<p>It’s very misleading and unfair to suggest the OP would be an outsider at top colleges. at many over half receive aid and average id packages are close to $40K. These days the wealthy kids are often unusual in their crowds.</p>
<p>Idk I think most of you are not mature. Especially when you suggest I’d be an outsider. That truly shows how much you know about the world. Okay to make one point clear if I was so whiny and whatever some of you are suggesting than my colleges didn’t have to accept me case closed. 44,000 applied to BU and prob 17,000 were accepted. The salutatorian at my school was rejected go figure.</p>
<p>I only have to pay room and board for URI, but I’m not going there</p>
<p>So what is your plan?</p>
<p>What are you going to do if BU doesn’t give you enough aid that makes it affordable to attend?</p>
<p>What are you going to do if you are not called off of the wait list at brown?</p>
<p>I dont have a plan. </p>
<p>chances are there is no way I will get off the waitlist at Brown, im lucky I am even on it. So I won’t be counting on that at all.</p>
<p>If BU doesnt give me aid then im screwed.</p>
<p>I have no choices left but to die.</p>
<p>"" It’s mostly the rich kids who get to attend their dream schools, and hate to say it, but with a family with the income of yours, you would always be an outsider, even if you did get in.""</p>
<p>I can’t even tell you what a horrible thing this was to say to someone. And you are an adult? Saying this to a kid? Boy, do I know the type, being from a poor family and going to a rich school when I was a kid and having to deal with teachers like you. It wasn’t a big shock that the rich kids had this attitude towards us “poor” kids, but it was shocking that the teachers made you feel that way. I hope that the young lady who came here for some advice and questions realizes that there are many of us in the world who do not believe that only the rich, entitled, spoiled kids should go to a school that is notorious for having that type of crowd. MOST colleges have that crowd, and they also have plenty of kids who are on scholarship, and who work hard to go there, and they have every right to be there as much as the spoiled elitist kids do. My daughter is from a solid middle class family and she is going to be attending a college full of rich kids, and even though she got a scholarship to cover about 2/3 of it, she will have some loans and she will have to work, and she will be one of the few kids not driving a BMW at this school, but she will do just fine. After all, she is going to be in the small group of kids actually going to this school to be educated and not for the great social scene. She knows she will be the minority, but she is tough enough to not care much about it. </p>
<p>Allysaz - I hope you do not take to heart what this lady said about not fitting in. It was a horrible thing to say to you. You will do fine dear. I’m sure you will have moments when it will bother you to be around the rich, snotty kids, but you’ll deal with it. Don’t let people like this get you down. There are enough regular people out there in the world, just like us. I sincerely hope you find a way to make BU work, but if you don’t, you’ll be fine wherever you end up. My D got into another college in Boston and got a great scholarship offer, but it was not enough still to make it work for us, so she is going to attend another school that she hadn’t thought too much about, but they offered her a great fa package and it just works for us. She was not crazy about the school until she visited and found out more about it, now she couldn’t be happier. Good luck to you dear, and don’t let what this lady said to you about not fitting in…don’t give it another thought.</p>
<p>Hon, sometimes things happen for a reason. Maybe there is a reason you were wait listed at Brown, maybe even though you think it’s the school for you…maybe it’s not? I have heard that it is has one of the worst crowds of pompous a$$ snobs on the planet. Please don’t give up. There is a place for you my dear, and it may not be what you wanted but wherever you end up going, I’m sure you will be great! For you to have been accepted to some of the places that you have been accepted, you need to be proud of your accomplishments and hard work. My own daughter had to let go of a few of her dream schools because we simply could not swing our share of the money, even with some good scholarship offers. She is now going to go to a college that she didn’t really want to go to, but since looking into it and visiting it (it’s local) is in love with it suddenly! And they gave her enough $$ to make it work for us, even though she will have to take some loans and we will have to scrimp to make it work. I just wanted you to know that she was very bummed like you about not being able to afford the school she wanted and was miserable about that, but is now embracing what opportunities she does have. I wish I knew the right thing to say to help, I’m probably just rambling, I just don’t want you to give up. It’s going to be OK. You wound like a wonderful, bright young lady and you will be marvelous wherever you go. Please PM if there is anything I can do to help you.</p>
<p>I only have to pay room and board for URI, but I’m not going there</p>
<p>Please rethink this. At least put deposits in ( I think you can use waivers, but do it), and go thru the motions of getting enrolled/housing/etc. </p>
<p>54% of the students are from OOS, so there’s no way that all your frosh classmates will be people that you know!!! </p>
<p>There will be 3,000 frosh, so more than half will be students that don’t even live in Rhode Island. Maybe a 100 or so will be from your high school. So what??</p>
<p>Maybe what is stalling you is that you’ve spent the last year talking about all these fancy schools that you’ve applied to and you don’t want to “lose face” by telling all your fellow seniors that you’re now going to URI. Well, you don’t have to. You don’t have to tell anyone where you’re going. And, next fall, you’ll rarely see any and if you do, so what? You say that these people aren’t your friends, so you don’t have to provide any explanation. </p>
<p>I know a girl who didn’t want to tell her classmates that her dream schools didn’t pan out after she spent the last year dissing the state schools. So, she just told everyone that she was “still deciding” because funding was an issue, and that her schools had given extensions for her decision. She made it thru HS graduation without revealing where she’d be going. Once she was in school in the fall, it was a non-issue.</p>
<p>I agree with M2K that you need to put in a deposit to URI so that you will have some place to go.</p>
<p>alyssaz,</p>
<p>I have a question;</p>
<p>There is another student who posted that is in the same predicament as you; they filed the paperwork late and looking for aid from BU. </p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1315504-boston-university-financial-aid.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1315504-boston-university-financial-aid.html</a></p>
<p>At this stage of the game, even if the appeals are considered you both go to the back of the line for FA. At the end of the process (which both of you are at), the school is no longer need blind because now there are limited funds. The other poster says that his FAFSA EFC is 13k, he does not know what it will be after they review the profile.</p>
<p>This student has the potential to knock you out of the box and if it were a toss up between the 2 of you would most likely knock you out of the box because;</p>
<p>Student has comparable stats to you (especially when you consider that his/her scores are higher than yours)</p>
<p>Student has a higher EFC and will need less of the school’s resources than you do.</p>
<p>Do you think his/her application for appeal should be considered because it is late? If yes, how would you feel if the student knocked you out of the box for aid?</p>
<p>Chances of BU meeting your need are close to nil. Even had you not filed late. </p>
<p><a href=“Inside the Financial Aid Office at Boston University - The New York Times”>Inside the Financial Aid Office at Boston University - The New York Times;
<p>Waverly,</p>
<p>Thanks for posting the article. While BU has never been considered a school that has been “generous” when it comes to financial aid, they have always been upfront when it comes to discussing their financial aid policies. They are very forthcoming with the following statements:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Especially after reading this article, I think that the Op and the other student that I referenced to were both given classic admit-deny acceptances.</p>
<p>And it doesn’t help these two students that they did NOT have complete financial aid applications filed with Boston University BY THE DEADLINES BU publishes. </p>
<p>For any new posters or juniors reading this…Deadlines are VERY important. VERY. DO NOT MISS DEADLINES. </p>
<p>In the case of the two posters here, there are two factors…the late filing of their financial aid application materials, AND the strength of their admission application. Neither is working in the favor of the students.</p>
<p>Waverly, That is an excellent article that deserves it’s own thread…and maybe a sticky at the top of this page. I suspect that many schools that do not meet full need consider financial aid applications in a similar fashion. Thank you for posting this.</p>
<p>
I hope that she does not share this attitude. Every school has plenty of kids who are there to be educated.</p>
<p>To the OP – I realize you’re frustrated right now, but outcomes of the college app process are unpredictable at best, even when there is not as much financial need. In your case, you really do need to take care to have your level of need met, because it would otherwise make things exceptionally difficult for your parents – not to mention breaking their hearts that they couldn’t help more!</p>
<p>Is it possible to take a gap year and reapply at places that are known to meet need? Or to defer acceptance at BU and work full-time for a year, reapplying for aid the next year by the deadline?</p>
<p>Are you willing to consider two years of community college and then applying as a transfer student in order to keep your debt-load down? </p>
<p>These are all very viable options that many many students before you have undertaken to pursue their studies. Not sure what you have against your in-state option either but perhaps you should re-examine your thoughts on that. Best wishes on the outcome. Please do not throw the baby out with the bathwater here – go forward and do well ;)</p>
<p>Thanks everyone. I’m going to see what happens my umass Amherst financial aid package was really good, better than URI. I will look into PC. I’m still going to visit BU but chances are it won’t work out based on what I’m reading. I’ll update everyone soon. </p>
<p>I think everything happens for a reason and if it is meant to be than it’s meant to be</p>
<p>Good luck to you! It sounds like things are falling into place!</p>
<p>OP, and howsefrau32, I was a kid from a poorer family, having to wait tables on my wealthy classmates during college. It may hurt to hear the truth, but a family that makes 17,000 isn’t even “solidly middle class”. They are poor. To be a poor student who doesn’t have the money for the clothes, all the activities, the road trips, the shopping trips, and all the other extras that wealthy kids enjoy at the top schools is so difficult to deal with. It is a constant reminder that while you may attend classes at the same school, you are having a completely different college experience from those around you. Sorry, we all see the world from our own experiences. I still see wealthy kids who get to choose their college without concern about debt and affordability, but purely based on which school they like the best. Girls in particular can be horrible to each other, and I experienced that first hand waiting tables at dinner to classmates who complained because their $200 a week allowance was late as they rolled their eyes at me because I was trying to clear their dishes before going to do my homework for the night. When you are a poor kid, you don’t have a yacht or second home to invite friends to over spring break, etc. Sorry, but you have to admit, the top schools, with many wealthy students, are a tough place to be. They are competitive in and out of the classroom. And seeking out the other low-income students to befriend can be near impossible, because very few want to let on that they don’t come from the same background. My roommate once even asked if I wanted to borrow clothes, because her designer label stuff would be much more enjoyable to wear…I could go on. I loved my LAC, and am so proud of my college experience, but it was tougher than it needed to be in many ways too…</p>
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<p>I grew up in pretty destitute poverty as well. When I was looking to transfer from cc to university, one of the schools I was accepted to and visited was an expensive private (not ivy, but still $$$$). It was lovely, but I really didn’t feel as if I would fit in there. People were wearing very expensive clothes, talked about doing things and having been places that were out of my $$ league, and many of them went home to the megalopolis on weekends, so there wasn’t that much weekend activity on campus. I just felt like I wasn’t really one of them, although they seemed nice enough.</p>
<p>I also grew up in a single family household. My roommates family was worth TENS OF MILLIONS of dollars. We remain friends to this day. Somehow her wealth and my lack of same did NOT matter. She never worked a day in college and I worked 30 hours a week sometimes. I had many friends at my school from all different economic levels. To be honest…I never really knew the level of wealth of my roommate or many of my friends until WELL after we graduated from college. It just wasn’t important to us.</p>
<p>You know…different kids have different experiences. Mine was a very positive one.</p>