@ADonkeyFly Please keep us informed. I’m curious which schools will give you serious merit aid for a “3.2W gpa with a few F’s” What is your unweighted GPA? I agree with intparent that applying to 22 schools is over the top. How much did you spend in total on those apps?
@3Scoutsmom and @intparent
Whew, being put on the spot is weird. Ok, I’ve applied to 22 schools. I’ve been accepted into 9, and deffered from one. Although it doesn’t seem that way, I have a strategy beyond just “Spraying and praying”, I’m not applying to the Ivies or Top 40 schools that most CCers are applying to. For Instance, of the 9 schools I’ve been accepted to there are 2 small VA privates where I’m receiving the maximum scholarship, one Alabama public where I qualify for Full tuition plus I have a scholarship application to fill out for the 350+ competitive scholarships, my county is on Say Yes, so any NC Public I get into will give me last dollar tuition, and I can scrounge up the rest from outside scholarships and work. There’s One Louisiana Public School where I’ll get an Out of State Fee Waiver, and a SC Public where I’ll get another fee waiver and a Georgia Public that is admittedly up in the air money wise. Lastly, I’ve gotten into an NC Private where (If my GPA gets to 3.6, and it will) I’ll get a pretty large scholarship, and I’ve already gotten a 16,000 dollar one.
It’s also kind of important to mention that I’m an AA male with a 1980, which is very high for my Demographic(and high in general, not compared to the geniuses here ofc.)
And at least 10 of those apps were free btw. And yeah Intparent, I don’t bother with Net Price Calcs, but overall the Say Yes thing coupled with the fact that I applied to mostly safeties gives us more financial breathing room. Now, for my top schools (avatar related), the story will be different. Probably will get a lot of rejections and almost no aid. Never hurts to try though.
Edit: I’ve just realized that I’ve pretty much doxxed myself. I’ll delete this soon
“Simple click and sends” are part of the reason why the whole college admissions process is broken. It contributes to the ridiculous escalation in the number of applications colleges are receiving. Matriculation yield rates are crazy now, and it’s all one big vicious cycle.
If any of u think now that applying to 22 schools is crazy, just wait and see what happens when SAT scores are free.
@GMTplus7 Yep, what’ll happen is that colleges will have dual cutoffs for applicants far below and far above their admissions standards. If a student applies with scores far above their average (Far above safety range, SAT scores 400+ points ahead), then they’ll reject them, or weed out the fakers by making them apply RD. Because with the implementation of the Common App, streamlined Statewide applications, and Colleges handing out Free Apps like candy, the yield rates are going to be absolutely embarrassing. And I know I’m speaking against myself here, but I’m just taking advantage of the system as it is.
Did you ignore the NPCs because you are not eligible for need based aid? Otherwise you may want to do it for your remaining schools. It would save you the CSS fee, application fees, and sending scores if they are unaffordable.
@intparent I ignore them because they have a lot of tax specifics that I can’t find out about at the moment. Also a lot of the NPCs at the schools I apply to don’t give you any merit aid info. Pretty shady imo, but what can ya do?
It is not shady at all. You really need to understand more about the business side of colleges. Most schools DO award FA based on a formula. So if you go to the trouble to get the info and enter it, they can give you an idea of what your award will be. Merit aid often is not purely based on stats. Colleges are intentionally cagey about their criteria because they want to be able to be flexible. Merit money is used to sweeten the offer for students who are less likely to attend if they are full pay. It isn’t “shady”. And if you use the common data set approach, you can get an idea of merit, too.
Again… you have not done the legwork that could help you narrow your college list down. If you would rather pay $50+ per school to shotgun applications than use the tools available to evaluate your financial scenario at each school, then it does not make sense for you to complain about the cost of applying to so many schools. Use the NPCs and common data sets if you want to reduce your costs.
Again we’re at the “cost of applying” thing. I’ve only ever complained about SAT mismanagement coupled with overcharging. Also it is certainly not fair to assume that I haven’t done enough research on my colleges, I’ve done plenty and I’m pretty satisfied with the results so far. It’s like you’re only reading half of my posts. I’ve gotten plenty of aid so far and qualify for much more. I’m purposefully applying to schools with more open Aid policies because I can gauge how much money I’ll get. I don’t apply to schools that don’t give merit aid specifics. I’ve been lurking this site for well over a year now, followed all of the tips that are given, used and abused every single college data aggregator on the net, applied to about 100 scholarships. Please just stop assuming things about my situation. Thanks for the common data set tip, I’ve seen it mentioned but never explained until now.
@ADonkeyFly, quoted from your post #49
So just for the record, you were talking about cost of applying as well.
@labegg, I don’t know why you have a problem with me mentioning fee waivers, I never said everyone qualifies for them.
But I did post in reply to someone calling another poster an “idiot” and “ignorant” because the “only way that you can send free scores is if you order them before the test”, which is not true because fee waiver eligible students can also send them for free (later).
While not everyone can qualify for fee waivers, probably more people than realize can qualify.
A family of 5 making $52,559 for example can qualify for reduced lunch.
@mommdc That was in reference to the SAT sitting fees. I haven’t complained about the cost of applying to college, as it was mostly free. Let’s squash this matter please.
Can we assume the answer to my question is “none”?
Also, the majority of application fees came from schools that I would have applied to without extenuating circumstances. 55 dollars to NC A&T, 65 to Western Carolina, 55 for UNCG and UNCC, 80 for ECU, 40 for ECSU, 55 for App State, 50 for UNC Asheville. So yeah, my ridiculous amount of college application fees came from my in state publics, lol.
What’s your experience @JustOneDad ? Did you win a Computer Science award at the national level? Were you a USA Computing Olympiad finalist? I was, so yes I do have experience. I was an intern at Apple last summer. I know how this stuff works. HOW MUCH DO YOU KNOW? I would love to hear.
Wow, the rudeness-- and hubris-- on this thread seems to know no bounds.
But thanks to the mod who edited out the name calling.
The cost of sending a score report is not simply the cost of an email anymore than the cost of a Big Mac is simply the cost of the food it contains. You can get a sense how costly the operation is by looking at the current list of [job vacancies](https://www.collegeboard.org/about/careers/job-listings) . Gaze on that and try to imagine the number of jobs thst are not vacant, and all that is entailed by having even a single employee. Obviously they have a lot going on that needs to be paid for. And there’s only two streams of revenue: tests and scores.
If I am going to be forced to pay insane amounts to send a SAT score then I want it to be reliable and timely. Is that too much to ask?
I assume @JustOneDad has actual business experience. Because the testing services do process high volumes and provide multiple services to students and colleges. They are a fairly large business. 10 weeks at Apple doesn’t give you a hill of beans in experience with the complexities of running a business or providing those types of services. Some posters out here have 30 years of varied business experience, including IT experience. Many have been through the college app process several times. Some work in college FA offices. So a little less attitude, especially if you want help with questions, would be terrific.
We may not have won the “olympics”, but we do have jobs and know that even the simplest thing requires a lot of planning, budgeting, scoping, building, training, roll out and fixing/patching…and finally, customer service. I’m sure I left out a step or two!
And “exuberant” isn’t the word you are looking for. Guess vocabulary skills aren’t part of your amazing package of qualifications.
@intparent He is the one making assumptions. He had no reason to call me out like that.