For a very top student I would send them to the top college if they get in. It increases your families social capital pretty much forever. Our dad went to a top school and grad school and excelled and if neant great jobs for him as well as friendly intelligent colleagues and their families for us to socialize with. It meant that our parents could also afford good schooling options for us kids as well.

When dad died young and all of those things largely dried up our lives changed drastically and it was not good. We ended up going to state schools, including the Maryland ‘flagship’ and maybe it’s changed, but we encountered indifferent and sometimes outwardly hostile professors, many classmates who didn’t care much for school, a job track to a place where I faced discrimination and sexism in my field (another woman from a top school did not face similar discrimination) professors from top universities who just assumed that we were dumb and inferior compared to students at their schools and who weren’t shy about saying so. I still enjoyed my education, but my child now has the chance to take her brains and study skills elsewhere for a better education and future and we figure that that is what money is for, much like my grandparents invested their precious resources in my father.

I think that the people who discourage spending money on a child’s education don’t have children with that option and they want to discourage you from taking that opportunity to equalize things for their children.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD is interested in sciences (biochem/engineering/pre-med?) and currently making a list with the usual suspects. She has good stats (35 ACT, 800 Math2, 800 BioM, high GPA). Curious if there are those who have targeted "lower-tier" schools to try to lots of merit aid? According to Naviance, she has a great shot at some great schools, but we have younger children to plan for as well. What schools would you add to your list with this in mind? TIA!

1. yes, target lower tier school for merit
2. a 35 is very good score but, particularly in this area, there are tons of kids with 35s. National %-tile doesn't matter.
3. lower tier schools don't care about SAT II scores. Most don't require it, they won't look at it.

If you get a 35 you have scored higher than everyone but approximately 15,000 students or so, out of 2,000,000+ students.

That’s a very good score and I’m pretty sure that all of those 15k students don’t live in the DC area.

https://blog.prepscholar.com/how-many-people-get-a-34-35-36-on-the-act-score-breakdown


On the ACT, 34 and up is the 99th percentile. So if you score 34 or higher, you’re in the top 1% of test takers!

But exactly how many students earned a 33, 34, 35, or 36 in 2017? Which score is the rarest? Let's take a look:

Score # of Students Percentage of All Test Takers
36 2,760 0.136%
35 12,386 0.610%
34 20,499 1.010%
33 26,920 1.326%
Source: ACT.org

This is single sitting stats. If you super score (which many schools do nowdays), the stats will be much higher. This is why I tell people if your strategy is getting merit money at lower tier schools that superscore, retake a 35. You really have nothing to lose. If you are aiming for top tier schools, don't. I think if OP really needs merit money, either lower the target schools or retake if possible.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:We, too, have a STEM-focused girl with good stats, and we also live in Virginia, with an HHI <$130K. Thing is, she wants a small school (<2500 students) and the options in Virginia are not plentiful. She went to Juniata’s Open house last month and really liked it, sat in on a Chemistry class and got to talk to the professor (a lady). That made a big impression on her. We’ll be looking at a number of schools on the CTCL list.

Ah, thanks. what other schools are you looking at from that list? I see these schools pop up in discussions. I'd love for someone to chime in who has direct experience?

We haven’t visited yet, but the other top candidates are Allegheny, College of Wooster and Wheaton or Hope College (if she wants to go to a Christian school, which would align with our faith).

Notre Dame, Catholic U, Georgetown, Villanova, Boston, Holy Cross???
https://www.collegechoice.net/rankings/top-catholic-colleges-and-universities/

Also, any large state university and many private schools too will have a Catholic student center. You should not fear sending your children to college - they aren’t just filled with amoral lunatics.

PP is looking for merit aid. Georgetown, ND, Villanova do not award merit scholarships and the others give a pittance to a handful of students

Notre Dame appears to have plenty of money to give out. Georgetown not so much. But isn’t this child a national merit finalist?

She will (likely) be commended, not finalist. Although she had perfect score (760) on the Math portion of the PSAT.

Commended us still pretty great and should open up some scholarship opportunities.

Anonymous wrote:If she is not opposed to all female schools then I would suggest Mt Holyoke. They offered my DD a generous merit award. They are part of a consortium which gives you more flexibility in taking classes at Amherst, UMass, and a few others.

Thanks - we have just started researching the women’s colleges. Can you tell me what sold her on MH versus her other choices?

"Why give more to one sibling than another?

If the one worked harder I definitely would."

This is a really tough question. Who is to say what working harder means?

If S1 has a learning disability and manages a 3.5 uw 4.2 w (so lots of AP classes) GPA with only a 28 ACT score, did they work more or less than S2 who got a 3.5 uw 4.2 w at TJ with a 1580 SAT?

What if S1 prepped like crazy and manages a 1500 SAT but only a 3.8 uw GPA and S2 didn't prep at all and got a 1400 SAT but managed a 4.0 uw GPA in the same set of classes.

If S1's 1500 gets them into an expensive school that S2's 1400 kept them out of, I'm not sure I would pay even though S1 had a better plan and followed through to make it work.

If she is not opposed to all female schools then I would suggest Mt Holyoke. They offered my DD a generous merit award. They are part of a consortium which gives you more flexibility in taking classes at Amherst, UMass, and a few others.

Anonymous wrote:What about something like University of Delaware Honors Program? It's a college within a college, and offers lots of extra opportunities for Honors student.

This is what I was thinking of as well. Like Ohio State, with honors college. They have OOS merit scholarships.

Are there more OOS state schools that have lower tuition than VA in-state and “better”, not sure.

What about something like University of Delaware Honors Program? It's a college within a college, and offers lots of extra opportunities for Honors student.

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Anonymous wrote:There are lots of small engineering schools that have lots more men than women.

Some of them use merit aid to close the gap. Most of them have reasonable chemistry and/or biochemistry departments.

Think RPI, WPI, Lehigh, Case Western, Stevens Insti of Tech and so on. The question there is will she get enough to be less than in state?

The next level down places like Rowan, Clarkson, Michigan Tech are likely to be less than in state.

Thanks.

For the last two years WPI has had a stated policy of trying to even out their M/F ratio by offering women significantly higher amounts of merit aid.

Anonymous wrote:We, too, have a STEM-focused girl with good stats, and we also live in Virginia, with an HHI <$130K. Thing is, she wants a small school (<2500 students) and the options in Virginia are not plentiful. She went to Juniata’s Open house last month and really liked it, sat in on a Chemistry class and got to talk to the professor (a lady). That made a big impression on her. We’ll be looking at a number of schools on the CTCL list.

To this PP: have you checked out McDaniel? My family member attended there with great merit. She studied Math, but a friend of hers was science major and went to medical school.

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Anonymous wrote:We, too, have a STEM-focused girl with good stats, and we also live in Virginia, with an HHI <$130K. Thing is, she wants a small school (<2500 students) and the options in Virginia are not plentiful. She went to Juniata’s Open house last month and really liked it, sat in on a Chemistry class and got to talk to the professor (a lady). That made a big impression on her. We’ll be looking at a number of schools on the CTCL list.

Ah, thanks. what other schools are you looking at from that list? I see these schools pop up in discussions. I'd love for someone to chime in who has direct experience?

We haven’t visited yet, but the other top candidates are Allegheny, College of Wooster and Wheaton or Hope College (if she wants to go to a Christian school, which would align with our faith).

Notre Dame, Catholic U, Georgetown, Villanova, Boston, Holy Cross???
https://www.collegechoice.net/rankings/top-catholic-colleges-and-universities/

Also, any large state university and many private schools too will have a Catholic student center. You should not fear sending your children to college - they aren’t just filled with amoral lunatics.

PP is looking for merit aid. Georgetown, ND, Villanova do not award merit scholarships and the others give a pittance to a handful of students

Notre Dame appears to have plenty of money to give out. Georgetown not so much. But isn’t this child a national merit finalist?

NMF/NMS status won’t get you merit money at those schools unless you go to Alabama, Oklahoma, Kentucky or Kansas and such.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We, too, have a STEM-focused girl with good stats, and we also live in Virginia, with an HHI <$130K. Thing is, she wants a small school (<2500 students) and the options in Virginia are not plentiful. She went to Juniata’s Open house last month and really liked it, sat in on a Chemistry class and got to talk to the professor (a lady). That made a big impression on her. We’ll be looking at a number of schools on the CTCL list.

Ah, thanks. what other schools are you looking at from that list? I see these schools pop up in discussions. I'd love for someone to chime in who has direct experience?

We haven’t visited yet, but the other top candidates are Allegheny, College of Wooster and Wheaton or Hope College (if she wants to go to a Christian school, which would align with our faith).

Notre Dame, Catholic U, Georgetown, Villanova, Boston, Holy Cross???
https://www.collegechoice.net/rankings/top-catholic-colleges-and-universities/

Also, any large state university and many private schools too will have a Catholic student center. You should not fear sending your children to college - they aren’t just filled with amoral lunatics.

PP is looking for merit aid. Georgetown, ND, Villanova do not award merit scholarships and the others give a pittance to a handful of students

Notre Dame appears to have plenty of money to give out. Georgetown not so much. But isn’t this child a national merit finalist?

She will (likely) be commended, not finalist. Although she had perfect score (760) on the Math portion of the PSAT.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We, too, have a STEM-focused girl with good stats, and we also live in Virginia, with an HHI <$130K. Thing is, she wants a small school (<2500 students) and the options in Virginia are not plentiful. She went to Juniata’s Open house last month and really liked it, sat in on a Chemistry class and got to talk to the professor (a lady). That made a big impression on her. We’ll be looking at a number of schools on the CTCL list.

Ah, thanks. what other schools are you looking at from that list? I see these schools pop up in discussions. I'd love for someone to chime in who has direct experience?

We haven’t visited yet, but the other top candidates are Allegheny, College of Wooster and Wheaton or Hope College (if she wants to go to a Christian school, which would align with our faith).

Notre Dame, Catholic U, Georgetown, Villanova, Boston, Holy Cross???
https://www.collegechoice.net/rankings/top-catholic-colleges-and-universities/

Also, any large state university and many private schools too will have a Catholic student center. You should not fear sending your children to college - they aren’t just filled with amoral lunatics.

PP is looking for merit aid. Georgetown, ND, Villanova do not award merit scholarships and the others give a pittance to a handful of students

Notre Dame appears to have plenty of money to give out. Georgetown not so much. But isn’t this child a national merit finalist?

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:OP here: We live in VA. We’re lucky to have great in-state schools. We estimate (if accepted): ~$30+ UVA, ~$28 W&M, and $20 something VT. We just don’t know what other options there are if she looked at another tier? She’s our oldest. We don’t qualify for need based aid. We’ve saved money for her (and siblings)- but just want to explore options.

If you don’t qualify for aid and you have saved some for her and she has worked this hard shouldn’t you support her in her goals? Are the other kids even good students? Maybe you should scrimp on the other kids and not the one who has worked her rear off?

Translation: "Shouldn't you go into debt for your child as you approach retirement, and short your other kids who may have learning or other issues which impede their ability to perform at the same level as their older sister, thereby creating potential lifelong implications for sibling relationships?"

Yeah, or maybe the other siblings are boys, right? Why waste all the family money on the girl, right?

Why give more to one sibling than another?

If the one worked harder I definitely would.

Anonymous wrote:There are lots of small engineering schools that have lots more men than women.

Some of them use merit aid to close the gap. Most of them have reasonable chemistry and/or biochemistry departments.

Think RPI, WPI, Lehigh, Case Western, Stevens Insti of Tech and so on. The question there is will she get enough to be less than in state?

The next level down places like Rowan, Clarkson, Michigan Tech are likely to be less than in state.

Thanks.