<p>See what you can learn on the threads about life at PC. If there’s little- or it’s old- start a thread asking about party life and the dorm scene. You should be able to find pix of PC online. It’s not the “old Ivy” appearance of Brown, but see what you can find. Hope you’re doing that for others, too- and checking youtube.</p>
<p>Don’t worry about where you apply ED or EA yet- you need a solid list first. It’s an important personal choice. And, if it turns out Brown is a top and beloved choice, I’d say there’s a diff between applying ED there, for any advantage that offers, and to BU, which is more of a mega-U environment and is not “meets full need” for finaid. (When your parents quoted a dollar number they could comfortably pay, was that for YOU- or a total, in combo with your sister?) </p>
<p>I think any school in DC is great- a wonderful place for college years. But, check finaid pages carefully. Read with a critical eye. Skidmore offered my D great aid (on par with all her admits.) It’s not one CC families often complain about, for aid. Barnard also reputedly is good with aid. There are no guarantees, of course. I agree Rochester is a great school. Just be sure it’s feasible, travel-wise for any breaks on which you’d want to go home. </p>
<p>You won’t be able to visit all the schools mentioned here on a sane trip. You may not be able to do Maine, eastern NY, western NY, Phila and then Baltimore and DC. At some point, they’ll turn to mush in your mind. So consider the time you will have.</p>
<p>The number my parents quoted was for me alone–aside from what they are paying for BC.</p>
<p>For my visits, I am definitely going to go back to the Boston area and the Providence area, and anything aside from that will probably be whatever makes the most sense. I am probably going to focus on visiting safeties and matches, and then visit reaches if I am accepted to them (otherwise it seems like a wasted trip).</p>
<p>I’m unsure about DC, as I really like the New England atmosphere, but DC seems to be getting more southern. If I were to apply to some DC schools, though, are there any others besides Georgetown that would fit what I am looking for? Georgetown seems a little conservative (I really prefer a liberal-leaning school with no religious affiliation, although neither of these things are complete dealbreakers for me).</p>
<p>From what I saw among my D1’s classmates who were accepted to Brown this past year, there was not happiness with Brown’s FA. Not sure if anyone ended up at Brown–they got better FA offers from U Chicago and Columbia.* Which is to say that when schools say that they “meet full need”, that means different things at different schools. </p>
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<p><applause> but if you happen to be near a reach, then sure, stop by. You might find out you don’t like the place (in which case you save an app fee). Or you might find something specific you like, which will help when you need to write the eventual “Why <reach school=”“>” essay.</reach></applause></p>
<p>*Yes, I know, Brown is open curriculum and U Chicago/Columbia have cores. But if you were planning on taking core-like courses at Brown, then going to core-based schools is like an open curriculum.</p>
<p>Georgetown is the most secular and liberal of the Catholic Universities , BC , ND are more “religious” and have higher percentage of Catholic student body. My daughter is at Villanova and as a non catholic does not feel a "religious " presence in the day to day life. Religion is there if you want it , not overbearing if you don’t.I have heard that Georgetown is more secular that Villanova also.</p>
<p>The other schools that may interest you in DC are American or GW.</p>
<p>I have never thought of DC as south ? I don’t think of south until I get to Richmond.</p>
<p>Wrong. Macalester is IN Saint Paul, in a lovely, leafy urban neighborhood near a charming business strip with lots of interesting shops and restaurants. It’s about 4 miles from downtown Saint Paul, and about 6 miles from downtown Minneapolis. </p>
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<p>Bryn Mawr is about 1 mile from Haverford. There’s a free shuttle that runs between the two campuses, and class schedules are staggered with classes on one campus starting on the hour and on the other campus on the half-hour, making it possible to schedule back-to-back classes on the two campuses. The class schedule/registration system is fully integrated making it as easy for BMC students to register for Haverford classes as for classes on their own campus (and vice versa), and there are no limits as to how many classes students at either college can take at the other. Most BMC students take some classes at Haverford, and vice versa. Many departments coordinate their course offerings to minimize duplication and allow for a broader and more in-depth curriculum than you’d typically find at colleges of a comparable size. You can even take your major at the other college if you like, and either meal plan will get you into either college’s dining facilities with a simple card swipe. There are also lots of joint “BiCo” ECs. Heck, you can even live on the other campus if you like, if space is available. It’s a very, very tight relationship.</p>
<p>Given the 5-minute shuttle, the BiCo consortium is perhaps not quite as effortless as Barnard-Columbia, which involves literally just a walk across the street (Broadway). (However, it’s not true that “Barnard is right on Columbia’s campus”; Barnard has its own distinct campus, separated from Columbia by Broadway). But I would rate the Bryn Mawr-Haverford consortium far easier to navigate than, say, Smith-Amherst-Mt. Holyoke, all about 30 minutes apart by bus and a bit more complicated in terms of course registration and transportation logistics, or even Scripps and the other Claremont colleges. While the Claremont schools are physically contiguous and within easy walking distance of each other, I believe Scripps limits the number and kinds of courses you can take at other colleges in the consortium.</p>
<p>Haverford and Bryn Mawr are also part of a larger consortium with Swarthmore (about 25 minutes away by shuttle) and Penn (about 25 minutes away by train), but because the travel logistics and scheduling difficulties are more challenging, fewer BMC and HC students avail themselves of these options. Still, a fair number of students do take one or more classes at Swat and/or Penn during their college career, and if you’re looking for a specialized course not available at BMC or HC, it’s good to have those options available. Hard to imagine a course you couldn’t find if you exhausted the consortium possibilities.</p>
<p>We don’t know exactly what your parents have done, so far, to estimate EFC for a year from now. If they say they can pay 55k for the two of you, the may be in a strong financial position. (Or does that include loans they would take?) </p>
<p>In any case, IF the family EFC was 25k, just for her, it should still total somewhere near that that for two in college. Things can change from year to year; costs rise, someone gets a raise, the family is expected to crunch a bit more, the student contribution goes up a bit, etc. But, as an example, our EFC was X for D1 and now with two in college, the combined total for both is not that far from X. It’s not X times two. Is this making any sense? </p>
<p>BC- maybe what I read was 10 minutes, not 10 miles.</p>
<p>I apologize for the confusion. I asked my parents for some clarification, and this is what they told me: We are actually not getting very much money at all from BC. Aside from the 30k that we are paying out of pocket, we are also taking out some loans and my grandparents are footing some of the bill. For some reason, I thought that we were paying 30k in total but it turns out that is just what we are paying out of pocket.</p>
<p>We are in a fairly strong financial situation, but I think a lot of it is the fact that we have a lot of assets and no debt. Honestly, I wish I understood our finances more, but I’m only 17, so this is my best understanding. My parents haven’t really tried to teach me, and I haven’t really tried to learn (so it’s my fault too).</p>
<p>In any event, the EFC for me is 25k and my parents are willing to pay that. If, for some reason, I end up having to pay more than that, my grandparents will be willing to contribute some.</p>
<p>The short version of all that is that while financial aid is not much of a problem, I don’t want to put a strain on my parents or grandparents, so I am trying to be as accommodating as possible (i.e. not applying to places like NYU, where I know I will have to pay a lot).</p>
<p>Yea nyu is infamous for their poor financial aid… To reinforce the propositions of others, I know for a fact that U of Rochester gives very generous merit packages, and they would certainly throw a lot of $$ at you with strong sat scores as you have. They are trying to make a name for themselves as a top northeastern university, so if you can deal with the snow u should check them out</p>