Which college should I go to?

College Search & Selection
#1

GPA: weighted - 4.211 unweighted - 4.000
Weighted cumulative GPA: 99.658 unweighted: 97.553
Class rank: 15 of 372
SAT score: 2190 (730 for all three sections)
I am a white male that comes from a prestigious high school in terms of the state of the Georgia
8 AP classes, junior marshal status
Vice President of thespian society
Involved in environmental club, beta club, national honor society, national English honor society, Key club
Highly involved in fine arts programs and productions, in mastery men’s choir and attended Allstate and honors chorus.
Governors honor nominee for theatre
Upholding 2 jobs and numerous volunteer hours
I’m basically trying to go to the best schools that would pay for the majority of my fees (I only have 10-15K for college)
Schools I’m considering:
Brown university
Emory university (half off tuition because in state)
Cornell
University of boulder
USC
university of Oregon
Reed college
Pacific university
University of Portland

Which schools would accept me and give me financial aid and what other colleges should I consider?

Thank you!!!

#2

First of all, you can chance yourself for acceptance by going to the Common Data Set for each school and checking your stats against those of the admitted students (Section C).

As for which schools are generous, you can google that too. The following are two examples of what pops up when you ask for colleges with the best financial aid.

http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2014/09/15/colleges-and-universities-that-claim-to-meet-full-financial-need

and

http://time.com/money/3744745/colleges-best-financial-aid/

Note that your willingness to pay needs to match the school’s expectations for what your family can afford. If they think you should be paying $30k p.a., and your family thinks they can pay $10k, you are stuck. I suggest that you run the Expected Family Contribution for each school to get a feel for this. At Brown, for example, you got to:

http://www.brown.edu/about/administration/financial-aid/needs-analysis-calculating-expected-family-contribution-efc

If the answer, after running a few of these EFC calculations, is that your family can’t pay the EFC, then you need to be looking for scholarships and merit aid (starting with your state u). U of Alabama apparently is generous according to others on this site.

Your grades and scores could make you competitive for scholarships at many less selective schools if that was of interest to you _ but you’d have to decide that attending one of these is better than your in-state option.

#3

might look at 2 very good schools in New England, Bowdoin and Holy Cross. HC (don’t have to be religious) is nrrd blind(meets 100% demonstrated financial need).

#4

I don’t see why someone who is considering Reed should consider Holy Cross.

That said, Reed will give you money if you qualify for it.

#5

You have pretty solid stats and talent in the theater. I think you should throw Yale into the mix, since they have such a strong arts scene. Financially, they are quite generous as well - like Harvard, they work to make sure you pay what you can afford to pay, such that you can graduate without debt. I just had an intuitive sense from reading your details that you might like Yale.

#6

I’d also consider UGA given you’re instate and they would likely give you some merit scholarships.

#7

<<
I’m basically trying to go to the best schools that would pay for the majority of my fees (I only have 10-15K for college)


[QUOTE=""]

[/QUOTE]

Then take off schools like U Oregon…it won’t be affordable and it doesnt’ give much merit.

Are your parents saying that they’ll pay $10-15k per year for college?

You need to run the NPCs, because likely some schools that “meet need” will expect your family to pay a lot more than that.

Is that true that Emory gives half off to instate students?? I’ve never heard that before.

#8

Definitely look at University of Georgia and University of Alabama. At UGA, you’d be eligible for the Foundation Fellows scholarship program, which is up to a full scholarship. You also have the Zell Miller scholarship. At Alabama you’d also be eligible for some of their scholarships, too.

Why would Emory give you half tuition because you live in state? Emory is private, so there’s no in-state discount. However, they do have some Emory Scholars scholarships for Georgia residents. They’re merit-based and competitive.

By University of Boulder do you mean University of Colorado at Boulder? If so, I would take both that and UO off your list. Out of state public universities don’t give a whole lot of aid to OOS students unless they have the mission of expressly trying to increase OOS students - like Alabama does (and Iowa or Iowa State used to, too). Instead, focus on your in-state options. In addition to UGA, you might also cosnider Georgia State if you don’t mind an urban university or Georgia Southern or Georgia College & State University if you want a more traditional campus.

No, and I’m not sure where the OP got this impression from. Emory does have some scholarships that are reserved for Georgia residents - like the Callaway scholarship, which is a full merit scholarship designed to attract Georgians to Emory. There are also large scholarships reserved for students from Atlanta Public Schools (MLK and Mays awards), one for students from states with Publix Supermarkets (AL, GA, FL, SC, and TN), and one for students from the Southeast - they’re all full or near-full scholarships. But they’re not guaranteed - they’re competitive awards.

OP could use the private version of the Zell Miller scholarship plus the Georgia Tuition Equalization grant at Emory; that adds up to about $5,000 per year. That’s not even close to half tuition, though. And Emory does offer courtesy scholarships to children of parents who work there or in the Emory hospital system.

Why not?

#9

The rank of the college does not mean that much to me but rather the location, so I’m trying to avoid going to college instate despite instate financial aid and available scholarships. Oregon or Colorado would be preferable, but I’m hearing that national universities don’t give much financial aid, so can anyone name specific colleges of whatever type in or around those areas that give a substantial amount of money to students who need it?

#10

From one who gave up an Ivy opportunity in favor of a scholarship at UGA, you need to know that at UGA, you will be assigned courses which you do not want or need because there is limited space as well as few options. Seriously. I was told that I had to take the classes they assigned to me and pay just under $4,000 for Summer Freshman College. Major waste of time and money. You also may not request a dorm or roommate. They are not “able” to take requests or make changes regardless of the situation. In short, you are a number and easily replaced. If you just want to party, then it is a perfect choice.

#11

^ I think this post refers to the Summer Freshman College at UGA, not the regular academic year, and without that qualification, your post could be misleading.

Most colleges have a limited summer class offering during the summer months. This makes sense as many students do not attend summer sessions. It would stand to reason that a summer program for incoming freshman that has limited numbers would also have a limited selection of classes. However, a main reason to attend such a program is to transition into college.

Students are allowed to choose their own dorms and room mates, on a space provided basis during the academic year. They may not have the staff available in the summer months to handle specific dorm requests. Also, not all dorms are open for housing during summer months.

I understand that it is tough to give up an Ivy spot, but you will not be alone. Looking at the stats of the students accepted into UGA honors college, there are some very high caliber students. They just are not all on campus yet. You could have a great academic and social experience at UGA if you choose it.

#12

You have similar stats to my D who will be attending UGA in the fall- Honors and a Curo Scholar. She also received the Woodruff scholarship. I would highly recommend you apply to both UGA and GT. These are great instate options for you both academically and financially.

D1 also applied to Tulane.

Have you considered Washington and Lee? Johnson scholarship covers COA.