I Writing: 760
SAT II U.S. History: 790
SAT II Math Level 2 (IIC): 790
SAT II Physics: 760
SAT II Chemistry: 750</p>

<p>Significant Extracurriculars: </p>

<p>SGA
Model UN
Political Forum
Debate</p>

<p>Leadership positions:</p>

<p>Student Advocate
Vice President of Model UN
More or less the captain of Debate Club (Not official)</p>

<p>Volunteer/Service Work: Easily 400-500+ hours at a policy advocacy group</p>

<p>Honors and Awards: AP Scholar with Distinction</p>

<p>Work Experience: </p>

<p>Worked ~20 hours during Junior year (low income family)
Interned at a Think Tank (40 hours a week for 9 weeks)</p>

<p>Colleges of Interest:</p>

<p>Massachusetts Institute of Technology - EA (Culture at MIT)
Princeton University - (Undergrad focus, Liberal Arts emphasis)
Stanford University - (Academic options, Entrepreneurship)
Harvard University - (Really exciting Engineering curriculum)
University of Pennsylvania - (Wonderful Research)
Rice University - (Undergrad focus, decent research)
Cornell University - (Engineering Coop, Options are interesting)
Columbia University - (Research opportunities, Liberal Arts emphasis)
Northwestern University - (Interesting curriculum and Coop)
Vanderbilt University - (I really like Vandy’s mission)
University of Virginia</p>

<p>Desired College Characteristics:</p>

<p>Location type: Small City</p>

<p>Size: Small (Under 2,500), Medium Small (2,500 - 5,000), Medium (5,000 - 10,000)</p>

<p>Intellectual challenging, well rounded student body, generous financial aid and focus on teaching undergrads.</p>

<p>Area: East Coast, West Coast, Southeast</p>

<p>Importance of cost: Extremely important</p>

<p>I can’t help but feel I’m missing something :(</p>

[coureur]

<p>One thing you are missing is the apparent disconnect between most of your “Colleges of Interest” and what you say you are looking for in a college. Most of these are located in big or medium-big cities, not small cities. And they are all big research universities, but it sounds like you are looking for an LAC. You sure you wouldn’t be happier looking at LACs located in small towns? There are plenty of those to consider.</p>

[Darth_Nader]

<p>

One thing you are missing is the apparent disconnect between most of your “Colleges of Interest” and what you say you are looking for in a college. Most of these are located in big or medium-big cities, not small cities. And they are all big research universities, but it sounds like you are looking for an LAC. You sure you wouldn’t be happier looking at LACs located in small towns? There are plenty of those to consider.

</p>

<p>That’s exactly what I was thinking when I typed this up. But my list originally consisted of OOS Publics, so compared to those these are quite “small”. I really fancied the idea of LAC for several years. But my interests have changed a lot in the past (The only prevailing themes have been Politics - Public Policy, Mechanical Engineering and Chemical Engineering) and I don’t want to be locked into Liberal Arts!</p>

[nngmm]

<p>Look into Claremont colleges (Pomona, Harvey Mud), and Swarthmore.</p>

[cathymee]

<p>what you are missing is the dissconnect between your “importance of cost” and the majority of your list. You need some schools where you are at the top of the heap and who give kids like you lots of merit based aid (though Vandy might work for this)</p>

[Darth_Nader]

<p>

Look into Claremont colleges (Pomona, Harvey Mud), and Swarthmore.

</p>

<p>Mudd and Swarthmore are on my “look into” list, will add Pomona to it as well.</p>

<p>

what you are missing is the dissconnect between your “importance of cost” and the majority of your list. You need some schools where you are at the top of the heap and who give kids like you lots of merit based aid (though Vandy might work for this)

</p>

<p>Well all of the schools on my list right now meet 100% of the demonstrated need. Since I have a low EFC (and no house) do I really need more schools like Vandy? If so, what else do you recommend?</p>

[dmd77]

<p>If the intellectual culture of MIT interests you, consider RPI or WPI.</p>

[Singersmom07]

<p>Although Houston is a big city, Rice campus does not feel like it. DD feels that she is getting the best of both worlds there, city amenities, defined campus life. They are also pretty good on the merit money and financial asistance. I’d keep them on the list even though they don’t meet your stated criteria.</p>

[cathymee]

<p>meeting 100% of demonstrated need can mean big loans.Just b/c a school says they meet need doesn’t mean they’ll meet it with “free” money as in scholarships.Are you willing to shoulder loan amounts for high priced schools that could cost you,by the end of 4 years, say 40,60,80 or even 100,000?Or are you looking for more merit scholarship opportunities?</p>

[Mudder_s_Mudder]

<p>

I really fancied the idea of LAC for several years. But my interests have changed a lot in the past (The only prevailing themes have been Politics - Public Policy, Mechanical Engineering and Chemical Engineering) and I don’t want to be locked into Liberal Arts!

Importance of cost: Extremely important

</p>

<p>Re the Claremont consortium: For the MechE and the ChemE, Harvey Mudd. The degree is general engineering with the opportunity to concentrate in different engineering disciplines. For the Politics/Public Policy, I would think more Claremont McKenna than Pomona (maybe both). </p>

<p>A student enrolled in any of the consortium colleges can cross-register. A student enrolled at Mudd can do an off-campus major at any of the other colleges but is still required to take the Mudd core (roughly two years of courses in math, science with labs, CS, and engineering).</p>

<p>Your stats alone qualify you for a Harvey S. Mudd merit award of $10,000/yr independent of financial need (although need-based aid may be reduced accordingly; see the link).
<a href=“http://www.hmc.edu/admission1/costsandaid1/typesofaid1/scholarshipsandgrants1/hmcmeritbasedawards.html?PHPSESSID=145b258318131deab1f7dd47fe772858[/url]”>http://www.hmc.edu/admission1/costsandaid1/typesofaid1/scholarshipsandgrants1/hmcmeritbasedawards.html?PHPSESSID=145b258318131deab1f7dd47fe772858&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Mudd awards only technical degrees but is classified as a liberal arts college, in concordance with its mission statement: “Harvey Mudd College seeks to educate engineers, scientists and mathematicians well-versed in all of these areas and in the humanities and the social sciences so that they may assume leadership in their fields with a clear understanding of the impact of their work on society.”</p>

[midmo]

<p>Not to be discouraging, but the Vanderbilt scholarship page mentions that most students who win the very large merit awards are in the top 1% of their graduating class and have 1500 or above on the M + CR portion of SAT I.</p>

<p>There are exceptions on both scores, and there are a variety of types of merit awards at VU, some that take public service into account, so by all means pursue some of them.</p>

<p>However, you cannot <em>assume</em> a merit award at any top-20 university. Your record is good enough to make you very competitive at many other schools, though, and you should look at the threads that discuss them on the financial aid forum.</p>

<p>I agree that there is a disconnect between your list and the need for a lot of money. THEY are the ones who determine what 100% of need is. Many, many students and their families find that there is little agreement between their idea of that and a university’s.</p>

[Darth_Nader]

<p>

Not to be discouraging, but the Vanderbilt scholarship page mentions that most students who win the very large merit awards are in the top 1% of their graduating class and have 1500 or above on the M + CR portion of SAT I.</p>

<p>There are exceptions on both scores, and there are a variety of types of merit awards at VU, some that take public service into account, so by all means pursue some of them.</p>

<p>However, you cannot <em>assume</em> a merit award at any top-20 university. Your record is good enough to make you very compatible at many other schools, though, and you should look at the threads that discuss them on the financial aid forum.

</p>

<p>I don’t think I ever said that I was planning on winning a scholarship at Vandy.</p>

<p>

meeting 100% of demonstrated need can mean big loans.Just b/c a school says they meet need doesn’t mean they’ll meet it with “free” money as in scholarships.Are you willing to shoulder loan amounts for high priced schools that could cost you,by the end of 4 years, say 40,60,80 or even 100,000?Or are you looking for more merit scholarship opportunities?

</p>

<p>Almost all the schools on my list right now are pretty generous. In regards to debt, I guess 40,000 would probably be the most I’m willing to incur or in better terms think I’m capable of incurring.</p>

<p>

If the intellectual culture of MIT interests you, consider RPI or WPI.

</p>

<p>Well it wasn’t exactly the intellectual culture of MIT but more so the little things like IAP, the Hacks, traditions etc of MIT that appealed to me.</p>

<p>

Although Houston is a big city, Rice campus does not feel like it. DD feels that she is getting the best of both worlds there, city amenities, defined campus life. They are also pretty good on the merit money and financial asistance. I’d keep them on the list even though they don’t meet your stated criteria.

</p>

<p>I’ll definitely keep Rice on my list.</p>

<p>

Mudd awards only technical degrees but is classified as a liberal arts college, in concordance with its mission statement: “Harvey Mudd College seeks to educate engineers, scientists and mathematicians well-versed in all of these areas and in the humanities and the social sciences so that they may assume leadership in their fields with a clear understanding of the impact of their work on society.”

</p>

<p>I really like Mudd’s mission :)The application essay is very in tune with what I’m interested in!</p>

<p>One relatively unintelligent question - I have no plans on working in research or academia, does Harvey Mudd bode well for a career in the industry? </p>

<p>Thanks everyone.</p>

[Mudder_s_Mudder]

<p>^^Well, my S just graduated and will be starting grad school this fall. I’d rather not post specifics (it’s a tiny school, only ~750 students), but I feel safe in saying that his friends who aren’t taking the grad school route are very happy with their choices. I think if you go to hmc.edu and check the individual departments, most of them list what their graduates do. May not be fully up-to-date, though, as I think they’re still in the process of revising the website.</p>

<p>HMC has a clinic program that might interest you. Some parents of past Mudders have told me about some amazingly cool things their kids got to do through clinic, like a trip to Paris to meet with a company’s development team. (My S did the senior research thesis rather than clinic.) Click the “Clinic project” link under “Mudd Matters” here:
<a href=“http://www.hmc.edu/academicsclinicresearch1.html[/url]”>http://www.hmc.edu/academicsclinicresearch1.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>You might want to post your question to the HMC forum here as I know there are a few Mudders there who are doing some interesting things.</p>

[Olymom]

<p>Dartmouth, Bowdoin, Macalester, Whitman are all worth checking out seriously. Also, University of Arizona, Arizona State and University of Oklahoma can be both generous and challenging.</p>

[midmo]

<p>

I don’t think I ever said that I was planning on winning a scholarship at Vandy.

</p>

<p>And I apologize for implying that you did.</p>

<p>My motivation was to encourage you to include schools at which your very fine record makes you a LIKELY candidate for merit money. At the top 20, nobody is a likely candidate, because selection often takes non-academic activities, and talents, into account.</p>

<p>I still think you look like a good fit for Vanderbilt, and maybe they would come through with good financial aid even IF they do not come through with a merit scholarship.</p>

[dmd77]

<p>While IAP and hacks are two excellent things about MIT, the fact is that you have to spend a LOT of time taking classes when it’s not January and you’re not doing hacks. I went there, my son went there, and we’re both very aware that it’s a very tough school. Don’t go there for IAP; go because you crave hard, challenging work. </p>

<p>WPI is in a small city and uses a cooperative group project model; RPI is known for its excellent merit money.</p>

[siliconvalleymom]

<p>Caltech might be an option. Small school size, suburban neighborhood location. Caltech offer a similar culture and student population to MIT (unfortunately, also challenging to get admitted.)</p>

[Darth_Nader]

<p>

And I apologize for implying that you did.

</p>

<p>Sorry for misunderstanding you midmo. Yes, Vanderbilt does offer excellent need based aid as well. What other schools did you have in mind?</p>

<p>Mudder’s_Mudder, the clinic program was one of the things about Harvey Mudd that really appealed to me.</p>

<p>

Dartmouth, Bowdoin, Macalester, Whitman are all worth checking out seriously. Also, University of Arizona, Arizona State and University of Oklahoma can be both generous and challenging.

</p>

<p>Will look into them Olymom.</p>

<p>

While IAP and hacks are two excellent things about MIT, the fact is that you have to spend a LOT of time taking classes when it’s not January and you’re not doing hacks. I went there, my son went there, and we’re both very aware that it’s a very tough school. Don’t go there for IAP; go because you crave hard, challenging work.

</p>

<p>Of course, but it is little things like that, that’ve made a difference in my college search. All of my institutions I’m looking at promote academic rigor, so I’ve resorted to look at the finer things (such as IAP and Hacks for one) to differentiate them.</p>

<p>

WPI is in a small city and uses a cooperative group project model; RPI is known for its excellent merit money.

</p>

<p>I believe the Princeton Review tests cite RPI for low academic satisfaction, is it really true? I kind of feel semi-guilty about not applying to RPI, they’ve been sending me mail since Freshman year.</p>

<p>

Caltech might be an option. Small school size, suburban neighborhood location. Caltech offer a similar culture and student population to MIT (unfortunately, also challenging to get admitted.)

</p>

<p>Ya but browsing through the website I just felt CalTech was more of a serious academic institution with strong roots in Math and Science while MIT came off as more of a well rounded institution. Like I mentioned, I’m sure my interests are bound to change.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

[rocketDA]

<p>"One relatively unintelligent question - I have no plans on working in research or academia, does Harvey Mudd bode well for a career in the industry? "</p>

<p>Mudd boasts a near 100% career-placement after graduation (for those that don’t go to grad school). I can site references if necessary but I’m too busy right now.</p>

<p>Common Employers:
Google
JPL/NASA
Intel
Boeing
Honeywell
SwRI
SRI
General Electric
The Aerospace Company
Rand Corp
etc…</p>

[teriwtt]

<p>Interesting observations about Rice. My brother is an alum, and when his daughter, a well-rounded National Merit winner was accepted there, they offered very, very little money. Their reasoning - they already feel their tuition is very reasonable for a small LAC, so don’t tend to give out much merit aid. She chose Texas A&M, who offered her a full ride in their honors program. She’s in med school now.</p>

<p>Added info: let me clarify she did not qualify for any need-based aid, and merit aid was very little.</p>