<p>collegein07: I do not think there is a distinction between whether a school is need based or merit based. All schools give need based aid, whereas many highly selective schools do not give merit based, reasoning that if they did all their applicants would qualify. </p>
<p>If you believe that you will come out better with institutional methodology then yes, use the collegboard link to find schools that use that method.</p>
<p>It was our experience that the federal methodology was far more generous to our daughter than the institutional, but we are not typical. Our situation is a little different: kids from a previous marriage have inherited assets in their names. FAFSA didn't even look at sibling assets whereas CSS profile did, and also wanted to know about social security benefits being received for the sibs. Obviously once those were factored in we didn't qualify for anything since the two other kids have their educations fully paid for, so the only kid we have to pay for out of pocket is D. However, I want to contribute to the education of the others so some of their inheritance is available to them for either grad school or to get started in life; the CSS would method would expect my H. and I to push 100% of our assets to one child and for the other two to fund all of their education themselves.</p>
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When I spoke to GC he told me that kid's profile is very strong and he did mention many ivies as matches.
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<p>If you could get a $1 from every student who has heard this from a GC, friend or parent and did not get into an Ivy would would not have a need for need based FA, you would have the full cost of attendance for 4 years and some money left over </p>
<p>Take that comment with a BOX of salt because the Ivies are not matches for anyone. </p>
<p>I think that Mombot gave you some really good advice about spreading a wide net and having an array of schools, as your child is basically an unhooked applicant that can end up being knocked out of the box by other students with similar stats.</p>
<p>I agree with sybbie in that no matter how outstanding, I would not count Ivies as matches for anyone. Remember that the numbers aren't the only thing that are looked at. The Ivies also are trying to create well rounded, very diverse classes in all meanings of the word. Whether a student gets in will depend greatly upon who else is applying and what holes the admission officers feel they need to fill.</p>
<p>Next year also is predicted to be the most competitive colllege admissions time in history. For that reason, yet again, stellar students who would have gotten in in the past will not do so. </p>
<p>Make sure that your son applies to a financial safety that he knows he'll be accepted to, knows he can afford, and also genuinely would enjoy attending.</p>
<p>You need to scrap two premises immediately: that the Ivies are a "match" (others have already covered this) and based on that faulty premise applying only to 2-3 schools. </p>
<p>For history/econ/government, I'd also look at some of the top LAC's, which may both offer more merit aid and offer a superior undergrad experience at the same time. Don't get caught up in "name," "rankings," and "prestige" as each of them can be fools gold.</p>
<p>Sorry school definition based on SATs and GPA. Matches means not 100% admission. If that was the case, we would not be looking for other schools. </p>
<p>60 -75 % acceptance rate - matches: That means more than 60% kids got selcted but still 40% got rejected.</p>
<p>Over 90% acceptance rate is safety - That means only 10% people did not make into school</p>
<p>For HYPS et alia , I would caution against virtually anyone--2400 SAT, Valedictorian, #1 flute player in state--having a 60-70 percent chance. Some of the most sobering reading you can do is to track down the "results" threads for admissions to various schools. Don't look at the profiles of the accepted students, look at the profiles of the rejected students. If you're looking a notch down, it becomes a little easier but far from quite that deterministic.</p>
<p>I am glad I am asking these quetions upfront. okay so what would be good matches and safety colleges which at least offer him $$$$$$ financial aid.</p>
<p>Does university of Michigan and Wisconsin are match colleges? More important what about the fin aid from these colleges?</p>
<p>History/econ/government which are the best LACs which also offer fin aid to the applicant as without money it would be hard to attend the school. Does Williams or Amhrest have good program in these dicipline?</p>
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60 -75 % acceptance rate - matches: That means more than 60% kids got selcted but still 40% got rejected.
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<p>But you are also talking about the Ivies where almost all of them only admit less than 20% of all those who apply and HYP where there is a less than 10% admissions rate.</p>
<p>If you read some of the college newspapers at some of the schools that S is interested in you will find that this year admissions was brutal with many schools having its lowest admission rates and one of the strongest pool of candidates.</p>
<p>If you live in NY- you should definitely consider Stonybrook your financial saftey school.</p>
<p>At Umich & wisconsin, you shoudl visit there websites to see how you would stack up for merit money. Not trying to sound like a downer, but with many schools now topping over $40,000 many students who would be full pays at need blind schools are now considering schools where there is considerable merit. Even in the realm of merit aid, no school is a safety school.</p>
<p>There was recently a very intetesting discussion about using the words Lottery & luck when discussing admission to the ivies. It is worth taking a read.</p>