Looking for schools to study Genetics and Creative Writing, with Merit Scholarship opportunity

College Search & Lists
1

I’m trying to help my DS21 generate a college list that meet his criteria and am having a terrible time figuring out how to locate colleges that will be a good fit.

He wants to major in Genetics (or biochemistry/biological sciences/biology/chemistry – whatever department houses Genetics) as well as Creative Writing (this is his second choice, might be a minor but it’s his passion). He’s interested in genetics research or biotechnology, definitely not med school. Grad school is in his future.

We are doughnut hole family and he won’t be able to afford private university or OOS school without merit money. We could realistically afford about $35k-45k total cost per year but that would wipe out all his college funds and leave no help for grad school so we’d like to maximize undergrad scholarships.

He has a 1580 SAT, 1500 PSAT (226 SI, expected NMSF), 3.67 UW GPA. Texas All State band kid, expect to be section leader senior year and leadership on speech/debate team. A few awards for band and speech. Nothing at a national level, he hasn’t invented anything, but he’s very interesting and likable. He’s a great writer (writes short stories in his free time) and I expect his essays will be fantastic, but in terms of highly competitive scholarships I suspect his GPA will be a weak spot. He’s taken the most challenging curriculum at his school with 6 APs this year and 4 next year.

He won’t be interested in Greek life, is not a football fan but might want to join the marching band or, more likely, the college wind ensemble. He’s nerdy and quirky but not entirely socially awkward. Definitely introverted and prefers to spend an evening playing board games or reading a sci fi novel.

His dream school is U Chicago. Admission there is highly unlikely, ability to pay even less likely. We visited NC State and UGA due to their genetics and creative writing programs, and those were great visits. Merit aid at those schools is uncertain but if he managed to get at least OOS tuition waived, those would definitely be options. He doesn’t love either of our in state flagships, UT Austin or Texas A&M, although we expect TAMU would offer scholarship money for NMF.

Any suggestions for universities that would be a good fit for this kiddo?

2

Not big universities by any means: Grinnell - very generous to NMSF, great community, kind kids. Not sure about music opportunities. Also - what about Kenyon or College of Wooster. Both also provide $15-20K a year merit and meet your criteria. College of Wooster would put your son at the high end and imagine even more funds.

3

Look into the biology and biochemistry programs at Oberlin and Kenyon for essential foundational courses along with those that focus on genetics.

https://contently.net/2014/11/06/resources/10-best-colleges-creative-writers/amp/

https://www.flavorwire.com/409437/the-25-most-literary-colleges-in-america

4

I don;t think he’s likely to get money from Georgia. It just isn’t known for giving money to OOS kids. The Florida schools will give a NMF a full ride (usually a full ride plus, because they will stack other scholarships).

Any big school is going to have all kinds of kids with different interests. He might be able to get some good creative writing opportunities through the honors programs. Most big schools will have biochem type majors. Most will have marching band, and some will allow non-music majors into their smaller band groups.

5

Alabama schools would offer good money but I have no idea about their CW programs.

6

Thanks all for your responses. I’ll take a look (with DS) at the options you suggested.

@twoinanddone, I got the sense that GA prioritizes their in state students. We are in the process of researching the FL schools.

Other than going state-by-state and perusing websites, is there any decent method to search for schools? I try to stay away from the US News and similar rankings. But with his interests being more difficult to search for (i.e. genetics is normally housed in a different department), I haven’t found any efficient ways to search.

Also, what other states are interested in recruiting OOS students? For example, FL seems to be recruiting with Benaquisto. U Kentucky gives free tuition plus $10k to NMF. TAMU waives OOS tuition to any student who earns at least $4000 per year in competitive scholarship money. But UGA openly says, we don’t give a lot of scholarships to OOS students. What about other state flagship schools? How can we know where he would be competitive?

7

Class rank? That matters most for Texas public universities.

NM and AZ publics may have significant scholarships for NMF.

PhD study should be funded, although funding levels vary with respect to local costs of living. But “money needed for grad school” should not be too much (if any) for PhD study compared to (for example) medical school, law school, or other professional degree programs.

8

@ucbalumnus thank you for your input. I’m not at all sure what he would need to save for grad school. If nothing else, I assume he would still need to pay for room and board. Do you agree? He’s thinking about a master’s program but that decision is a few years away so he may change his mind and look toward PhD. At that point he’ll have two younger siblings in college too.

His HS doesn’t publish rank outside the top 10%, which seems to be the trend for other highly competitive high schools in our area. He’s not in the top 10%. It’s true it is very important for UT Austin admission (to which he doesn’t plan to apply), but he shouldn’t have trouble with TAMU admission and unless the package changes, he should have auto scholarship at TAMU for NMF (assuming he is NMSF and progresses to finalist).

9

NC State doesn’t give much merit to OOS kids. Your son could try applying to their competitive full ride, the Park Scholarship. However, they reserve a certain amount of slots for in-state kids.

I’m from South Carolina and applied this year. I advanced to the Semifinalist for the Park, but not to Finalist. I also applied for their smaller, departmental scholarships, but for some of those you have to wait until May-June to hear back from, so I wouldn’t count on it.

10

@EdgeoftheDark thanks for that input.

I think USC (South Carolina) and Clemson may be on his list. From your other replies it looks like you are a NMF. What can you tell me about the schools in South Carolina, and in general your college search, especially out of state schools, with the National Merit badge? Have you decided where you will attend?

Do you have any sense for what they were looking for at NC State in Park Scholars? Is it largely a holistic review, or are high stats a more important criteria?

11

@Culbreath

Sure! Right now, I’m deciding between Rice (no financial aid package yet) and USC (Columbia) on a full ride. I’m a CS/Engineering major but have an interest in teaching later on.

Within South Carolina, a lot of people see Clemson as the STEM/Agriculture school and USC as the Liberal Arts/Business. However, I’d say which one you’d like to go to depends on what you want out of your college experience. I’d say AP credits are widely accepted at both.

Clemson is located in Clemson, SC which is definitely a college town. It is rural, but is near Greenville, SC. The kids there are very spirited, passionate, and happy about their school and sports (especially football) is big there. Academics-wise, known for STEM programs. I don’t know anything about writing/humanities at Clemson. I’ve been told their honors college isn’t much and that for engineering the curriculum is rigid, leaving little room for anything else. I believe Clemson is 35% OOS and 65% IS. They do not give much merit money, even to in-state kids. I only got 3.5k from them, but I also have Palmetto Fellows (an in-state scholarship that can be used towards any SC school).

USC is located in Columbia, SC, our state capital. There are definitely parts of the city that aren’t that nice, but the campus itself and surrounding areas is. Unlike Clemson, campus is integrated with the city. Columbia is probably a lot smaller than any major Texan city, but there is plenty to do. Academics-wise USC has a fantastic honors college with over 600 courses. Some are made to satisfy the Core requirements, but others are more like electives. USC is a big school, but the honors college makes it a lot smaller. Biology is a popular major, I think.

USC is around 40% OOS and 60% IS, but the Honors College is 50-50. A lot of Northeners here (NJ, OH, PA), but I’ve seen Texans and Californians here as well. For your son’s test scores, you’d see merit, but I’m not sure about the GPA. To apply to the Honors College, there’s a separate application. You can get tuition waivers regardless of being in the HC or not. National Merit for OOS is $6k and tuition reduction. There are other scholarships he may also get, but apply early action to both the school and the HC for best results!

I received a full ride as I was invited to interview for their Top Scholars program. Each year, they invite 50 IS and 50 OOS kids (separately) who applied to the HC to interview for these awards. Everyone invited is guaranteed half-tuition, which is what I received. This award plus National Merit and Palmetto Fellows gave me a full ride.

Finally, a note about GPA and SC schools. I believe both Clemson and USC will recalculate your GPA, especially if you’re OOS and not using the SC GPA formula. Not sure about how that works, since I was IS for both.

About the Park Scholarship. I felt they emphasized service/leadership. Everyone making it to semi-finalist has the grades, so once at that stage it’s about your vision (for either yourself, the world, or others). You need to present yourself as compelling, having varied interests, being passionate about issues/ideas, and be a good interviewer (which I am not). PM if you’d like more details about selection/my application.

12

Master’s programs may be expensive or may not be. The more professionally oriented ones are more likely to be expensive. PhD programs tend to come with tuition waivers and living expense stipends, typically in exchange for research or TA work.

13

In terms of what to study and post-graduation work, he may want to consider scientific and technical writing as an additional option beyond biology/genetics and creative writing. Some colleges may offer elective courses in scientific and technical writing.

14

@Culbreath

For National Merit Schools, I applied to the following where I was sure I’d receive an award:
-USC
-University of Minnesota
-University of Texas at Dallas
-Florida State

I believe Clemson has a very small NMF award ($1.5k), but I didn’t look into that. In my earlier comment, I stated the award USC gives OOS kids. Minnesota will give $15k for NMF, another $7.5k for high-stats OOS kids, and another $1k for listing them as their first choice. Unless you can afford it after these scholarships, I would not recommend UMN. There was a huge hike in OOS tuition this year, and steady increases will follow.

There are 8 (2 private, 6 public) schools in Florida at which you can get a full ride for being NMF (the Benacquisto Scholarship) The most difficult to gain admission into are UF and UMiami. Each one has a different procedure for qualifying for the Benacquisto. It is state-funded, so if funding ever stop, check to make sure the school states they will continue to fund those already on the scholarship.

UT Dallas probably has the best NMF scholarship. Full tuition, housing stipend, study abroad stipend, and another books/supplies stipend. Since you are from Texas, I imagine you know about UTD? I visited twice, once on a regular tour and the second time as a McDermott Finalist. Academically, it’s a solid school and it would be a good choice for genetics/bio/chem. Not sure about creative writing, but while its arts and humanities departments are small they are close-knit and many students take part in those classes.

15

I would look at other LACs. Lawrence University might be a good one to look at. He can minor in creative writing and the have a top notch music program. LACs have really good placement in grad schools. The NPC is giving a $32k net price with a 1580 SAT and 3.67GPA.

16

I would say UW-Madison however I dont think they give much merit aid for OOS students, but perhaps a scholarship. They have a great marching band and the town is filled with a bit more liberal quirky folks!

Washington State University? Purdue?

17

@Culbreath Check out U of New Mexico. Full ride for NMF and has decent offerings in biochemistry (genetics) and creative writing.