@MYOS1634 I believe I won’t be getting an FA package until early April. The letter said the portal would only open on Ivy Day, so I’m just left wondering. 
Cornell isn’t the most generous Ivy as it has a lower per-student endowment than the others (and lower tha nthe top LACs you applied to as well). It will probably include Direct loans.
hm 
I’m sorry. It must be difficult. You may want to reach out to Financial Aid and say you’re so excited to be in based on the early read, but as a foster kid you’re worried about the financial aid package, do they have anything general that they can tell you, until the package is published, so that you can rest a bit easier? You can also email Admissions and ask to be put in touch with the person who’s in charge of Foster kids, to ask questions like: are there community organizations for Thanksgiving? What happens when dorms close for the holidays? What about the summer, is it taken into account by FA, how does it work?
@OHMomof2 Oh okay, thanks! Speaking of which, do you happen to know if Amherst and Williams are generous with their endowments, specifically in my case?
@MYOS1634 Sure! I’ll email them pretty soon just to see. I am very curious anyway.
Run the NPC’s - they’re quite accurate! You should be pleasantly surprised. 
(I suppose you know that Princeton doesn’t package loans, only grants&scholarships + work-study?)
@MYOS1634 Yeah, I’m considering work study if the price tag is a bit high. I just ran it and I got 3,400, which is definitely super generous.
@ASJU9511, after reading your story, I felt very compelled to make an account because my experiences are somewhat relevant. Cornell is indeed very generous with FA; I am currently a college freshman, and Cornell’s package was very on par with my other school’s packages. I would’ve had to pay $8400/year if I had gone to Cornell. That being said, I am currently a Williams student and Williams’ package was $4000/year for me feel free to message me if you have any questions.
@Delioras Wow, thanks for the insight!
HOLY CRAP! I just got a likely letter from frigging WILLIAMS COLLEGE AAAAAHHHH! They say they’re willing to pay for my visit to Williams and everything OMG! I’M SO HAPPY
I am not surprised!
WOWWWW!!!
Reply right away, go visit!!!
Cornell ILR vs. Williams… the world is your oyster!
(Personally, I’d pick Williams, for the personal attention and connections and because from Williams you can go to Cornell ILR grad if you wish, but you can’t go from Cornell ILR to Williams.)
@OHMomof2 I AM!
@MYOS1634 Speaking of visiting, I forgot to talk about the best part. They say they’ll PAY for me to go and visit Williams! Even my enrollment deposit is waived! This is so crazy!!!
That’s actually pretty normal for schools of this caliber. You’ll get similar offers - some may ask you to apply for the “free visit” but overall you should be invited to visit several colleges for free. You have been identified as a future leader of the nation and are “in-demand”. All the colleges will try to convince you to become one of their future alumni, whom they’ll proudly display on the cover their magazine 30 years from now. 
They also know that unless the visit’s free, you’re unlikely to find it affordable, so they know that if they want you to ‘get’ the college and see if it’s a good fit, you should have an opportunity to visit and thus they’ll make it happen.
bring a little notebook and take notes so that, later on, you can compare impressions.
(All visits will be wonderful, but some will start sticking out to you.)
Amherst and Williams both do the automatic free weekend visit for low income accepted students. No app necessary.
Oh wow! That is just awesome! I can’t believe this honestly. I’ve never been to Massachusetts! I am sooooo pumped though. I want to wait until the other colleges roll in so I can see when I can visit them all. This is just so amazing.
Congrats to you!! You earned this.
For Amherst’s sake, I hope they take you and I hope you love it and choose it. But if that doesn’t happen, I grudgingly acknowledge that Williams also is fantastic and would be awesome. You will not find any schools of that caliber that are more supportive of their students.
Please keep us posted on all the details!! So thrilled for you!
@ThankYouforHelp Yeah, I’m still hoping on Amherst. But it’s gonna be tough to decide!
@GnocchiB I’ll be posting periodically in this thread updating on my college acceptances.
Can anyone of you guys elucidate what the 4-1-4 academic calendar is? I know it’s different than most universities.
It means one 4-month semester with 4, 4-credit classes + 1 month “semester” with 1, 4-credit class (usually in January, you have class 3 hours a day 5 times a week for 3 weeks and a half to have the same number of hours as during a semester, learning is very intense and concentrated) + one regular 4-month semester with 4, 4-credit classes.
Total: 9 classes per year for 36 credits.