<p>Hello all amazing college confidential members</p>
<p>Finally after 7 months I received the registration confirmation mail and can ask many questions. I am a senior and while this is very late regarding applying to colleges there's still hope. I have a 2.7 uwgpa and 3.3 weighted gpa. My SATs are 630 math and 560 reading writing is 480 because I moved to USA 7th grade and am terrible at grammer. I took about 12 AP/IB classes since I am in the IB program. I always took the hardest classes possible(enjoy learning in class and being in a more intellectual environment) but never really tried(do homework) because original plan was to go to a community college then transfer but recently realized how impotant going to an university is to me. </p>
<p>So what are some colleges that I should look at with 3.3 weighted GPA strong curriculum and 1190/1600 SAT. Parent's can't contribute much, I like schools that are focused on learning but also are school spirited. Size doesn't matter but don't want to go to a big school. Ow and interested in Bio major.</p>
<p>I have applied to:
UMBC, St. Mary's College of Maryland, Towson University, Salisbury University, Goucher College. I know this is alot in one thread but If you know about these scools and can chance me that would make the wait less stressful. Early thanks.</p>
<p>It looks like you are in Maryland. What does your guidance counselor say about your list? That person should have a very clear notion of which colleges and universities are likely to admit you.</p>
<p>Ask your parents to help you run the Net Price Calculators at each college and university website. That way you will know if any of these places are likely to be affordable for your family.</p>
<p>Which county are you in? Many if the community colleges in MD are quite good, and all of them have guaranteed transfer agreements with the public universities and some of the private 4-year institutions in the state. If you find that you must start out at your local CC, is will be fine.</p>
<p>Wishing you all the best!</p>
<p>Not to be rude but sadly for some reason my guidance counselor’s aren’t of much use. She couldn’t even send in my transcript on time even though I gave her my college list 2 months ahead. I am from maryland and live in Montgomery county, Montgomery college(community college) is one of the best community colleges in US but I don’t want to go to a community college so I have frostburg state university as a safety. </p>
<p>My parents don’t speak english so they don’t make much from their jobs and won’t be able to pay more then 2000 for my college so loans are my only hope. </p>
<p>Thank you for your reply I just curious about what are colleges that I should look into based on my stats even though it’s January I still have some time to get apps in for some schools.</p>
<p>Are you a citizen or permanent resident?</p>
<p>You can’t borrow much. If you qualify for FAFSA, then you can borrow $5500 for frosh year. If you’re low income, then you can get up to a $5500 Pell Grant.</p>
<p>I recently became citizen. so I can only get about 5500 from FAFSA and 5500 Pell Grant? I can only borrow that much? I didn’t know that 
What about private loans? Since I am applying all instate most of their tuitions are around 10,000 so I need to find another 4000 atleast, but I also wan’t to dorm. I guess that will depend on money and aid. Plus I actually will “trying” in college since I wan’t to go to med school so maybe some scholarship after freshmen year.</p>
<p>You won’t be able to get a private loan without a qualified co-signer, and that person will need to qualify again each year. Often borrowers don’t qualify in later years and the student has to drop out or transfer to a cheaper school.</p>
<p>But you don’t want to borrow that much anyway because it will mean that you will start Med School with a boatload of debt. </p>
<p>You can afford MC on a Pell Grant. Transportation is free if you take the ride-on, and MC offers a bunch of scholarships as well. The Transfer Advisors are excellent. If you finish MC with good grades, they can help you transfer into a top college or university with a big scholarship. Read through the scholarship lists on the MC website. Happykid had the Board of Trustees Academic Speciality Scholarship for two years. We paid almost nothing for her AA at MC. She’s at Towson now.</p>
<p>Run the numbers for Frostburg. I don’t think it would be affordable with only the Pell and federal loans. Do you qualify for any of the state grants? If you do, that would help. Go back to your guidance office, and get some help with that.</p>
<p>And be a pest, but in a nice way, with your counselor. She has a lot on her mind, and it is easy for one student to slip through the cracks. If she’s tied up with other things, ask one of the other counselors who works with IB students to help you out. Make it clear that you need significant financial aid. Many counselors never think to ask students about that.</p>
<p>Good luck with everything!</p>
<p>Wow I never knew how serious afordability was, I am only applying instate since I knew even with loans I wouldn’t be able to afford out of state but thanks I think you guys were very helpful. I guess I never worried about paying because college board and counselor in school always said there are ways to pay for college and just left it at that. </p>
<p>So to be reasonable, I can commute to UMBC and Towson, and they are both 10,000 tuition. If I get 5000 pell grant, my parent’s contribue 3000 I have to either get a loan for the rest 2000 or do a work study program. If I dorm because of Salisbury or St. Mary’s college, Salisbury is 20,000 with tuition, dorm, books and everything so I would have to get $12,000 loans?</p>
<p>* I guess I never worried about paying because college board and counselor in school always said there are ways to pay for college and just left it at that. *</p>
<p>GCs seem to know very little about the FA process. And Collegeboard is just stating platitudes without any concern for a student’s situation. </p>
<p>If it were true that there were ways for all kids to pay for college (regardless of family situation) then no kid would commute to their local CC or state school…everyone would go away to college.</p>
<p>You won’t be able to get $12k in loans without your parents qualifying and cosigning. And, they’d have to qualify every year. If you’re a full Pell recipient, then your family is low income. They’re not going to qualify.</p>
<p>You can’t borrow that much without a co-signer, so unless Salisbury comes up with more money for you from somewhere, it is out.</p>
<p>Which part of Mo Co do you live in? Towson might be do-able as a commuting student, or it might not. From our home in Germantown, it takes 70 minutes to get there. I’ve never tried that during the Baltimore rush hour. The worst part of the trip is those last 10 miles or so on the Baltimore beltway.</p>
<p>Do you have a part-time job now? If you can fit that in around your IB homework, that would be a good idea. You could start saving up for your expenses.</p>
<p>About affordability: HS counselors don’t want to stomp on kids’ dreams. They want you to dream big and to take challenges. If they told students to look for affordability first, lots if students would look no further than their local CCs just because of money - even students who were fully qualified for ginormous merit scholarships. Unfortunately this attitude means that students (and parents) can get unrealistic notions about the cost of education and about their options for meeting those costs.</p>
<p>You are lucky. If the money doesn’t work out you have three branch campuses of one of the very best community colleges in the nation to choose from. You also live in an area where employers are always hiring for entry-level jobs so you can find a part-time job to help pay for your studies. I have realtives in other parts of the country where things are simply not this good.</p>
<p>You say you are interested in Bio and pre med. Take a look at the Bio Tech program at MC-Germantown. It might work for you.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Not everyone, as there are a number of non-cost constraints that can cause a student to commute to a CC or local state university:</p>
<ul>
<li>Student does not want to go away.</li>
<li>Parents do not want the student to go away.</li>
<li>Student has existing job or family (often non-traditional student).</li>
<li>Student’s high school academic record allows for admission only to CC or local state university.</li>
</ul>
<p>Yeah, I guess I thought I had it all planned out but I only partially did. I had some issues sophomore year with grades which messed up my little chance at merit scholarships… So I applied to all the good colleges in-state except umdcp. Now even those schools feel out of reach as I may get into some but won’t be able to afford. I am getting a job asap to make sure I can atleast afford first year, and get a good gpa to atleast get a little scholarship money and definitely going to work if I don’t get a work study program. Can students be a full time studen’t,dorm and still have a part time job? I am asking that because alot of my friends in college who are full time student have so much free time or only have classes 2 days.</p>
<p>*Quote:
Originally Posted by mom2collegekids
If it were true that there were ways for all kids to pay for college (regardless of family situation) then no kid would commute to their local CC or state school…everyone would go away to college.</p>
<hr>
<p>Not everyone, as there are a number of non-cost constraints that can cause a student to commute to a CC or local state university:</p>
<ul>
<li>Student does not want to go away.</li>
<li>Parents do not want the student to go away.</li>
<li>Student has existing job or family (often non-traditional student).</li>
<li>Student’s high school academic record allows for admission only to CC or local state university.*</li>
</ul>
<p>UCB…I didn’t mean literally “everyone”. lol I meant that everyone who wants to “go away” would do so if FA was readily available for all that want it. The fact is that every year there are millions of kids who’d love to “go away” to college or go to the college of their choice, but financial limitations restrict them to living at home and commuting locally.</p>
<p>Many students are able to work part time and study full time. If that us your plan, you need to find a school where it also is easy to come up with a part time job.</p>
<p>Very few colleges/universities offer significant scholarships to second year students. Read through the scholarship pages at the websites of the universities that you have applied to in order to see whether the scholarships you might be eligible for in your second year are big enough to make any real difference for you.</p>
<p>Truly, your best chance at big money looks to be possible by pulling a 4.0 at MC and qualifying for a big transfer scholarship. Make an appointment with the transfer advisor and ask how to make that happen.</p>
<p>Ugh, somewhere in CC I read med schools don’t like students starting at community college. Thats when I decided I did not want to start at a community college once I figured out that I wanted to become a doctor because the original plan was to go to community college. Plus all the work/countless sleep depriving nights for IB and I still have to go to a community college is a bit disappointing. I am getting a job in the next few weeks and from there just gotta wait out and see what the colleges offer. If I am still not able to afford college then Montgomery College it shall be.</p>
<p>Med schools do admit students who start at community colleges. Some have even been known to admit students who took all of their pre-med required courses there. But since you plan to be a science major, you will take plenty of higher level science classes after you transfer so there will be no doubt that you know your stuff. When you communicate with the advising staff at MC, make it clear that your long-range goal is med school. That way you can get better advice about which courses to take.</p>