Seeking feedback on daughters list

College Search & Lists
1

I’m trying to get a general feel if our daughters list is realistic. Her only true preference is really STEM/Science focus and midsize. She plans on going the long route ending in a PhD in something Bio related.

UW GPA is 3.91 / W GPA 4.36
SAT 1400
First Gen/Female/White/1 Immigrant parent
Public Magnet Program STEM, VA (not NOVA)
7 AP/3 weighted Magnet courses - end of junior

  • 4 AP/ 2 weighted Magnet courses - end of senior
    Weighted: A +0.0488 pts, B +0.0366 pts
    FAFSA, we are good with the EFC we received but not above it.

Officer state level club (first of her HS)
Regional Latin Club (multiple cities), Chair of committee
President Robotics Club
President German Club
NHS member, tutoring in Chem & Japanese
Japanese/Latin Honor Society
Piano (11 yrs, retirement home recitals and scholarship fundraisers), Environmental cleanup/citizen scientist (6 yrs),

GMU
Virginia Tech
Washington & Lee
William & Mary
UVA
Rensselaer
Emory
Case Western
Wake Forrest
Villanova
Emory
Georgia Tech

2

Did you use the net price calculator for Georgia Tech to estimate aid there? Few oos publics are willing to meet need for oos students. Some oos publics offer generous merit aid, but I don’t think GaTech is one of them.

https://admission.gatech.edu/npc_2020/

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3

I suggest she consider Wellesley as well.

4

More input is needed:

What is your EFC (because most out-of-state public schools will not care about your EFC)?

Have you checked the net price calculator (NPC) at the private schools? Is it in line with the EFC?

5

Is James Madison too big? If you are going to visit Rensselaer, you may want to look at Worcester Polytech. They’re about 2 and half hours apart and peer schools in many respects. Also, WPI is part of a cross-registration which gives access to a group of additional colleges. More info at this link. Best of Luck

6

If your daughter is “going the long route ending in a PhD” in biology or something similar, then the school(s) where she gets her graduate degrees will be more important than the school where she gets her undergraduate degree. If money may be a concern, it might make more sense to go to an in-state public university and save your money for graduate school(s).

What about the University of Mary Washington? It is a mid-size Virginia public university with an Honors Program, and she would have opportunities to do undergraduate research in the biological sciences: Undergraduate Research in the Department of Biological Sciences - Biological Sciences. She would likely get merit scholarship money from UMW, also: https://www.umw.edu/admissions/undergraduate/checklist/firstyear-scholarships/

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7

Seconding Wellesley, WPI, and UMW.
Look into Agnes Scott and Bryn Mawr (good at producing science PHDs).
Adding Kalamazoo and Grinnell may also be useful.
This is a bit dated but still useful as general guidelines.

Rugg’s recommendations could also come in handy.
Note that Biostatistics, statistics, data science, are skills/tools that would greatly matter to a future researcher in the life sciences.

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