<p>I still way to in finalizing my college list and finally submitting all my applications.'m trying to a apply to more than a few safeties, hoping that they'll give me merit aid, and a few prestigious schools, hoping they'll give me awesome financial aid.</p>
<p>But what about my target schools? I'm not smart enough to get merit scholarships there and not poor enough to get a full ride, though my mom is not giving me a dime towards college.</p>
<p>Should I eliminate my targets and apply to 5 safeties, and 5 reaches at schools with good endowments? How would I be able to afford a match school?</p>
<p>I understand your logic, my D took a similar approach, going for merit scholarships at her safeties and matches and schools with excellent FA for her reaches. One thing that helped her was having acceptances to three schools early in the cycle (two rolling schools in Oct/Nov, and an EA school in Dec), that gave her time to alter her college list before Jan 1 if necessary. These early decisions not only gave her information about her chances of being accepted at other schools, but also an idea of how she was going to fare with FA and merit scholarships.</p>
<p>Do you have any schools where you'll find out early about decisions and money (either FA or merit)? Is your in-state school a match that you could afford w/o merit?</p>