Thank you.
I have been running the net price calculators for all the schools that everyone has suggested. In general, need based aid does not kick in until the cost of attendance exceeds $55k.
For example, Keyon calculated a net price of $54k for $77k COA.
So have your parents input for you to make sure the questions are being answered properly.
What they say they can pay and what the college says are often different and that is likely the case here.
This is why I mentioned Slippery Rock and others did as well. We all have desires but itâs not worth attaining them if you put crazy stress on yourself. So you need to be flexible to stay within budget.
Find out which schools let you stack need and merit aid. And look to schools, like Wooster and Juniata, where you are above average vs a Kenyon which is a reach and therefore has less incentive to help you.
I have a good friend whose daughter graduated from Slippery Rock and is also about to graduate from a PA program in Philadelphia (donât know which one). I know another young man who had a bit of a GPA drop in high school (got sidetracked academically by football for a couple of years) and attended Washington & Jefferson , where he received some great mentoring. I heard he just took a job with Pfizer after earning a Ph.D in chemistry from U Michigan. Just anecdotal, of course, but nevertheless, two true success stories of students coming from these lesser-known schools.
I know you want smaller schools, but youâd be remiss skipping Penn State and Pitt, both of which have terrific Neuroscience programs and are within budget.
Professors at Slippery Rock and other PASSHE schools are on a 4-4 schedule and have neither the time nor the resources to conduct much research.
You could apply to the Honors College at both Penn State and Pitt to have a more academically focused environment with smaller classes. If admitted to Schreyer, you could just live in the Honors Hall and never be around Greek life or loud parties if you donât want to, and could take as many small classes as youâd feel you want. (Schreyer apps are reviewed by professors, not adcoms, so the essays are paramount - professors want to see if, based on the essays, youâd be a good addition to their seminar).
Other than that, good job on ditching Bucknell due to fit (Greek life); Dickinson, Franklin&Marshall, Washington&Jefferson, Susquehanna, Juniata are all good additions.
Look into what Kenyon and Skidmore may offer?
There is considerable variability in the level of research work at regional public universities and at less selective private LACâs w/ heavy teaching loads. Some of these 4-4 institutions offer course releases to faculty to do research, and actively encourage undergrad research. Other colleges do -nothing-. So if the student is considering any smaller, teaching-oriented institution, they need to find out more about what is available in terms of undergrad research. IME, at smaller colleges , Bio departments tend to be more active than folks in other stem fields (Iâm a math prof, BTW). The research may not be at R1 level but it is published, peer-reviewed work.
Agreed that Pitt and Penn State should be on the radar, if OP is open to larger institutions. The state research universities have the most resources for high level research. The flip side is that it is more competitive to get undergrad research opportunities, and the intro STEM classes are large and somewhat impersonal.
Have you thought about combined BA/MD programs? Youâd be an attractive candidate.
I will be applying to Pitt, but Penn State didnât seem to be a good fit when I went on a visit.
But I do have two questions that hopefully someone can provide insight to:
Does Franklin & Marshall provide Merit Aid? On their website, I see a statement that says they only provide âneed based aidâ. But on another part of their website, I found a list of merit scholarships. A bit confused on this one.
College of Wooster offers an âEarly Aid Estimatorâ where you submit your financial information and transcript and they provide you a pre-read of your aid package. Are the results provided by this process useful?
thanks you
F & M is need only. It looks like they list others (not theirs) and offer summer travel assistance.
https://www.fandm.edu/financial-aid/our-committment-to-need-based-aid
If a school can give you a pre- read then yes it would be helpful. Maybe not exact but strongly directional. If you didnât like the answer you could eliminate the school.
Iâm sorry Penn State isnât a good fit, because its neurobiology program and the associated IUG with the Huck Institute is topnotch - did you visit the Schreyer college and enquire about that?
F&M has moved to meet need only indeed. Lafayette and Dickinson both have merit.
Woosterâs financial pre-read is a good indication about possible merit money.
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