<p>D needs to find a safety school. Virginia and Vanderbilt may be a slight reach for her, but they are at the top of the list because of their financial aid programs. Looking for other suggestions of schools east of the Mississippi that are selective, offer good FA, and have good school spirit.</p>
<p>Although it’s certainly not a safety, she might want to consider Davidson. Although small, it has a tremendous amount of school spirit (and D-I athletics) and offers loan-free financial aid.</p>
<p>More likely, she might try UF (possible merit $), Wake Forest, or Miami.</p>
<p>Don’t know where you live, but D was offered a very nice FA package from Furman as an out of state student, those from SC have much more FA options. Less selective than Davidson - I recommend that school too for a broad FA program</p>
<p>We are in Ohio.</p>
<p>Studiousmom, if VA and Vandy are slight reaches then look at U of Dayton. It sounds like your DD would get some good scholarship money there. Other potential scholarship schools are Denison and Ohio Wesleyan.</p>
<p>student’s stats, how much fin aid do you need, big school or small all
this info would help to narrow things down</p>
<p>3rd in class at average public high school. Lots of theater and music extracurriculars. 29 on ACT and 1740 SAT—will retake both.</p>
<p>what’s your efc, big school or small</p>
<p>About 8000 EFC. She likes medium-sized…says Denison is too little and Ohio State is too big. I’m wondering about Clemson?</p>
<p>As much as I want you to choose Clemson I have to say this</p>
<p>Clemson has a terrible financial aid program. They don’t notify you of your financial aid package until after May 1st and you won’t get a scholarship unless your grades are excellent.</p>
<p>i think both UVA and Vanderbilt are good choices but as you say a little
bit of a reach. It’s hard to find out of state publics that would give significant
aid, sat scores are a little low. University of South Carolina might be a
possibility. Clemson does give considerable merit aid but I don’t know what
kind of SAT scores you need. Unfortunately with your EFC I doubt you’d get much federal aid other than loans so with that aid, work study and your payment you’re only
bringing about $15,000 to the table. Your best option is probably instate,
Miami of Ohio. If you go private chances are you will have to pay a lot
more than $8,000. Your best bet there is probably smaller instate Lac’s.
Denison and Wooster would probably give you considerable merit aid.</p>
<p>With a low EFC, you probably will be best off focusing on schools that meet full need. I suggest she look at SAT optional schools that meet 100% of need since she has a strong rank. Have a look at Fairtest.org.</p>
<p>I’m sorry but UVA and Vandy are both big reaches for your DD. Your daughters scores are below the 25% for Vandy and 84% are top 10% of their class. For UVA 88% of the entering freshmen were top 10% and the only reason for the standardized scores (SAT and ACT) being as low as they are is due to favoring in-state students. UVA only gives scholarships to OOS students who are competitive for the top schools. Look at Ohio Northern U which has some automatic scholarships for a 29 ACT.</p>
<p>Holy Cross-very good LAC near Boston.</p>
<p>What about Elon?</p>
<p>Mom,</p>
<p>As Erin’s Dad said, for safties, stay in Ohio. Your D needs to look for match schools, UVA and Vandy are reach schools. UF is a hard accept for OOS, 97% of students are In-state (S did it, but the school is OSU sized and campus has about the same personality)</p>
<p>Sorry… Elon is a great school and reasonably priced (about 10k below average) but as such does not offer great F Aid. and 29 on ACT and 1740 SAT won’t likely get you in the door at Elon. How about COW (College of Wooster) Love that school too…</p>
<p>If our EFC is $8000, isn’t it $8000 whether she stays in-state or OOS? S is at UVa and he gets a wonderful need-based package. If the school meets your need, it shouldn’t matter.</p>
<p>EFC is seldom the amount you pay for college, it is just a number. An important number but just a number. Some pay less, many pay more. you might want to do a search for “unmet need”.</p>
<p>Erin’sDad - why do you recommend Denison and Ohio Wesleyan? Would you also recommend these for non-OH residents with similar stats?</p>