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</p>
<p>Although I think the OP’s idea of “negotiating” tuition or FA is probably ridiculous, what you say here is not, in fact, strictly true. Particularly in cases where some aspects of the family finances are open to interpretation, and perhaps particularly when a peer school has seen the situation differently, resulting in a higher award, FA <em>can</em> be successfully appealed. BT/DT</p>
<p>Thanks, everyone who found time to answer me.</p>
<p>“Then separate out your schools into three categories - pie in the sky, match, and safety.”</p>
<p>Safety - Univ of California. I hope that my D. will be in the top 9% of her class, which means automatic acceptance to some UC campus.</p>
<p>Match - local UC campus. Second tier, but very reasonable. Cheap, commuter. Likelihood of some scholarship (small). </p>
<p>I am trying to make a list of “pie in the sky”.</p>
<p>@halfemptypockets,</p>
<p>"Cornell is generally regarded as one of the best Ivies for engineering. Our nephew went there and graduated with honors. If he had his schooling to do over, he’d take that full ride that Drexel offered him. "</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>"I can’t imagine what the big NOs are doing next to schools like Duke, Northwestern, JHU (NO to Johns Hopkins University for STEM? Really?) - any of them, really. </p>
<p>John Hopkins is great for biology and pre-med. However, it is too fixed on premed. </p>
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</p>
<p>Bwa-hahahahahahahahaha! </p>
<p>Tell that to my friend, an experimental particle physicist, who left a tenured position at Stanford for JHU. Tell that to my friends who work at JHU’s Space Telescope Science Institute, which runs the Hubble and which will run Hubble’s successor. Tell that to…oh, why bother, you’ve got this bee in your bonnet that you know everything there is to know about what colleges have to offer. </p>
<p>On the off chance that you’d actually like to learn from others, here’s a less confrontational way to write “John Hopkins is great for biology and pre-med. However, it is too fixed on premed.” You write “My impression is that Johns Hopkins is great for biology and pre-med, but that it’s too fixed on premed. Is that accurate?”</p>
<p>See the difference? </p>
<p>A family with several children, thoughtful about each child’s individual interests and needs, will have different “top 20” lists for each child. If the children are very different, the lists will be very different. Even if all the children are “top students”</p>
<p>Your approach is absolutely backwards. </p>
<p>Duke - personal concerns.</p>
<p>Remember “lacrosse case”? The first instinct of faculty was to turn against their students. They gave students no benefit of doubt. Ok, I understand, that people find it hard to support somebody accused of rape. However, it is equally alarming to me that faculty was the first and the most vocal in condemning it’s own students. What does it tell you about relationships between faculty and students on the campus? </p>
<p>@SlitheyTove,</p>
<p>My English is not that good for extra polite nuances. I think it is obvious that everything that I write is just my impression and opinion. </p>
<p>"What does it tell you about relationships between faculty and students on the campus? "</p>
<p>Oh please!
This is a perfect example of how little you know …
you take ONE incident that happened more than 4 years ago, extrapolate it , and come up with a knee jerk, sweeping indictment of ALL faculty at Duke!!
Jeeze…
:-L </p>
<p>The Duke lacrosse incident occurred in 2006. Current first year students at Duke were then finishing sixth grade. </p>
<p>^^ By definition, the fact that Amherst, Williams and Swarthmore are not listed, makes this a joke thread.</p>
<p>Fifth grade SOG. Of course the fact that californiaa doesn’t recognize that most of these top universities are multifaceted in their strengths indicates that replying to this thread is a complete and utter waste of time, particularly since the daughter in question is still a month away from completing middle school.</p>
<p>Well, I’m obviously not a good enough math student to get into any of these schools. </p>
<p>"I can’t imagine what the big NOs are doing next to schools like Duke, Northwestern, JHU (NO to Johns Hopkins University for STEM? Really?) - any of them, really.</p>
<p>John Hopkins is great for biology and pre-med. However, it is too fixed on premed. "</p>
<p>Where do you come up with this, Californiaa? Who tells you this, and why do you blindly accept them?
Again, your information sources in real life appear to be horrible ones. If your information sources aren’t telling you that Cornell, Northwestern, JHU and many of the other schools on your list are excellent for STEM, then you have bad information sources.</p>
<p>I’ll grant you the Duke one (I disagree, but you’re entitled) but you’ve not given any substantive reason for any of the other no’s on your list. You just … said no. Not in the consideration set. Why?</p>
<p>Californiaa, you have neglected all the liberal arts colleges. Please look at the LAC list as well. They are also excellent schools and the top 20 on the LAC list are just as good as the top 20 on the university list - just a different atmosphere.</p>
<p>Additionally, NO student - I don’t care how smart, how gifted - should be restricting a search of “pie in the skies” to only top 20. You should look at the top 40 as a starting point. THIS IS NOT LIKE YOUR HOME COUNTRY where only a handful of schools provide opportunities and the rest are nothing. The US is different. That’s why you moved here. </p>
<p>I would certainly add both Olin and Harvey Mudd for a kid interested in STEM, and particularly engineering. (I’d also add the top 10 LACs, but I can understand the arguments against.)</p>
<p>OP, you do seem to have considered the safeties and matches, the UC/CSU schools. Time will tell how well your child does and which of these is a real possibility for her. </p>
<p>But time will also tell which schools are the pie in the sky places for her. Is she for sure going to be a STEM major? Or will she switch to business/econ? Will she prefer large urban environments or small and rural? How far away from home will she/you want her to be? She may pick up a hobby that drives her choice, play an instrument or a sport. It is just too early to know. </p>
<p>It’s abundantly clear you WANT her to be a STEM or Econ/business major. What does she want, or is that irrelevant? </p>
<p>OP - What grade is your child? It may be too early for lists. The first step is to just sample some local-ish schools, get a feel for preferences. </p>
<p>The fact that you want to construct a list but you haven’t said a word about what your daughter wants is rather worrisome. If I understand correctly from your other posts, she is still in 9th grade, so it’s really too early to be making a detailed list. Whatever she thinks she wants, and if you feel a need to discuss this so early, you should be asking her what she wants, it will probably change. </p>
<p>Being in California, one of the main things you need to decide is whether she wants or is willing to attend school far away from home, as many of the schools on that list are on/near the East Coast and maybe you can cross off most of that list if she doesn’t like the idea of going to school 3000 miles from home.</p>
<p>Another big thing to decide is whether she is comfortable with a larger research University or whether she wants to attend a small college. The list will be very different in those two cases. Toss out that list if she wants a small school and look at very different schools.</p>
<p>You have big NO’s written next to many of the schools but you haven’t explained them all. Are they all due to unsavory campus incidents? Or? It is impossible to make up a list when you don’t know the most basic information. I have visited or have some familiarity with about half the schools on that list, and I can’t understand the rationale for the NO’s.</p>
<p>Also, can you explain why you are looking at Brigham Young? I don’t see that having much in common with the other schools on your list, which seems composed of UC;s and USNWR winners. Unless your family is Mormon or is interested in fairly conservative religious environment, I’m not sure why you would want to send your child there. And if your child wants a conservative religious environment then I think the rest of your list needs some serious revision.</p>