Anonymous wrote:Even if you get the max $35K per annum it’s still expensive with travel back and forth (are they even open again after Ida?). UVA or W&M would be a better deal.

Yes Tulane will be back in person next week. Not sure UVA / W&M would be that great of a deal for out of state compared to Tulane with full merit

Even if you get the max $35K per annum it’s still expensive with travel back and forth (are they even open again after Ida?). UVA or W&M would be a better deal.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People keep mentioning Tulane. I’m not sure Tulane gave as much merit aid in 2021 as years past.

There are threads on college confidential regarding admissions and merit aid at Tulane. My impression (fwiw) is there is a sweet spot. ACT between 31-33 plus high but not perfect gpa plus some APs may trigger merit aid. But the key is to show lots of sincere interest in attending (by writing a Tulane-centric essay, attending admissions events, etc.). They seem to yield protect against those with very high stats or otherwise are likely to choose to go elsewhere. They offer merit aid as an incentive to those they really want to attract and that they think will in fact enroll.

+1. Tulane parent here. DC got substantial merit with 33 ACT and 3.85 uw gpa with 7 or 8 APs. Also Tulane is trying to increase diversity, so that could be a factor as well.

UMD is ranked 59. It’s not elite. Only people in Maryland think it’s anything other than a mid-Atlantic school ranked 59. Yes, as a freshman coming from montgomery county it’s a little harder to initially be accepted. That said, if you get a 3.0 B average from any Maryland community college, a student can transfer there. This is actually a good thing for Maryland students overall as it givens the community college students a path for a four year degree.

Anonymous wrote:It’s rare to get merit aid from the SLACs and top flight flagships … simply because they
are so popular and have so many applications that they don’t need to “buy” someone’s 36 ACT or high SATs. Once you drop to second tier schools you might pick up on some but it’s only when the college sees something in your kid worth trading the money for.

It pays to be a top student at “lower” ranking schools. These students go places.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
And, they need to be able to WRITE.

I just want to be sure everyone gets to appreciate the irony.

Why the irony? I'm the person you are quoting.

If your kid isn't great at writing personal essays, don't chase merit aid. They could be super smart and accomplished in math and science fields, but the scholarship application process requires them to be able to churn out multiple, excellent and compelling essays.

Don't put a comma after a coordinating conjunction at the beginning of a sentence, and don't emphasize through typography.

Thanks for that clarification!

It was an incorrect "clarification." The PP's use of a comma after "and" was fine in that context. Signed, copyeditor

+1

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
And, they need to be able to WRITE.

I just want to be sure everyone gets to appreciate the irony.

Why the irony? I'm the person you are quoting.

If your kid isn't great at writing personal essays, don't chase merit aid. They could be super smart and accomplished in math and science fields, but the scholarship application process requires them to be able to churn out multiple, excellent and compelling essays.

Don't put a comma after a coordinating conjunction at the beginning of a sentence, and don't emphasize through typography.

Thanks for that clarification!

It was an incorrect "clarification." The PP's use of a comma after "and" was fine in that context. Signed, copyeditor

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wtf? If this kid is a likely nmsf with top grades, there certainly are colleges better than mediocre northeastern that will offer aid.

Such as?

And a top 50 school is far from mediocre. That is in the top 1% of U.S. colleges.

Anonymous wrote:No, there are not "strong" schools that offer generous merit aid. There are weak schools that offer some merit aid. That's why they offer it. They have to, to attract students.

If you think there are a ton of weak colleges in the U.S., you are ignorant. Many schools in the top 100 give merit aid, and many outside of the top 100 are not weak schools. There are over 4000 colleges in the U.S.

my kid went to one of the southern big football big greek life schools on full scholarship and graduated with a chemical engineering degree. now working for a major investment bank. high stat kids who go to these schools get as much of an education as they want. they have special programs that are very challenging. at her southern school, she never had a TA teach a class. she could get into research easily, even as a freshman. she is now on the board of the honors college.

don't discount some of the southern schools. they may not be for everyone, but they are very good for quite a lot of folks.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
And, they need to be able to WRITE.

I just want to be sure everyone gets to appreciate the irony.

Why the irony? I'm the person you are quoting.

If your kid isn't great at writing personal essays, don't chase merit aid. They could be super smart and accomplished in math and science fields, but the scholarship application process requires them to be able to churn out multiple, excellent and compelling essays.

Don't put a comma after a coordinating conjunction at the beginning of a sentence, and don't emphasize through typography.

Thanks for that clarification!

Anonymous wrote:Tufts.

Tufts doesn’t give merit aid.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
And, they need to be able to WRITE.

I just want to be sure everyone gets to appreciate the irony.

Why the irony? I'm the person you are quoting.

If your kid isn't great at writing personal essays, don't chase merit aid. They could be super smart and accomplished in math and science fields, but the scholarship application process requires them to be able to churn out multiple, excellent and compelling essays.

Don't put a comma after a coordinating conjunction at the beginning of a sentence, and don't emphasize through typography.

On a flipping Internet forum? Use of colloquialisms is acceptable! For Pete’s sake...

Plus, I am not the one writing essays to apply for scholarships.

Washington University in St Louis and NYU

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WUSTL is very expensive and offers terrible aid.
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It has some academic scholarships that pay full tuition, plus a $1,000 stipend.

The students who get those tend to be kids who get into some place like Yale, but the parents are divorced, and the father won’t fill out the financial aid forms.

Washington U gave 10.5% of its freshmen merit aid scholarships even though they had no financial need (at least according to the formula). That's 187 non-need-based merit scholarships/yr for freshmen.
https://wustl.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/wustl-cds-2018-2019.pdf

To compete with the low price of UMD, your DS will have receive a full tuition scholarship. I know Boston University has this and I believe some Florida schools. College Confidential will probably be more helpful.