<p>YouKnowWho13—the percentage of students receiving FA isn’t indicative of anything. At my institution, a family with a $100,000 would still receive financial aid. That’s not low income.</p>
<p>(purpleacorn’s post didn’t show up originally when I submitted mine).</p>
<p>Exactly. The percentage of students receiving financial aid is the percentage that receive ANY amount, not necessarily a full ride. So in other words, it’s the percentage of students whose families can’t afford to shell out $50K a year out of pocket. That’s not low income.</p>
<p>A $100,000 per year income in New York City or Washington DC is peanuts. Until financial aid has some kind of formula for leveling the cost of living playing field it’s a flawed system.</p>
<p>Apply to both academic safety and financial safety schools.</p>
<p>May I add, apply to both academic safety and financial safety schools because an academic safety would not offer a sufficient financial aid package.</p>
<p>Re: #184 and #185</p>
<p>The safety must be safe for both academics and finances.</p>
<p>Obviously, an unaffordable academic safety does you no good. But a school that is affordable does you no good if you do not get admitted to it.</p>
<p>To all the applicants whose safeties are too competitive and wind up with no college acceptances, and to those who are unsatisfied with the schools that actually did accept them, remember the gap year is always an option. Sure, it’s not ideal for everyone, but for many people it can give them the opportunity to get a job and save up money, travel and do some self-searching, or just get involved in something educational and interesting that may even make them much more attractive to college admissions than they were in their first round of applying.</p>
<p>^Sure, that’s fine. But if your safeties are really safe, you shouldn’t need it.</p>
<p>mmmgirl is correct. I’m not sure how one can be rejected by his/her safety schools.</p>
<p>I’m not a big fan of gap years as it keeps you one year behind your peers…</p>
<p>Once you get older you start to lose the sense of age relationship to your peers. I think a gap year would be fun but I could never get back into school once I left for a year. I just noticed this thread is almost 5 years old now</p>
<p>^^^^^
Yes, indeed. But folks (& parents of folks) in the high school class of '14 can probably benefit from the thread as much as the class of 2009 did in '08.</p>
<p>I hope one of the two schools I was able to apply to is “safe”. I’m an older adult with kids, can’t move, and need to commute to school so my options are limited. I can’t afford a private school, and the closest school won’t accept an application from a person my age without transfer credits (!!). I don’t know what my chances are, especially given my unique circumstances. If you don’t get in one year can you apply again the following year? I definitely don’t want to go to community college.</p>
<p>Tis true but don’t make my mistake and underestimate yourself applying to 6 safeties :)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>You can, but if nothing is different, your chances would not be very good. The usual route for people who did not get into anywhere in frosh admissions is to go to community college and then transfer as juniors.</p>
<p>“The usual route for people who did not get into anywhere in frosh admissions is to go to community college and then transfer as juniors.”</p>
<p>Thats true, I’m in community college right now (not becuase I didnt make admissions some place else, but becuase I have two babies and just couldnt go a university right now).
GlamorousGirl, community college isnt that bad, I know a lot of people have a bad opinion of it, but I saw it this way:
<p>Thanks for the info</p>
<p>Thanks for the info</p>
<p>*May I add, apply to both academic safety and financial safety schools because an academic safety would not offer a sufficient financial aid package.
*</p>
<p>An “academic safety” isn’t really a safety unless you’re willing to pay full freight. </p>
<p>For a safety to be meaningful, you must know for sure that you have all costs covered by ASSURED grants, ASSURED merit scholarships, small fed loans, and/or family funds. And you must know that you’ll be accepted AND you must LIKE the school. Naturally, the school should also have your major, unless your career interest can be pursued with a variety of majors. </p>
<p>IMHO, a school that you know will accept you, but may not be affordable (such as a low tier private), can never be considered a safety. It can be on your list as a “see what happens” school, but it’s not a safety.</p>
<p>Anyone who knows that they can’t pay full freight to any school should have at least 2 financial safeties - preferable 3. </p>
<p>There are several reasons for this:</p>
<p>1) if your safeties turn out to be your only affordable schools, then you still get to choose…which is good for morale.</p>
<p>2) Later in the app process, you may discover something negative about one of your safeties. So, you may still need to resort to your other safeties. </p>
<p>3) Sometimes a school that is thought to be safety turns out not to be (scholarship changes, major is discontinued, student is rejected, etc).</p>
<p>If (as a California resident) your stats meet the top 9% statewide formula or your UC-weighted GPA exceeds the top 9% threshold UC-weighted GPA set by previous classes at your high school (eligibility in local context), then UC Merced is an admissions safety. If it is also affordable and offers the academics you want to study, then it is a true safety.</p>
<p>[University</a> of California - Statewide path](<a href=“http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshman/california-residents/admissions-index/index.html]University”>http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshman/california-residents/admissions-index/index.html)
[Local</a> path (ELC) | UC Admissions](<a href=“http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshman/california-residents/local-path/index.html]Local”>http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshman/california-residents/local-path/index.html)</p>