Would love feedback on my kid's list [MA resident, 3.9/1500, prefers small schools but needs big merit to get cost <$45k]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Hi everyone,

My son & I are working on his list, & while we both feel good about the schools on it, we’re worried because he would need a top merit scholarship ($30k+) at each of these schools for them to be affordable, with the exception of our state flagship. He strongly prefers small liberal arts colleges with little/no Greek life, but thinks UMass will be ok for him if that’s how it works out. Does not really want to leave the northeast, but has agreed to apply to a few midwestern schools to increase his chances of having options.

Are these schools actually ALL reaches since he needs big merit? If so, is it OK for him to not really have any match schools as long as he’s fine with our state flagship? I’m not sure what to add for matches, given his preferences & need for merit; we considered schools like Ursinus & Muhlenberg, but he thinks they’ll be too Greek-life focused for him (we haven’t visited, though).

  • State/Location of residency: MA
  • Type of high school: urban public magnet school
  • Gender/Race/Ethnicity: white, male

**Intended Major(s): Something social science? Thinking political science or psychology.

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.95
  • Class Rank: top 10%
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1500 (780V, 720M). Will be NMSF.

Coursework
Will have 9 APs: World History, US History, Comp Govt, English Lang & Lit, Precalc, Calc AB, CompSci Principles, APES. 4 years of foreign language (AP level unavailable).

Awards–a couple of school-level awards, nothing major

Extracurriculars
debate (tournament winner), theater (major roles), frisbee, rock band, city youth council

Essays/LORs/Other
Strong & personable writer so essays should be a strength. My guess is that one letter of rec will be outstanding & the other will be solid.

Cost Constraints / Budget
$45k preferred, could stretch to 50k.

Schools

  • Safety --UMass Amherst (EA). Not sure if this is really a safety since its admission rate is 60%. He will probably add one of the big merit NMSF schools also (UMaine or Tulsa)

  • Likely: Wheaton College MA (EA), UVM (EA-their merit calculator says he’ll get enough $)

  • Match: Clark U, College of Wooster, Bard (all EA). Might add St. Olaf also.

  • Reach: Connecticut College (RD), Dickinson (RD), Fordham (EA–only affordable if he gets their National Merit scholarship), Oberlin (RD), Syracuse (RD)

(He will also apply for a few high reach LACs with affordable NPCs, but those will all be RD).

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I think College of Wooster would be a likely with the stats, both academically and financially.

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Since you will be NMSF, Tulsa will be a full-ride plus stipend and is a small school. Its president also posts on CC from time to time answering questions from prospective students. You may consider adding Tulsa to your list.

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I am wondering why Syracuse is on the list…?

I would consider adding SUNY Geneseo and SUNY New Paltz. Both schools are smaller than UMass and the cost will be well under your price point.

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He is a very strong male student applying to mostly LACs, so I think you have categorized these too conservatively, even given your need for merit. So your reaches are matches, and your matches are likelies and so on.

My S22 is doing well at Fordham LC on their NM Scholarship. He was careful to demonstrate interest, did all the “optional” essays etc.

Are there any of the high reach LACs with affordable NPCs that he likes well enough to ED to? Or does he want to be able to compare offers?

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Muhlenberg or Ursinus won’t be very Greek at all. Both would be safeties if he shows interest (or simply applies EA), Muhlenberg a bit stronger academically.

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If I recall correctly Macalester offers merit. I know Colby offers a few scholarships regardless of need but they are extremely competitive.

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Since he’s open to Ohio, I’d look at Denison also. It’s very good for public policy - both the Policy Analysis track of the Politics & Public Affairs major, and the Philosophy, Politics & Econ major if he’d like a more abstract approach. Plus there’s the highly-regarded Lugar Program, with internships in DC. I don’t know much about psych here, specifically, but I’m sure it’s more than fine. And merit could well be generous enough.

Probably too far, but Kalamazoo College is another at-least-in-the-eastern-time-zone school that would likely give generous merit. The lively small-city environment (with a large student population because of nearby Western Michigan U) might feel less distinctively midwestern than a more rural Ohio school like Wooster, even though it’s farther west. Great flexible curriculum and experiential learning emphasis.

And maybe Macalester in addition to St. Olaf? Great for his interests.

Seconding the smaller SUNY schools. And Clark has a lot of potential, I think.

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I agree-right now Oklahoma feels too far away for him, but I think we need to keep at least one of the big NMF schools on his list. We will look into Tulsa more closely this summer.

I know, it’s an outlier. His guidance counselor recommended it as a school with strong public policy programs where he might have a chance at a full-tuition scholarship. We haven’t visited yet, though. Will keep the SUNYs in mind, thank you! They would both be flagship matches for us, even without merit.

This is exactly the feedback I was hoping for, thank you! We haven’t totally ruled out ED, but not being able to compare offers makes me really nervous. And honestly I think he needs senior year to grow into himself, figure out more of what he wants–I’m not sure he’d be ready to commit in November, even if money were no issue (I’m a high school teacher & I see a lot of kids feel pressured into ED because they think it’s their only way into a ‘top’ school). But I do realize that he would have a pretty good chance in ED at those reachy LACs and a much lower chance in RD. Will keep thinking about it.

Good to hear. I will ask him to reconsider–maybe we can make a PA trip this summer.

They do, but their website says they max out at about $25,000; since COA is$83,000, I think we have to rule Macalester out. He will apply to Colby as a reach–their NPC looks good for us.

Yes, we LOVED Clark & I’d be thrilled if he ended up there. I agree that Denison & Kalamazoo could be good fits for him.

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I think he’s likely to get good merit at Conn, Wheaton, and Clark (and very possibly at some of the others, I just have less personal experience with them). What about St. Lawrence as another likely that is generous with merit?

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Denison’s merit is about 25, and they are sitting at 83 right now, so it’s not cheap. Very similar to Macalester.

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I used this aggregator to pull up the Cost-of-Attendance (COA) and percentage of students without need receiving merit aid, the average merit scholarship, and the average COA after the average merit award. I will preface this that the COA figures are not my favorite because some schools are much more generous in providing allowances for things like books, transportation, miscellaneous expenses, etc, than others, so it’s not necessarily an apples to apples comparison here. But this was easy, so it’s what I did (and I’ll leave the more tedious work to you :wink: ).

For Wooster, UVM, Wheaton, St. Olaf, and Clark, I suspect your son would be in the top of the applicant pool (in terms of top X% of students receiving merit aid), and none of those schools have super low percentages of students getting merit, so I think those schools would probably be pretty likely for your son to get into budget.

School COA % receiving merit aid w/o need Average Merit Scholarship COA minus Avg. Merit
UMass $35,234 28% $7,724 $27,510
Wooster $76,050 34% $34,133 $41,917
UVM $60,968 36% $16,278 $44,690
Wheaton $81,010 19% $33,421 $47,589
St. Olaf $72,470 24% $24,037 $48,433
Clark $68,827 30% $19,599 $49,228
Conn. College $84,697 44% $24,168 $60,529
Dickinson $83,202 24% $21,542 $61,660
Oberlin $85,496 38% $18,794 $66,702
Fordham $89,150 6% $18,694 $70,456
Syracuse $85,147 37% $12,476 $72,671
Bard $80,350 3% Not Reported #VALUE!

Connecticut College’s max award is $34k/year, so just enough to get within budget (source).

Dickinson’s highest merit from the admissions office is $35k, and the President’s scholarship is $45k/year (source).

Oberlin’s website didn’t specify their max awards, that I saw (source). Bard’s scholarship page was more intensive than I had the energy to search through (source).

So, based on the above information, these are my guesses as to what your son’s chances are for admission AND getting the school into budget.

Extremely Likely (80-99+%)

  • UMass
  • Wooster
  • UVM
  • Wheaton

Likely (60-79%)

  • St. Olaf
  • Clark

Toss-Up (40-59%)

  • Conn. College (leaning towards lower probability)

Lower Probability (20-39%)

  • Dickinson
  • Oberlin

Low Probability (less than 20%)

  • Bard (if only 3% are getting merit…)
  • Fordham
  • Syracuse

If looking for some additional sure things, I’m seconding Geneseo & SUNY New Paltz (and your son could consider Oneonta, too), and also adding in Drew. And if his social science interest is towards public policy & political science, I’m also going to suggest Siena.

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I agree with SUNY Geneseo!! Definitely has a SLAC feel. Even OOS it would it the price range.

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Thank you, AustenNut–your analysis here is really helpful (I’m bookmarking the aggregator also). Feeling better about the balance of his list.

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Showing interest early on matters - he should join the mailing list at all of them, using a college-dedicated email address (something like 1st.lastname.College@), check the address at least once a week and open messages, clicking on links he finds interesting.

At StOlaf, it seems visiting and knowing about the college matters (esp. Wrt Buntrock scholarships). If a talent scholarship is available and the applicant has a relevant talent, it’s important to participate. My impression is that they don’t want to waste scholarship offers on kids who have no intention of attending and only want to offer them to “enticeable” applicants.
In addition, the college offers the (application-only) Conversations program, which can be especially stimulating to a high achiever.

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What about URichmond? It is pricey, but he may be selected to interview as a Richmond scholar which would be a full ride.

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You could add in Susquehanna and Gettysburg, my dd got a lot of merit at both of those (especially susquehanna). Probably a likely for both.

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Seconding Susquehanna ! Very friendly, solid Honors program, pretty easy to double major and study abroad.

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Sounds like Grinnell would be a a great reach option if ok with the location. It’s an excellent small college with generous merit aid.

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Thanks for linking that aggregator. It’s a terrific quick glance estimator. I will say, however, that for any school of interest it is important to verify the numbers (using numbers from section H of the CDS) as this aggregator sometimes makes mistakes.

For example, at Fordham 60% (not 6%) of those without need get a non-need based grant (average $20K)

At Bard, using the most recent CDS I could find, 16% of those without need got a non-need based grant (average $40K)

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