Which Schools are the best fit for my profile? [WI resident, 4.0 UW GPA, 34 ACT, class rank: 1/242, <$20k]

Chance Me / Match Me
21

You are a competitive candidate for the schools you’ve although competitive means reasonable, not a sure thing.

Your interest in health management with some very specific areas will limit which schools you apply to simply because there are a limited number of schools which offer that combination of topics. When you combine that with a cost range of $20-40K, it becomes even more limited. And then a liberal campus with a live sporting atmosphere and a supportive culture in some kind of a population center and the list gets smaller still.

College is expensive, so let’s start with cost. To get the cost down to your price range, you’re going to need to get scholarship money, given that your family isn’t going to get access to big bucks for aid based on need. You’re most likely to get scholarship money at schools where your profile puts you in the top 10% of the applicants, so I’d start there.

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22

I’d ED Cornell, not Wharton, honestly (your ECs don’t scream business and Wharton is SOO, SOO competitive) and think you have a decent shot. Your rank is super helpful….

(and run NPC and have HARD talk with your parents and make sure they fill out forms completely..)

Others have great suggestions of other schools to add…

23

I agree that Rice is an interesting reach option for OP, but they won’t need to depend on merit aid (which is fairly rare and also unlikely to make the total cost affordable). The Rice Investment provides full-tuition grants to families making under $200k with typical assets, and the remaining costs are likely to be in ballpark of $20k. “Typical assets” will obviously require more investigation, but this is likely a viable route to affordability. My own D22 benefitted from this grant, and we are in the same income bracket as OP.

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24

Take a look at Purdue, College of Health & Human Sciences. I think that their cost will come in within your $40,000 stretch limit although it might be a little over.

Because all of your interest areas are housed in one college at Purdue except business, you can pick one area to major in and supplement it with interdisciplinary electives to round out the package you want. This would be harder to do at a college where your interest areas are scattered in different colleges within the university as these often are. To complete the picture, Purdue actively encourages double majors and cross college minors, so you could easily add a minor in business management from the Daniels School of Business. If you want to tie a business directly to your other interests, one interesting option would be to elect the recently introduced business minor in Behavioral Economics, which ties together psychology and Econ. But the beauty of the College of Health & Human Sciences + Daniels School of Business at Purdue is that you could develop lots of interesting combinations to combine your varied interests.

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25

Your parents need to be clear with budget. Just because you know their yearly income does not mean you know how much they can or are willing to pay for your college.

Beyond maybe U of Minn TC, I don’t see any of your choices being close to where your cost goal is.

UWiMadison, is your school part of their auto admin program (where the top 5% are accepted)?

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26

** RICE NEWS AND MEDIA RELATIONS ALERT 08/03/2026 **

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27

Yes

28

This sentence gives me pause.

First your parents said $20K. Now you’d be willing to go $40K.

Who has the $$? I assume not you - my kids had a budget. They didn’t have flexibility to say - I’m willing to go to X $. Well they can say it but it’d be meaningless.

Hence, like I showed you the Northwestern calculator, fill it out for any privates you want - like Penn. If it says $50K and the true limit is $20K or $30K, you’ve got to let it go, etc.

There are some schools that are premier yet offer merit - a Vandy, Wash U, Rice, etc - even if those come in too high, you can still apply. It’s unlikely 1) you’ll get in and 2) if you get in, you get the money you need.

But there is a chance - and there wouldn’t be at a school with no merit where the NPC shows you well over the $$ figure.

But that’s why it’s important to narrow in on a budget - and first you said your parents said $20K but you are ok with $40K. Are you funding the other $20K?

You may not have that budget figure today but then it’s important that for each school you look at, you look at the costs together.

Some schools - years 2-4 you’ll save money off campus. Other schools - it’s the opposite - my daughter’s school - we spent more off campus than on (in a city).

Then for those who go Greek, etc. there can be more expense.

It’s an important decision but it’s also a decision that may impact you or your family financially for many many years - so not everyone gets the college right (ie some don’t like where they attend) but it’s critically important that you get the budget right - and account for inflation, etc.

29

Thank you for posting this.

And the great thing about this Rice program is that admissions are need blind, meaning that they decide first whether to admit you before looking at any considerations regarding affordability.

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30

No, thank movingtothebeach. That’s how I found this out!

Although Rice isn’t located in Midwest or the Northeast, which is NutritionLover’s geographical preference, applying to additional “reach” school could lead to an additional financial aid award to compare & contrast with what other colleges will offer him.

New & exciting changes have been happening at Rice business. Plus, Rice is a politically ‘purple’ campus; I would estimate 40% conservative, 40% liberal, & 20% other; NutritionLover does state preferring a liberal-leaning college campus. Rice also uses a residential college system with no fraternities or sororities.

31

Yes, I’ve had 2 grandkids from Boston at Rice, one a senior in the recently new Business school and they love it there. Great neighborhood.

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