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<p>I think all by itself this phrase guarantees that the OP is going to face hassle and unpredictability on the financial aid front. And why she ought to plan on applying to more rather than fewer schools – because some of them are going to make it really tough on her to get a NCP waiver, and the school that offers the best financial aid may not be the school that offers HER the best financial aid.</p>
<p>that’s what i’m worried about^</p>
<p>i do have a notorized letter from the state govt saying even they cannot find him, i hope this is enough</p>
<p>I think these things vary, and that each school gets to decide what is and isn’t enough, but having a notarized letter already puts you ahead of a lot of people when dealing with financial aid stuff. Good for you!</p>
<p>CPU: I have to be the mom here and speak to you about money. First, I apologize, but I do not see your stats here on this thread. Those stats will help in determining your eligibility for scholarships. </p>
<p>You have chosen to include some very expensive schools. How will you be paying for college? What is your expected EFC? </p>
<p>Your mom said “not to worry” about FA, but I say “worry”. You need to know from your mom how much she will be able to pay towards your college education. How much money do you have saved for college? Please do not think that a low EFC will mean lots of FA.</p>
<p>I am sorry, but your list is moot if you do not expect significant scholarships, have significant savings for college or a means to pay.</p>
<p>You need at least one financial safety to assure that you will have an option that is feasible.</p>
<p>robotbldmom- i didn’t post my stats, but i will</p>
<p>GPA UW 3.97/4.0… straight As since freshman year
SATs (retaking in september)
1940, CR+M=1290
taking ACT in april, subject tests in may/june and again in sept</p>
<p>APs- Calc ab, Statistics, US History this year. next year, psychology, physics, calc bc, english</p>
<p>rest of my classes are honors</p>
<p>umm… i don’t really know what else to put, let me know if i missed anything…</p>
<p>if these expensive schools dont give good aid as they claim…
our roughly estimated EFC from collegeboard is 6-8k</p>
<p>the financial safety would be umass (after first year??)
if anything, i’d honestly rather go to the community college that i attend for programming than go to another school (say uconn which would be… 20k??? or less i think for in state. i dont like it or anywhere so that would be a waste of money IMO and my physic teacher’s opinion. everyday he tells us of students who attend schools and hate it and do very poorly and fail. i can see that happening to myself)</p>
<p>i do have a savings account, but not much in it beacause i have to pay for my own necessities. my mom has money saved up because she wants to move, but no college money. she has to liquidate her accounts when it’s time to apply</p>
<p>EDIT: i know my mom wants me to consider the cost which i do, but i think she wants to explore options and at least try before i rule it out</p>
<p>CPU- you are a smart cookie so you need to get yourself educated on how the financial aid systems work before you get tied up in knots. And there are hundreds of colleges that are not U Conn or community college that would be thrilled to have you, and would be generous with aid in order for you to attend. Those published income brackets like the ones you mention are guides- not promises- since there are so many other variables. College funding is a combination of past income (savings), current income (your mom’s salary, and your dad’s assuming he becomes part of the picture) and future income (loans that you would take and pay out of future earnings.) Then there is institutional aid (money the college gives you directly); outside scholarships (which sometimes reduces dollar for dollar the money you would otherwise get directly from the college) and government money such as Pell grants.</p>
<p>You need to fully understand what your asset and income position is before people here can help you maximize your choices for college. And although your physics teacher is probably a fine person, there are dozens of colleges not on your list which I suspect could come up with a combination of grants and loans to make it affordable for you and your mom. So take the comments of kids who hate schools and do poorly and fail with a grain of salt- kids flunk out of MIT as well-- flunking is a function of the student in addition to the college.</p>
<p>Colleges will not look at money in your mom’s name and say, “Oh she wants to move”. Assets are assets, and although they will not expect her to spend every cent in a savings account on college, they will not ignore those assets either just because you have mentally earmarked those funds for another purpose.</p>
<p>You sound like a great student- and there are wonderful things ahead of you.</p>
<p>that was very helpful, thanks for not sugar coating. i know there are other schools out there, but i’m confined to a very small area (CT and MA with the exception of rutgers in NJ), and the whole college talk doesnt exactly go too well with my mom… she doesnt want to go visit a lot of places, that’s why i have to have my list set now. i always get the “i’m only one person and i’m doing everything” whenever i try to talk about expanding my options… i don’t know, i’d like to just get this all over with, it’s too stressful… thanks for the compliment</p>
<p>i just used my mom’s 2009 (couldn’t find 2010) tax forms and the EFC was $12,638 and the IM was $8,407, assuming i did it right =/</p>
<p>i don’t know if that is good or bad or not… it looks like a lot to me…</p>
<p>CPU: I agree you seem like a good student but there are many good students out there competing for money. Your EC’s and essays will also play a significant role in your college applications.</p>
<p>As for money, both parents incomes are needed to compute financial aid, even if one parent will not be contributing a dime. They will look at all of your mom’s assets and even your assets. Having a low EFC does not mean that the school will provide the remainder of the money to you in FA. Please read the many wonderful and explanatory posts in the financial aid section, look for posts from mom2collegekids. </p>
<p>Why are you limiting your search to those geographic areas, you might do better with scholarships and FA from other colleges.</p>
<p>You need to try to get your mother to have a serious sit down about your options. There are many good schools out there that just go under the radar because they are not ivies or big names. You need to be realistic about your prospects, it is always fine to have a financial or academic reach school or two, but know that they are reaches.</p>
<p>Competition for money is fierce and no undergraduate should carry a large
debt load when they graduate. That would severely limit your options.</p>
<p>thank you.</p>
<p>i’ll be needing a ncp waiver for that. i still dont know how this whole thing works. it sucks (for lack of a better word) because these things are out of my control and they complicate everything (as with MANY other students).</p>
<p>i’m not limiting my search to those areas, my mother is…and i’ve already tested her in asking if i can go out farther, and she says no and it’s best not to push it…</p>
<p>i’ll keep looking :(</p>
<p>Your CR/M composite was 1290; what was your math score? Engineering students tend to present very strong math scores, and stellar scores all around if you’re hoping for Yale/MIT. Also, since you are considering primarily large unis, maybe add some smaller unis (Rochesster has already been suggested. Maybe TCNJ? Pitt? Union?)</p>
<p>my math score was 620, i know it’s low. im going to retake the SAT in september.
im taking the ACT in april, and subjects tests in may and september.</p>
<p>i’m trying to break 2100 for the SAT and a 33 for the ACT.</p>
<p>my mom and i are looking around…we are going to visit all of the schools on my list first (smith in march, BU, neu, and wellesley in april) and then see where we go from there.</p>
<p>we talked about how i would finance my education, too. we have a preliminary plan, still working out the details. closer to acceptance time, maybe in feb we’ll revisit the plan, but for now i like it</p>
<p>i was nominated for queen of the barnum festival (pt barnum, ringling bros…) and they give a $4,000 scholarship plus a four summer paid internship… so hopefully i get that to help too. also a scholarship at an aircraft company…paid internship two summers… total of $15,000… i do plan on working/extensively searching for scholarships. i’ve already applied to many, and even a poetry contest at smith college that has a monetary prize… it’s not much, but it will help through the first year.</p>
<p>we’re also attending an FA/scholarship night hosted by her job</p>
<p>I live in Albany, grew up in New Haven and also lived in Syracuse (same weather as Rochester except more snow in Syr) and NYC. </p>
<p>This area, on average, doesn’t get nearly the amount of snow as western NY and averages about 5 degrees colder than NYC. We also get a lot more sun here in the winter than Rochester. It is windy though as we are in a valley. </p>
<p>When we do get snow here it is normally from a N’oreaster and depending on the track we can get a lot or NYC/CT/Boston gets the big snows. </p>
<p>Our springs are much sunnier and warmer than Boston whose springs are much cooler and damper. </p>
<p>New Haven is milder than Boston and nicer in the spring and generally gets little snow in winter being right on the Sound as opposed to the Atlantic. </p>
<p>Both my mom and my sister went to Smith and both loved it.</p>
<p>i live near new haven…</p>
<p>i feel like i’m going to love smith too, it’s the engineering school that really gets me!</p>
<p>did you apply there??</p>
<p>"i live near new haven…</p>
<p>i feel like i’m going to love smith too, it’s the engineering school that really gets me!</p>
<p>did you apply there??"</p>
<p>I didn’t apply because I didn’t have the grades to be accepted. 
</p>
<p>Two of my cousins also went to Smith and one was a very close friend of Sylvia Platt. She recently donated to Smith all the letters Sylvia wrote her when she was in London. She had refused many requests to publish them (she is also an author.)</p>
<p>My mom (class of '50) is very proud Smith now has an engineering school and that it is the only women’s college with an engineering school.</p>
<p>She also mentioned to me once that the Smith Alum chapters offer some scholarships to area students. You may want to contact the Connecticut chapter to see if they offer any. You would also need to interview for it.</p>
<p>Thank you for that information!
I am a junior, so I couldn’t apply (I wish I could already :()</p>
<p>I’m planning on ED II.
I did not know about the local alum chapters! I will look that up. </p>
<p>And aw you should have applied! I’m applying to MIT even though I don’t have nearly as good test scores as their admittees.</p>
<p>I also submitted a poem for the poetry contest!! I should know something this month!!!</p>
<p>CPU, fyi - RPI is not 5 hours from New Haven. It takes me 2 1/2 to get from Albany (right across the river from Troy) to downtown New Haven and 2 1/4 to get to Stamford. </p>
<p>Good luck with your poetry!</p>
<p>it took us 4 hours from my town (not new haven, maybe 25 minutes away) to troy. i don’t know why =/ there was no traffic haha. oh well.</p>
<p>but thank you! i’m nervous :D</p>
<p>and i think i’ll leave my college list right where it is :)</p>