East Coast School Suggestions

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hey guys! I'm hunting for some quality east coast schools. Being from the Midwest, I'm not really familiar with many. I want to major in finance or economics (preferably a bs) with the hope of one day reaching Wall Street as an investment banker. Unfortunately, my stats won't land me at a target so I would like your help finding an above average east coast school. I'm sure you east coasters are quite familiar with many of them. My stats:</p>

<p>3.2 uw (3.5 w)
top 46% (people at my school take really easy classes, hence higher GPAs)
32 ACT, 10 writing
6 APs, 2 honors
8 ECs</p>

<p>As I said, my God-awful GPA is nowhere near good enough to land me in anything considered a target by IB's but if anyone has any information it would be greatly appreciated. I love the east coast atmosphere and really want to go to college there. Some schools that I've looked at include Loyola (MD) and Fordham, but I don't know where they would rank in the world of quality east coast institutions. Thanks!</p>

2

<p>How much can your family afford to spend?</p>

3

<p>Well, I think anything in the $30-40,000 range is do-able after financial aid of course. That should cover most of them right?</p>

4

<p>BC, Northeastern, Holy Cross, Fordham, NYU, Bentley, Syracuse (feels more like a midwest school, but still NY), George Washington, American are all good business school choices in the northeast. Some are stretches, some are targets.</p>

5

<p>Cedarburger have you asked your parents how much they can pay and have you used a forecaster to find out what your EFC will be?</p>

<p>Most out of state schools will not provide you with a lot of need based financial aid. If your EFC is too large you won’t qualify for federal aid either. For merit aid you will need to look for schools where you are above average in stats. Some schools will have tables on their websites showing automatic merit aid amounts.</p>

6

<p>I think most don’t understand that there is not a ton of aid for all. For someone in the top 10% of their class with good scores, need and merit based aid flow. Below that it gets much tougher. </p>

<p>Follow proudwismom’s advice. If you qualify for need based aid you need to comb the list of schools that meet 100% of need. Your rank will make it hard at most but some will be worth a shot.</p>

<p>Then look at the list on the financial aid board of merit aid schools and see where you have a shot.</p>

<p>Unless your parents can pay in full, money must lead the search.</p>

7

<p>Sorry, I should have specified private colleges. To my understanding, they give out a lot more financial aid then oos publics. Is this true?</p>

<p>Also, thanks for that great list informative. I’ve heard good things about lots of them. I definitely think NYU is a major reach though as is BC. Do you know if any of them have any placement in IB?</p>

8

<p>Private schools may or may not provide a lot of aid. Search the financial aid forum and you will see often times students are gapped and can’t afford to attend. NYU is known on these boards for not providing enough aid.</p>

<p>There are a few private schools that guarantee to meet need but those are competitive schools and you have to be admitted first. I’m afraid that despite your high ACT score that your GPA is going to hold you back. </p>

<p>Please run the EFC calculator and ask your parents what they can pay each year. Even if it comes back with an EFC of 0 you won’t automatically receive enough aid to attend most schools. A lot of kids end up going to community college or commuting to a local university. If it comes back with a high EFC your parents might be shocked. A lot of people are. And remember your EFC is just a starting point. Schools—especially private schools—will have their own way of calculating what they expect your family to pay.</p>

<p>Once you know your EFC and what your parents will contribute please come back and ask for suggestions. There is a wealth of knowledge on CC and most people are happy to help.</p>

9

<p>It is a total myth that private colleges have aid for all. Very few do. Search this site for the list of schools that meet 100% of need.</p>

<p>The vast majority of the schools on the list will want a higher GPA than you have, but there are a few on the list that might be possible. The unfortunately won’t be well know schools in the NE.</p>

10

<p>*Well, I think anything in the $30-40,000 range is do-able after financial aid of course. That should cover most of them right? *</p>

<p>??? Not sure what you mean? Many privates are costing about $55k+ per year.</p>

<p>Are you saying that your parents have said that THEY will pay $30-40k per year? Or are you saying that you expect to get a TOTAL of $30k-40k per year from financial aid and your parents.</p>

<p>Sorry, I should have specified private colleges. To my understanding, they give out a lot more financial aid then oos publics. Is this true?</p>

<p>It is NOT TRUE that privates have a lot of aid to give. Most schools (private and public) do NOT have a lot of aid to give.</p>

<p>You’re confusing apples and oranges a bit. Some privates had a lot of aid to give. However, your stats aren’t likely going to get you into those schools. Your ranking is going to hurt you big-time. </p>

<p>Also, you need to QUALIFY for aid. The school may look at your parents income and assets and say that you don’t qualify.</p>

<p>And, most privates do NOT have much aid to give.<br>
**
You’re looking at “mid-range privates in the NE.” Well, those are the schools that don’t have a lot of free money to give away. You will likely end up with a big ole gap.**</p>

<p>It’s true that OOS publics don’t have much aid to give…BUT…since you have an ACT 32, there are some that would give you a big merit scholarship (depending on your weighted GPA on your school transcript.)</p>

<p>You need to be VERY CAREFUL with your applications otherwise you could end up with a LOT of unaffordable schools.</p>

<p>Right now, your GPA and class rank are NOT going to be appealing to many of the schools that do give aid.</p>

<p>You might be on the wrong track right now, so proceed cautiously.</p>

<p>1) Find out from your parents what they will pay each year. </p>

<p>2) Use this Quick EFC to get an idea of FAFSA EFC
<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid;

<p>Keep in mind that this number only determines if you qualify for any of the SMALL amount of federal aid (not enough to pay for college at ALL).</p>

<p>If your FAFSA EFC is higher than what your parents will pay, then you’ll have a problem.</p>

<p>3) Find out where your stats will get you some big merit scholarships. If your transcript will indicate a 3.5 weighted GPA for grades 9-11, there are schools that will give you big merit. Those can be your financial safety schools.</p>

11

<p>I calculated my EFC. Turns out its around $30,000. Thats quite unfortunate since my parents would never pay near that much. Will that rule out private colleges or would it be okay to take out student loans?</p>

12

<p>You are limited to small federal student loan amounts.</p>

<p>frosh year $5500
soph year $6500
Jr year $7500
Sr year $7500</p>

<p>Those limits are set for a reason…paying these amounts back is hard for most newish graduates. </p>

<p>NO school is worth big debt. </p>

<p>And…your aid package to cover your “need,” will include a loan, so you won’t be able to use a federal student loan to also go towards EFC.</p>

<p>So yes, an unaffordable EFC means that many schools (not just privates) will be unaffordable.</p>

<p>I know that you’re disappointed, but thankfully you’ve found this out now.</p>

<p>How much will your parents pay? With that info, we can figure out some schools that will work for you.</p>

<p>BTW…will your transcript say 3.5 weighted GPA?</p>

13

<p>Does anyone know of any more affordable private colleges or are they all really expensive?</p>

14

<p>Might look at Holy Cross-very good academics with strong business alumni network. Holy Cross is need-blind for financial aid and has very nice campus-1 hour from Boston.</p>

15

<p>The strong business alumni network would definitely be good for networking. I’ve read a little about Holy Cross and it sounds really nice. And it’s totally need-blind? Sound like a great match.</p>

16

<p>I really don’t see how being “need-blind” helps you at all. Cedar…what, exactly, are your public in-state options and are you not considering them for some reason?</p>

17

<p>I’m in-state for Wisconsin. And I was just looking for other schools to apply to because I’m going to apply to Madison for sure.</p>

18

<p>OK you should clearly be targeting UW-M. The other options in your state system should be your back-ups. Your OOS options don’t make much sense, because for a merit-based scholarship you will likely need to move pretty far down the quality chain, especially compared with UW. The need-based options don’t make sense either because your parents aren’t willing to pay your calculated EFC.</p>