Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:USC if you have high stats.

Do you mean University of Southern California? Costs $90k/yr.

USC in this context is probably South Carolina.

Anonymous wrote:What is NMF?

National Merit Finalist

Anonymous wrote:My son has been advised to shoot below his weight for merit. He is a junior, top 10% of class at a competitive high school with APs across the board, but we make too much and so we will be looking for merit. Our flagship is extremely competitive. That will be his first choice, however.

I know this a very common predicament, and so I am curious how other kids have fared when they ended up at schools that were not particularly competitive. Did they end up thriving? Were they disappointed? Do you regret settling? What were the schools? Our tuition budget for him is $60k, which will open some doors but close many others.

Are they an NM semifinalist? What's their GPA and SAT scores?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have similar budget parameters (60K/year), but live in the midwest. My daughter wants to study biology/ enviro sci / plant science. She is looking at UMN, Grinnell, Dickinson, Wisconsin, St. Olaf, Kenyon, maybe Macalaster, maybe Cal Poly. She may apply for some Ivies just to see, and that might be a different conversation, but it looks like she would have a realistic chance of keeping the above schools to within 60K, either through merit aid or reasonable OOS tuition.

If she wants Grinnell, she should consider ED. Much easier to get in and they guarantee 20k merit to those accepted ED. Very difficult admit if not ED.

Are there other schools that offer automatic merit aid if you apply ED?

St. Olaf: "Our Early Decision Commitment means that any student who applies and is admitted through Early Decision will receive a minimum of a $20,000 St. Olaf Scholarship." (https://wp.stolaf.edu/admissions/apply/faqs/#:~:text=Is%20there%20a%20financial%20incentive,Olaf%20Scholarship.)

Thank you!!

Anonymous wrote:My son has been advised to shoot below his weight for merit. He is a junior, top 10% of class at a competitive high school with APs across the board, but we make too much and so we will be looking for merit. Our flagship is extremely competitive. That will be his first choice, however.

I know this a very common predicament, and so I am curious how other kids have fared when they ended up at schools that were not particularly competitive. Did they end up thriving? Were they disappointed? Do you regret settling? What were the schools? Our tuition budget for him is $60k, which will open some doors but close many others.

Your son should just apply to a wide range of schools. Many will offer him enough merit aid to get the cost down to $55,000.

Another possibility for an independent, level-headed student: universities in the UK and Ireland and English-language bachelor’s programs in the Belgium, the Netherlands or EU countries.

Many of the kids in my area are going to the UK and Europe for college, and they all seem happy.

There’s a hiring manager who comes in and says having a non-U.S. degree will hurt when the students are job hunting. That person could be right. My son isn’t at that stage yet. But so far so good.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have similar budget parameters (60K/year), but live in the midwest. My daughter wants to study biology/ enviro sci / plant science. She is looking at UMN, Grinnell, Dickinson, Wisconsin, St. Olaf, Kenyon, maybe Macalaster, maybe Cal Poly. She may apply for some Ivies just to see, and that might be a different conversation, but it looks like she would have a realistic chance of keeping the above schools to within 60K, either through merit aid or reasonable OOS tuition.

If she wants Grinnell, she should consider ED. Much easier to get in and they guarantee 20k merit to those accepted ED. Very difficult admit if not ED.

Are there other schools that offer automatic merit aid if you apply ED?

St. Olaf: "Our Early Decision Commitment means that any student who applies and is admitted through Early Decision will receive a minimum of a $20,000 St. Olaf Scholarship." (https://wp.stolaf.edu/admissions/apply/faqs/#:~:text=Is%20there%20a%20financial%20incentive,Olaf%20Scholarship.)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really hate the characterization that you're "shooting below your weight". Choosing the best college is the whole package, bet fit, etc. If that's Auburn or St Joes, or where ever, then so be it. Don't both accept the $$$$$ and act like you're too good for the school.

Please. A kid with the grades and scores for Duke or Northwestern is going to be the cream of the crop for a school like St. Joe’s. It is definitely several tiers lower and that’s a real consideration for OP. Why wouldn’t it be?

Why is it a consideration? A kid with good stats is going to get a fine education no matter where they go. If you’re concerned about the tier of a certain colleges, you are concerned with prestige, not education.

That’s like saying any intelligent child will do fine in HS including the inner city public. You full well know that the environment matters.

Any intelligent child WILL do fine in an inner city public HS. You know that full well.

If by "fine" you mean that the kid will get high marks at the school, then yes. If by "fine" you mean that the kid will be exposed to a rigorous curriculum and high quality instruction, then I suspect you're mistaken.

So what does "inner city" mean anymore? In many American cities in the past 25 years, there's been a dramatic demographic shift back to central city areas by well-educated families who want to live in walkable, dense neighborhoods with plenty of things nearby, and are fine with 100-year-old houses or apartment spaces. (These might not be strictly "downtown" neighborhoods, but older, established mixed-used neighborhoods in the central city areas.) Many older public schools in those areas have great ratings, diverse student bodies, and high test scores.

"Inner city" as a pejorative is outdated. (If you mean "schools with mostly non-white students," that's something different, but those schools aren't easily stereotyped these days either.)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really hate the characterization that you're "shooting below your weight". Choosing the best college is the whole package, bet fit, etc. If that's Auburn or St Joes, or where ever, then so be it. Don't both accept the $$$$$ and act like you're too good for the school.

Please. A kid with the grades and scores for Duke or Northwestern is going to be the cream of the crop for a school like St. Joe’s. It is definitely several tiers lower and that’s a real consideration for OP. Why wouldn’t it be?

Why is it a consideration? A kid with good stats is going to get a fine education no matter where they go. If you’re concerned about the tier of a certain colleges, you are concerned with prestige, not education.

That’s like saying any intelligent child will do fine in HS including the inner city public. You full well know that the environment matters.

Any intelligent child WILL do fine in an inner city public HS. You know that full well.

If by "fine" you mean that the kid will get high marks at the school, then yes. If by "fine" you mean that the kid will be exposed to a rigorous curriculum and high quality instruction, then I suspect you're mistaken.

Your kid will have a lot of options at 60k a year. Cast a wide net when trolling for merit. We were not surprised where our kid did and did not get in. Merit was all over the place. Made no sense at times.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have similar budget parameters (60K/year), but live in the midwest. My daughter wants to study biology/ enviro sci / plant science. She is looking at UMN, Grinnell, Dickinson, Wisconsin, St. Olaf, Kenyon, maybe Macalaster, maybe Cal Poly. She may apply for some Ivies just to see, and that might be a different conversation, but it looks like she would have a realistic chance of keeping the above schools to within 60K, either through merit aid or reasonable OOS tuition.

If she wants Grinnell, she should consider ED. Much easier to get in and they guarantee 20k merit to those accepted ED. Very difficult admit if not ED.

Are there other schools that offer automatic merit aid if you apply ED?

Anonymous wrote:We have similar budget parameters (60K/year), but live in the midwest. My daughter wants to study biology/ enviro sci / plant science. She is looking at UMN, Grinnell, Dickinson, Wisconsin, St. Olaf, Kenyon, maybe Macalaster, maybe Cal Poly. She may apply for some Ivies just to see, and that might be a different conversation, but it looks like she would have a realistic chance of keeping the above schools to within 60K, either through merit aid or reasonable OOS tuition.

What about U of Oregon? Automatic $50k off for 4 years for OOS scholars. A family member just graduated with a masters there and is an expert in some kind of forest fungi. So specialized I can’t recall.