So first of all, you are very impressive, and I have no doubt that you will go far in life, wherever you end up.
I am a little worried for you about finances, because as a fellow equestrienne, I’m well aware of how much it costs to show at a high level, and that, plus the fact that your parents have the money for private school tuition, makes me concerned that you’ll get enough financial aid. Of course, I am missing about 90% of the facts, so my concerns could be misplaced. But consider confirming with your parents (and Net Price Calculators) that these schools are within budget.
And yeah, I’ve spoken to my parents about finances. We’ll speak with financial aid departments, as well, as decisions get released to help better my understanding of where is best for me to go.
Forgive me for harping on the financials, but I do hope you have a clear understanding of how aid works. You have an outside counselor so hopefully they have discussed this with your family and I am simply reiterating what you already know. Those of us who participate on CC regularly have unfortunately read too many stories of kids with unaffordable acceptances, which may as well be rejections. You have the additional consideration of funding 8+ years of schooling if you do attend med school. Many students in that situation opt for a lower cost undergrad so their parents can fund (or partially fund) med school. For families that do not qualify for need-aid this often means attending an in-state public or a private that offers merit (as an aside, this was our situation).
As a very general statement (there are many variables to calculating financial need), most families in the income bracket you quoted who can afford private school tuition and costly extracurriculars will not qualify for much if any need-based aid. Is your family comfortable with the cost scenarios below, as examples of what you could receive with an acceptance?
UMass Amherst in-state $32k
UVM OOS - $58k (some chance of merit)
Case Western - $82k (very good chance of merit to get cost under $60k)
Middlebury - $80k (no merit offered)
If you decide to add in a few more schools with high merit options (as @blossom suggested), let the forum know. Remember that merit stays the same all four years; it does not fluctuate with changes to family income.
Best of luck to you! You have such an impressive record and attitude you will no doubt find your college home.
Congratulations again about all of your achievements and being a competitive candidate. I am echoing the concerns expressed by @blossom@cinnamon1212 and @DramaMama2021 with a hopeful scenario.
Have you determined how much Brown will cost your family if accepted and will your family be able to afford it?
Once again good luck and I can assure you that the people at Brown will have thoroughly read your application and are aware of what the Broad Institute is. Impressive!!
I have definitely spoken with my parents about this! I’m going to try to finance my riding things (as being an equestrian is incredibly expensive-) with my work money.
As for college expenses… they paid the equivalent of college tuition for me when I was in a private, well-to-do middle school (not to sound braggy or cocky!) and they’ve told me not to focus on the financial aspect; that they’ll handle it- but of course, i’ve applied to outside scholarships and for certain schools’ scholarships to try and lessen the burden on them.
and yes, i do plan to attend med school. hopefully by then, they’ll only have to partially finance it.
and i’ll tell you something- even though going into this entire process i’m stressed, tired, anxious and COMPLETELY burntout- I guess that comes with the territory when you know exactly what you’ve wanted to do and have been college/goal-driven since I was 6-
even if I get rejected, even if I don’t get in anywhere- I’m still going to be proud of myself, and incredibly proud of the kids who get what would’ve been my spot, instead. Because you know what? We’ve all worked hard to get to where we are, and my personal philosophy is to be kind to everyone, regardless of who they are.
so… yeah. I’ll be proud of all the hundreds of thousands of applicants, no matter where I personally end up.
oh my gosh thank you so so much!! /shy, appreciative
and yes, I’ve spoken to my parents about cost, for sure. it’s something that does weigh heavily on my mind, but we’ll be sure to figure something out. <3 /warmly
OP-- I know we are all sounding like broken records- but your comment above worries me.
Financial aid is typically not a dialogue. There is no “speaking to” in most circumstances. You get rejected- oh well, move on. You get accepted with a financial aid package your family can afford- FANTASTIC. Most colleges will tell you that if your finances change during the four years you are there, they will re-evaluate your aid. But that goes two ways- your income goes up, your aid goes down. Your income goes down- possibly they will increase your award but no guarantees.
But you get accepted and you cannot afford the package they are offering- unless it is two VERY similar schools (Amherst and Williams) where you got 20K more from one than the other- there is zero dialogue because there is nothing to talk about. You can’t tell USC that you got more money from UVM- they’ll say “hey congratulations, enjoy Burlington”. Tufts won’t care that Northeastern gave you more. Etc.
So your point about the dialogue worries me. That’s not how the system works…
I mean- I have spoken to my parents about it, but for the most part they want me to focus on my grades and things like that, and that they’ll handle the finances. /softly, thinking
If your parents understand how financial aid works in this country- fantastic.
if they don’t- it’s not too late for you to educate them AND to apply to a few merit aid colleges. Best case, you don’t need them (one of your mega generous reaches comes through). Worst case, your parents lack of knowledge of financial aid won’t mean that you’re stuck next years.
I’m not dissing your parents. I am first Gen American myself, and the parent who came from a country where talented, academic kids went to college for a VERY modest sum (and everyone else went to a vocational type program after HS) was absolutely shocked to discover that even colleges he’d never heard of cost the same (more or less) as the famous ones. He’d ask “How can people pay the same for Hofstra and Harvard?” which was always funny since we knew actual kids who went to Hofstra, even if he claimed he’d never heard of it…
So it’s early December. Take advantage of the calendar and throw in a few affordable options!!!
By first gen- I mean that I’m the first in my family to be a resident in the states. Both my parents attended college! My dad is an MIT grad, and my mom went to a good school in Pakistan. Both of them do know how financial aid works with colleges here, but I’ll definitely speak to them about it again! /warmly
I won’t push as finances are a private matter and I am sure your parents are cost aware. Usually MIT grads are good with numbers😀. With that said hopefully this discussion goes from theoretical to reality in the next two weeks with an acceptance to Brown.
If disappointed with Browns decision please don’t personalize it. I would consider the earnest advice given by others to “understate” some of the ongoing challenges you face and focus on the resilience you have shown.
It is of course a fine line but you may want to consider “hedging” your bet by adding a few schools with a slightly different narrative in your essays. I only suggest this because each application isn’t independent if something amounts to a red flag. I of course don’t know what’s in your essays (and I suspect you are fine) but something to consider.
/old and tired
Financial aid departments? What do you hope to accomplish? Do you think most of these schools will increase your need based aid just because you ask them to? Some might, many won’t. Some won’t even discuss it.
You will receive a financial aid package from schools as you are accepted to them. There will be a very small window of time to request a reconsideration.
I think you need your annual budget for your freshman year NOW….not after you get accepted.
PF- well, I appreciate your advice. My common app essay is all about me being deaf- but how i’ve positively overcome certain barriers to be where I am today, and how that’s influenced my dreams of being a doctor.
and the tone indicator made me laugh- in a good way.
Honestly, my braincells are fried- but the best answer I can give is my parents will probably try to see how much they can realistically pay BEFORE I commit somewhere. /thoughtful
Good luck on your exams - and glad you will run them and see where they are. Good advice given re merit aid as well - as mentioned this is typically something you will receive all 4 years and won’t change with income. If your parents income more than triples next year, any aid you were given on admission will decrease/disappear.
Others have brought up finances and the fact that you have a lot of reaches. I will focus more on your safeties.
I do expect you to get accepted to UVM. Whether you will get any merit aid I cannot predict. It is a bit expensive out of state without merit aid, but merit aid is at least possible (and the NPC was exactly correct in our case, also applying out of state from a relatively nearby state). I expect you to get accepted to U.Mass, but I am not quite completely sure that it is a safety. Your guidance counselor should know better than I. My guess is that the reason that I am nervous is just that I mostly know people who applied for computer science, which U.Mass is very good for and which is particularly competitive.
Both UVM and U.Mass have equestrian teams. I attended a equestrian event at Dartmouth College that a daughter was competing in. UVM, U.Mass Amherst, and UNH definitely all had relatively large (and I think good) teams at the event.
Both UVM and U.Mass Amherst have very good premed programs. You will find very strong students and very good professors in either program. You will find classes to be very challenging. You might be surprised how strong the other students are in premed classes at either university. You might be surprised how tough exams are in at least some of your premed classes at either school. UVM has a very strong pre-vet program (with a good CREAM program and cows nearby) and many of the strong pre-vet students will be in the same premed classes (and some will be equestrians). I am pretty sure that the same is true of U.Mass except for the CREAM program and maybe the cows. At least some students will go on from either of these universities to very good medical schools (and very good DVM programs also).
I do not think that the University of Washington is a safety out of state. If you do get in, I do not think that it would be worth the extra cost compared to U.Mass (assuming that U.Mass is in-state).
By the way, what did you think of the BROAD institute? One daughter had a job interview there before she took her current job (she currently works on potential treatments for a genetic related disease).
Run the net price calculator on each college’s web site to see what net price after financial aid it may offer. Compare to what you and your parents can actually afford to pay.