Smart, underachieving kid, need merit aid, so frustrated!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:St Joe's
Dayton
St. Mary's College

Dayton is a hardcore party school, I don’t picture OPs kid there

[Anonymous]

Roanoke
Wooster
McDaniel

[Anonymous]

Op, her stats are great. She will get into plenty of schools. It’s your desire for merit aid that is limiting her, not her motivation or achievement.

[Anonymous]

She be able to should attend one of the top in state options with those stats. I suggest you go with what works for your budget.

[Anonymous]

If your kid is an underachiever, I wonder what that makes my 3.3 GPA kid!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm looking for smallish colleges that will offer enough merit aid to equal in-state tuition, which is all we can afford. We're not eligible for enough FA to equal in-state costs.
My kid has a 1500 on the SAT (took it once), a 3.87 unweighted, two 5s on the APs she took last year, and is taking 5 APs this year.
She's extremely well-read, well-versed in politics, thoughtful, wise beyond her years, and cynical.
She loves to talk about politics and movies with her friends, cooks a little and plays one sport fairly well.
She's 16 and a junior at a good public she doesn't appreciate. She wants to study math and political science at a smallish college.
Here's my list of colleges for her to apply to (she has no list!!): Pitt, U Richmond, Ursinus, Davidson, U of Mary Washington, Gettysburg, Lafayette, Tulane.
Can anyone suggest other similar schools that might offer substantial merit to a kid with her stats and basically no ECs?

Please, no snark. My kid is delightful and fun to be around, not entitled, but she doesn't push herself at all. Drives me crazy, but I can't say this to her. So I'm saying it here.

LOL. You just described about 10 million kids. Add Denison maybe? I think your list is kinda mixed bag BTW.

[Anonymous]

the classic troll, my kid is an underachiever, just look at these amazing stats

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:the classic troll, my kid is an underachiever, just look at these amazing stats

I don't think OP is troll but I also don't think her kid is an underachiever... She is nothing special in this area though. Too many high stats kids with eye popping EC and whatever.

[Anonymous]

Also, if your kid has no list, then why would you try to find her an expensive out of state school to apply to?

Oldest is at an out of state private that he researched and choose and got merit aid (with lower stats than you posted).

Youngest still in high school and maybe less interested so far - he'll go in state unless/until he wants to research an out of state option that would align with his interests and stats.

[Anonymous]

I simply cannot get over that you are calling your obviously brilliant and high achieving daughter an underachiever.

You have a warped view of both the schools she will get into and the aid she will receive. She will be more than fine.

[Anonymous]

Is what you mean that you “need” her to get merit aid at a school so good that people won’t know you didn’t save enough for college? And that’s why your frustrated by her actual targets?

[Anonymous]

She needs to go visit schools to get a better idea of what she likes. She needs to be invested in the decision.

[Anonymous]

OP: I have to agree with most posters that your post is pretty frustrating. With that said, having just gone through the process with my incredibly bright son with pretty severe LDs, so lower stats than yours, got substantial merit aid from Connecticut College. I didn't know much about it before the process, but it sounds like a great school for someone who wants small liberal arts. He will be going somewhere else thanks to legacy status, but just thought I'd suggest she look at Conn College.

[Anonymous]

I have a feeling this family doesn’t want to be associated with a state school, but it’s all that they can afford. How screwed up is that.

[Anonymous]

She should get a job this summer - it'll help both with college apps and giving her some money for college.