<p>As I finalize the process of applying to colleges, I have found that I really only have one safety school that I am applying to. I realize that this is probably a very bad idea, so I need to appeal to all of you for advice. I want to study Political Science, with the intention of going to law school. I live in Illinois, and for the purposes of this thread, assume that I can afford wherever I apply. I'll only post the most major stats, but what are good safeties/matches for me?</p>
<p>ACT: 33 (34 superscore), 11 Writing</p>
<p>GPA: 3.94 UW, 4.56 W
Class Rank: Top 2%</p>
<p>Most rigorous courses at my school (11 AP)</p>
<p>Only a few extracurriculars, but I am captain and very dedicated to both of them. I have numerous awards for both. </p>
<p>Fair amount of awards (AP Scholar w/ Distinction, NHS, etc.) </p>
<p>For a school to be a safety, you have to know FOR SURE that you have ALL costs covered by ASSURED grants or merit scholarships, small fed loans, and/or family funds.</p>
<p>How much will your parents pay each year for college?</p>
<p>I was told that they can afford around $30,000 after student loans. If it helps, my family makes around $160,000 a year, and I will be the second child in college when I enter.</p>
<p>There are over 200 colleges with cost of attendance $30,000 per year or less (even for out-of-state, if public) that offer political science majors. Even more if you stretch to $35,000 per year with Direct/Stafford loans.</p>
<p>All Illinois publics appear to have in-state cost of attendance under $30,000 per year.</p>
<p>Note that you do not have to major in political science to go to law school (although it is the most popular major among LSAT takers at around 20% of the total).</p>
<p>I should be more specific, in that many of the reach schools I have been looking at cost somewhere close to $60,000. But they are offset heavily by grants. If that is the situation, I can absolutely afford it.</p>
<p>Thanks for those links, too. They will be very helpful.</p>
<p>That is what I have been doing, which is why I said something. </p>
<p>I’ve also been looking through those links, and realizing that I very well could get a non-competitive full ride at some places. That is… interesting.</p>
<p>As a fellow Illinoisan I would think that the uiuc would be a good match for you. With 2 kids in college it would split the EFC in half but chances of aid might still be slim there. But I believe the COA is 30-35000. Some super safeties for you with guaranteed full rides would be northern and southeast mo.
Is distance a factor for you?</p>
<p>UIUC was the school I was looking at as a back up. I probably shouldn’t have categorized it as a safety, but I know that it is a probable low match.</p>
<p>I think you could be very competitive at some of the better private schools around here (NU, ND, WashU, Vandy etc. ). What are some of the calculators telling you?</p>
<p>In terms of money, calculators for school like Northwestern, U Chicago, Vanderbilt, etc. were all saying around $25,000 before student loans. Now, the problem with those would obviously be being accepted.</p>
<p>Right haha. Personally I think you would have an excellent chance at ND. The others might be a bit more tough. </p>
<p>If distance isn’t a problem for you then you have tons of options on the east coast. Pretty much a safety for you could be any school that is >25% acceptance rate and one that doesn’t have sky high out of state rates (mich, Purdue, Indiana) You have a lot of options. I’m assuming you’re more ink the prestigious privates?
Publics have a lot to offer as well.</p>
<p>Beware of schools which consider “level of applicant’s interest”, as this indicates that they do not like the idea of being used as safeties by high-stats applicants. High-stats applicants are likely to be rejected or waitlisted if they do not “show interest” (having visits recorded, pestering the admissions office, interviewing if interviews are offered, checking the admissions web site frequently, etc.).</p>
<p>Are you doing the NPC’s or are your parents doing them? If it’s you, then have your parents do them. Your parents may have savings or investment accts that you’re not aware of.</p>
<p>When you say $30k after loans, do you mean that they can pay $25k, and you’ll take $5k loan to cover “family contribution”? If so, then be aware that some schools will already have loans to put towards “need” so you wouldn’t be able to borrow to put towards “family contribution.”</p>
<p>To have another safety besides UIUC, you should apply to a few of those schools on that list of assured merit. With your stats, some schools would give you free tuition and your remaining costs would be low. Then maybe your parents would help you pay for law school???</p>
<p>Tax returns do not detail a family’s amounts that they have in savings, investments, etc. Tax returns report earnings. </p>
<p>For instance, your parents could have $400k in stock, but their tax returns would not list $400k in stock. All that would be listed would be the small amount that they earned in dividends or profits if they had sold any.</p>
<p>The reason I think that your parents may have significant savings is because they’re willing to spend a good amount of money per child (2 in college). That often suggests that the parents have savings that they’re using to put towards those costs. Not always, but often that’s the case when parents can dedicate about 1/3 of their income towards college.</p>