Can you help us build a list? (international relations/studies, critical languages, merit needed)

[Luckymama]

(edited to remove $ specifics)

 

This is what dd must have:

• majoring in International Relations or Studies or whatever the major is called

• required study abroad for at least one semester

• critical languages available to study: Arabic, Hindi, Persian, Turkish, Russian, etc (Chinese is a distant last choice---she wants an alphabet-, not a character-based language plus dh studies Mandarin so she is very familiar)

• close to a major city (by bus or train); could be in a city

• adjacent coffee places, restaurants, stores

• NOT in a rural location (no cornfields lol)

• NOT a very small school (she laughed at the idea of Rhodes at 2000 students)

 

She would prefer

• nothing in the Midwest

• no extreme cold or snow

 

I would prefer

• near a Southwest airport for easy transportation

 

Our financial requirements

• need-based aid will only be possible from schools with large endowments because of income (for example, Harvard's NPC said we'd pay $25K, Princeton's said $36K lol)

 

Schools with automatic NMSF/NMF awards are a consideration.

 

These schools are being considered because of auto merit and NPC values (no particular order):

• University of Delaware (our in-state safety)

• University of Oklahoma

• University of Mississippi (though she's iffy on the location)

• Rhodes even though she laughed

• University of Arizona

 

These could work, pending scholarships (competitive):

• University of Maryland, College Park

• American, based on NPC plus scholarship amts of people we know

• George Washington, based on NPC plus CC-reported scholarship amounts

• Tulane, ditto

• Drexel, assuming NMF

 

I eliminated these today:

• Ivies other than Harvard

• Tufts

• Georgetown

• William and Mary

• Mt. Holyoke

 

Not enough data to decide on

• University of Rochester

• University of Richmond

 

So, hit me with ideas :D

[Carol in Cal.]

UC Berkeley.

 

http://nes.berkeley.edu/

 

http://iastp.berkeley.edu/

[Guest]

I'm in no way savvy as to all that is available, but I can definitely give a shout out to University of Md, College Park. The commutability to DC and Baltimore is awesome. The proximity to DC also means that getting internships or work with the government in those fields is extremely likely. I know NSA and some other government agencies are something close to desparate for students who can competantly manage Arabic, Poshto and/or other middle-eastern languages, and I would imagine (though don't know for certain) that students at college studying these languages are within the radar of recruiters looking for promising linguistics students.

[Insertcreativenamehere]

I have my master's degree in this field from the University of Chicago, although it doesn't meet all of your criteria. My next choice would be American.

 

Sent from my MotoG3 using Tapatalk

[Luckymama]

UC Berkeley.

 

http://nes.berkeley.edu/

 

http://iastp.berkeley.edu/

As lovely as Berkeley would be, it is unaffordable. Their NPC gives us $0 in any aid. Stinks to be out of state.

[lisabees]

Shoot.  I would have recommended Macalester.

 

I would then have suggested George Washington and American.   How about Georgetown?  Not sure if they offer merit.

 

ETA:  Oops.  Just read your note about Georgetown.  On my way out the door and quickly read the post.

[8filltheheart]

I'm following. Unfortunately, my dd's max budget is less than 1/2 of your dd's.

[BlsdMama]

University of Iowa is out.... ;)  But, you know, we have coffee shops, Iowa City is voted a best  place to live, and we have Russian. ;)

 

Have you checked out Oregon?  They have a large Russian population and it would give her the opportunity to work with native speakers, although PNW Russian has varied from "real" Russian from what I was told from a family whose parents migrated from Russia. 

 

 

[Teachin'Mine]

I don't know why you eliminated the other ivy colleges, but Barnard comes to mind. In and of itself it's small, but with Columbia across the street and all it's quite large.  They have two Russian majors and of course all the languages at Columbia would be available to her as well.  She can even opt to use Columbia's dorms after the first year.  I think Barnard offers some merit, but I"m not sure on that.  I think that Columbia is slightly better on need based aid alone, but Barnard isn't bad.  I'd be looking at all the highly selective colleges if you want your need to be met.  Many of them do that even for families with a fairly good income.  Another thought would be to check out SUNY Stonybrook as it's close enough to NYC and their OOS tuition is reasonable.  I would think that being in or near DC or NY would be ideal.  Other major cities should have internship opportunities as well.

[Teachin'Mine]

This list might bring up some possibilities.

 

http://www.collegeaffordabilityguide.org/subjects/foreign-language/

 

I also think that the State Department or the Homeland Defense, or something like that, offers students scholarships to study the languages that are most needed.  I remember reading something about it in the past.

 

 

This sounds interesting!

 

https://melikian.asu.edu/cli

 

The above program is available to anyone 16 or older.  They offer Russian through Russian 6 and the advanced courses are taken abroad.  Costs are very low.  8 this might be something your daughter would be interested in before college. 

[JanetC]

Shoot. I would have recommended Macalester.

.

Midwest schools typically have larger merit awards than those on the coasts, but Macalester primarily awards theirs to diversity hooks.

 

The long list of languages is going to be hard to find in a private school outside the very elite ones. Washington DC and NYC are fabulous for international exposure, but also expensive places to live and study.

 

Large state universities will have very broad offerings. Research your state schools and regional compacts. If you do get NMF, large out of state honors colleges like Arizona will give scholarships as well, even if you're not in their regional agreement.

 

Large state schools are often in out of the way cities but everywhere has coffee and students don't often get the the time for a day of shopping and fine dining. Put academics and solid career prep over location every time.

[Butler]

Portland State University has a Russian Flagship program.

 

https://www.pdx.edu/russian-flagship/home

 

 

Here's the website for all of the flagship language programs:

 

http://www.thelanguageflagship.org/content/languages-programs

 

I have a student that attended Arizona State's Critical Language Institute as mentioned above.

 

https://melikian.asu.edu/cli

 

It's a very intense summer program that allows the study of critical languages that might not be offered at the home university. Something to consider if a desired language isn't offered at the preferred university. All of the credits transferred easily. (Student pays a CLI fee of about $1200 and for housing. Tuition is free.)

[Luckymama]

Shoot. I would have recommended Macalester.

 

I would then have suggested George Washington and American. How about Georgetown? Not sure if they offer merit.

 

ETA: Oops. Just read your note about Georgetown. On my way out the door and quickly read the post.

My sister went to Macalester :) It would have been on our list but for finances.

[Luckymama]

I don't know why you eliminated the other ivy colleges, but Barnard comes to mind. In and of itself it's small, but with Columbia across the street and all it's quite large. They have two Russian majors and of course all the languages at Columbia would be available to her as well. She can even opt to use Columbia's dorms after the first year. I think Barnard offers some merit, but I"m not sure on that. I think that Columbia is slightly better on need based aid alone, but Barnard isn't bad. I'd be looking at all the highly selective colleges if you want your need to be met. Many of them do that even for families with a fairly good income. Another thought would be to check out SUNY Stonybrook as it's close enough to NYC and their OOS tuition is reasonable. I would think that being in or near DC or NY would be ideal. Other major cities should have internship opportunities as well.

I eliminated the other Ivies after running their Net Price Calculators. I am looking for suggestions of other highly selective schools that do give aid to families in our situation (high EFC that we will not pay even if we can----I am married to a fiscally conservative Certified Financial Planner, enough said!).

 

William & Mary, Mt. Holyoke, and Swarthmore would be good fits but are entirely unaffordable. I don't see $40K per year *after aid* as affordable.

[Luckymama]

This list might bring up some possibilities.

 

http://www.collegeaffordabilityguide.org/subjects/foreign-language/

 

I also think that the State Department or the Homeland Defense, or something like that, offers students scholarships to study the languages that are most needed. I remember reading something about it in the past.

 

 

This sounds interesting!

 

https://melikian.asu.edu/cli

 

The above program is available to anyone 16 or older. They offer Russian through Russian 6 and the advanced courses are taken abroad. Costs are very low. 8 this might be something your daughter would be interested in before college.

The ASU program looks fabulous but is not available to high school students who live outside the Phoenix area:

 

"I am a high-school student. Am I eligible for CLI?..........MAYBE

 

High-School juniors and seniors from metropolitan Phoenix who have already studied at least one foreign language are eligible to study in CLI. Students under 18 will need permission from parents or guardians before enrolling in ASU summer classes. There are restrictions on overseas travel as well. Please consult CLI staff if this applies to you."

 

I'll research the schools from your first link later. Some have already been eliminated because the are not affordable for oos students in our financial situation (like Indiana at $45K and Michigan at $65K :eek:). There may be some goodies though :)

[Carol in Cal.]

I have a friend whose daughter is majoring in Russian at the University of Montana.  I don't know whether they have an international relations major; the daughter is majoring in it to teach and for vocal music.  She is in her third year, and the whole family is really happy with the college.  It's one in the 'Colleges That Change Lives' book.

[Guest2]

Grinnell? Snow in the winter though.

Never mind.... Cornfields galore!! Missed that part.

 

https://www.grinnell.edu/academics/areas/russian

 

Here is a list of majors;

https://www.grinnell.edu/academics/majors

 

They are known to be generous with aid, but of course that depends on the situation. Here is their calculator.

 

https://npc.collegeboard.org/student/app/grinnell

 

Hope that helps.

[Teachin'Mine]

I eliminated the other Ivies after running their Net Price Calculators. I am looking for suggestions of other highly selective schools that do give aid to families in our situation (high EFC that we will not pay even if we can----I am married to a fiscally conservative Certified Financial Planner, enough said!).

 

William & Mary, Mt. Holyoke, and Swarthmore would be good fits but are entirely unaffordable. I don't see $40K per year *after aid* as affordable.

 

Your in-state universities may be your best bet or OOS public universities where the OOS cost is within the range you're looking for.  University of Alabama of course would be free tuition for her NMF stats but I have no idea if it meets the other criteria.  I did see it listed on the link of affordable options.

[Luckymama]

Research your state schools and regional compacts. If you do get NMF, large out of state honors colleges like Arizona will give scholarships as well, even if you're not in their regional agreement.

 

Large state schools are often in out of the way cities but everywhere has coffee and students don't often get the the time for a day of shopping and fine dining. Put academics and solid career prep over location every time.

We live in a bitty state. Our major university is dd's safety where she is currently studying Arabic. Our regional agreement (the Academic Common Market) does not have an option for International/Global Relations/Studies or even Political Science. (I know someone whose son is studying a type of engineering not available at our flagship's College of Engineering through the ACM. It is a great program!)

 

I know you were posting in general, but for dd, the "town" aspect is very important and part of school "fit" for her. She has grown up in a university town and is accustomed to walking or biking to study downtown in a local coffeeshop. She is not interested in fine dining lol. Her older sister took a great school off her list because there wasn't even a drugstore nearby. I think that's a perfectly legitimate concern when one is college shopping, assuming academics and internships etc are equal.

[Luckymama]

Portland State University has a Russian Flagship program.

 

https://www.pdx.edu/russian-flagship/home

 

 

Here's the website for all of the flagship language programs:

 

http://www.thelanguageflagship.org/content/languages-programs

 

I have a student that attended Arizona State's Critical Language Institute as mentioned above.

 

https://melikian.asu.edu/cli

 

It's a very intense summer program that allows the study of critical languages that might not be offered at the home university. Something to consider if a desired language isn't offered at the preferred university. All of the credits transferred easily. (Student pays a CLI fee of about $1200 and for housing. Tuition is free.)

Do you know anyone who has attended Portland State?

 

I started the list with all the Language Flagship Schools :D Dd loves the idea of intensive language study while being able to major in a different discipline :)

 

Two of her counselors from Concordia attend Arizona (U, not State) because of the Arabic Flagship Program. I can see us taking advantage of low Southwest airfare for a little university visit, perhaps in January :lol:

[Luckymama]

I have a friend whose daughter is majoring in Russian at the University of Montana. I don't know whether they have an international relations major; the daughter is majoring in it to teach and for vocal music. She is in her third year, and the whole family is really happy with the college. It's one in the 'Colleges That Change Lives' book.

Awesome, thank you!

[Luckymama]

Grinnell? Snow in the winter though.

https://www.grinnell.edu/academics/areas/russian

 

Here is a list of majors;

https://www.grinnell.edu/academics/majors

 

They are known to be generous with aid, but of course that depends on the situation. Here is their calculator.

 

https://npc.collegeboard.org/student/app/grinnell

 

Hope that helps.

Alas, Grinnell won't work after running their NPC. But thanks for the suggestion!

[Luckymama]

Your in-state universities may be your best bet or OOS public universities where the OOS cost is within the range you're looking for. University of Alabama of course would be free tuition for her NMF stats but I have no idea if it meets the other criteria. I did see it listed on the link of affordable options.

We really only have one decent in-state choice which is already on the list :) I'm working through all the oos options, which can be very wearing on one's mood...

 

Thanks for your suggestions :)

[MysteryJen]

Not a school suggestion, but maybe you could look at cities with large native speaking populations of your target language. Sometimes, universities will start up classes or concentrations to accommodate those languages.

 

Also schools that offer interdisciplinary programs might be flexible about finding professors and opportunities.

[BlsdMama]

Grinnell? Snow in the winter though.

 https://www.grinnell.edu/academics/areas/russian

 

Here is a list of majors;

https://www.grinnell.edu/academics/majors

 

They are known to be generous with aid, but of course that depends on the situation.  Here is their calculator.

 

 https://npc.collegeboard.org/student/app/grinnell

 

Hope that helps.

 

 

Grinnell is a fantastic college, but do know it is more "rural" than the U of Iowa.  And most certainly snow - though I will tell you it depends what she hates about winter... Is it the cold or the driving?  Driving in the midwest is easy - we have salt and snowplows. :P :D

[8filltheheart]

Do you know anyone who has attended Portland State?

 

 

I was told by someone (I cannot remember who.  I think it might have been someone last year at the Olympiada of Spoken Russian) that Portland State's program is only 1 of 4 Russian flagships.  Have you seen this site: http://www.thelanguageflagship.org/content/domestic-program-1 Unfortunately, none of them fit our budget.

[BlsdMama]

I want to point out here that NPC are not always accurate.  For fun, I went ahead and filled out the NPC for the university she currently attends.  Our income is too high according to the calculator (even with 13 in the household - I can't believe they are serious) and so they show that we would be paying almost the entire amount of tuition and for the rest of the cost Ana could work and get loans.  How'd that play out in real life?  Scholarships - full tuition met and paid.  So while we may be in a unique situation (?) I have no idea into the insight of the FA office, at the end of the day the calculator is completely off of real life.

 

Is she merit aid worthy and competitive?

[Luckymama]

I was told by someone (I cannot remember who. I think it might have been someone last year at the Olympiada of Spoken Russian) that Portland State's program is only 1 of 4 Russian flagships. Have you seen this site: http://www.thelanguageflagship.org/content/domestic-program-1 Unfortunately, none of them fit our budget.

 

The 4 Russian Flagships are a tough group, with Bryn Mawr (ouch pricey; near to us btw), UCLA ($$$$$ oos), and Wisconsin ($40K oos----scholarship info on website is confusing so I'll have to spend time w their Common Data Set)

 

Arabic Flagships have some affordable ones for high stat kids with Arizona and Oklahoma. Not sure about oos aid at UT Austin (anyone?). Maryland CP (also Turkish Flagship) could work as I mentioned upthread--we'll visit this fall. Their summer program might be an option should dd not get into what she wants...

 

There are 11 Chinese Flagship programs :eek: nicely spread around the country. Chinese is dd's last choice.

 

Does anyone know about Indiana U at Bloomington? I seem to remember they are stingy with oos aid. With Turkish, Swahili, and Chinese Flagship programs plus a zillion other languages and a School of Global and International Studies, it looks like a nice academic fit on paper (or screen lol). The oos sticker price of $45K is a bit off-putting!

 

Thanks everyone for helping us :)

[Luckymama]

I want to point out here that NPC are not always accurate. For fun, I went ahead and filled out the NPC for the university she currently attends. Our income is too high according to the calculator (even with 13 in the household - I can't believe they are serious) and so they show that we would be paying almost the entire amount of tuition and for the rest of the cost Ana could work and get loans. How'd that play out in real life? Scholarships - full tuition met and paid. So while we may be in a unique situation (?) I have no idea into the insight of the FA office, at the end of the day the calculator is completely off of real life.

 

Is she merit aid worthy and competitive?

I like to think so, yes :) We are currently discussing an early graduation plus gap year vs two more years of high school. She'd be even more competitive with two additional years, especially if she makes NMF. However, if she gets into a certain summer program, she could be competitive just with that plus next year's courses. (I spent 2.5 hours talking with my sister this morning, hashing out all the options!)

 

And NPCs make me crazy! I tend to believe the ones that ask for all but your blood type ;) vs the answer-six-questions type.

[MysteryJen]

Dd1 looked at Indiana briefly. Definitely stingy with aid. Even with a decent athletic scholarship, it was too expensive to seriously pursue.

[Luckymama]

Thanks, Jen!

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I think you ought take the NPCs with a grain of salt. They are intended for an average student (meaning across the university, not meaning a poor performer). They aren't going to take into account a desire to fill a language program or federal incentives to language study.

 

Out of curiosity why cross off the entire Midwest?

I'm fond of Miami University in Ohio for example. Merit aid at higher levels is as a percentage of tuition rather than a flat amount. It's in a small town outside Cincinnati. So the college does have a well developed town with drugstores, bagel shops and killer pizza at Bruno's. About an hour in the car puts you at concerts, plays, theatre and pro sports.

[katilac]

(I will be deleting $ specifics soon.)

 

This is what dd must have:

• majoring in International Relations or Studies or whatever the major is called

• required study abroad for at least one semester

• critical languages available to study: Arabic, Hindi, Persian, Turkish, Russian, etc (Chinese is a distant last choice---she wants an alphabet-, not a character-based language plus dh studies Mandarin so she is very familiar)

• close to a major city (by bus or train); could be in a city

• adjacent coffee places, restaurants, stores

• NOT in a rural location (no cornfields lol)

• NOT a very small school (she laughed at the idea of Rhodes at 2000 students)

 

She would prefer

• nothing in the Midwest

• no extreme cold or snow

 

I would prefer

• near a Southwest airport for easy transportation

 

 **

 

These could work, pending scholarships (competitive):

• University of Maryland, College Park

• American, based on NPC plus scholarship amts of people we know

• George Washington, based on NPC plus CC-reported scholarship amounts

• Tulane, ditto

• Drexel, assuming NMF

 

 

 

 

 U of Alabama has International Relations and Russian (and other more standard choices) as majors, and they teach about 20 more through their critical language program. In Tuscaloosa and lots of stuff on and near campus. Very good merit aid with high ACT scores. Lots of study abroad choices. 

 

Cons (for us) are that they are a huge school with very limited housing, not a residential campus experience; dd thought the FL department seemed disorganized when they presented at honors camp. 

 

We'll be at Tulane later in the month for open house; lmk if I can check on anything for you then (or anytime, really, we live very close). 

[8filltheheart]

This list might bring up some possibilities.

  

I also think that the State Department or the Homeland Defense, or something like that, offers students scholarships to study the languages that are most needed.  I remember reading something about it in the past.

 

  

.  University of Alabama of course would be free tuition for her NMF stats but I have no idea if it meets the other criteria.  I did see it listed on the link of affordable options.

Unfortunately, the critical lang scholarships are essentially for study abroad. They focu on the language and not UG studies.

 

UA's foreign lang offerings are very limited. Many of the languages are basically self-study. http://courseleaf.ua.edu/artssciences/modernlanguagesclassics/#clprogramtext UA is not on dd's list at all even though we know it would be affordable. Our local RNP university has better offerings, which unfortunately are very limited in and of themselves.

[Luckymama]

Re NPCs------some are telling me that dd would get no need-based grant aid. If I know for a fact the school does not give any merit scholarships (because of published info on the website or in the Common Data Set), I crossed it off the list. Some NPCs are getting us within a reasonable range (especially if I know they offer generous merit money, even if it is competitive and not automatic), so those are staying on the list. What do I do with the schools whose NPCs gap us by more than $10K a year (grant plus anticipated scholarships)? Do I keep them on the Big List? How do I counsel dd----go ahead and apply to a bunch of schools, writing specific essays, visiting special programs, and wait to see how the money turns out? I thought we were supposed to use NPCs (which were uncommon during my older kids' searches) to eliminate options before creating the Final List and applying?

 

As for the midwest, I asked dd where she saw herself at college. She said nothing in the midwest unless it has fabulous programs and they want to give her pots of money ;) It's just a way of narrowing down the list!

 

Thanks :)

[momofkhm]

(I will be deleting $ specifics soon.)

 

This is what dd must have:

• majoring in International Relations or Studies or whatever the major is called

• required study abroad for at least one semester

• critical languages available to study: Arabic, Hindi, Persian, Turkish, Russian, etc (Chinese is a distant last choice---she wants an alphabet-, not a character-based language plus dh studies Mandarin so she is very familiar)

• close to a major city (by bus or train); could be in a city

• adjacent coffee places, restaurants, stores

• NOT in a rural location (no cornfields lol)

• NOT a very small school (she laughed at the idea of Rhodes at 2000 students)

 

 

 

Not sure about some of the criteria, but look at UNC-CH.  DD has a friend who went there because of the languages she could take and I remember Russian being one of them.  Not rural but also not in a big city.  I don't know that there is a bus that runs to Raleigh, but I am sure there is one that goes into Durham.  (Neither of those count for a big city, but they are bigger than Chapel Hill.)  Coffee shops, assuredly!  Price is at least close to what you said.

[8filltheheart]

U of Alabama has International Relations and Russian (and other more standard choices) as majors, and they teach about 20 more through their critical language program. In Tuscaloosa and lots of stuff on and near campus. Very good merit aid with high ACT scores. Lots of study abroad choices.

 

Cons (for us) are that they are a huge school with very limited housing, not a residential campus experience; dd thought the FL department seemed disorganized when they presented at honors camp.

 

We'll be at Tulane later in the month for open house; lmk if I can check on anything for you then (or anytime, really, we live very close).

Actually, they don't. They only offer a minor in Russian. The only languages they offer majors in are French, German, Spanish, Latin, and Greek. The critical languages are through self-study. I would suspect that Luckymama's dd would face the same problem our dd is facing of being beyond the course offerings before even starting.

[8filltheheart]

Re NPCs------some are telling me that dd would get no need-based grant aid. If I know for a fact the school does not give any merit scholarships (because of published info on the website or in the Common Data Set), I crossed it off the list. Some NPCs are getting us within a reasonable range (especially if I know they offer generous merit money, even if it is competitive and not automatic), so those are staying on the list. What do I do with the schools whose NPCs gap us by more than $10K a year (grant plus anticipated scholarships)? Do I keep them on the Big List? How do I counsel dd----go ahead and apply to a bunch of schools, writing specific essays, visiting special programs, and wait to see how the money turns out? I thought we were supposed to use NPCs (which were uncommon during my older kids' searches) to eliminate options before creating the Final List and applying?

 

As for the midwest, I asked dd where she saw herself at college. She said nothing in the midwest unless it has fabulous programs and they want to give her pots of money ;) It's just a way of narrowing down the list!

 

Thanks :)

Your approach is similar to mine. If they don't offer merit $$ and the institutional grant money isn't enough, we eliminate them. If they have competitive scholarships which they meet the bar for, we keep it on (many are need-based--eliminated. Service/leadership oriented---eliminated. My kids have not started a regional Make-a-Wish location or started charities, or created reading programs for children in hospitals, etc. Those are the service projects from competitive service scholarships. Leadership roles are significant as well. Eagle, Senior Patrol Leader, etc are most definitely not competitive.)

 

Make sure you confirm that if they offer merit $$ that it doesn't reduce institutional grant $$. We have had to eliminate a lot of schools bc the merit money was a wash bc they removed grant aid and our net price was the same.

[MysteryJen]

We have found the NPC to be accurate generally. There are exceptions, but on the whole, you can definitely write off some schools. It is the ones on the margins that are harder. It is hard to have very specific academic requirements, because you lose the flexibility that high stats can give you.

 

We are nearing the end of our recruitment year and for us (especially looking at oos universities), the NPC has been very valuable. We have the question of "can we afford this school, if you don't swim?" As well as the question, "do you want to go to the school, irrespective of the team?" You guys might have a question of "what if you change your mind?" Would you still like this school, if you changed your major?" Or if a key professor leaves?

 

Too narrow a focus too early in the search might cause you to miss some opportunities. The midwest has tons of schools :)

[Luckymama]

Actually, they don't. They only offer a minor in Russian. The only languages they offer majors in are French, German, Spanish, Latin, and Greek. The critical languages are through self-study. I would suspect that Luckymama's dd would face the same problem our ds is facing of being beyond the course offerings before even starting.

Yes, Alabama was rejected right away. I wish they weren't so hyper-focused on attracting engineering types at the expense of other departments. It would have made a good safety for my niece who is a senior.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Re NPCs------some are telling me that dd would get no need-based grant aid. If I know for a fact the school does not give any merit scholarships (because of published info on the website or in the Common Data Set), I crossed it off the list. Some NPCs are getting us within a reasonable range (especially if I know they offer generous merit money, even if it is competitive and not automatic), so those are staying on the list. What do I do with the schools whose NPCs gap us by more than $10K a year (grant plus anticipated scholarships)? Do I keep them on the Big List? How do I counsel dd----go ahead and apply to a bunch of schools, writing specific essays, visiting special programs, and wait to see how the money turns out? I thought we were supposed to use NPCs (which were uncommon during my older kids' searches) to eliminate options before creating the Final List and applying?

 

As for the midwest, I asked dd where she saw herself at college. She said nothing in the midwest unless it has fabulous programs and they want to give her pots of money ;) It's just a way of narrowing down the list!

 

Thanks :)

I get that about needing to come up with some way of making a huge list of colleges a focused list of targets. On the other hand it seems like you have a rather tight restrictive a list anyway with specific majors, less common languages and financial cap. Maybe wait to eliminate the Midwestern schools until she can consider them individually rather than just as a geographic swathe.

 

Just within Ohio there is a big difference in feel between Miami, Ohio State, Uni of Cincinnati and somewhere like Kenyon. Midwestern is just a lat long, not a good description of academics or fin aid possibilities.

[Lawyer&Mom]

I refused to consider Midwest schools for UG. Then ended up in Minnesota for law school. 1) I loved the Midwest. 2) my classmates came from a lot of interesting Midwest schools. Who knew? Not my 17 year old self...

[JanetC]

How about SUNY Binghamton? There is an international relations track in the political science department, and Russian and Middle Eastern studies programs as well.

 

[Luckymama]

How about SUNY Binghamton? There is an international relations track in the political science department, and Russian and Middle Eastern studies programs as well.

The SUNYs have that pesky language concerning homeschooled applicants and needing a GED or a letter from your superintendent. Our state has no school district oversight. I'd need to do more research into dealing with that (I've kind of ignored the NY and Mass conversations!).

[Luckymama]

So Midwest people, give me schools to research costs and academics!

 

Out due to costs already checked: Macalester, Grinnell, Minnesota (she spent time there this summer and thought it was v ugly---sorry), Michigan Ann Arbor, Indiana

 

No religious schools unless the connection is purely historical.

 

I'll relax the weather condition but not the small-school-in-a-cornfield condition. A large school surrounded by cornfields but near a decent-sized airport, sure ;)

[JanetC]

So Midwest people, give me schools to research costs and academics!

 

I'll relax the weather condition but not the small-school-in-a-cornfield condition. A large school surrounded by cornfields but near a decent-sized airport, sure ;)

Forgot what a pain the state of NY can be to homeschoolers.

 

The small schools in the cornfields are where the big merit awards are (just sayin).

 

If you are not looking for small schools, you want to find non-flagship state schools - the equivalent of Binghamton in other states.

[daijobu]

The 4 Russian Flagships are a tough group, with Bryn Mawr (ouch pricey; near to us btw), UCLA ($$$$$ oos), and Wisconsin ($40K oos----scholarship info on website is confusing so I'll have to spend time w their Common Data Set)

 

Arabic Flagships have some affordable ones for high stat kids with Arizona and Oklahoma. Not sure about oos aid at UT Austin (anyone?). Maryland CP (also Turkish Flagship) could work as I mentioned upthread--we'll visit this fall. Their summer program might be an option should dd not get into what she wants...

 

There are 11 Chinese Flagship programs :eek: nicely spread around the country. Chinese is dd's last choice.

 

 

Just curious: what are flagships in this context?  

[Butler]

What about Florida schools? Both Florida State and U Florida offer Russian and both have big study abroad programs. UF is known to be stingy with merit aid but FSU offers high stat out-of-state students instate tuition. And Florida instate tuition is like $6000/year.

[JanetC]

Just curious: what are flagships in this context?  

 

The largest (usually) most pretigious in-state school or schools. Usually University of StateName, sometimes StateName State is also a flagship.

 

The non-flagships are the smaller campuses without big-time research programs. Names like North/South/East/West StateName or StateName at SmallerCampus or somesuch.

 

Examples in Washington:

Flagship: University of Washington

Non-flagship: Western Washington, Central Washington, Eastern Washington, etc.

 

Flagships are strong in just about everything they offer. Nonflagships have certain areas of strengths, but not the breadth or budgets or student body or (usually) sports program of the flagships.

 

Some states have multiple flagships: In California, Berkeley and UCLA are both very prestigious, research-powerhouse schools.

 

Because non-flagships are less prestigious and have lower demand, they are the places to look for merit awards, especially if you are coming from out of state.

[Butler]

Language flagships are designated and receive funds from the National Security Education Program. It's not the same as state flagships.