<p>Thanks so much for the responses. We really appreciate your candor as we’re simply hoping for the best. Thanks again.</p>
<p>Are any of you applying for Ron Brown this year ?</p>
<p>Yes to Ron Brown for my D.</p>
<p>Nope. As a gap year kid I don’t qualify. :/</p>
<p>Madaboutx, do you think my family’s financial situation will impede me from becoming a Ron Brown Scholar?</p>
<p>Though my family’s fairly comfortable ($140K +) , I qualify for aid at the schools I’m applying to. Also, I have a sibling in college. </p>
<p>I think Ron Brown has implied income criteria. I was reading the 2012 scholar profiles, and noticed that most scholars came from disadvantaged backgrounds or experienced an unfavorable amount of adversity.</p>
<p>Wow! everyone on this tread is so nice and encouraging. looks like I found the nice part of CC :)</p>
<p>Idk the impact of income since no cut offs are clearly stated. We have a similar problem to you and will find out about the cut offs the hard way.</p>
<p>I really think its a shame that there are so few true merit based scholarships</p>
<p>I agree with you madaboutx. It is disappointing so many of these scholarships are hybrids at best. Unfortunately, income by itself, does not chime close to telling the whole story or situation, regardless of where a family falls on the financial scale.</p>
<p>Sent from my SPH-D710 using CC</p>
<p>Are many in here applying to an Ivy? Are they really worth it?</p>
<p>@Mad I am only applying to one, UPenn, not because it is an ivy but because I like the school and location.</p>
<p>Good luck to you. My D will be going there. She got in ED. She had two on her list but she picked a program than searched for who was best at it, like you probably did. I’m curios about those that apply to all the Ivies just hoping for any of them to pick them up. Are Ivies soooo great that it doesn’t matter which one or what you study or are we believing the hype?</p>
<p>^guess I’ll be seeing your daughter at UPenn haha</p>
<p>I’m applying to every Ivy bc financial aid. Can’t beat it, lol.</p>
<p>The fin aid is phenomenal and a great incentive to work super hard to be competitive.</p>
<p>I must agree!</p>
<p>If your income is low enough and generous financial aid is pretty much guaranteed, or high enough so that you don’t need aid, you should be fine. However, if you fall somewhere in the middle, like I did, the financial aid packages from the ivies and other selective schools can vary. Like, significantly. As in, I could only consider two of the eight schools I was accepted to because of this. Moral of the story: If you fall somewhere in the middle, have as many options as you can.</p>
<p>Oh, my income is pretty low. xD</p>
<p>Even if you’re in the middle and have to pay something to attend an Ivy, it may be worth it in the long run to take on debt to go to the Ivy. A low paying major, no interest in research, then maybe going somewhere for free or close to that is best.</p>
<p>Well, if you really, really think going to an Ivy is worth all that debt, then go for it at your own risk.
<strong>This in regard to after you’ve been accepted and received your financial aid package. I’m NOT discouraging anyone from simply applying, because you never know.</strong></p>
<p>Sidenote, this idea of a “a low paying major” kind of annoys me. If you’re genuinely interested in a major, study it. If you’re not, then don’t. What’s the point if the learning process is a chore, as opposed to an enjoyable experience? In my opinion, there’s more to gain from the latter.</p>
<p>I think studying what you want is fine, but I’m sure the job prospects for an engineering major is better than that of an African American studies major, lol.</p>