Honestly, apply to all NC schools considered EA. Some have free apps and he’ll get merit at others like UNCW, UNCG, UNCA, UNCC.
Congrats to your son on the strong profile he has developed in high school. Based on his record so far, I think he has what it takes to be successful at any college he enrolls in.
In looking at his musical activities, it appears as though marching band is a big component of his musical interests. Is that a correct assumption? If so, the presence (and potentially for your son, the quality) of the marching band may be a factor, as a number of schools do not have one. Is a pep band a possible alternative for him?
I want to make sure your son has at least two schools that meet these three conditions:
- He is extremely likely to be admitted
- The school is extremely likely to be affordable (i.e. below <$45k no matter what happens with the NCP)
- Your son would be happy to enroll and plan to attend for 4 years
I would suggest that your son have at least two of these schools on his list. @Tsbna44 has suggested several options, but there are certainly others as well. How did he select the schools on the current list? There are big state schools, small liberal arts colleges, mid-sized schools, etc. What are his preferences? It appears as though he’s trying to stick to the eastern half of the U.S. with a preference for cities or near cities. Is that accurate? Anything more you can tell us about your son would be helpful in providing suggestions.
But one school that it would not be a sure thing financially, but that would have a shot of getting you to the desired price via merit, is U. of Miami which is also very known musically, and I imagine has to have a marching band with its football team, etc.
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Based on all of your son’s marching band experience, I suspect that would be an important part of what he hopes to do in college, musically. Thus, this list of schools all offer marching bands. They also offer merit aid (unless it was one of the schools on your original list) that I think your son could be competitive for, and thus able to reach budget without needing to deal with the NCP. These schools were also selected based on their performance of producing alums who went on to earn PhDs in psychology, which leads me to believe that they would provide sufficient opportunities for interested students to be well prepared for grad school (source). A number of public colleges could be added to this list, but since there would be so many potential ones, I’ll wait until you can share more about your son’s preferences to help narrow that list down.
This list of schools is sorted by my guesses as to what your son’s chances might be at these colleges.
Extremely Likely (80-99+%)
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Butler (IN): About 4400 undergrads
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Drake (IA): About 2800 undergrads
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Furman (SC): About 2300 undergrads
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U. of Dayton (OH): About 8400 undergrads
Likely (60-79%)
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Baylor (TX): About 15k undergrads
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Southern Methodist (TX): About 7k undergrads
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U. of Maryland: Only if you apply EA. If your son gets Banneker Key, it’s an amazing scholarship, but if not, I don’t think they give much merit aid.
Toss-Up (40-59%)
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College of the Holy Cross (MA): About 3k undergrads
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Lehigh (PA ): About 4600 undergrads
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Oberlin (OH): About 3k undergrads; leaning towards a likely
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Syracuse (NY): About 15k undergrads; if your son shows a good bot of demonstrated interest, it’s probably a likely. If not, it’s probably a rejection.
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UNC – Chapel Hill: I suspect you’re in Wake (or maybe Mecklenberg) which is going to hurt when combined with your son’s class rank. I feel as though he should get in, but I don’t think I’d go so far as to say it’s likely.
Lower Probability (20-39%)
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U. of Miami (FL): About 13k undergrads
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Wake Forest (NC): About 5400 undergrads
Low Probability (less than 20%)
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Harvard
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Yale
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Vanderbilt
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Rice (this is definitely not a likely admit)
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If you are ok with South, Rhodes College gives big scholarships to top performers. Your son can easily double major in psychology and music.
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The great thing about psych and research is that it ranges from exceptionally costly to “done on a shoestring” depending on the professor and the areas of interest.
I wouldn’t worry about that issue right now. Unless your kid has very narrow interests (wants to participate in a longitudinal study evaluating trauma and depression in Viet Nam veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange) there is cool research going on in psych departments everywhere…
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My DD went to Santa Clara University…but it’s very expensive, and might not be affordable for your family. My kid also wanted to play in an orchestra. She didn’t play a marching band instrument. But she was able to play in that orchestra all four years and also had a 45 minute private lesson a week…and got a $250 performance award as long as she played in the orchestra.
I’m a little unclear about your budget…but university of Maryland has an excellent marching band. We know several who have been members and found this a great way to meet people, enjoy a group of like minded friends, etc. If your kid decides to apply to Maryland, they really must do so in the early action round as that is where Maryland accepts over 90% of its incoming class.
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If your student does end up qualifying for National Merit, here is a thread that lists and describes some schools that give large scholarships (often full tuition or full ride) for that. There are a number of schools on this list that have strong psychology as well as music.
(In case you haven’t heard yet, the predicted PSAT Selection Index cutoff in North Carolina for the class of 2025 will possibly be as low as 215 and possibly as high as 220, but is most likely to be 218 based on past trends. Your student’s selection index [SI] number should have been reported out on the test.)
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This is a head scratcher but I assume the OP may not have done tons of research on Rice.
Also, is 4.0 UW, 4.5 W class rank guess really in the 100’s? How big is this school? That’s a heck of a competitive school where over 100 kids have straight A’s and not a single B.
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Possible that other students took more weighted courses, so even those with some non-A grades got higher weighted GPA used for ranking purposes.
Sure, that’s the obvious conclusion but a 100+ kids have higher than a weighted 4.5?
School must gigantic.
Just jumping in to say that this is not an honors society, it’s a scam. They send “invitations” to anyone with a pulse (I’m still getting them even after graduating college). Do not have your child list this on their application. The “National Honors Society” is a real thing though, and looks great on apps.
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Wake County has schools with classes of 700+ (Panther Creek, for one) that definitely have a very highly academic population with a culture of very high achievement.
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I had a friend at Green Hope HS whose son had a 97 average at the end of freshman year and was ranked 87th in their class. I believe he got one B in all of HS and was waitlisted by UNC…did a year at App and transferred in (I think he was guaranteed admission as a transfer). That class was almost 750 …current class are around 500. My daughter had a 4.0 and was ranked right in the middle of her class. Yes, the high schools in western Wake are insane. INSANE. The smart kids actually enjoy high school and if they have their heart set on UNC (or State)…they go to App or Charlotte and transfer in. Happens ALL the time.
4.5 is not going to make UNC a safety school in Wake County. That’s a “you’ll probably get in if you’re the right demographic”. Same for Meck and some other larger counties.
My nephew had a 4.5, high test scores, VP of his class, captain of a team, volunteer hours and worked 25 hours a week…got waitlisted at UNC. Went to State and graduated in 3.5 years and started his own business while he was there.
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