<p>Protag…your parents say $10K per year. Have you run the numbers through an EFC calculator to get an estimate of what the SCHOOLS will expect your family to contribute? That is important to have. </p>
<p>I do say…go ahead and apply…but also have the information you will need when the final matriculation decision needs to be made. This information MUST include realistically what your parents are going to be contributing. </p>
<p>DO NOT ACCEPT AN OFFER OF ADMISSION until you know that you have a way to pay the bills. There is no “tuition fairy” out there.</p>
<p>I thought you had applied to Mercer, Armstrong American, and Augusta State…no? Which one dropped off of your radar screen (one would think Augusta since you want to get away from that area).</p>
<p>I’m glad to hear you are considering the SUNY schools. They are a better value financially for OOS students than many other public universities. U of Minnesota is the same…very good value for the OOS student.</p>
<p>Re: Financial aid…UNC will not likely be much help to you as an OOS student. UNC merit aid awards are highly competitive. And their first obligation is to their instate students. Cornell gives only need based aid and BC is the same. Since we don’t really know your family finances, it is impossible to say whether or not their financial aid package will be enough to pay the difference between what your parents are offering and their very HIGH costs of attendance. Both schools cost in excess of $50,000 a year to attend.</p>
<p>OP-
After lizmane’s eloquently written post # 116, can you see how your subsequent response to oldfort (#117), even if you were hurt by it, was unnecessarily insolent? I would suggest you take a deep breath and remember the flip side of what busdriver is saying. You are speaking to adults here. A little common courtesy will go a long way. Just sayin’</p>
<p>Thank you, Protagonist, for setting me right on post 55. I was too hasty in quoting it.
You did, however, accuse other posters of making stories about their own kids’ experiences in applying to highly selective colleges.</p>
<p>No one has suggested that your GPA is too low in absolute terms or that you won’t get into a good college. However, many posters, myself included, did suggest that your GPA is too low for the schools that you listed in your first post. That comes from either personal experience, direct knowledge of certain schools, the schools’ own published information, or the information that has been posted over many admissions cycles on CC. These are readily available. What you make of them is up to you.
U of Washington and many of the NY public universities are less difficult to get into in general than BC, NYU or Cornell, and, I believe, less expensive as well. If you need financial safeties–not just schools into which you could be admitted but schools which would give you decent financial aid–, then these are well worth checking out.
Also keep in mind that “good schools” and “difficult to get into” schools are quite different things. There are plenty of good --even great–schools that are not quite as selective as the schools you listed in your first post.</p>
<p>but my parents say that if I do get into a good university like UNC or Cornell or Boston College, they will do ALL they can to pay for it.
<<<<<</p>
<p>Do you know about how much your parents earn? If they’re saying that if you get into a top school, they will do all they can to pay for it…that suggests that their earnings are high enough that they’ll have a highish EFC. </p>
<p>This could become a problem if they won’t pay their EFC, if they don’t think a particular school is good enough. What will you do then?</p>
<p>Tuition at UW OOS would be around $25K(not counting room and board). Merit money is practically nonexistent for out-of-staters(unless the applicant is HIGHLY desirable). While less expensive than privates, I wouldn’t call it financial safety either.</p>
<p>Ok, I’ll bite. I read almost all of the posts on the thread. For OP, what happened to “good” schools that may be easier to get into than lets say Cornell or BC, like lehigh, lafayette, Syracuse, GW, American University and many others. Cornell is located in rural Ithaca, and if you think it will be cosmopolitan, it is not. Students are from all over, but it is a university town with lots of Greek life on campus. You can study almost anything, but it is very competitive for everyone. </p>
<p>Places like Lehigh have an engineering school, and like students from magnet schools. I know you hate real life stories, but I have to say that students with 800 math SAT and higher GPA than yours get rejected from Cornell engineering. (Maybe Lehigh too, but that I really don’t know). Of people that I know who got into Cornell with lower GPA/SAT, there was something else very special about the qualifications - a real talent for the intended field of study supported by recs from professionals in the area .</p>
<p>Still trying to be helpful here, but I am a bit confused. In one post you said
That sounds like A.R. Johnson Health and Engineering. Then you said
and
and told us it was
Whice is a Fine Arts magnet school. Can you clarify? Do you go to Davidson (which had top SAT scores in GA this year, but isn’t necessarily the “top school”, though it is a strong magnet public school) or do you attend A.R. Johnson? It would help to be able to follow the bouncing ball and give you suggestions if the information was a bit more consistent.</p>
<p>I think it would be a mistake to reveal the specific information requested on your school, protag. That is way too personal and you should not have to be concerned about being identified from this site.</p>
<p>Yea, I REALLY do not want to give out personal information about my school. I used to attend the fine arts school for my 8th grade year but I transferred out. </p>
<p>And as for other information, I can’t really disclose that, sorry. I think I got too personal here with the high school information thing…</p>
<p>My mistake, I do attend a magnet school in GA and that is all I can disclose, I do not want this to get too personal.</p>
<p>Certainly one doesn’t have to share what school they attend, though many do and you already did. The issue that is of concern are the inconsistencies, which may understandibly cause some to question the veracity of the info, and in turn wonder if it is advisable to try to help someone when the information posted seems to change.</p>
<p>Ohio state should be at least a match for you, probably a safety. It is rather expensive out of state, though, if that’s a concern. I wonder, if they consider people in state after a year (like some other state schools do if you get a drivers license there).</p>
<p>And jym626, people start feeling uncomfortable when others are pulling up their old posts and asking questions. It feels like an invasion of privacy. We all have inconsistencies, and didn’t say things exactly how they were or how we meant. There is too much personal information that protag has already revealed with so many hostilities going back and forth-it would be inadviseable for him to reveal more.</p>
<p>^^^ No. There is a lot more that goes into qualifying as an instate student at most colleges/universities than just attending school there for a year or getting a drivers license there, especially if one is still being supported by their parents.</p>
<p>Av8r- you yourself commented elsewhere that it is a waste of time trying to help posters who may be just “messing around” (your term) vs trying to help those that are genuinely looking for guidance. Just trying to discern which we are dealing with here, as it remains unclear.</p>
<p>The issue of looking at a posters history has been discuessed many times on CC. It is a helpful way to understand a persons posting history so one can respond appropriately. If a person doesn’t want information shared on a public forum, they shouldn’t share it. It is hardly an invasion of privacy when they themselves have posted the information. If a person is consistently inconsistent, then it makes sense to question whether they are just , as you said, “messing around” If so, many of us have better things to do with our time than try to help them.</p>
<p>Jym626, I do agree it is a waste of time to answer questions for someone when they are obviously just “messing around” and either trying to get a reaction or being obnoxious. The time that I made that statement, it was obvious the student was doing so. But in this case, it seems apparent to me that protag is sincere. And it certainly is valid to take the time to read old posts if you think it will assist you to give a better answer to the other person. On the other hand, it is positively creepy to go through someone’s old posts just so you can identify them, embarrass them, or show to the world all their inconsistencies. Why would you pull up my old posts merely because I suggested to protag that he should not reveal personal information so he is not identified, it was rather bland, non-confrontational, safety related advice.</p>
<p>When it comes to this thread, what are you trying to do for protag? Are you really trying to help him or are you trying to identify or embarrass him?</p>
<p>If a poster claims one thing in one thread and another thing in another thread, then it goes to reason that the veracity of their posts and posting history would come into question. Don’t know that I agree with you that either this or the other poster was “obviously messing around” or “obviously sincere”. Guess its in the eye of the beholder. If a person is posting all over the forum in a short period of time with inconsistent information, then it is helpful to know if they are legitimately looking for help or wasting people’s time. Some of the posts imply that the OP is from some rural community in the deep south. In actuality, the city in question is the second largest city in GA. That is a far cry form the image of some rural community in the deep south that was implied in some posts. Granted it is certainly different from cities in the NE, but it is a city of almost 200,000 people. </p>
<p>If a poster doesn’t give an accurate or consistent description of their education, their community, or how much they can afford to pay (or their parents are willing to pay) its virtually impossible to help them in any meaningful fashion. </p>
<p>Marite posted, quite some time back, a wonderfully eloquent post on the helpfuless of reading a poster’s past posts/posting history. Marite, if you could find that post, could you share it again? It was exceptionally well written and explains it far better than I can.</p>
<p>I wish I’ve had taken the time to read some of OP’s posts before I posted here. Getting into a college should be the least of his problem.</p>
<p>Av8r - you are new to this forum, it’s not surprising people would read up on you, even just to make sure you are a parent. I don’t think anyone is trying to be creepy here.</p>
<p>Too often parents have given sincere opinion only to find out OP has given contradictory information. I don’t think we are in the business of finding out people’s identity. We already know some parents on FB.</p>
<p>I have decided not to help, and some others may have decided the same. Maybe this thread should die.</p>
<p>I definitely don’t have an issue reading people’s old posts if it is for the purpose of helping. There are times that I have noticed that people are doing so just to pick out the one possible inconsistency or negative thing they can find to say about another. The problem is, unless you are going to read an entire thread that someone is posting in, you may not completely understand the context of their words. And sometimes people do generalize or leave things out. And I agree, it is in the eye of the beholder if the poster is sincere or not. Now since many of you parents have been on cc for a long time, you have gotten to know each other well. But for those of us parents and children who do not know you, it can be difficult to tell what your motives are. If we were all sitting around talking in the same room, it would be far more pleasant, I’m sure.</p>
<p>I do stand by my statement that protag should not give out more personal information, or specify his school. Concerned parents would not want their own children specifically identified on this site. I’m surprised that other parents haven’t said that also. I agree with you that maybe this thread should die, particularly if it should continue to be negative.</p>
<p>jym, Augusta is not exactly a bastion of open-mindedness and sophistication. There’s a reason I left as soon as possible!</p>
<p>Back to the OP – with a 3.2, I assume you would qualify for a HOPE scholarship. Are your parents going to put their foot down about taking advantage of that funding vs. OOS?</p>
<p>I had mentioned several state flagships earlier – in large part because one of the young men in our neighborhood was accepted to several of those schools for Chem Engineering (Clemson, Ohio State, Pitt, Penn State University Park) with an UW 3.16 and a 26 ACT – but did not get into UMCP.</p>