Good safeties for me and some other questions

College Search & Selection
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<p>Firstly, just prepare yourself to read because I got a bit carried away writing this post...</p>

<p>Hello all, my name is Giorgio. I posted a few months ago asking for some assistance finding colleges. After some very good advice, I think I have some good colleges picked out but I’d like to also choose some safeties so I’m not college-less come April. I’d also like to ask what you guys thought about each of the colleges (like if they’re a reach, match, or safety) for me.</p>

<p>My info: Military dependent high school student living overseas, go to a DoDDS high school in Italy. Graduating June 2015.</p>

<p>Rigorous/Honors/AP courses I’ve taken </p>

<p>I moved in the middle of my freshman year so I got put in regular classes because honors do a year long project. Also, honors classes do not get weighted credit at my school so on my transcript the only weighted things are APs.</p>

<p>Earth and Space Science - Honors >> changed to Physics Applications
English I - Honors >> changed to regular English
Spanish III - Honors >> stayed Spanish III but wasn’t honors anymore
L/S/N Gov’t - Honors >> switched me to world history 9 so my social studies/history credits got all messed up but the credits ended up working in my favor</p>

<p>Algebra II - not honors at either school but this class wasn’t switched thank goodness
World History 10 - “Honors”
Literature 10 - “Honors”
Pre-Calculus
Geometry
Biology</p>

<p>Italian IV (took Italian I sophomore year and skipped II and III)
AP English Language
AP Calculus AB
AP Physics C (on my transcript it’s AP Physics B but we switched mid-year and took the AP Physics C exam)</p>

<p>Senior Year I’ll be taking
AP Italian
AP Calculus BC
AP Chemistry
AP Literature
Career Practicum - Not honors or AP but it’s pretty cool. Basically a job shadowing class but a bit more involved. As of right now, I’ll either be shadowing the music teacher at my school doing stuff like conducting, transposing scores, etc. OR I’ll be going to the Navy Band Room (my dad’s the director) to do basically the same thing. We don’t know which one is going to work out though since I would have to ride the bus after 2nd period every other day to go to the band room so it’ll be one of those two. </p>

<p>ECs: Italian Club 2013-2015 (Treasurer this school year and we had elections already; I’ll be President next year), Jazz Band (2012-2015), 2014 DoDDS Europe Language Institute (week-long intensive language course in three critical languages at the DoD Language Institute in Germany), Academic Team (2012-2013), volunteer fundraising for Italian Club, had a part-time job at the “mall” on the military base here (August 2013-October 2013), National Honor Society (2014-2015), ~8 years of piano lessons; currently with an Italian teacher who doesn’t speak English (she’s really good and is a Naples Conservatory of Music graduate)</p>

<p>I’ve done a fair bit of traveling in Europe and I’ve been to Peru a few times to visit family so I guess I’m culturally diverse. I speak English, a bit of Spanish (my mother is Peruvian), and my Italian is pretty good (it has to be or I wouldn’t understand my piano teacher). I’m caucasian if that really matters at all. No religious preference.</p>

<p>4.093 W Cumulative GPA - 3.95 UW </p>

<p>SAT - 1760 composite - 540 reading, 640 math, 580 writing </p>

<p>Going to retake the SAT first thing my senior year because I don’t think it accurately portrays my abilities, especially in math. I’ll also be taking the ACT and probably the Math Level 2 SAT Subject Test. </p>

<p>Impatiently waiting for my AP scores.</p>

<p>Now for my current college choices and why I like them...</p>

<p>Oberlin College & Conservatory ($$) - nice quiet area and climate, great school and conservatory, impressive piano professors (I also heard a rumor that Valentina Lisitsa might start teaching there; she’s one of my favorite concert pianists and she’s pretty famous), I can apply for the double degree program and I would like to do math and piano performance there, ran a Net Price Calculator and it’d only cost (roughly) about $10,000 to go here not including Federal Loans which my Dad said would be feasible, I REALLY like this school aside from the fact I might not have a car and it’s in the country so getting off campus might be a problem especially in the winter.</p>

<p>Boston University ($$$$) - great school, nice area and climate, if I ended up going here I’d probably major in engineering or physics, pricey; didn’t get a good NPC estimate but I could get some scholarship money so it’s still on the list</p>

<p>Lawrence University ($$) - good school, really nice area and climate, low crime yet it’s in a relatively bustling city so transportation wouldn’t be a problem I could ride my bike practically anywhere, double degree just like Oberlin, I really like this school as well as Oberlin mainly for the double degree aspect for piano performance and math degree, the climate and areas are also pretty much perfect for me, the NPC wasn’t too generous ($24,347 before any outside aid) but I could make it work if I got a few scholarships and the NPC is just an estimate (there are few local scholarships I can apply to and I’ve been looking through Cappex) </p>

<p>University of Tennessee Knoxville ($) - I think this is a safety for me - in-state tuition, good school, probably do a math, physics, or engineering degree if I went here, climate not so good I hate the heat and being born in Memphis is actually kind of ironic, although I have moved 5 times in my life so far.</p>

<p>So, those are the colleges I’ve got on my list. I think I should apply to 6 or 7. I’m mainly looking for some safeties now and I’d also like to apply to one Ivy League as a severe-reach school. Double degree schools would be great. If you kind people could recommend some colleges that probably wouldn’t be overly expensive for me, say around $15,000 or less after all possible aid, (my family income is around $80,000). I’d prefer colleges in low-crime areas in the north/northeast for the climate but also anything in Tennessee would be good since it’s my legal state of residence and I could get in-state tuition. Our house is in Bartlett so we're really close to Memphis but I'd rather not do University of Memphis particularly because I don't like it there and it's too close to home haha. </p>

<p>I’m already working on my piano audition for the Lawrence and Oberlin Conservatory and just in case you guys are interested, these are the pieces I’m doing for the conservatory auditions... By doing this I could also easily apply to any other colleges with conservatories since they're for the most part the same.</p>

<p>Bach Prelude and Fugue No. 6 in D minor, BWV 851 WTC 1
Beethoven Piano Sonata Op. 13 No. 8 Pathétique
Chopin Ballade No. 4 in F Minor, Op. 52
Henselt “Hexentanz” Op.5 No.3 In A minor
Charles Tomlinson Griffes "The Lake at Evening" Three Tone Pictures Op. 5 No. 1</p>

<p>So to sum up my massive post, what are some good safeties in low-crime northern/northeastern cities/towns or Tennessee? What would be a good Ivy league for me to apply to? And lastly, among my current list, which ones are safeties, matches, and reaches?</p>

<p>Thanks a bunch in advance and sorry I wrote so much! lol I could be writer :)</p>

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<p>Oh, I forgot to add that I want to get my degree in math as a pathway to computer animation. I want to get my degree(s) and then apply to Animation Mentor, an online trade school for character animation. That’s really what I want to do with my life (right now). The piano performance degree is because I love playing piano and would really like to go to conservatory. </p>

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<p>So your father’s state of residence is TN? Since you want to attend a school that has a good music program I suggest you also post this in the music forum, available from the forum main page.</p>

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<p>Are u hispanic? If so, then you’re golden.</p>

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<p>“golden,” with a 1760 SAT? I think not. His mother is Peruvian. He identifies as caucasian. </p>

<p>OP, forget the ivy and much merit unless lightning strikes your SAT. In fact, the SAT is the fly in the ointment here. It has to come up if you’re to attend any of the non-TN schools.</p>

<p>The other missing factor is the Expected Family Contribution. Have you spoken to your parents about what they will be expected to pay. You can borrow only 5500 your first year. Your certainty that you can score enough merit to fill the gap between, say, Lawrence’s grant aid of 24K and Lawrence’s Cost of Attendance of $52K is questionable if you haven’t considered your family’s contribution. Have the talk with your parents about what they can contribute each year, a firm number–don’t settle for vagueness or “we’ll talk about that when the offers come in.” These are no help at all.</p>

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<p>OP, I’m treading in shallow waters when I say this but since your mother is from Peru, id reccomend applying as a Hispanic student. It would increase your chances of admissions at a lot of schools.</p>

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<p>You need to raise that SAT score, or get a better score on the ACT in order to improve your chances for admissions and aid. Spend some time this summer on exam prep, and see what happens.</p>

<p>As for the boxes to check, remember that on most federal forms (and most forms modeled after the federal ones) there is a question about hispanic/non hispanic, and another one about race. You can check the hispanic box, and any race box (or any combination of race boxes) that you feel like.</p>

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<p>Ok, so most of the concern seems to be about test scores and money. </p>

<p>@jkeil911‌ I’ll have to wait to talk to my parents until my father gets home from work today. I did do the Oberlin NPC a while ago with him and he said that the outcome was feasible. Here’s the actual NPC for Oberlin if you’re interested. <a href=“https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4308355/Screen%20Shot%202014-05-11%20at%2012.40.01.png”>https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4308355/Screen%20Shot%202014-05-11%20at%2012.40.01.png&lt;/a&gt;
According to CollegeBoard, Lawrence only meets around 89% of need so I might need to look elsewhere. </p>

<p>As for the SAT, I did purchase an “The Official SAT Study Guide” last month because I knew I’d want to study over the summer. I’m going to try a practice test today and see the outcome so I have a better idea of where to start. I’ll also see about some ACT practice stuff because I’ll only have one shot at it.</p>

<p>And for the race/ethnicity thing. Yes my mother is from Peru and my father is American. She became a naturalized citizen a few years ago but she says she still has Peruvian citizenship, if that matters. We usually don’t mark Hispanic but seeing as it might be better to mark Hispanic/White for admissions purposes I’ll see about that. </p>

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<p>Re: <a href=“https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4308355/Screen%20Shot%202014-05-11%20at%2012.40.01.png”>https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4308355/Screen%20Shot%202014-05-11%20at%2012.40.01.png&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Based on the above, the net price at Oberlin is actually $18,758 after subtracting grants (not loans) from the cost of attendance.</p>

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<p>No, the cost is about ten thousand INCLUDING loans</p>

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<p>Oh ok I see now. Whoops.</p>

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<p>I would definitely not give up on Lawrence. My daughter attends there, and they gave my daughter by far the best financial aid package. She absolutely loves it there, as do all of her friends.</p>

<p>I would also recommend looking at St. Olaf College which 45 miles south of Minneapolis. St. Olaf has both excellent music and math programs. The facilities are excellent.</p>

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<p>@MOMINWIS‌ Yeah someone already recommended I look at St. Olaf but I never got around to it. From what I’ve heard it’s a nice school. I’ll take a look, thanks! And I don’t think I’ll give up on Lawrence just yet because I’m rather close to a nice price. And Lawrence is extremely friendly; I emailed the piano professor asking about repertoire for the audition and she sent me a very nice reply as well as some advice for recording. If I can get my SAT score up, which I certainly hope I can, I might also get some more merit money from them. Do you think St. Olaf would be a safety, match, or reach for me provided I can get my SAT score up? </p>

<p>It should also be noted that I didn’t sleep well the night before the SAT and had a stuffy, runny nose throughout the test. I didn’t have that much time to study either so those issues more than likely contributed to that score. I’d really, really like to get a better score this time.</p>

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<p>@spaceboy1996 Do you have any community service to put on your application? My daughter receives a $1000 community service scholarship each year from Lawrence. She didn’t even apply for it. Just thought I’d mention that.</p>

<p>My daughter thought she heard that the average ACT at Lawrence is 29. It’s around that at St. Olaf also. You’ll have to convert that to SAT equivalent if you’re not planning to take the ACT. Lawrence is a test optional school, but if you want scholarship money, you’ll need to submit them.</p>

<p>If you do apply to St. Olaf and get in, they provide a $500 travel stipend to visit before you make your decision. I’m not sure if Lawrence does that.</p>

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<p>No I don’t really have any community service to put in the application but that’s a nice amount. Yet. I might get some next year with the National Honor Society. According to calcunation.com a 29 on the ACT is around 1980 on the SAT. I think I might be able to manage that. But we’ll just have to see. </p>

<p>That $500 travel stipend from St. Olaf is really nice of them. That would really work for me considering I’m all the way in Europe and had no intentions of visiting colleges because of that. I figured I had to rely on virtual tours, reviews, and photos. </p>

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<p>Ok, I was very confused about all this money/aid/cost stuff but I think I’m getting the hang of it. Neither of my parents went to college so it’s hard for them to help me other than give me information about how much we can pay, income, etc. and even that it limited because I asked my father how much we could afford to pay and he said he didn’t know. So, a summary of what I’ve learned and what I have questions about…</p>

<p>This glossary of basically everything related to financial aid was especially helpful.
<a href=“https://studentaid.ed.gov/glossary#Financial_Aid_Office”>https://studentaid.ed.gov/glossary#Financial_Aid_Office&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Let’s just assume I get a higher SAT and use Oberlin as an example so I can understand this- </p>

<p>What was most confusing was the cooperation between federal loans/grants and grants/scholarships from the school to come out to the net amount due to the college (which includes loans ie. $9,816 due to Oberlin AFTER federal loans and need and merit based aid directly from the college). </p>

<p>The EFC was also confusing as I wondered how this was calculated without having filled out the FAFSA but I’m guessing it’s calculated based on the financial information you put into the Net Price Calculator on the college’s web page. I calculated our EFC using a standalone calculator on CollegeBoard and this is what I got - </p>

<p><a href=“https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4308355/Screen%20Shot%202014-06-26%20at%2023.00.22.png”>https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4308355/Screen%20Shot%202014-06-26%20at%2023.00.22.png&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I’m going to guess that something is a bit off since Oberlin’s direct COA was $59,474 and subtracting either methodology EFC does not yield the “Oberlin Grants & Scholarships” that is shown which is $43,158. I’m not sure because CollegeBoard says Oberlin meets on average 100% of financial need. Shouldn’t the grants and scholarships number be higher if my EFC is around 9000? Or are they taking into account Federal Loans and any merit I could qualify for? I just want to understand everything in the NPC but I understand these are just estimates. </p>

<p>NPC Link. <a href=“https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4308355/Screen%20Shot%202014-05-11%20at%2012.40.01.png”>https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4308355/Screen%20Shot%202014-05-11%20at%2012.40.01.png&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Direct Loans are part of filling the need. Being a CSS Profile school they consider assets, reduce any deductions for 401K contributions and business deductions, and may consider the value of your home.</p>

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<p>@"Erin’s Dad"‌ Oh I see. Thanks!</p>

<p>I was looking around at some job posting for technical artists at some animation studios and most of them said they would prefer people with computer science degrees. I’m starting to lean towards this major instead of a math major since computer graphics and animation is the field I want to get into. Oberlin has a small but highly rated computer science department and they even have a computer animation class I’d love to be in. Lawrence doesn’t seem to have as great a computer science department. Their website says it’s an interdisciplinary major alongside math. What do you guys think of this? </p>

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<p>Math and CS have a lot of crossing points today. Most math majors take a good number of classes for CS. Going with CS certainly won’t hurt you.</p>

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<p>I think it might be a better choice considering my what I want to do. Not sure how possible it is to do a double degree with the computer science major… I couldn’t find any instance of someone doing computer science and music performance. </p>