<p>That’s why Cornell is really attractive for me… My family’s expected contribution is under 20,000.</p>
<p>WTH…“low income” = EFC 20k…What exactly is your family’s income and what will they be able to pay?</p>
<p>Here’s my deal. My dad used to be a stock broker with a six-figure salary. Then he got meningitis, and he was no longer able to work. So, our net worth is decently high, but we technically have no income.</p>
<p>For what it’s worth my GPA was below 3.6 when I applied to Chicago this year with decent test scores (1500). I had no spectacular ECs.</p>
<p>I wasn’t accepted, but I was waitlisted, probably because my GPA sucked. But my point is getting on the waitlist still means my application was considered very highly, and likely above kids with 4.0 GPAs (I mean most of the applicants have perfect or near-perfect GPAs, a 3.5 would fall probably not even in the top 75%). </p>
<p>So yeah, your SAT was better than mine, your schedule is better than mine. If you make your essays excellent and show that you haven’t wasted your HS time then why not. Give it a shot.</p>
<p>You can’t rely on FA.</p>
<p>Most schools are NOT need blind.<br>
Definitely began your search with a “bottom” up approach of financial/admissions safety.
I would start the search with Wiki looking up the list of “Need Blind” and “Meets Full Need.”</p>
<p>I would look at the schools that offer full ride/full tuition for National Merit (Bama, Oklahoma, Tulsa). USC offers 50% tuition. Bama is on my son’s list. It was not an obvious school for him because he wanted a a small LAC. But, with the easy application, guaranteed full tuition at his SAT level, the 4 separate honors colleges, the “warm” weather he wanted…Well, it just became attractive. I think you need to start in the same manner he did. Find a school or two you KNOW is affordable without the hassle of the FA game. Once you have that, you’ll begin to know the attributes you want most in a school.</p>
<p>Then look at schools where your GPA is >50%. </p>
<p>Then see if the schools offer merit, the max merit and the steps to get it. My kid decided he is only willing to apply to 3 or so schools where merit is competitive with extra essays and mandatory scholarship weekend interviews. </p>
<p>The rejections reported on this board for HS class of 2012 were the worst I’ve seen since lurking on these boards. Start from bottom up and you want be disappointed next year.</p>
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<p>Warning bells going off all over. OP, you’ve got a complicated financial picture, because it sounds like your family has resources that are out of line with your household income. That means that you shouldn’t be relying on the Net Price Calculators to give you an accurate picture of how much aid you’ll receive.</p>
<p>You shouldn’t be applying ED, unless you are prepared to give up the ED school if they admit you and don’t give you enough financial aid. And you’ll also have to be very careful to fill out the Profile (for financial aid) very, very carefully, to make sure that the estimated FA that would be awarded in December would match up with the actual award in April. </p>
<p>Rhodes: a poster named curmudgeon a few years back had a bright bright kid who was aiming at med school. She got into Yale, back before they had their super-generous financial aid. It was going to be $$$$. She also got accepted to Rhodes, pretty much a full ride. Talked to her parents, who agreed that they’d pay for med school if she took the big merit offer. Did very well at Rhodes, was academically challenged, ended up winning a Goldwater (big deal national science award). Is now in medical school…at Yale. :)</p>
<p>Hmmmm. Okay. So does that mean the stated figure for Cornell is incorrect? If so, that’s not good.</p>
<p>Yo yo yo bump</p>
<p>Just means that you can’t treat the Net Price Calculators as guaranteed Holy Writ. This is the first year that schools are using the NPCs, and there’s not a lot of data so far on just how accurate they are. Try asking on the Cornell forum. Also try asking on the (stern but knowledgeable) Financial Aid forum. </p>
<p>You may yet end up getting accepted with great FA from one of the schools you listed in your OP, but don’t assume that. That’s why RD, which gives you more leeway for comparing financial and merit aid offers, is IMO the better bet for you.</p>
<p>My school doesn’t rank either, however I can ask my counselor for my rank for personal use. I would suggest doing that. If you are top 5-10% considering how hard your schedule was and the rank of your school that 3.65 could be equivalent to a 3.9-4.0 in a generic public. My school also uses naviance and it is cool to look at people with GPA’s that are well below a schools average, get accepted. Don’t underestimate the HS you attended. Colleges realize if you go to a prestigious high school based on standardized testing. Apply any school you would want to go to. You have a chance at an Ivy or an equivalently good school. Good luck.</p>
<p>Try mcgill, toronto, and schools in england</p>
<p>They go more by standardized test scores</p>
<p>Hmmm. How feasible is McGill?</p>
<p>grejklhgfkleshfiuodskhfeawfueawfdsyfdsaiofjudspoifdsa</p>
<p>Oh yeah I forgot to mention, floridadad hit the nail on the head --</p>
<p>Try Oxford, Cambridge and McGill. The former two have reputations that can rival the top5 schools in the US and McGill can rival any top20. They don’t care about your GPA – it’s all about their admissions test (depending on the course to which you apply), an intense academic interview, and your scores.</p>
<p>Um, please tell me more about OxBridge. Isn’t it ruinously expensive? Do I have a chance in heck with my GPA?</p>
<p>Another bump</p>
<p>I could be wrong but it seems like I often read that Wash U. and Tufts are especially concerned about high scores and might be a little more flexible about a 3.6.</p>
<p>The OP has to worry about getting a strong aid offer in addition to getting in. I don’t know if McGill offers merit aid, but their sticker price is lower than for many US private schools. Of course, if that exceeds the OP’s budget, it’s a non-starter. </p>
<p>triplenickel, what’s your EFC from a FAFSA estimator? And what is your family’s anticipated budget for what they can spend on your college expenses, per year? Start with those numbers, along with your stats, and people here can help you build a list that will include great safeties and matches, along with whatever reaches you want.</p>
<p>As you can see, my situation is rather exceptional. My parents were elated when they saw the EFC results from the NPC’s, though. Most of our net worth is in retirement accounts, which are apparently off limits for the NPC’s calculations. Thus, our EFC is quite low, to the point that several elite private schools are ostensibly cheaper to attend than my state college. I’m an only child, and my parents care greatly about my education, so anything under 45,000 would probably fly with them. However, I am positive that I want to become a neurovirologist, a profession which requires medical school and several years of training afterwards. Seeing that I don’t want to obliterate my parents’ retirement account, I’d rather not make them pay too much (maybe 20k as the limit?).</p>
<p>You’re definitely ahead of the game: you’re looking at the long term picture (saving for med school, and you’re being a considerate child regarding your parents’ finances 
). The parents here are going to have your back. </p>
<p>Start a new thread, because this current one’s title isn’t going to attract the eyeballs that you want. You are looking for suggestions for strong merit aid given your generally strong stats, with the slight twist that your not-as-muscular GPA comes from a highly rigorous high school. These are the schools that will be admissions safeties and matches, but you want them so that you have a safety net come next spring. Be brave, and post in the financial aid forum. People there are super-knowledgeable but they will not sugar-coat, so be prepared. List the schools you’d love to go to if money were no object, and the reasons why, so that people can help you find schools that will be a good fit. Be humble. You may feel when people suggest schools that they aren’t well known enough. You may feel slighted or insulted. Don’t be. The important thing for now is to find that safety net. </p>
<p>Remember, things might work out as you want: you may end up getting into the school of your dreams, and the financial aid may work out. But you don’t want to bet your future on that.</p>