<p>I think I might not end up applying anywhere else. Although I have already paid the application fee for Middlebury (sent it out the day before I got my Stanford decision), so I might as well click the commonapp.org "submit" button and be done with it. It'd be hilarious if Midd rejected me, now. :p</p>
<p>I live in Oakland, and trust me, it is far enough to be independent while close enough to never be homesick. Do you honestly think your parents will drive up to see you? Maybe they'll be glad that you're out of the house. =) There is one thing that I've learned after I entered college and it is how much I come to value and appreciate my family. I am very thankful that I made the right decision by staying close to home (turned down MIT, Johns Hopkins, Columbia, etc).</p>
<p>Yea I'm applying to three more schools, but none of them could make me say no to Stanford, so I don't even know why I'm applying.</p>
<p>I had another three I was going to apply to, and I sent my SAT/ACT scores out the day before I got my Stanford acceptance, so there goes all that wasted money =(</p>
<p>just so ya'll know, outside scholarships can only be used to pay off workstudy and loans. if you get more money than your workstudy and loans total then stanford just takes away from your grant money. and if you aren't on finaid at all then they're useless. just fyi, cause i wish someone would've told me that...</p>
<p>hey please&thankyou, does that mean that the parent contrib. & the student contrib. still stands? as in, that's still gotta come out of our own money if we get scholarships?</p>
<p>TJ_03 - that is true.</p>
<p>damn. thanks for the heads-up.</p>
<p>definitely check out other schools before coming here.</p>
<p>What do you mean, jaywoodard? Is there any school you would prefer over Stanford?</p>
<p>I'm applying to HYP and Columbia. Finished the applications a little less carefully than I did for Stanford, though, so not at all confident or concerned about my chances. :)</p>
<p>
[Quote]
outside scholarships can only be used to pay off workstudy and loans. if you get more money than your workstudy and loans total then stanford just takes away from your grant money. and if you aren't on finaid at all then they're useless. just fyi, cause i wish someone would've told me that...
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Fortunately that is not entirely true. While it is true that outside scholarship can only offset your self-help portion (and not your FEDERAL EFC*) IF you obtained federal financial aid, people who have a 100% EFC and aren't on financial aid will find outside funds MOST beneficial. In fact, this is the only way to reduce one's EFC.</p>
<ul>
<li>There is really only one EFC. That is the figure shown on your SAR. The EFC determined by the schools using the Profile should technically not be called an EFC. As such outside scholarships CAN reduce the expected summer earnings that are part of the typical package at Profile schools. What is not allowed is for the total of financial aid, self-help, and EFC to exceed your Cost of Attendance.</li>
</ul>
<p>ok. so let's see. I got NOTHING on my SAR. Meaning I am expected to pay the full $47k. So say I bring in $500 from an outside scholarship. Am I now able to only pay $46,500? </p>
<p>Thanks for explaining :)</p>
<p>Sorry I can't really explain financial aid details, but I do want to say that it's worth every penny it costs to go here. There's a very good reason we're the happiest students in the nation. We love it here. At the least, I would say it's a bit weird if you DON'T like it here--typically people who transfer out have special circumstances. :-/ Check out other schools for their financial aid packages and whatnot, but please wait until you've visited each and gotten a feel for the different atmospheres before you decide which one fits you the best. I was all about Duke for a while because all my tuition would've been covered by grants (that I wouldn't have to pay back after graduation) so basically it would've given me ~$120,000 to go there. I chose Stanford, where I have to pay considerably more. I don't regret a single dollar. Why? The people who go here rock. It's why it's so awesome to go here, really. The people you get to know here and the connections you can make are pretty much unparalleled.</p>
<p>As for worrying about whether you're smart/talented enough...come on. Have some faith in yourself. You're about to start the best 4 years of your freaking life, and here you are worrying yourself to death before it even starts. I don't care how dumb/pathetic you think you are, you're wrong. The Nobel Prize Laureate in Chemistry a few years back spectacularly failed chem in high school and barely managed to graduate properly. Einstein dropped out of secondary school and wrote his Theory of Relativity papers while working as a clerk in a patent office. It's spectacularly rare that someone transfers away because they can't handle the academics--there're so many resources to help you in your classes, take advantage of them and you'll be fine, I promise.</p>
<p>The atmosphere here is incredibly laid back. No matter what your interests, your hobbies, your major, whatever, you're going to find your niche at Stanford. If not, make a niche, we'll help you. :-) We like you for who you are, not what your grades are. We're incredibly chill.</p>
<p>And as for living close, meh, don't worry about it, I know lots of people who live 20 minutes away and they're fine. One guy I know lives a 5 minute bike ride away. He's happy he can go home whenever he wants a break from dining hall food. :-P</p>
<p>Great quote, wanted to share it:
"Stanford has a product. A lot of people don't know this. We produce a product, and our product is the future."
-- Brian Carilli, lab designer in the School of Engineering, and one of two recipients of this year's Marsh O'Neill Award.</p>