Public vs private. What matters, or course, is the right fit for your daughter, however a good place to start might be to gauge you/your husband's comfort level (makes it easier when you have to write the check) Did you and your husband go to private or public? I think it's worth considering. Any choice of school will not be perfect. The advantages will be more obvious, and you will minimize - observed through your own experience. There are people who prefer publics, and those who prefer privates.

^ meant to type "chose" ~ didn't want you to think that was a result of choosing a public school education

Northern Virginia students always have better results -meaning get in to higher ranked schools - out of state. Poster I know you live in Maryland, so I don't want to hijack, it's just such a hot-button issue. Nevertheless -JMU for oos I'd say is doable, though maybe a slight reach. Pitt is a match. All others, I'd say 'no'. Apply liberally - application fees are a drop in the bucket. We had our daughter apply to 10 schools (we preferred large public. They were almost all out-of-state) We NEVER would have been able to anticipate the merit-aid results. The bottom line costs were completely different from where we started. She choose an oos public that offered her 1/2 off tuition for 4 years. Some schools offered no money, some she didn't get in.

Anonymous wrote:I don't se you getting much financial aid unless there is something you are not telling us. If it costs the same, why not private?

Or better, if it costs the same, why not pick the school you think will be best regardless of whether it's public or private?

I don't se you getting much financial aid unless there is something you are not telling us. If it costs the same, why not private?

Anonymous wrote:12:39--how/where do you see available merit aid? My DD has a little higher stats and wants go to a college where she won't see "half her HS class" and preferably somewhere warm. I'm intrigued by the merit aid possibility.

12:39 here. Basically, just type in "net price calculator" plus the university that you're interested in into google and it should come right up. You'll fill out some information about your DD's academics and your own finances and then it should produce with an estimate after completion.

Off the top of my head, some of the schools that I saw largest discounts (15k-20k off) were Rollins, Stetson, High Point University Guilford College, LaSalle , Dusquense, Arkansas , Ole Miss, and Arizona State. Again - these were mostly USNWR high ranked south regional or 125-150 national universities. When I went up the scale to maybe around 100 national or top 10 regional west or north, merit aid tapered off. I think the best aid I saw in this class was Ithaca College, University of San Diego, and Santa Clara (7.5k-10k off).

12:39--how/where do you see available merit aid? My DD has a little higher stats and wants go to a college where she won't see "half her HS class" and preferably somewhere warm. I'm intrigued by the merit aid possibility.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe your free money can come in the way of financial aid. But my DD, with a 3.5 GPA and 1200 (on Math and CR) from a VA public often mentioned here got zero money anywhere and was not accepted to JMU (you'll have better luck OOS). Our DD ended up at an OOS public that has a much better national reputation/ranking (according to any ranking we could find) than JMU. We pay $32-35,000 all things considered. She's very happy, FWIW.

This is exactly our case with DS.

We're in a similar situation with DD. Curious what great OOS states schools these kids are getting into and loving (and with higher national rank than JMU).

Miami of Ohio, University of Georgia, and South Carolina are ones to look at, both for admissions standards and merit aid for OOS students (though OP would need higher test scores to qualify for merit aid). Of the three, UGA is probably the most selective and has the biggest reputation. All three have solid reputations (not top tier, but good to very good [UGA] for mid-tier), offer some merit aid for OOS students, have great quality of life, and are within a day's drive of DC.

Good luck.

Schools now are required to have a net price calculator online that can give you a ballpark idea as to what merit aid might be. DD's stats were also around 1200 M&V SAT and 3.5 GPA. I started seeing pretty substantial merit aid from schools that were USNWR ranked 125 - 150 (national) or top 10 south regional (colleges and universities). Not sure as to how this will translate into "real life" but it's at least a beginning point

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe your free money can come in the way of financial aid. But my DD, with a 3.5 GPA and 1200 (on Math and CR) from a VA public often mentioned here got zero money anywhere and was not accepted to JMU (you'll have better luck OOS). Our DD ended up at an OOS public that has a much better national reputation/ranking (according to any ranking we could find) than JMU. We pay $32-35,000 all things considered. She's very happy, FWIW.

This is exactly our case with DS.

We're in a similar situation with DD. Curious what great OOS states schools these kids are getting into and loving (and with higher national rank than JMU).

Miami of Ohio, University of Georgia, and South Carolina are ones to look at, both for admissions standards and merit aid for OOS students (though OP would need higher test scores to qualify for merit aid). Of the three, UGA is probably the most selective and has the biggest reputation. All three have solid reputations (not top tier, but good to very good [UGA] for mid-tier), offer some merit aid for OOS students, have great quality of life, and are within a day's drive of DC.

Good luck.

OP, your kid should probably pick several of each, private and public OOS that seem like good fits. Most kids apply to 5-10 colleges anyway, which has become easier because of the common app. See which s/he gets into, and then make this choice based on fit, interests, ranking if that's important to you, net cost including any merit aid, et cetera.

Also, if your school has Naviance, you can use it to see how kids with your kid's SATs and GPA do at these colleges.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe your free money can come in the way of financial aid. But my DD, with a 3.5 GPA and 1200 (on Math and CR) from a VA public often mentioned here got zero money anywhere and was not accepted to JMU (you'll have better luck OOS). Our DD ended up at an OOS public that has a much better national reputation/ranking (according to any ranking we could find) than JMU. We pay $32-35,000 all things considered. She's very happy, FWIW.

This is exactly our case with DS.

We're in a similar situation with DD. Curious what great OOS states schools these kids are getting into and loving (and with higher national rank than JMU).

Anonymous wrote:I just went through the process with DD. With OP’s DDs GPA and test scores I’d concentrate on finding a college that will accept her and then try to get money. I don’t think any of the OP listed colleges would accept her daughter. 500's in the SATs is really low. I agree with PP, try the ACT. Hate to sound harsh, but getting shut out would be awful.

500's on the SATs isn't low, it's average. Unfortunately, the schools picked out are much harder than average to get into.