My parents are divorced and I live with my mom, but even combined I don’t believe they make over $140k+.
Here was my result from the NPC:
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I’m taking AP Statistics currently with an A in the class.
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Have you or will you be taking precalculus and/or calculus?
For UTD, as a commuter, the term would be around $15,000 according to their cost calculator.
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You need to find out how much your parents will actually contribute.
If they contribute $10k per year, then $19k per year is barely doable with a $5.5k direct loan plus $3.5k of your own work earnings (a typical college financial aid assumption of student work earnings).
But if they contribute nothing, then $19k per year is likely too expensive, unless your game brings a large windfall of money.
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Yes, I took precalculus junior year and finished with an A both semesters.
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If you qualify for a pell grant, then you’ll qualify for aid at Rice and many other schools - so one NPC or the other seems to have been wrong.
Perhaps the other folks will correct me as I’m not a parent with need - but I believe my statement is correct.
That said, I’m not sure Rice would be an option. Trinity would though.
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Absolutely - there’s something wrong with that Rice projection. If you qualify for a Pell Grant, you should be getting need aid from Rice, for sure.
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Reason you took statistics instead of calculus this year? While calculus is a typical requirement for a CS major, and a high enough AP calculus score often gives subject credit and advanced placement, AP statistics generally does not give subject credit for the typically required calculus-based statistics course for CS majors.
At colleges that have a subjective admissions review for admission to the campus or major, taking the statistics off-ramp in math may look less favorable than continuing on to calculus after completing precalculus in 11th grade.
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UT is tough to get into CS and I’m guessing it will be really hard to get into UTs CS program without taking Calculus in high school, even though you might be admitted, you’ll likely be offer an alternate major.
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I mainly chose AP Statistics over AP Calculus because I’ve been told by an alumni (CS major) that statistics is more applicable for aspects of computer science such as data science and statistics.
It was a hard decision but both options seemed viable from what I’ve heard regardless.
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However, the OP has divorced parents, so the OP qualifies for Pell grant with one parent’s financials. Rice requires both parents’ financials, so the parental income for Rice financial aid purposes will be higher than that which determines the Pell grant.
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In the event I get in but not for my major, should I just go to another school, such as UTD, and perhaps transfer?
Ah, yeah, that could be the problem… although OP stated above,
That doesn’t seem like enough to shut him out of all institutional aid at Rice.
OP - all of this discussion aside, we should be clear that Rice would be a very long shot admissions-wise. Not to diminish what you’ve accomplished with your excellent GPA and extracurricular accomplishments… but most successful applicants have more college-level coursework, strong AP scores, and so on. The focus on the Rice NPC is less about thinking you’ll end up there, and more about that as a way of assessing your aid eligibility in general, so we know what other schools may be reasonable to suggest for you.
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Unfortunately, this was bad advice to skip calculus. While statistics can be more important in many areas, the statistics courses that computer science, data science, and statistics majors take are calculus-based, so AP calculus is more important for future course progression than the non-calculus-based AP statistics.
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transferring into programs like CS aren’t a given, while there are some transfers, it’s highly competitive
Or just go to an affordable school (UTD if it is affordable) and stay to graduation.
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Of course, I was just talking in regards to UT Austin. However, since UTD’s CS program is very decent, I wouldn’t mind going there for a bachelor’s. Unfortunately I’d miss out on the “college experience” that a lot of people tend to recommend too though.
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@compscy without Calculus, not even sure you’ll get into A&M General Engineering, at least not at College Station campus; perhaps offered McAllen, Blinn Brenham or maybe TEAB programs. What is your 2nd major choice?
Don’t plan on transferring into A&M or UT, for Comp Sci.