<p>Thanks for your input! :)</p>
<p>University of Rochester your friend is in Brandeis is highly likely and Hamilton as good as in.</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>Ooh, add Haverford and Oberlin to the chances, please. 
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<p>And, what the heck. Does she have any chance at Harvard? </p>
<p>(Hopefully this is the last bit of information I get from her)</p>
<p>Seriously? It’s not THAT easy to get into those schools. They’re called TOP LACs for a reason. Swarthmore, Middlebury and Bowdoin are reaches, and so is Amherst - for EVERYONE, and especially Amherst. Others are likely, but be aware that colleges like Hamilton are need aware so that might jeopardize her chances. However, she is a very fine student, and will probably make a very fine applicant too and should receive admission to at least four fine institutions from that list.</p>
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<p>For someone whose combined parental income is less than 60K and parents are separated, this is a luxury she cannot afford. She will need to carefully consider her financial aid offers and select a college that minimizes her debt unless she wants to be burdened significantly for many years after graduation. The problem with ED is that she has no opportunity to compare FA offers (and honestly, the schools are not incented to give her their best offer, either, since they know they have no competition). My D was able to get schools to review FA offers based on comparable school awards and improved her need based aid by $10,000 freshman year at her first choice school. </p>
<p>She can certainly apply to Harvard. No one has great chances, and she doesn’t seem to have a hook. But stranger things have happened. I would say her chances are pretty good at Haverford and Oberlin (matches).</p>
<p>Tell your friend to look into Rice. It’s a research university but has a LAC feel bc it only has 2600 undergrads. Plus, it’s literally across the street from the world’s largest medical center, so shed have plenty of opportunities for neuroscience related extracurricular s.</p>
<p>I actually think she has, but she mentioned something about its having a feel that’s too conservative (politically) for her - she also doesn’t want to be in Texas.</p>
<p>Yes, it is in Texas. However, it’s in HOUSTON, the 4th largest city In the country. Thus it’s quite diverse. And there are threads on here about the views of the students on campus. They seem to come to the consensus that the school is pretty neutral-- there are plenty of liberals and conservatives, but most people keep their views to themselves.</p>
<p>@intparent, thank you for your input, and I asked her about this just to clarify. I’ll try to give a hypothetical scenario to explain what she means: </p>
<p>She applies early to Amherst, and gets in. Upon receiving FA info, she finds out it’s $2500/yr more than she and her parents planned. This would not be a deal breaker. Something like an excess of $5000/yr would be. </p>
<p>Say she doesn’t get into Amherst, and her RD decisions come back. Say it’s between Bowdoin and Rochester, with Rochester awarding $2000/yr more in grants. She’d still be able to choose Bowdoin. </p>
<p>So, yes, she can afford this, but only to a point. Her extended family has agreed to contribute a certain amount in case something like this occurs.</p>
<p>A few things related to that:
- The difference between what colleges offer can be much greater than $2,500/year. For my daughter last year it was actually more than $10,000/year difference.
- If her relatives do chip in for freshman year expenses, that will have to be reported on the next year’s financial aid forms. And then her FA will likely drop for sophomore year by the amount they chipped in.</p>