<p>^To continue with the metaphor: don’t put all your chips on any one of the top schools. </p>
<p>My D’s HS has had exactly one student accepted at Harvard in the last four years, out of about 130 who applied. He was also accepted at Yale. But he was denied at Stanford. Yet we have had a dozen or so accepted at Stanford. </p>
<p>The point? There is absolutely nothing you can do to ensure you will get into any given top school. As olymom implied, it depends completely on the whims of the admissions committees in any given year. Your stats put you in the running - but even with your stats, the odds are against you. There are 2400/4.0 kids who get denied every year. </p>
<p>Fortunately, there’s no law that says you can only fall in love with one school. So look around and find some more you love, including some you’re sure you can get into - and afford.</p>
<p>It sometimes helps to think of merit money not as a reward for past performance, but as an enticement to get you to go there. Each school can offer it in its own ways, per its own needs.</p>
<p>There’s nothing wrong with trying early for Stanford. But, my opinion is that they have a bit of a unique take on what they are looking for- kids who’ve done a little more than the ordinary good grades and scores thing, more than the usual impressive-seeming (to a hs kid) ECs. And, I think they won’t fall for the “wanted it since I was four” line, at all. Any idea how many kids apply to top schools and say this? </p>
<p>Your stats are great- but what’s the rest of the picture?</p>
<p>First, I think this student needs to clarify from Dad what his upper limit of spending is for college.</p>
<p>If Dad stubbornly has a number in mind (and Mom can’t move that number higher), then it’s a problem. Dad may be thinking that the COA of a UCLA is more than enough. </p>
<p>Ironically, Dad is talking about a “phony divorce”…well, if he were to pursue such a thing than Mom would have control of 50% and could opt to pay for junior’s college costs without Dad’s approval.</p>
<p>Lilshowstoppa, I think your stats are terrific! … and 2280 is fantastic score - for those who don’t know - anything over 2200 is in the 99th percentile and if that isn’t good enough - well what is? However, the college process is not a fair one and frequently not logical for those on the applicant side of the process. I think your chances will be good at almost any school you apply to but there is no absolute certainty. Good luck!</p>
<p>I agree with akebias that a great score is a great score – but colleges do like to brag about their 2400’s when they pick one. There’s really not a difference between 3.98 and 4.0 but for bragging rights. </p>
<p>Akebias nailed it with “if that isn’t good enough – well what is?” – sometimes this college application business takes on the air of the hunt for unicorns or the Holy Grail. There’s always a better student or a better dorm room space somewhere on the horizon if we can just spur exhausted student and parent to do one more application/campus visit. </p>
<p>At some point, we all have to say “This far and that’s enough! We’ll muddle through from here.” </p>
<p>I was amused and rather charmed when S1’s friends scattered the the winds and then in the second year many returned to the area to take up courses at a local college known for being a friendly, highly competent place with affordable tuition. The Golden Campuses that lured so many away ended up being . . . just college campuses. All had strong points but none were nirvana.</p>
<p>Fill out a FAFSA and go from there. Why fight this so hard? Just fill it out/have dad fill it out. It is what it is and filling it out will likely be a springboard for serious discussion. It does not take long to fill out. It is what it is. Just fill it out.</p>
<p>Fill out the forms. Just be honest. Sometimes they are required to get merit based scholarships.</p>
<p>Very rarely. This has been discussed repeatedly and extensively here, and we haven’t even been able to come up with five schools where this is true. For reasons of privacy, security and general principle, an individual should be very cautious regarding disclosure of personal financial information. There’s no reason to do this.</p>
<p>While I agree that most schools do not require FAFSA for merit consideration, there are some schools (I’ve seen some Jesuits) that require FAFSA for either consideration for all or some of their merit scholarships. </p>
<p>However, since most don’t, there’s no need to do so, unless you’re applying to a school that insists and you want the consideration…so check each of your schools. </p>
<p>That said…I think this dad is grossly naive about FA apps. I think he thinks that the CHILD does most of the FA apps. No, since the parent has the info (and in this case, extensive detailed multi-asset big-income info), the parent has to fill out the forms. I think the dad would rather shoot himself then fill out those forms.</p>
<p>I think the child should print out all the pages and hand them to his dad.</p>
I agree with one caveat … pass them along after filling in anything about the student and all the generic stuff or parent info the student knows (parents, names, addresses, colleges attended, etc) … as much as possible only ask the parents to answer questions that only they can answer.</p>
<p>Thank you to everyone for the advice on this thread. Just to let everyone know, I was accepted REA to Stanford and will be attending. Talked it over with dad, and we came to an understanding about financing college (plus he was very proud! :D) it was very helpful to know my options if this weren’t the case!</p>