<p>I called LEAD back in late 2010/early 2011 and didn’t find the person who answered the phone to be too friendly… I had specific questions and was told in a rather curt manner, “the answers are on the website” and hastily got off of the phone, almost hung up in my ear. Prior to that I had emailed them twice and no one ever got back to me so thats why I called the office. So I scratched them off of the list. LOL I felt if they treated adults in that manner, how would they treat a teenager who was far away from home… probably silly on my part but she has done fine otherwise…</p>
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<p>If she has the stats to have a realistic shot at the Ivy League schools, then some HBCUs (and other schools) offer large (up to full ride) merit scholarships. See the <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html</a> (e.g. Howard, Prairie View A&M, Florida A&M), but also note that there could also be non-automatic competitive merit scholarships.</p>
<p>Yes, I agree about HBCUs. Don’t discard them out of hand. A friend’s daughter came out of one of the highest scoring public high schools on the west coast a few years ago and consequently attended Prairie View A&M, graduated from medical school and is now quite established in her professional career.</p>
<p>Also, I like the rigor of the core requirements at North Carolina Central University, a school which has been known to throw full-ride scholarships and free laptops to high caliber students. Hampton has partner-programs with larger universities in the STEM fields.</p>
<p>NewHaven,</p>
<p>I’m not AA and my oldest is 1/2 PR, but I can relate to a number of things posted on this thread. We’re middle income (over 70 and under 80K) and live in a very diverse neighborhood where the only young people we know going to college attend a local community college and the local state university. The local high school’s average SAT scores (for 3 sections) sits between 1275 and 1300.</p>
<p>We chose to homeschool and were able to piece together a strong education for my son, thanks to many kind individuals and some national groups that support gifted kids. He definitely was different in terms of his background than were all the other kids in the STEM activities in which he particiapted.</p>
<p>I would second the idea of Questbridge and I would hope that your daughter has applied already.</p>
<p>Also, just a quick comment on what Ivies want. I was worried because all the Ivies do recommend four years of foreign language. My son had two semesters of Arabic at a local CC and one year of homeschooled ASL. He was super lopsided with lots of college math and physics but weak on foreign language and social science.</p>
<p>In the end, he was accepted to all his schools including two Ivies, so I would say, if a candidate is very strong, being a bit lopsided will be ok.</p>
<p>I’m glad you revived this thread. :-)</p>
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<p>However, there are some schools where your D can get a full ride (or pretty close to it). Have you checked out </p>
<p>Hampton:</p>
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<p>Spelman College</p>
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<p>Howard (my niece is currently a senior there with scholly. Will be attending Columbia Law(deferring) after completing her 2 years with TFA).
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<p>Note that two college semesters of a foreign language may be seen as the equivalent of up to four high school years of a foreign language. For example, the UC Berkeley French department recommends placement into the third semester French language course after four years of high school French: [Placement</a> Guidelines French Department](<a href=“http://french.berkeley.edu/undergraduate/placement-guidelines/]Placement”>Placement Guidelines | French)</p>
<p>I forgot to subscribe to this thread and didn’t realize the responses that were here! I don’t want to offend anyone, but I feel that we can be very candid here on CC/hold no punches… … tell it like it T.I.S. (lol that was one of my nana’s favorite sayings). These are MY opinions and thoughts. And I am sure that some of you may be bothered by what I say, but this is MY daughter and I have to ensure that she gets what she needs and WHERE she gets it… I will have to deal with the aftermath if the right college decisions are not made… so here goes… :)</p>
<p>As far as HBCU’s, what is the quality of education? Outside of Spelman, Mhouse, Howard and possibly Hampton? I know many people that have graduated from HBCU’s and they have told me that HBCU’s are always more than wiling to take on students who have struggled in high school so that these students can have a better life once they are college educated. I don’t want her in watered down classes because her classmates didn’t have rigor in their highschools and need to catch up, at her expense! More power to them for going beyond their circumstances to do better in life, but she has worked too damn hard to have the rug pulled out from under her academically because Tina/Johnny either didnt take high school seriously OR didn’t have a good high school experience. i just want her to get the best education possible.</p>
<p>I also don’t want her to struggle to pay for it once she is in… once they decide that the money is no longer available(which we have all heard horror stories from friends/family members who had to pack up/head home d/t a flimsy FA office at the HBCU’s). I am in no position to help pay for college and it would kill me if she went to a school that welcomed her with open arms financially in freshman year and then turned their backs on her after…</p>
<p>Another issue for me is that she is in a predominantly black school, we live in the inner city, I would like for her to go to a school where there are differing cultures. That is part of the learning experience in and of itself. I have a family friend who just graduated from Spelman and a cousin who also graduated from North Carolina A & T this past May. They both had many difficulties with the females that they were in school with. I am sure I don’t need to go into details… but I don’t want dd to have to deal with that kind of nonsense in college. That is not what college is all about. Its about growth, learning, and acquiring skills to be a productive, successful human being. </p>
<p>So we are even looking at Spelman with a hairy eyeball at this point but she will apply b/c its a “what the hell” kind of thing. Will she matriculate there? Probably not.</p>
<p>@ sbjdorlo, her freshman year she took honors latin I and honors spanish I.
soph year she took honors latin II(with a horrible teacher) and jumped ahead and took honors spanish III/medical spanish(which was a juniors level class for those intending on majoring in the health professions in college)</p>
<p>She is currently in honors Spanish 4 and will take AP Spanish next year. So she will have her 4 years of spanish which is great!
She soured to latin and didn’t take latin III. Its sad to say but she probably wasn’t preparted by the latin II teacher to take latin III,</p>
<p>As far as QB goes, she will apply when the time comes. It is too soon.</p>
<p>Hi,</p>
<p>I am sorry about your Lead experience, but please keep an open mind. True there are other great options, but I think Lead is should be considered. The only thing I didn’t like this year was how they selected the schools to attend. My DD went to U of I along with all of the other Illinois students. I was hoping she could go to a school she was actually considering applying. My son goes to U of I and loves it, however they are very different people.</p>
<p>I have a friend whose DD went to the Carnegie Mellon program. She didn’t rave about it I believe due to length. MITES is great, but again you have to be ok with length of time.</p>
<p>Last night my DD hosted a veterans dinner with her key club for the community. I sneaked into event because I have never witnessed her truly in charge. As president, she was the host for event. I could see people going and asking her questions when she was not on mike. I was so very proud and the veterans really enjoyed the program. I can’t believe she will be in some incredible college in less than a year!</p>
<p>NewHaven,</p>
<p>I’m not sure if it’s too late for her to do the College Prep Scholarship for Juniors. I can’t figure out which year applicants can begin applying in February:</p>
<p>[College</a> Prep Scholarship Overview](<a href=“http://www.questbridge.org/for-students/cps-college-prep-scholarship]College”>http://www.questbridge.org/for-students/cps-college-prep-scholarship)</p>
<p>PS. Is she looking at any STEM schools or only Ivy/liberal arts type of schools? Both MIT and Harvey Mudd have a lot to offer STEM students and Mudd is an LAC, so students have to take a broader courseload.</p>
<p>For MIT, check out:</p>
<p>[MIT</a> Weekend Immersion in Science & Engineering (WISE)](<a href=“WISE 2022 | MIT Admissions”>WISE 2022 | MIT Admissions)</p>
<p>For Mudd, check out:</p>
<p>[President’s</a> Scholars Program | Harvey Mudd College Admission](<a href=“http://newwww.hmc.edu/admission/afford/scholarships-and-grants/merit-based-scholarships/presidents-scholars-program/]President’s”>http://newwww.hmc.edu/admission/afford/scholarships-and-grants/merit-based-scholarships/presidents-scholars-program/)</p>
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<p>In most cases I have seen, students who had generous financial aid packages freshman year, received those packages in the form of generous money (you are right they do not give a lot of good need based financial aid because they do not have the endowments to do so). In many cases, the student failed to fulfill the requirements to keep the merit scholarship, there was not enough need based FA for the student to continue, then the student had to come home (they can be brutal because there is usually no phase in, no appeals, if you don’t make the grades you don’t keep the scholarship). Howard and Spelman both offer exchange programs (so their entire experience does not necessarily have to be on that campus)</p>
<p>[Domestic</a> Exchange](<a href=“http://www.spelman.edu/academics/academic-deans/domestic-exchange]Domestic”>http://www.spelman.edu/academics/academic-deans/domestic-exchange)</p>
<p>[Independent</a> Exchange Programs - Howard University](<a href=“http://www.howard.edu/enrollment/exchange/huiep.htm]Independent”>http://www.howard.edu/enrollment/exchange/huiep.htm)</p>
<p>My recommendation is that you apply broadly, include schools where your daughter will be in a position for automatic merit money and places that will not require the non-custodial profile or their own institutional non-custodial form. Unless you have some really extreme extenuating circurmstances, it will be very hard for you to get a waiver (I am saying this as a person who writes a lot of 3rd party waiver letters). Being uncooperative willnot be grounds for a non-custodial waiver. Remember that financial aid is going to be based on ability to pay not willingness to pay. If your ex is not on board, make sure that there are some schools on your list where is financial information will not be needed.</p>
<p>I am wondering what the financial aid landscape is going to look like over the next few years following Sandy, where many families who have lost homes and businesses will be applying for professional judgements and filling out the financial aid paperwork stating extenuating circumstances or request for financial reviews.</p>
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<p>Howard? Its biggest merit scholarship requires a 3.50 college GPA to keep:
[Grants</a>, Scholarships & Fellowships - Howard University](<a href=“http://www.howard.edu/financialaid/grants_scholarships.htm#Freshman]Grants”>http://www.howard.edu/financialaid/grants_scholarships.htm#Freshman)</p>
<p>A freshman who has a relatively rough transition to college could easily lose the scholarship given that college GPA threshold to keep it.</p>
<p>You are absolutely right</p>
<p>Seems like if Howard really wanted to retain the students but hold them to a high college GPA standard, it would reduce rather than eliminate the scholarship for slight misses on the college GPA. I.e. Presidential downgrade to Founders for 3.30-3.49 college GPA and Presidential/Laureate/Founders/Capstone downgrade to Legacy for 3.00-3.29 college GPA.</p>
<p>THanks for the info/input… but HBCU’s are very low on the list… if at all. I appreciate it immensely. On her list thus far— Wesleyan, Amherst, UROCH, UPITT,Temple, Barnard, UNC/Chapel Hill, Stanford, Harvard, UPENN and Yale (and possibly Spelman). I am sure this list will change before 8/1/13. She realizes that she has a greater chance of being struck by lightening than being admitted to the ivies and hey, she can dream right?</p>
<p>NewHavenCtmom - Does Yale have any initiatives to increase enrollment by students that graduate from local high schools? I know Penn does for Philly grads and Northwestern does for Chicago grads.</p>
<p>I’m not sure. I know that they accept kids from dd’s school each year. This past year the young man was an AP scholar with distinction. He scored 5’s on all 8 of his AP exams. So its hard to say if its a focused effort on their part to do good by New Haven or what. I know that in the 80’s the acceptance rates of New Haven kids was quite low… or should I say I was told that it was quite low.</p>
<p>OMG. For real? I have not stuck my nose in here since 7/2011? </p>
<p>Son is hanging on as a sophomore STEM undergrad</p>
<p>Watching the Duke Kentucky game, even though D has graduated. Am I a Dukie for life? D says yes.</p>
<p>How is he enjoying Duke?</p>
<p>@UCB-Thanks for the info! Where are your kids/have your kids gone to college… or are they still in highschool? </p>
<p>@Sybbie-- I see that you must be a GC/in some sort of counseling in NYC? How do you find the students are with college planning/admissions… do the parents get involved?</p>
<p>@Lacrosse–How is the app process going? Is it a bit easier d/t the fact that she filled out app’s for summer programs? I hear that those things make college app’s a little easier.</p>
<p>@ Reeanz–what are your thoughts on UPENN? We visited in April and she fell in love with it.</p>
<p>NewHaven-Applying to all of those summer programs and diversity flyins gave her a chance to develop a pile of essays that she reused for her supplements. She also finished her main essay in August and we applied to safeties before school started. </p>
<p>Shrinkrap-how is son doing in 2nd year?</p>