The Bottom Line Up Front
We have a high SAI (around $88K), so $0 from need-based aid — everything was merit-based.
In the end, our daughter, Alice, got two full-ride offers at two amazing programs, was waitlisted for one full-tuition scholarship, and received some great merit offers from other schools. The focus of her list was where her stats would put her in the very top of the applicant pool.
Alice’s Stats
Alice applied for Biomedical Engineering at R1 large colleges. Here’s what she brought to the table:
Academics:
- 4.0 unweighted / 4.2 weighted GPA
- Small STEM-focused magnet school (class of 97 students)
- SAT: 1510 after four attempts (1410, 1470, 1440, then 1510), from fall junior year through late summer senior year
- Around 5 dual enrollment courses and 5 APs, including senior year (school offers few APs; not all DEs are weighted into GPA)
Extracurriculars:
- 3 years of HOSA with state placements and attendance at international competitions (did not place)
- Other biomedical clubs
- Self-taught key lab techniques typically learned in college
- President of the creative writing club, multiple years
- Multilingual Seal of Biliteracy in both Spanish and Mandarin (Spanish is spoken at home; she attended a Mandarin immersion school through elementary and maintained it through tutors, taking the STAMP test and placing very high in all four areas: written, spoken, reading, listening)
- PBS program — chosen as 1 of 12 students across the USA for a fully paid program; her 3-student team’s video aired on PBS NewsHour
- No sports; very limited community service hours or work experience
- First job the summer between junior and senior year at a Mandarin language kids’ camp
Essay: Great essay based on her love for the classics and the key lessons they taught her. The essay came up in multiple interviews.
What Alice Was Looking For
Alice had a clear vision for what she wanted:
- Biomedical Engineering at an R1 institute, focused on cell and drug delivery research (not medical devices)
- Mid-to-large school with lots to do — she went to a small STEM-focused magnet high school and felt she missed out on big high school experiences
- Lots of outdoor activities: hiking, canoeing, climbing
- Some theater she could volunteer or participate in
- Not focused on big sports or Greek life, but happy to attend games for the social aspect
- Ideally in a blue state that isn’t too hot
- LGBTQ+ welcoming — Alice is in the rainbow community, as is most of our family (we are a two-mom household)
- Grew up in the PNW
Her long-term goal is to earn a PhD and run her own research labs, focusing on areas like cancer research and drug delivery.
Our North Star: A Clear Budget from the Start
We came in with zero knowledge. I learned about podcasts, books, applications, and tutoring services from the Paying for College 101 community and a few other Facebook groups — and I can’t overstate how much your generous contributions helped us.
What helped the most was having a clear north star: Get the best education (R1 school) we could afford at the best price ($33K or less).
Ivies and top-20 schools were never truly on the list. We knew they were out of budget and gave no merit. I told Alice: you can apply to any or all of them, but we won’t have the budget if you get in.
We gave Alice a budget of approximately our state’s flagship COA, which is around $33–35K. We said: what you don’t spend is yours for post-grad or for life. Our SAI is in the 80s, so we knew no need-based aid was coming. Alice knows we could pay more, but she agreed that for a bachelor’s degree, there’s no need to go higher — especially given her very long educational goals all the way to a PhD and beyond.
Throughout this process, every time anyone asked Alice what her top choices were, she would answer: “Whoever gives me the best deal on my list.”
The College List: Focusing on Where She Would Stand Out
Given our original focus on National Merit (more on that below), we built a list around colleges with opportunities for full-ride or very generous merit offers that would beat our state flagship. Even when people said “Penn State doesn’t give anything” or “Clemson doesn’t give anything,” we knew it would be a very low chance — but if her stats placed her at a distinct advantage, she applied.
For example, she didn’t apply to UVA’s program because we didn’t think her stats would place her at a sufficiently distinct advantage. She truly likes our in-state university — it’s a great fit for her major and every item on her list. So any opportunity would have had to beat Oregon State (both on cost and program) by a lot to be worth traveling and being far from home.
The Results
Please note the number that comes after the COA is the scholarship amount she was given.
Accepted
Clemson University (~$66.5K COA, Full Ride as part of their NSP program) — COMMITTED
Covers full COA (tuition, fees, room and board, personal computer, books, etc.) plus some study abroad expenses. Strong support for undergraduate research. We met with the dean of BME and all the BME cancer research professors and visited the labs. It’s an amazing program — and although it’s not exclusively focused on getting students through to a PhD, many students successfully go that route.
What they say about Clemson is true: it really felt like family. On Alice’s second visit, one of the current program students spotted her in the dining hall, yelled her name, and they chatted and caught up — a kid who had only met her once, a month earlier, for just one day. All the program directors and professors were also very welcoming. We are so excited for her. Go Tigers!
Stony Brook University (~$58.8K, Full Ride as part of their Simons STEM Scholars Program)
Covers full COA including study abroad. Also focuses on students who want to go all the way to a PhD. Also an amazing program. Alice was torn, but given Stony Brook’s “suitcase school” reputation, she chose Clemson.
Penn State (~$58K, Accepted to program but waitlisted for Full Tuition coverage as part of their Millennium Scholars Program. It would have been ~$20K all in, but she opted not to pursue the waitlist since she already had her full-ride offers.)
Oregon State (~$33K, $5K/year Findley Scholarship) — Honors
Pitt ($66K, $20K/year) — Honors
UMD ($62K, $10K/year Presidential)
University of Delaware ($63K, $13K/year non-resident presidential) — Honors
University of Minnesota Twin Cities ($63K, $20K/year) — Honors (I think)
University of South Florida ($39K, $11K/year) — They said it ended up being in-state tuition. Originally on the list from NMS visits.
University of Montana ($58K, $16K/year) — She didn’t apply for WUE (Western Undergraduate Exchange) since she would only attend if she received the Presidential scholarship (which she did not). I (the parent) have some beef with this one. The amount of work they make students do for the Presidential scholarship seemed excessive compared to many other better-ranked schools.
University of Maine ($55.3K, $21.2K/year) — Honors
University of Nevada, Reno ($40K, $8K/year Presidential) — Can’t recall if Honors
UT Dallas ($66K, $30.5K AES) — Can’t recall if Honors (goal was to apply to their Scholars Program, but missed the deadline)
Waitlisted
University of Washington — In hindsight, I was the one who wanted her to apply. It was my “if we win the lottery” school — one we might extend the budget for. I loved that it was a great program, a beautiful campus, very LGBTQ+ welcoming, and within driving distance.
Alice thought about applying to Johns Hopkins just to see if she could get in, but in the end decided against it. It was a busy time, and she prioritized other work over applying just to see.
The National Merit Plot Twist
Alice did well on the PSAT in junior year — a 218 index, just 2 points above the previous year’s qualifying index. So we spent most of junior year assuming she would qualify for National Merit. I couldn’t fathom the index would jump by more than 2 points in one year.
As many of you who followed this year know, it was a wild year. Most states jumped significantly. Our state jumped 3 points. So all the time and money we spent investigating and visiting National Merit schools seemed like a waste.
Come last September, we had to pivot entirely.
The funny thing is — had she qualified for National Merit, we both agree she likely wouldn’t have tried as hard for some of the other amazing opportunities she ended up finding. We went hard into finding full-ride opportunities that weren’t NMS-related. In the end, not getting NMS (even after all the tears and sadness) was a blessing in a very big disguise.
What We Invested in the Process
We invested in three areas of outside help, totaling approximately $2,500:
- SAT Prep Course (~$1,500 — approximately 4–6 weeks, 2 classes per week)
Taken late summer before junior year, with the goal of getting NMS. Alice says this was by far the best investment — not only for the SAT score, but because it helped her in schoolwork as well. She said to tell you: if you can afford it, this was very helpful. - Essay Writing Class (~$400–$500, approximately 2 classes per week over one month)
Taken late summer before senior year. This was a group class — not 1:1 — with multiple students. The structure helped keep Alice accountable week to week, which mattered because she has ADHD (since kindergarten) and getting started on things is extremely hard. She got two read-outs of her early work during the month-long class. It helped her do the soul-searching and hear feedback given to others, which had themes she could apply — like including details that can only be yours. Her actual final essay wasn’t finished until October of senior year. Great essay. - Interview Prep (~$600, 2–3 sessions)
Taken in January 2026, when Alice was chosen for three full-ride interview weekends. The biggest advantage was helping her think through all her examples for each application area and the “why this college” questions. She said the specific questions she practiced weren’t the ones asked in the actual interviews (which were more situational), but she had all her examples fresh in her mind from the exercises.
Alice’s assessment: #1 was a must-have for her. #2 and #3 were very nice to have. She said she could have gotten there without them, but having everything organized, prepared, and scheduled in advance was very helpful.
Our thinking: if she gets a full ride, the ROI is obvious. But my spouse and I agreed we could live with the other outcome — investing in this help and getting nothing. What we couldn’t live with was what might have happened if we hadn’t gotten her the help.
What We Would Do Differently
We spent a lot of money visiting colleges during junior year — flying and hotels. I would not go that route again. The final list looked nothing like the schools we spent money visiting, for many reasons.
For our 2029 high school grad, I think we’ll visit enough to get a sense for what the student likes (Alice discovered she didn’t like small schools, so we focused on mid-to-large ones), and then wait for financials before doing any significant travel.
Three Full-Ride Interview Weekends
Alice had three interview weekends, each two weeks apart (end of January, mid-February, and end of February). They were all across the country. They were very intense weekends and hard on her school schedule — she had to use a travel day plus the interview days, and some of her grades came down as a result (no longer straight A’s, which was hard on her). Obviously, it was all worth it.
Final Thoughts
The process is complex, but having a clear north star made all the difference: Get the best R1 education we could afford at $33K or less.
I have learned so much from everyone here and in a few other Facebook groups. We couldn’t have achieved this kind of success for Alice without all of your generous contributions. The amount of times Alice would say, “Can you ask the FB moms?” (yes, I know there are men here too — but she believes it’s all moms 😄).
We came in with zero knowledge. We left with a full ride.
Like the kids say now — if you made it this far, thank you for listening to my TED talk 😄. Ping me with any questions or clarifications if needed. I learned so much here that I feel I owe it to give back all the details.
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