<p>What other colleges think
-likely letters from Columbia SEAS, Dartmouth and UVA with an echols scholar<br>
consideration but they announce march 31st</p>
<p>Numbers
-Rank: 1st in class at public high school ranked #22 in nation two years ago
-Courseload: 14 APS total, took 7 so far including physics c and calc ab/bc: lowest score 4
-ap scholar with distinction
-2360 1st try / national merit
-800 math ii / 790 us history / 780 physics</p>
<p>Ethnic / Financial Background
- Jewish Caucasian but I dont have so jewish of a last name therefore not as overrepresented
- NO FINANCIAL AID (which is a huge plus even in a need-blind admissions process, nowadays)</p>
<p>Senior Year Grades
-1st and 2nd quarter senior year: 20 A's in a row with three independent studies (1 independent study had no grades tho)</p>
<p>EC
-science research: world record lowest fiber diameter achieved at stony brook university
-music camps during summer (Meadowmount/Tschaikovsky School) and teen tour
-school awards like dartmouth award, citizenship/quality of life, women's rights :P, etc...
-associate principal cellist of orchestra conducted by head of juilliard precollege
- 2nd at all-county orchestra
- all-state cellist
- all-county trombonist
-2nd in county national spanish exam
-jv volleyball two years
- compose music </p>
<p>Clubs
- president of tri-m chapter
-founded find the cure for cancer club, sponsored by SASS
- content editor of newspaper
- peer mentor
- vice president ping pong club
- mathletes
- quizbowl
- school orchestra, jazzband</p>
When is it not a good time to be applying to colleges and be financially secure? In the end, a college is a business and needs to pay its professors and faculty so that it can survive as a learning institution.
According to a New York Times article I just read and this article published on February 24 2009 <a href=“http://www.boston.com/news/education…_campaign=8315%5B/url%5D”>http://www.boston.com/news/education…_campaign=8315</a>, it will be easier for those who can afford college to attend this year because of the current economic downturn.
Harvard lost billions of dollars in its endowment. Granted it has billions more, but its endowment is not solely used for scholarship money. What will happen to its research program or its funding for its manifold academic programs? Clearly, between last year and this year, there will be changes in the conservativeness in which it adheres to its “need-blind” policy given the uncertain state of the economy
The bi-modal distribution at top-tier colleges is no secret. There are much more wealthy and impecunious students at harvard, princeton and yale then there are middle class students. You can ask any officer of admissions or representative about this and they would confirm this trend.</p>
<p>Not having financial aid will not help at Harvard and Princeton.</p>
<p>If they really cared that much about student contribution via tuition, they would have raised the cost of attendance more this year than other years. Actually, Princeton raised tuition by the lowest percentage in over 30 years.</p>
<p>They do want to keep their endowment healthy, but they will never sacrifice the quality of their student bodies to attain this. Instead, they will just delay renovating a building for a few years or something.</p>
<p>College is a business - yes. But it’s a nonprofit one which cares more about its service to the nation than making money. </p>
<p>You realize that tuition is not how these institutions grow their endowments right? The average student pays ~15k in tuition to attend Harvard/Princeton, so let’s say around 5000 students = $75 million a year. That’s less than 2% of the capital gains they make from their endowment, and well less than 20% of the money they receive in annual donations.</p>
<p>just one reply… “…But it’s a nonprofit one which cares more about its service to the nation than making money.” lol you’ve got to be kidding me.</p>
<p>sorry if i came off as kind of a jerk, i’m really not… i was only trying to argue to betch exclusively that financial aid might make a difference in admissions policy this year. that’s very tactless of you to judge me like that. nevertheless, the college admissions officers barely take character traits into account lol. their apathy toward human sensibilities is another reason why college admissions is inherently flawed.</p>
<p>cd - in my opinion as an econ major who is attending one of the two schools I was talking about, I’d just like to advise you to stay away from business management and economics in the future. Perhaps those fields are not for you.</p>
<p>you are wrong there with fin-aid.
that’s the news i had been hearing and since i didnt need much aid but said that i would apply,
i phoned up harvard and asked to have my app changed so that i will NOT be applying for finaid.
however,the rep tried to convince me for 20+ minutes to apply for fin aid as it is a completely seperate process and u know what will happen with your situation, etc etc (this is after i told her our family income was $350 k +/year, we own $2million real estate AND im an only child)
if they really wern’t need blind as you have said, why would she waste her time trying to make me apply for fin-aid when i can obviously afford without?</p>
<p>I truly appreciate everyone taking the time to give me constructive input! but please try and avoid petty insults as they are meaningless.
(I intend to major in econ btw, it probably is for me… also intend to double major in physics)</p>
<p>desperate asian - lol all i was saying that in my opinion, I believed betch and you to be naive… Given that betch is an econ major at pri/har where she probably knows the current state of affairs, perhaps I am incorrect. Yet, I think it is indubitable that there will be changes made in their policy this admissions season. How couldn’t there be? I mean if you think that Harvard isn’t interested in making money, you should consider why they continue to accept so many legacies in their admissions pool.</p>
<p>It is silly for even a “desperate” applicant to deny themselves financial aid because there is a chance given the state of the economy and the decreasing value of real estate you might graduate with tens of thousands of dollars of debt, even if you live a 2 million dollar house. An ivy-league education cannot guarantee you a job that pays 6 figures, far from it. My brother graduated from brown with honors and a 4.0 but believe me, it isn’t easy for him to land a job. While it is okay to promulgate SAT scores in a forum devoted to college applications, your family’s income and net worth is a little gauche in this context. But nevertheless, I thought you can’t apply financial aid if your household income is greater than $250,000!?!</p>
<p>i was going to pull out because my parents were pretty aware that i wont be getting much aid anyways, saw no point in applying for it, and were too lazy to fill out the forms. nonetheless i did apply for fa for the few schools with the most generous fa packages. i do not see anywhere in my post where i talked of trying to get an ivy education despite the dollars of debt that i would have at the end of it, or how your brother from brown is at all relevant to this issue. also i find your point contradictory. you claimed in your original post that you not applying for fa will be a “huge plus” and bluntly mentioned it almost as a positive aspect of your app and yet to draw out of financial aid is silly?
bottom line is, fa is not a NEED for our family and thats why i wasn’t going to apply. yes, our “two million dollar house” might not mean anything in the end as anything is subject to change in this recession, but isnt that the same with anyone, including, say, yourself? also, i didnt point out my financial situation to the officer just to get a basic sense of how much aid i could expect, not as a point of arrogance as you seem to make it out to be.
i think what’s really naive is to think that you are somehow “above” admission officers who have repeatedly been trying to tell people that fa is in fact really need blind.</p>
<p>it’s all relevant in terms of why you would want to go to a good school if you would be in so much debt after, that’s silly… anyway, desperateasian all i was saying that it probably is a plus, but maybe it’s not. lol i’m not saying i’m above them and in fact it’s hardly being naive at all in assuming the say it’s need-blind. no more discussion about this becaue it’s out of our hands really so not worth it.</p>
<p>i doubt that it will make a big difference, but yea, schools are trying to make money so that they can get new stuff, nobel prize winners and buildings etc…</p>
<p>though tuition money is a VERY small % of the total they get, from what Ive heard, if they admit people who pay their whole tuition, then they can use the extra money from there to give it to someone who cant… basically, if they take in rich kids, they can pay for not so rich kids…</p>
<p>now I am not certain about how correct this is, it is what ive heard, and it makes sense… yea ok so harvard is need blind, but still doesnt change the fact that they just lost a lot of money, and they also want to be able to spend money on other stuff… if one kid pays full, then they can get out of giving 10k to another student, and use that for candy!! haha no but you know what i mean :D</p>
applicant to deny themselves financial aid because there is a chance given the state of the economy and the decreasing value of real estate you might graduate with tens of thousands of dollars of debt, even if you live a 2 million dollar house. An ivy-league education cannot guarantee you a job that pays 6 figures, far from it. My brother graduated from brown with honors and a 4.0 but believe me, it isn’t easy for him to land a job. While it is okay to promulgate SAT scores in a forum devoted to college applications, your family’s income and net worth is a little gauche in this context. But nevertheless, I thought you can’t apply financial aid if your household income is greater than $250,000!?!</p>
haha no but you know what i mean :D</p>