Always apply - but merit takes away that need (but you need to keep grades). In the end, your parents will decide whether or not to apply - but if he’s making $250K, no one on your list is giving you $$ - not for need.
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My dad actually went to the university of Tulsa for a conference. He said it was super nice. I plan to tour Oklahoma and Tulsa this summer since they’re close. My worry with Tulsa is that it’s small and sometimes that’s great, sometimes it means less resources. Since I hadn’t heard much about it, I was worried it was the latter. But, people on this website seem to love it so I’ll definitely give it a shot.
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Edit #2: taking off bucknell and considering taking off pitt
We are looking at Tulsa for S24 who will be a music double major and was very impressed by the offerings and scholarships. Their music department seems exceptional for a small school. If you are a NMF it seems an exceptional opportunity,. He will definitely keep it on the list if he makes NMF and possibly if he is not since he can apply for other scholarships.
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I love free 
I think they’ve had issues financially but they have a visionary leading it.
In the end, when you have a budget, there are tradeoffs to make.
But when you visit, set up academic meetings with profs…to explore your interests with them and to see how they’d fit.
I think of all the schools we visited, Oklahoma did the best job - created a day for my son (personalized) - he was interested in their top rated atmospheric sciences program.
At most schools, they’ll be what you make of them - big or small, it’ll be up to you moreso than them - although obviously hopefully they’ll have the resources to support.
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No guarantee of that. They give merit to some, but not to all.
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That’s cool. My problem honestly is that my friends who are as high achieving as me and others at my school have ivys, Stanford, Duke, etc. on their lists (or are attending next year) and they either have way more money than I do (like insane amounts) or less money than I do and can get aid. And I’m trying to tell myself that no matter how hard I try, I can’t go to the places these people can because we just can’t afford it. And because no one else in my extended family really tries this hard, all the aunts and uncles and grandparents are all “oh you can go anywhere you want! Everyone will be throwing money at you!” But they won’t. It’s unfortunate and hard to really get that into my head when I look at my act and APs and stuff. Because I know I have a shot at getting in. Oh well. That’s life. And I can go to a prestigious med school or grad program if I come out with no debt and do well in my undergrad. And where I go for undergrad matters way less than for grad school.
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So the good thing with that is that my school sends tons of kids to Tulane. Around 5 each year if not more (~250 kids in each class of my school). At least 1 gets a full ride and at least 2 get a full tuition scholarship generally. They know my school and for some reason seem to prefer it because there are always a group of kids going to Tulane and most of them get good scholarships. They do have Louisiana-specific scholarships. So I’ll just try and see what happens
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Prestige doesn’t give you success. You hard work, determination, and grit bring you success.
But yes, everyone’s situation is different.
Both my kids chose safety schools - so even kids that have elite options (both mine did) don’t necessarily choose them. Choose the right school.
If Astrophysics is truly on your list, you really need to look at Arizona - it’s a home run in all ways - academics, reputation, money.
Definitely focus on YOUR task at hand, not your friends. I know it’s hard with peer pressure but if your family has given you a limit, you have to live within that limit. You are lucky to go to college - any college - we all have to remember how fortunate we are.
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I would consider leaving Pitt on the list. They offer 50 or so Chancellors scholarships. Very competitive but you would be in the mix.
Tons of medical opportunities on campus. Always in the top 10 for NIH funding. They also offer guaranteed medical school admission to a few students. You might change your mind but if you decide to stick with medicine it’s a fantastic offer.
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Ok. Someone else said there’s no hope if I’m not a minority (I’m white and upper-middle class). But I’ve heard a people echoing that sentiment about every highly-ranked college…and tons of rich white boys still go to them every year lol. I am a girl and NW Louisiana probably gets me geographic diversity points at anywhere out of the south
yup, there’s no guarantee but at least from what I’ve heard, they can give decent merit. /warmly
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You might get some merit from Pitt or not. They’ve moved towards need based aid. Even if you get merit it probably would be over your budget.
However, you’re chasing big scholarships like the Chancellor’s. They’re very competitive but you’re in the mix stats wise. It’s a full-ride. Big risk, bigger reward.
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If in doubt, apply anyway. It’s a quality school and the NMF package is great. Remember that the vibe of each school you are applying to will not be the general vibe, but rather the vibe of the honors college. At UTD, the honors college has a close-knit, fun, nerdy vibe. These kids live on campus and form a real community.
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Exactly. Don’t listen to them.
I’ve heard so many ignorant (and bigoted) comments that “only URMs can get in”. But in reality, the majority of students at most of these schools are white, and a large chunk of them are middle/upper-middle class.
I empathize with your financial situation not letting you apply to elite private schools. There are many, many highly accomplished kids like you in a similar situation every year. And they go to excellent public schools.
I’m confident you’ll land some place great.
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Decent is deceptive - to some $15K is decent or $30K is decent.
Northeastern is over an $80K cost of attendance so the student would need over $55K in merit to be within max budget.
I don’t know NEU’s merit opportunities - but in 99% of cases, this will be an impossibility.
According to their website, they max at $28K.
So people who are price focused have to select their schools very carefully. In your case, your family was getting very little from NEU and was ok with that. But that’s different than this case.
It could be there’s a secret full ride merit I’m not seeing and if NEU has that, then it’s ok to keep on as a hail mary using one of the 20 common app spots - but at first glance, it won’t come close to making budget.
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That’s just not true. You are mostly limited by your budget. . .not anything else. It may be worth checking out a few schools that don’t consider both parents income (like Princeton) and see if that gets you close. If so you may want to consider one of those as a reach.
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The OP needs to get the price down to 20-25k. Cost of attendance at NEU is going to be at least 85k. Merit aid of 60-65k is extremely unlikely. In general, NEU is unpredictable in its awarding of merit, with many high stat students receiving none. I get the impression that they used to award more merit in the past.
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Ah, I see. Whelp, it was just a suggestion. Plus, math isn’t exactly my thing, although it was worth suggesting NEU. /warmly, sheepish
I doubt Princeton would give us enough aid though. Even if they only take one family. An EFC of 30k is too much and even I agree that it’s reasonable for our finances. 40k is even reasonable for our finances. My dad just doesn’t believe in spending a lot of money on college when I could go for free.