<p>Hi all. A brief introduction about my transferring situation and educational journey. I moved to the States five years as a junior in high school, then went to a community college in Socal for three years now. This year is my third year and will stay here for another year. The reason why I will stay here for four years is not because I was a part-time student, but because of switching majors and doing prerequisites. I did a lot of art studio classes in high school, current community college, two art studio classes in Pasadena City College and Art Center at Night Program, respectively in order to prepare a portfolio to apply as an Industrial Design major. However, even though pursuing a career in Industrial Design is still my goal, I uncovered the type of college education system called liberal arts college that has to offer in the States as I digested the college information in community college. Most importantly, many of my values and life philosophies are similar to or the same as that of the liberal arts college's. </p>
<p>Although I am still confronted with the language barrier and I will be facing more language and academic challenges I, after one year of consideration, am keen to take on more obstacles. I have been pushing myself out of my comfort zone and keeping my pace to take more academically challenged courses and to do extra curricular activities in order for me to prepare for a four-year rigorous college experience. </p>
<p>However, here comes the issue. I read one of the thread about a student having a SAT Critical reading score lower than 550, and he/she was strongly recommended by Reedies about the importance of getting a higher score for the sake of FA, admissions, and future academic life.<br>
1) I am not an international student. I will either apply as a permanent resident or a naturalized U.S. citizen before March 2015.
2) I need a generous FA to cover 80-100% of the tuition because I come from a low-income family. Of course I could take out some federal loans (No privates), but just like to know if Reed is need-blind admission.
3) I HAVE NOT TAKEN MY SAT. As stated above, I transferred here as a Junior in high school. But I am willing to study it on my own and try everything to give a shot - and I hope that this isn't the part where I am not being realistic.
4) I think the most thing I concerned is having a higher SAT score higher enough for me to get the admissions before 2015 or Feb 2015. </p>
<p>I am facing the same frustration as applying to other liberal arts college where ask me for a SAT I score such as Oberlin. I planned on applying to Scripps college and Pitzer College (both do not require SATI), Reed College, Oberlin College, or others. I liked to apply to 5-6 selective or somewhat competitive liberal arts college that either require SAT scores or not and are need-blind admissions (preferable). I will really appreciate your constructive suggestions or SAT preparation guidance. </p>
<p>Thank you all in advance. </p>
<p>Oops, my major are art history and philosophy. I am also looking schools that have competitive art history and philosophy major. Again, I read the thread about not the impossibility of double majoring at Reed but interdisciplinary dual major. I have replied that thread about getting more info about that, but will thank you for any insights into the dual major thing. </p>
<p>Please let me know if you need more academic info about me so that I can post my extracurricular activities and GPA for your general evaluation. </p>
<p>Reed, Oberlin and PItzer are not need-blind, but they meet full need, which is more important. Why not just take the SAT?</p>
<p>Hi there, I’m Swati and I work in the admission office at Reed. It sounds like you have a pretty complex situation, that could do with some personal time with an admission counselor. I would recommend that you call the admission office to speak with an admission counselor who works specifically with transfers. The front desk will be able to put you in touch with one of them. You can also send an e-mail to admission @ reed.edu detailing your situation, and communicate directly with an admission counselor via e-mail. A few quick answers though:</p>
<p>We are not need-blind, but meet full need for all admitted students who apply for financial aid.
We do require the SAT
We do not have spring admission. The transfer deadline every year is March 1, for the following fall.</p>
<p>Another key piece of information is that for institutional funding, financial aid eligibility is limited to a total of 8 semesters of college attendance, including semesters at other colleges. Students are notified of the number of semesters of institutional funding available to them once the registrar’s office completes a credit evaluation and determines the coursework acceptable for transfer credit.</p>
<p>So again, definitely get in contact with the admission office! Our job as admission counselors is to be familiar with the college’s policies and help you navigate the admission process.</p>
<p>Hi International95, #2, thank you for your prompt reply. Could you elaborate more on need-blind admission v.s. meeting full-need admission? I came across Bowdoin College’s webpage about need blind and meeting full need. </p>
<p><a href=“Student Aid | Bowdoin College”>Student Aid | Bowdoin College;
<p>As I read along the following passage, "Bowdoin practices need-blind admission. Need blind means that the ability to pay the College’s tuition and fees is not part of the decision to admit a student, " such descriptions sounded better for than the the passages below, “The idea behind our need-based aid is to bridge the gap between the total cost to attend Bowdoin and your family’s ability to pay. When reviewing each file we take into consideration each family’s unique financial circumstances.” My Estimated Family Contribution (EFG) is $64.00, and I did not fully understand why meeting full-need is more important. Yet I do see the value of meeting full-need admission as I totally need to assume a portion of my expenses. I am still learning college admissions terms and process with the help of school counselors and myself, so it would be good if you can tell me more about the differences. </p>
<p>Thank you again. </p>
<p>Hi Swati, reedadmission,: thank you for your prompt reply. I do have a somewhat complex situation because I insisted on going another route - transferring to (competitive) LACs without a SAT score instead of a public research school. I was about to email the admissions of Reed College after getting some clues here, and thank you for the reply letting me know to whom I could talk with. I have not discussed this with college counselors and others because sometimes they would feel my way is not efficient and realistic or they just don’t know how to help me. Plus, I feel I should have at least a SAT practice test score because it will be more easy for others to help me further about the admission process (since SAT is a requirement).</p>
<p>I will send an email and copy and paste my concerns and call the admission office. </p>
<p>P.S. Please excuse me for my typos in the previous post.</p>
<p>Consider Bard College. Bard does not consider your ability to pay while evaluating your application for admission. However, even if Bard decides to admit you, Bard could potentially not meet your need, i.e to say, Bard <em>could</em> ask you to contribute a larger amount of $$ than your calculated estimated family contribution (EFC). Reed, however, promises to meet your need, so if you get in, you can afford to go (usually). However, since Reed’s financial resources are limited, Reed has to consider your ability to pay while evaluating your application (at Reed, having need affects about 10% of applicants). There is a group of schools that have BOTH need-blind and full-need policies, but this group is very, very well-off.</p>