We are totally overwhelmed by the process of finding schools and underwhelmed by the choice of affordable schools. Mostly interested in the Northeast. All help appreciated!
- US Citizen with dual German Citizenship
- State/Location of residency: Maryland
- Type of high school: small (private) parochial high school
- Gender/Race/Ethnicity : Asian woman
Intended Major(s)– wide range of interests leaning toward STEM but fond of liberal arts; intends to go to med school
- Unweighted HS GPA: 4.0
- Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): 4.4/4.4
- College GPA (for transfers):
- Class Rank: top 5%
- ACT/SAT Scores: 1530
Coursework – 14 honors, 5 AP, 5 dual enrollment, Calc BC, 3 years Latin, senior project
Extracurriculars
4 years varsity sailing w/2years captain; theatre - stage manager; ACE mentoring; teen court; mock trial; Key club; 2 years student gov’t; independent fundraising project $5K; 2 summers sailing instructor
Cost Constraints / Budget Max $50K per year; not eligible for financial aid --will not apply early decision but early action where possible; happy to write extra essays for merit scholarships
Many schools will accept her. What are her preferences? Big, small, public, private, sporty, artsy, etc?
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What size colleges is this student looking for? Urban/suburban/rural? That info will help.
UMD CP would be the obvious instate option. Apply EA!
What about University of Delaware?
Not exactly the northeast, but what about Pitt. Apply as soon as the applications come out. Merit aid is possible there.
This student can take the required courses for medical school applicants at just about every four year college in the country…arts conservatories excluded.
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Any possibility of being recruited for sailing?
It sounds like you are looking for merit. What about Hobart & William Smith, or Connecticut College?
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Looking for smaller schools, ideally under 10,000.
D doesn’t have to sail in college but it would be an added attraction. Unfortunately, sailing teams do not recruit or provide scholarships. Talked with Conn College but under the impression that they wouldn’t provide substantial merit aid.
Agreed about not focusing too much on pre-med. These are precious years to explore and grow.
With those stats and that budget, almost anywhere seems a possibility. The big question is, what types of things inspire you/her?
Location? City/rural?
Big time sports environment?
Religious school?
International travel? (although it seems almost everybody touts this these days)
Would she want to go to a place where everybody has similar stats and prestigious reputation, where admittance is not even a sure thing and merit aid less likely? Where the pressure may be high to compete for opportunities all the way through?
Or somewhere that may not have quite the reputation, but she would almost assuredly get the majority of cost of attendance in merit aid? Where opportunities may be more readily available for all student, but especially one at the “top” like herself?
Look at College of Charleston- big sailing school and she might get a lot of merit there. Also, if she is a junior in high school at the junior olympics (and if she attends CJ Buckleys) there were a few schools there to recruit so definitely make sure to stop at the booths. They also did a presentation one of the nights. Boston College also recruits for sailing (not sure if there are scholarships but I believe its a situation where the coach puts in a good word).
Oh! And check out Baylor- instead of tailgating they have “sailgating” before games!
What states count for the Northeast? Is PA ok? NJ?
Since she will need roughly $25K-$30K in merit at a minimum, she should apply widely and to schools where her stats are above the 75%ile (where you can find that out.)
I’ll start with Roger Williams, Marist, Wheaton (MA), Clark, Union, Quinnipiac.
I think that “putting in a good word” is what the coach can offer to interested sailing students. How much that helps depends on the school. What is the junior olympics?
We know some sailors from Charleston and are concerned about the party (rather than academic) culture there. D is not a party girl.
Baylor! Not even on our radar. Thank you!
Pennsylvania and NJ are totally fine.
Some new names here. Thank you!
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Most sports for adolescents have junior olympics. Swimming, gymnastics, sailing, etc. For sailing you place in regional qualifying events in your area and if you place high enough you go to the next level.
Are you sure there’s no recruiting for sailing?
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If there is a team as opposed to a club there is recruiting for sailing, club sports might recruit or put in a good word if there is a paid coach. But to my knowledge teams do recruit, I am just not sure if they provide scholarships.
I don’t know if they recruit from high school teams, they might primarily recruit from summer teams, but it never hurts to send the stats in and see.
I was definitely going to suggest Hobart William Smith and Connecticut College, as well as Wheaton (MA).
If you are willing to go a little bit inland - I’d suggest looking at some of the Ohio Schools: Denison, Wooster, Ohio Wesleyan. College of Wooster, in particular, has really strong STEM programs and also has great merit aid. Would definitely be below your budget. Ohio Wesleyan is very supportive for students interested in pre-med, fairly close to Columbus, OH - would be safety and also come in well below budget.
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This is really interesting and new for us. Thank you.
This is tricky because there are a lot of colleges that would be a good fit that MIGHT get within budget with merit, but there is no guarantee. Particularly in the Northeast, colleges tend to be expensive and merit among the ones she would most likely consider inspiring matches can be highly fickle.
Like, Pitt is a solid suggestion: good all around school, great for pre med if she does decide to go that way, kinda Northeast, right? OOS cost of attendance is above budget, however–unless she gets enough merit, which she might, but it is not so predictable these days. Same with Delaware.
You can look private for bigger merit, but at the level you are talking about needing, that is going to be very tough, particularly in the Northeast. In fact a lot of privates are basically calculating their big merit to get them close to being competitive with market-rate OOS, and you are trying to beat that, and I think that is putting you into pretty rare territory.
So . . . you’ve got your in-state options, which I know is not necessarily exciting, but frankly they are going to be tough to beat among Northeastern options at your price level.
Or maybe you have to look out of the Northeast, and even then you might more see those as likelies than matches. But they could be interesting alternative options within your budget.
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It is possible to get a national ranking for sailing but that usually involves summer sailing rather than school teams. It’s sort of a two-tier system.
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SUNY Buffalo is bigger than your daughter might be looking for, but does have excellent STEM offerings, as well as a large Asian and Asian-American student population (if that is important to your daughter). Would also come in at budget.
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My S24 got lots of merit love ($32500/yr) from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. While not northeast, it’s pretty close and in the eastern time zone. Haven’t visited yet but will shortly. Lots of pre-med although he’s engineering. 7k undergrads and not a party school. Kids seem high achieving and highly motivated from what I can tell.
Also if she’s interested in women’s colleges, my C21 got lots of merit at Bryn Mawr, Mount Holyoke, Smith as well as Sarah Lawrence college, although co-ed. Between $15-30k/year, although some friends got more and I’ve heard the $$$ is going up.
The key to merit is being in or above the 25% of admitted students per the school’s profile. Check out Ron Lieber’s book: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-price-you-pay-for-college-an-entirely-new-road-map-for-the-biggest-financial-decision-your-family-will-ever-make-ron-lieber/14340032?ean=9780062867308
Good luck!
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You’ve pretty much summed it up. I’d hate for D to get accepted to a bunch of schools we can’t afford so we are looking for financial safeties which will likely require compromises – either size or location. Open to all suggestions! Thank you.
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