evening - looking for a little help
my son is a rising senior at a therapeutic school
at the end of freshman year we moved him to an east coast therapeutic school ( this is a very small school that is highly academic) after a few months in rehab
previously went to extremely academic schools in nyc - and mostly excelled except his last semester of freshman high school - where he got mixed up with a whole array of mischief.
the past 4 semesters gpa 3.9 unweighted if you throw in his freshman then 3.4
sat 1490 - hopes to retake
subject tests 750 chem - taking math and … some others
fluent in russian, english and nearly french might take subject test
will take act in august
significant leadership experience past year both in his present school community and outside, as well as publicly speaking with other kids who have similar mental health/ drugs/ excessive poor decision making
might be national merit semifinalist
won an award for non fiction writing
his interests for college are 2 fold
go to an undergraduate business school such as stern nyu, or university texas mccombs or possibly madison school business
or consider studying math, computer science/ philosphy
my wife and i will contribute about $40k he hopes to come out under $60k of debt
we make too much to get much financial aid but will get a little
he initially developed a list with a whole bunch of ivies and not much else - that was adjusted to just 1 or 2
we are looking to help develop his list with the significant potential of earning generous merit scholarships
his list needs to have a combination of lib arts schools and some business programs - we added the smaller lib arts schools such as grinnell as from what i understand they are generous - as well as rigerous
he is going to be flexible on where he goes to school whether it be a large campus school or smaller campus
anyway any help or advice would be much appreciated - thank you
These would be horrible financial choices. NYU is stingy, period and UT takes very few OOS kids (7% or so) enough to not bother applying as there won’t be merit or aid. Competitive publics look to OOS kids mostly for money. They don’t need to buy stats. If you need money, you need to look down to lower tier schools, as your kid has a bit of a niche angle, you really need to pay attention to your HS GC.
If you can pay 40K and he takes direct loans you can just about cover room and board and incidentals, you need as close to full tution as possible for residential college. Have you run any NPCs?
Are you insate for NY? You need to start at your instate options. Do you know how you will package the back story? Again, your GC must have specific advice.
morning - thank you, yes his gc has recommended smaller schools like haverford and to for ourselves to come up with a list of smaller lib/arts schools -
i was hoping to get feedback here on schools that provide merit money not financial aid - maybe some of the lower tier schools that people are familiar with who are generous
given his grades and sat score why would he not get much merit scholarship - also we recognize he is a niche student, and are trying to help put together a list of schools that are generous with merit money -
mischief is drugs - and by my observation quite a problem on college campuses presently - and i would have thought to have a young man who has experienced that and moved on would be a benefit to most schools - so do you think he is unlikely to get merit scholarships
Drugs…probably the biggest issue that schools do not consider a plus. Was your son ever convicted of a drug offense? If so, federally funded need based aid might be off the table.
$40,000 a year should pay for an instate public university in YOUR state. Start there. You can also look at the SUNY schools which are close to this price point for OOS students.
But really…I’d take a serious listen to the guidance folks at the therapeutic schools. They usually know where their students will be accepted, and are more likely to be successful.
Wondering how highly selective schools will view a student from a therapeutic school. Definitely adds another level of uncertainty into the process. Perhaps the school guidance counselor will have some insights into schools that are more willing to take a risk on students “who have similar mental health/ drugs/ excessive poor decision making.”
I’d also include in the search process the need to find a place where your student can have the best chance of not relapsing - and that might mean staying closer to home so you can be available to him on a regular basis. The main goal as a parent should be that he stay healthy, and being aware of the stress levels at schools like the Ivies vs. less selective/high pressure schools is something to keep in mind.
Also, be aware that the foreign language SAT2s are difficult to do well on because of the number of heritage speakers who take them.
The 3.4 GPA is the merit killer at many schools. Many require a 3.5 or higher.
I’m trying to remember the schools that only require a 3.0gpa with a strong score…hopefully others will chime in.
There are some smaller privates that offer merit to virtually everyone…because there overpriced themselves in order to flatter everyone with at least $10k off per year.
If he has substance abuse issues, perhaps look for schools that have substance free dorms.
we live in new york - added to his list are fordham, kenyon, carlton and grinnell - i understand these schools do have generous merit -
are these possible
So you have 40K a year to spend or 40K total? (sorry If that is clear already)
" young man who has experienced that and moved on would be a benefit to most schools" s
.
Is his therapeutic school full boarding? Since freshman year post rehab? Has he actually ever been off the leash per se, to test this statement? Is it standard to stay so long in such an institution?
Real (vs pandering) merit with his stats and backstory at any desirable uni is just not going to be likely. It is hard enough to get merit as a perfect academic and all round student.
What IS your yearly budget? You must pay a ton for his current school, it may not be that big a change?
I don’t know how a school like Ohio State would look at this student. My son had a lower unweighted GPA and SAT (3.18 and 1450) than this student and he was awarded the most scholarship money an out of state student can get (Buckeye and Maximus scholarships). This brings our cost down to below $25k annually. These scholarships are not automatic and there are certainly students with equal or higher stats who did not receive this same level of money and you must apply early (prior to Nov 1). But my son did not have any of the issues that this student has in their backstory.
thank you for the list " Colleges That Change Lives schools" - my sons school is extremely academic - kids have gone to a whole variety of schools - ivies, elite, whatever is appropriate - families children that have gone to ivies and elite schools have gone on ROTC or financial aid or full ticket price - but few on merit scholarship - we are in a tough spot “financially blind” and squeezed out of most fafsa - but I still think our son deserves that opportunity to go to the best school - yes in state will be fine - but maybe there are other schools - off course I don’t think schools are taking a chance on him - his test scores are excellent - his grades the past 2 years have been 3.9 gpa, and he is well past that"stage of his life" and on to a better place - applying to colleges is time consuming, and cant just apply to an endless amount - so i was still hoping for recommendations of merit schools that other families might have had some success given the niche our son belongs to - not to mention his community service and activism in helping others avoid his pitfalls -
I agree with @blossom. Your son really doesn’t have a “niche”. He has overcome (hopefully) an obstacle to his future…but that is not a niche. Sorry…but it’s not.