Financial Safety

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I've been looking at safety colleges and what I am looking for is 100% need met colleges (r&b, tuition) but the ones I have found (LA tech and FIU) I'm not sure I would like. I read before no college is a true safety unless you'd be happy going there. Any suggestions on how to find a safety I like that is financially secure? (I live in Florida)</p>

<p>My stats are:
GPA: 3.957/5.624
SAT: 2150 (1430 CR+M)
ACT: 31
AP: World, Psychology, Lang, Cal AB/BC, US HIS, BIO, French, Macro, Lit,
Clubs: French Honor Society (2 years), English Honor Society (2 years), Biomedical Club (2 years) others plus continuing these</p>

<p>Internship at Florida International University in Psychology
150 hours community service church pianist
also hours from internship</p>

<p>I know it doesn't seem I have a lot of ECs but I do a lot of work in my church besides piano (camps, help prepare parties, dinners, etc.) so I will mention that in my application</p>

2

<p>What characteristics would be things that you like that LA Tech and FIU might not meet?</p>

<p>No other full rides listed in <a href=“http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/”>http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/&lt;/a&gt; would meet your likes?</p>

3

<p>LA tech I need more research on it but it’s a large school and I’m going more for medium small but idk if LA tech has a strong program in my field…FIU is too close to home…</p>

4

<p>Which is why I need more options but a lot of the schools on the link have low standards and I want to be challenged at the college I go to</p>

5

<p>Sometimes the safeties are the hardest schools to find when you’re a high stat student. It often requires some flexibility, to be sure. One of the first things that has to go is a pref many students have for prestige: I couldn’t imagine myself at that school because its not as prestigious as my other schools. Right up there with prestige is the misunderstanding about school size, that a larger school just won’t fit my learning style or I’ll be a number and not a person there. Almost all schools have large lectures in the first year or two; after a certain size, what does it matter how big it is? Following prestige and size is strength of program: you’re an undergraduate; strength of program is usually irrelevant to the education you get. What you do while you’re there is more important than the perceived strengths of a department in which you will take only about a fourth of your classes. For example, u/g education in biology is the same curriculum just about everywhere and every college has a bio department. Since the applicant is frequently considering state flagships when looking for a safety, proximity to home becomes a fourth impediment to acquiring a safety. In fact, close friends who go to the nearby school will probably see each other some times or a lot, but the rest of the kids from your high school will no more matter to your life than they do now. In addition, a whole bunch of new friends will enter your life that come from all over the country. </p>

<p>Go visit the potential safeties on your list and see if you can see yourself there. If not, keep searching but keep in mind some of these points.</p>

6

<p>I understand what you’re saying but:

  1. For my safeties prestige isn’t the sole deciding factor but I don’t want to end up at a CC where I know all the people from highschool who were lazy good for nothing’s end up and I feel like I worked hard and took the most APs for nothing
  2. size in my safety is w.e
  3. not many colleges offer both psychology and neuroscience majors (I don’t know which yet and i would like the choice)
  4. FIU is literally 20 minutes away from my house and I wanted to become independent for once in my life since my family still treats me like a child</p>
7

<p>Another thread on this? You have several in the past two weeks and a long thread on merit opportunities. When you need full funding, first you have to understand all the components. Exactly what will be your family income on the finaid forms, make sure you know the accurate numbers to use. To understand what you will report, (all sorts of details,) make sure you look at the CSS Profile and its explanations, run the Fafsa forecaster. I know you have run some NPCs, but was concerned what numbers you used to do this. </p>

<p>Also, look at some financial aid help resources- finaid.org or Financial Aid for Dummies are starts. “100% need met college” does not guarantee full awards for rb and tuition. It means their judgement is based on their calculation of your “need,” based on their own review of your finaid forms. Also, as well as the financial data for the application year (2014) and the 2015 projection, some schools will ask for the prior year (2013.) </p>

<p>As for “happy,” the usual comment is, “No school is a safety unless you can afford it.” Look at the course offerings at colleges, don’t assume “low standards” (you mean admissions?) means you won’t find challenging coursework, smaller classes in your major as you progress, solid relationships with strong professors who are active in their own research and engaged with their colleagues across the country. (Look up the profs who interest you.)</p>

<p>Take a hard look at LT, FIU, UF and FSU, plus others in-state, before you assume. Take a hard and deep look into what support your state and state colleges will offer, what your bottom line costs would be. Read the college web sites, look at their videos, check their clubs and the calendar of events on campus- lectures, showings, concerts, all of it. And realize kids don’t interact with the entire campus, they make their own pools of friends.</p>

<p>You are asking for a lot- full funding, certain size, can’t be near home/you want to feel independent, has to be a certain competitiveness to get in, has to make you happy, psych and neuro majors, etc. Many seasoned adult posters will tell you, the college experience/success will be what you make of it. </p>

8

<p>Can I get an “Amen!”?! </p>

9

<p>I’m sorry for sounding so petty :(…I’ve tried looking in state because honestly in would be ok with northern florida but UF and FSU don’t offer me enough aid and I thought bright future would pay for it all but apparently it doesn’t :frowning: I’m looking for safeties but finances are giving me road blocks :(</p>

10

<p>“I read before no college is a true safety unless you’d be happy going there.”</p>

<p>The problem with that statement is that there are many people out there who are not happy unless they get EXACTLY what they want. Those who get it in their heads that only ivy league schools are going to make them happy are going to have trouble finding any safety, wouldn’t you say? Where does one draw the line as to what is reasonable? If the ONLY schools that are affordable, without some sort of awards that are not within your control to get, then your safeties lie within those affordable schools, like them or not, and even then you have to meet admissions requirements for them. The things that make schools safeties are if they are affordable without stipulation and if they are highly likely to accept you. It is very possible that those schools are not to a student’s liking, particularly if the student has ideas of going away to school, going to a private school, going to particular schools, and if those schools are not within the safety circle. </p>

<p>You are not being petty at all. It’s a tough go when one realizes that someone has to pay for your room and board expenses, your living costs, and there isn’t enough money to go around. If your parents can’t or won’t pay it, you have to look at what’s out there . Finding a school that will give a full ride is very difficult these days. The lists have been repeatedly cut. </p>

<p>How much are your parents willing and able to pay? How much are the NPCs indicating your should be paying at your state schools? Many times, if not most of the time, safety schools are the local state schools. Parents who can’t payout the cost of your room and board often can extend their hospitality to you by letting you live at home and partake of those resources That is something that is worth $7-10K easily. Finding someone to house you and feed you for free is not an easy thing. Then there is the tuition, fees and other expenses as well.</p>

11

<p>FIU and LA tech offer me full rides (FIU I wouldn’t need room and board though since I live 20 min away)…I’m just looking for more options so when the time comes I have choices</p>

12

<p>Almost by definition, you will be an outlier at the high end of the range of students at a school that can be an admission safety. There is really no way around that, except for a few schools with unusual admission policies (e.g. UT Austin’s pure class rank automatic admission for 75% of the class, but that does not apply to you).</p>

<p>However, at a large school, you will likely find a non-trivial size subset of similar students in terms of ability and motivation.</p>

13

<p>ohhhh I gotcha… for match schools I have also added Grinnell College, Colgate U,</p>

<p>P.S. I used collegeabacus.com for financial aid calculator because it gives more accurate results (but it doesn’t contain all of the schools but most of them)</p>

14

<p>I know I have 2 safeties but none of them offer neuroscience (I thought about it and I prefer this over psychology since it combines psychology and biology. Any suggestions?</p>

15

<p>well, first rule of safeties is “has my major.” </p>

16

<p>But not a lot of colleges offer that major in florida (FSU and university of miami)</p>

17

<p>What about cognitive science or cognitive behavior or brain and behavior departments? I’ve found southern schools to have departments more often with this nomenclature. Check to see if the faculty are doing the kind of science of the nervous system that you find in neuroscience and the students are taking neuroscience courses, whether or not they’re called that. </p>

18

<p>Ok </p>

19

<p>Don’t just look for it to appear as a major in some listing. Do you know enough about neuro, how it is taught, and the expectations, to be certain it’s the one that will hold your interest for 4 years? . Many kids hit the college buffet and discover other interests. FAU seems to have it. At UF, it’s interdisciplinary neurobiology- and they explain. New College has interdisciplinary opportunities. Within cog sci, UCF offers neuroscience classes. FSU says, “Courses and research opportunities cover many diverse areas, including…neuroscience/psychobiology…” Go to dept pages. Look at courses offered. Some googling may lead you to the various fields that may include neurosci classes. Any school with a grad program in it may allow UG participation. I just glanced. The advice to dig further still applies.</p>

20

<p>Check out NCF (State’s honors college) and Wilkes College (FAU’s Honors College, on its own separate campus, excellent financial aid and great for anything medical, with research institutes nearby for internships).</p>

<p>If you get a full ride to FIU, don’t commute - you’ll feel as if you’re living in a different area than where you grew up since you’ll be living on campus and in the Honors Dorm (which tends to be the best freshman dorm). But I agree that you can aim higher than that. :)</p>

<p>Overall, if you have high need, beside the schools above, look into 100% need schools and check out (on the “Academics” page) if they have something that sounds like the major you’re interested in. Neuroscience/Cognitive science etc - lots of different names (same thing at UF, BTW.)
That also means not being too choosy about where the school is located.</p>