<p>Is this list appropriate for my D1, for Fall 2015 start? New to the forum and college search process and would appreciate experienced perspectives from parents who have been thru process, etc. Want to keep parental cost less than $25K annually, and hopefully less than $20k (will have another in college soon). Not opposed to having D1 take some loans (e.g., in standard range $5.5K?) for some place they really want to go.</p>
<p>Stats: Senior in HS in NM. 3.98 GPA unweighted, 4.43 weighted (after jr year). Rank in top 10 out of 400+;
9 AP classes by graduation; PSAT Commended List; AP scholar with honor (5 in AB Calc and then 4’s); and 33 ACT one sitting).
EC’s: Club Soccer 5+ years; varsity track 1 year; varsity X-country 1 year; National History Day regional and state competitions 2 years; Math Challenge Competition participant; sporadic volunteer hours over last year at local food bank.
Internship at physics dept. at local University last summer. No real leadership positions, or active in politics or clubs; but is always helping other kids with AP Calc and Physics, etc.
Major: Undecided, likely something in Math and Sciences . Studious kid but interests remain very broad still.</p>
<p>and all very good, but perhaps not exceptional letters.</p>
<p>Reaches: Rice, Whitman College, Colorado College
Possible Matches: Lewis and Clark; Willamette; Un. Puget Sound; Gonzaga;
Safety: University of New Mexico; University of Kansas (and will apply for honors programs at both).
and he will apply to Colorado School of Mines to add a different option </p>
<p>Since you are new… I’ll ask… have you run an NPC (Net Price Calculators)? When you are making college lists, it is good to know if you are chasing merit scholarships or need-based FA (Financial Aid). </p>
<p>Note - Run NPC for 1 student. Then rerun for 2 students, to anticipate potential FA in the overlap years. </p>
<p>Yes, I have discovered and run NPC’s at all of them (and others) in trying to shape discussion of list creation in ur household.Since there appears to be little in way of standardization of NPC quality (e.g., whether merit is actually being considered) of necessarily definitions of need and merit, I have also discovered IPEDS data to try dig into further. Hadn’t realized that this market essentially appears to set individualized prices (that are hard to discover for parent) as they try to quality-differentiate with their competitors.</p>
<p>We are chasing at least decent merit as we won’t appear to qualify for much in way of FA (current income high but not a lot in way of savings). I will also re-run with 2 students. Should have thought of that. Thanks as that is a primary concern – over-committing on on child 1 and then running into problems in a couple years with next kid.</p>
<p>I think it’s a thoughtful list, as long as D1 would be happy to attend any of the schools, including the safeties.
You might consider adding Grinnell to the mix if she would consider Iowa. They have been known to be generous on merit to students they want, and I think her stats are in the ballpark for possible merit.</p>
<p>OP - Glad you found the NPC. They did not exist much when we did our college searches, but there were general grids and calculators on the FAFSA website that helped us realize that our EFC was very high in years with just one in college. In other words, we knew early that we were chasing merit scholarships. </p>
<p>Note - Research the college GPA requirement for keeping the scholarship. It varies a lot from college to college. </p>
<p>Econ…a number of the schools on your list…in fact most…do not guarantee to meet full need for all students. When your second child goes to college, there is NO guarantee that these schools that don’t meet need will increase your need based financial aid. In fact, for those OOS publics on your list, they likely will not. Even the private colleges that don’t guarantee to meet full need will likely not increase your aid when child 2 goes off to college.</p>
<p>Your EFC will change…but that is not a guarantee of increased aid…for either kiddo.</p>
<p>OP mentioned New Mexico. (So this means that CO Mines will probably be too expensive and therefore not an actual safety – list price cost of attendance is around $48,000 for out-of-state students. Even in-state list price is around $31,000 there, more than the list price of out-of-state SD Mines and in-state NM Tech.)</p>
<p>NM is in-state. So UNM is real safety. Mines is most likely the most expensive on list, but occasionally we get stories of really good merit to some local kids in NM. So, possibly worth a shot. NM Tech is a safety, but just doesn’t work for us. For undecided kid with still bread interests, we want at least something approaching liberal arts breadth even if D1 eventually chooses math and science. NM Tech has some great Phd Depts, e.g., Math and Physics, but we were unimpressed with anything else on visit. and campus seems really in significant disrepair (as state has done poor job in keeping up funding and re-investments). And Socorro is extremely limited. In contrast we were reasonably impressed with peripheral offerings/programs at Mines (e.g., writing, economics, psychology) during visit to Mines, in additional to well know strengths. University of Kansas offers some good merit deals for OOS with ACT/GPA thresholds - but would more be at limit of affordability. Honors program looks quite strong though.</p>
<p>S in Honors Program at KU. OOS schlarship are excellent and the program itself is the best he found during his search, all over the US.His assigned mentor seems genuinely interested in his success. No fluff, real honest advising, an opportunity to explore areas of interest. They have a dedicated dorm for honors but also have scholarship halls that save about half on housing. The Schol Halls only have about 45 students in each one and plenty of quiet study time mixed with social events. Honors program students have smaller classes with excellent faculty. I would recommend visiting</p>
<p>CO School of Mines does have some limited courses in writing, economics, etc. But it is most definitely a “STEM School”, with most students strongly interested in Engineering. DD started at Mines, and she found being “undecided engineering” a bit awkward. (That was partly because they get miscellaneous temporary advisers - hers was a Phys Ed teacher/coach). Keep it on your list. Just do thorough research. </p>
<p>Be sure she chooses schools with other young women with the same interests. Smaller LACs may not have enough hard core science women to give her a good peer group in her eventual major. Look at the possible courses in the sciences- ie is there only one track or several for different interest/abilities/backgrounds? </p>
<p>I know Wisconsin is likely out of reach financially (no merit aid likely) but they have several different math and science courses for freshmen to choose from. They also have an Honors program instead of a college so students do not have to live in a given dorm. Many pros and cons to how Honors in run at various good schools. Look at the overall course possibilities, not at required (junk) survey courses replacing hard core classes as well. Not all Honors programs are created equally. Also- look at the advanced courses available at each school- good students may take grad level courses in their major while undergrads.</p>
<p>Gender? D=daughter, he implies son. Both in original post.</p>
<p>I can’t imagine a student who would be happy at Colo Mines would also be interested in Colorado College. They are so totally different,and both too small to offer (and be good for) everything.</p>
<p>Mines is definitely not a target school. Just put on original post as a possibility we were keeping in loose consideration (and costless to apply to with Golden Pass, they send in mail). Colo College is a target school and appears to have very good math and science as well as the overall breadth of a liberal arts school, which we are very supportive of.</p>