Increase chance for merit aid

SherryP
Tue, 07 Jan 2020 15:18:11 +0000

My son is HS junior and has done well academically (4.6 GPA, 1570 SAT) and strong EC’s (soccer team captain, research experience…). He wants to study in the biomedical sciences field (eventually either MD or PhD). Here’s our dilemma…

Like so many, we’re in the financial aid gap - we don’t qualify for need-based aid (I’ve run the numbers on over a dozen college EFC calculators). While we could afford the high price tag of the top schools, it would be a stretch. We live in Virginia, so two obvious choices are UVA and W&M (great schools, very affordable in-state tuition). My son would be happy at either (if he were to get accepted, of course), but he really likes Duke, Vanderbilt, and UofChicago. All offer a small number of merit scholarships.

I think he has the credentials to be a strong contender for acceptance at any of these schools. I think we’ve made the decision that he’d only go to one of these schools if he were to get a significant merit award (at least 1/2 tuition). (He’ll apply to outside scholarships as well, but they’re long shots too).

So my question for the group… any advise on how to maximize the chance for merit aid at these schools? One friend suggested we be upfront in the application (that we could only consider attendance w/ merit aid), but another said to wait and ‘negotiate’ after acceptance. Another thought is to apply ED to his top choice, but stipulate in the application that merit aid would be necessary. Thoughts???