You can retake, at worst you’ll still have the 32.
The MOST IMPORTANT things you can do now are
- talk with your parents: do they know their EFC? Can they afford it? Will they need you to get a lot of need-based aid? Or will they need you to “earn” merit awards?
- choose two schools you know you will get into and that are within budget, that share several characteristics with your dream schools. It means you’ve gone deeper than “they’re selective and famous and prestigious”, but looked at their intrinsic, unique qualities. Is it a liberal atmosphere? A conservative atmosphere? A preprofessional focus? Urban? Rural? Is gritty urban a problem or an opportunity? any preference regarding architecture? food quality? Yup, any criteria that matter to you. Then, look for schools where these criteria are highly regarded and check whether it has the academic fields you’re interested in and run the NPC to make sure it’s within the budget your parents gave you. Once you have these two schools, the hardest part of your list is done.
