How does this application strategy look?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. We are trying to avoid far and cold, but I will keep all these in mind when it comes to RD applications.

You need to look at this website and go to the average merit aid for students without need column. You can look up almost any college. Many very good liberal arts schools will give you 20-30k. Be sure to look at the percentage without need getting merit aid, though. If the number is below 20%, don’t bother. But often half the students with no financial aid get a good amount of merit aid…

https://www.collegetransitions.com/dataverse/merit-aid

With few exceptions (Grinnell, for example), the top liberal arts colleges don't give that kind of merit aid -- if they give any at all -- and even if they did 20-30k isn't going to close the gap. Not to mention that OP's kid isn't being presented as a liberal arts college type.

OP, you might want to try the bogleheads website for college recommendations. It's a great resource for smart people who are good with their money. This website is heavily biased against state colleges, to the point where posters will push just about any private school under the sun against any state school. You are 100 percent on the right track in your thinking. I wouldn't pay any attention to any post that suggests a private school be added to your list.

Use the site, OP and other interested parties, and ignore the agenda person here. Lots of private unis, lots of mid-size, lots of state schools, and lots of quality SLACs. Calculate the true price assuming average merit aid (and don’t assume merit aid unless it is given to a significant slice of students without need).

[Anonymous]

OP here. I know some posters are disagreeing, but I do truly appreciate all of the differing perspectives. DD is sure how she wants to use her ED, but we are well aware that it is a crapshoot. I am definitely going to bookmark this page and if ED does not go her way, we will seriously consider some of these new suggestions for the RD round.

Thanks to all who took the time to share their thoughts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I know some posters are disagreeing, but I do truly appreciate all of the differing perspectives. DD is sure how she wants to use her ED, but we are well aware that it is a crapshoot. I am definitely going to bookmark this page and if ED does not go her way, we will seriously consider some of these new suggestions for the RD round.

Thanks to all who took the time to share their thoughts.

Some advice - don't wait for ED results to pivot.
Have your RD list baked and ready by Oct 1, so you can focus on essays from Nov 1-Dec 15, and have a stress-free Xmas and New Year's break.
Also, it's wise to do this bc some schools track Demonstrated Interest (e.g., Case, Elon and a lot of SLACs) so you'd need to do webinars this summer to show some real interest. Otherwise, no chance for $$$.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. We are trying to avoid far and cold, but I will keep all these in mind when it comes to RD applications.

You need to look at this website and go to the average merit aid for students without need column. You can look up almost any college. Many very good liberal arts schools will give you 20-30k. Be sure to look at the percentage without need getting merit aid, though. If the number is below 20%, don’t bother. But often half the students with no financial aid get a good amount of merit aid…

https://www.collegetransitions.com/dataverse/merit-aid

With few exceptions (Grinnell, for example), the top liberal arts colleges don't give that kind of merit aid -- if they give any at all -- and even if they did 20-30k isn't going to close the gap. Not to mention that OP's kid isn't being presented as a liberal arts college type.

OP, you might want to try the bogleheads website for college recommendations. It's a great resource for smart people who are good with their money. This website is heavily biased against state colleges, to the point where posters will push just about any private school under the sun against any state school. You are 100 percent on the right track in your thinking. I wouldn't pay any attention to any post that suggests a private school be added to your list.

This only shows that you are pushing an agenda. Not for the best interest of OP's DC. Also, you are unfamiliar with premed.

Not pushing an agenda. Just stating the obvious. Other than posters suggesting UGA -- which makes some sense although OOS admissions is probably as tough as in state UVA -- post after post is throwing out expensive privates where zero merit aid would be offered, or second tier expensive privates where there may be some merit aid offered but the schools aren't that great and aren't in any way similar to anything on OP's list.

What? Case Western and Rochester have always been among the best premed programs. Please don't use terms like "second tier", do some research other than ranking which is meaningless.

OP's daughter is undecided on premed. No reason to laser focus on premed grinder schools. And there ARE second-tier. Neither is a good as UVA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. We are trying to avoid far and cold, but I will keep all these in mind when it comes to RD applications.

You need to look at this website and go to the average merit aid for students without need column. You can look up almost any college. Many very good liberal arts schools will give you 20-30k. Be sure to look at the percentage without need getting merit aid, though. If the number is below 20%, don’t bother. But often half the students with no financial aid get a good amount of merit aid…

https://www.collegetransitions.com/dataverse/merit-aid

With few exceptions (Grinnell, for example), the top liberal arts colleges don't give that kind of merit aid -- if they give any at all -- and even if they did 20-30k isn't going to close the gap. Not to mention that OP's kid isn't being presented as a liberal arts college type.

OP, you might want to try the bogleheads website for college recommendations. It's a great resource for smart people who are good with their money. This website is heavily biased against state colleges, to the point where posters will push just about any private school under the sun against any state school. You are 100 percent on the right track in your thinking. I wouldn't pay any attention to any post that suggests a private school be added to your list.

This only shows that you are pushing an agenda. Not for the best interest of OP's DC. Also, you are unfamiliar with premed.

Not pushing an agenda. Just stating the obvious. Other than posters suggesting UGA -- which makes some sense although OOS admissions is probably as tough as in state UVA -- post after post is throwing out expensive privates where zero merit aid would be offered, or second tier expensive privates where there may be some merit aid offered but the schools aren't that great and aren't in any way similar to anything on OP's list.

How much merit aid does kid need? OP just said she didn't want to pay 90k. Is 30k scholarship enough?
I would look for liberal arts schools that need more science kids?

Also, my kid got 25k+/yr from each of the following (mentioned by others earlier): Elon; St. Olaf; Vermont; CU-Boulder; USC; Case, Pitt and Richmond.

Another random and entirely unhelpful list. OP isn't chasing merit aid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I know some posters are disagreeing, but I do truly appreciate all of the differing perspectives. DD is sure how she wants to use her ED, but we are well aware that it is a crapshoot. I am definitely going to bookmark this page and if ED does not go her way, we will seriously consider some of these new suggestions for the RD round.

Thanks to all who took the time to share their thoughts.

OP, your kid will get into UVA. You won't have to come back here and deal again with the crazies.

-- the state school poster

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I know some posters are disagreeing, but I do truly appreciate all of the differing perspectives. DD is sure how she wants to use her ED, but we are well aware that it is a crapshoot. I am definitely going to bookmark this page and if ED does not go her way, we will seriously consider some of these new suggestions for the RD round.

Thanks to all who took the time to share their thoughts.

Some advice - don't wait for ED results to pivot.
Have your RD list baked and ready by Oct 1, so you can focus on essays from Nov 1-Dec 15, and have a stress-free Xmas and New Year's break.
Also, it's wise to do this bc some schools track Demonstrated Interest (e.g., Case, Elon and a lot of SLACs) so you'd need to do webinars this summer to show some real interest. Otherwise, no chance for $$$.

Agree with doing some prep for RD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. We are trying to avoid far and cold, but I will keep all these in mind when it comes to RD applications.

You need to look at this website and go to the average merit aid for students without need column. You can look up almost any college. Many very good liberal arts schools will give you 20-30k. Be sure to look at the percentage without need getting merit aid, though. If the number is below 20%, don’t bother. But often half the students with no financial aid get a good amount of merit aid…

https://www.collegetransitions.com/dataverse/merit-aid

With few exceptions (Grinnell, for example), the top liberal arts colleges don't give that kind of merit aid -- if they give any at all -- and even if they did 20-30k isn't going to close the gap. Not to mention that OP's kid isn't being presented as a liberal arts college type.

OP, you might want to try the bogleheads website for college recommendations. It's a great resource for smart people who are good with their money. This website is heavily biased against state colleges, to the point where posters will push just about any private school under the sun against any state school. You are 100 percent on the right track in your thinking. I wouldn't pay any attention to any post that suggests a private school be added to your list.

This only shows that you are pushing an agenda. Not for the best interest of OP's DC. Also, you are unfamiliar with premed.

Not pushing an agenda. Just stating the obvious. Other than posters suggesting UGA -- which makes some sense although OOS admissions is probably as tough as in state UVA -- post after post is throwing out expensive privates where zero merit aid would be offered, or second tier expensive privates where there may be some merit aid offered but the schools aren't that great and aren't in any way similar to anything on OP's list.

How much merit aid does kid need? OP just said she didn't want to pay 90k. Is 30k scholarship enough?
I would look for liberal arts schools that need more science kids?

Also, my kid got 25k+/yr from each of the following (mentioned by others earlier): Elon; St. Olaf; Vermont; CU-Boulder; USC; Case, Pitt and Richmond.

Another random and entirely unhelpful list. OP isn't chasing merit aid.

She said she didn't want to pay 90k. Can you read?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't want to try private? maybe a few top SLAC like Wellsesley. If just public, how about UM, UCLA?
The list is really short in today's standard.

OP here. We've been reading and researching but can't really find any comparable privates that would give decent merit aid. We wouldn't qualify for need-based and while we could pay $90k a year for college, I'm just not convinced it's worth it. Especially since it's looking likely DD will want to attend some form of grad school as well. I don't know - is that a mistake? She is our oldest so this is new to us. We have the money but we are frugal by nature and I do think she'd be happy somewhere like UVA.

Looking for comparable privates?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. We are trying to avoid far and cold, but I will keep all these in mind when it comes to RD applications.

You need to look at this website and go to the average merit aid for students without need column. You can look up almost any college. Many very good liberal arts schools will give you 20-30k. Be sure to look at the percentage without need getting merit aid, though. If the number is below 20%, don’t bother. But often half the students with no financial aid get a good amount of merit aid…

https://www.collegetransitions.com/dataverse/merit-aid

With few exceptions (Grinnell, for example), the top liberal arts colleges don't give that kind of merit aid -- if they give any at all -- and even if they did 20-30k isn't going to close the gap. Not to mention that OP's kid isn't being presented as a liberal arts college type.

OP, you might want to try the bogleheads website for college recommendations. It's a great resource for smart people who are good with their money. This website is heavily biased against state colleges, to the point where posters will push just about any private school under the sun against any state school. You are 100 percent on the right track in your thinking. I wouldn't pay any attention to any post that suggests a private school be added to your list.

This only shows that you are pushing an agenda. Not for the best interest of OP's DC. Also, you are unfamiliar with premed.

Not pushing an agenda. Just stating the obvious. Other than posters suggesting UGA -- which makes some sense although OOS admissions is probably as tough as in state UVA -- post after post is throwing out expensive privates where zero merit aid would be offered, or second tier expensive privates where there may be some merit aid offered but the schools aren't that great and aren't in any way similar to anything on OP's list.

How much merit aid does kid need? OP just said she didn't want to pay 90k. Is 30k scholarship enough?
I would look for liberal arts schools that need more science kids?

Also, my kid got 25k+/yr from each of the following (mentioned by others earlier): Elon; St. Olaf; Vermont; CU-Boulder; USC; Case, Pitt and Richmond.

Another random and entirely unhelpful list. OP isn't chasing merit aid.

She said she didn't want to pay 90k. Can you read?

They're not mutually exclusive.

[Anonymous]

Pitt is a city school. My kid is heading there next year. I get it that it is rolling but it has a different feel than some of the rest of the schools.

Also, why not add JMU? Isn't JMU very similar to Delaware? And it would be in state. I would think you have a good shot at most of the other schools so I doubt it that it will matter.

[Anonymous]

JMU has honors college. Would be a good safety.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pitt is a city school. My kid is heading there next year. I get it that it is rolling but it has a different feel than some of the rest of the schools.

Also, why not add JMU? Isn't JMU very similar to Delaware? And it would be in state. I would think you have a good shot at most of the other schools so I doubt it that it will matter.

Delaware is ranked in the 80’s. JMU is in the 140’s I think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't want to try private? maybe a few top SLAC like Wellsesley. If just public, how about UM, UCLA?
The list is really short in today's standard.

OP here. We've been reading and researching but can't really find any comparable privates that would give decent merit aid. We wouldn't qualify for need-based and while we could pay $90k a year for college, I'm just not convinced it's worth it. Especially since it's looking likely DD will want to attend some form of grad school as well. I don't know - is that a mistake? She is our oldest so this is new to us. We have the money but we are frugal by nature and I do think she'd be happy somewhere like UVA.

Looking for comparable privates?

What is the question?