<blockquote>
<p>We have encouraged our DD to have only first choice schools in a range from super reach to match. The top reach on her list is Holy Cross - I suspect very little chance. She had been unsure about even trying but did send out the app.>></p>
</blockquote>
<br>
<p>Jumping in late here....the one thing I can't seem to truly find here is the student's interest in attending Holy Cross. If she is REALLY interested in this school, she should prepare for an interview and go with the intention of selling herself to that adcom. Around these parts (CT/MA) we hear that the interview process at HC is very important, and they do use it in an evaluative way. And...they want kids who have both the academic wherewithall to go there, as well as the personality. I guess I'm wondering what this girl's top choices are. It sounds like she was encouraged to apply to top choices...but are they HER top choices? BTW...Rutgers is a great school. So are the others on her list.</p>
<p>All you Irish music fans near Fordham should check out Doctor Gilbert's pub on Broadway across the street from the Van Cortlandt Park track. Good live music. D has played there a few times.</p>
<p>My dd interviewed at HC last year, and the interview process was very relaxed and easy. I found it unusual, actually, that parents were encouraged to come along. So after she was interviewed, the adcom person brought me in to ask if I had any questions. I only asked the typical "security on campus" one, and told him I was confident my dd had asked all the other important ones :)
PM me if you have more questions about it.
Best of luck to your dd!</p>
<p>PMcM & OldinNJ -- gotta smile at the reference to the Chinatown bus --my d. is at Barnard with a bf at school in Boston & I think she practically lives on that bus.</p>
<p>thumper1 - I am trying to keep my DD from having a top choice school for a number of reasons, money being a big issue and also chances of admission.
I have been the one debating about her going up to HC, doing the interview etc. I should have let her just go for it, though perhaps earlier in the year she might not have had the intense interest that she has now developed after focused reading and other visits.
At this point I am not sure about all the schools but she'd rank HC as the top, Fordham as either a tie or second choice. All the rest about even for her and all have pros and cons.
one thing - REALLY interested shows up differently in kids with her kind of ADD-inattentive ADD-and her personality. She is super shy and quiet.
She came to the search process late compared to the kids on CC. She has zero interest in a name school because it is a name school. zero interest in being number one at things. she just deeply wants be at a school where she can enjoy learning and someone else wants to revel in the exciting world of Chaucer, or genetics or feudal economics.</p>
<p>Many kids we know applied to HC and Fordham and Loyola, since we were with that Catholic school crowd. The young man we know at Loyola is one of the nicest kids I know, and he certainly does not fit the description of Loyola kids given here. I think the appeal of each of these schools is individual, but the differences are not as huge as comparing them to Rutgers or some school out of the NE area. </p>
<p>I think in terms of selectivity, your D has a nice spread. She'll have some good choices in May. As far as money goes, that is a whole other story. All of her schools have plenty of Jersey kids and unless her stats are stellar, they are not likely to be overly generous in money. Rutgers would be the financial safety, and you are familiar with that school having had a son there. Though I know a lot of kids going to the schools you list, I don't know anyone who got a lot of money from them, and some of them did get some decent packages elsewhere. LeMoyne is the only one I cannot comment upon. My neighbors' D goes to HC, and loves it there--it was her reach school, and she was thrilled to get in, thrilled now to be there. Her highschool felt that it was very "iffy" about getting in there, but it did happen.</p>
<p>we will have a relatively low EFC. we expect no merit money from any of them, though you never know. The issue will be if they come anywhere close to meeting need.
the "positive" part is that for the first time ever my DH's salary will stay the same for the next 4 years, not jump up and down so that I would constantly be worried. Once it's set it should stay at what is offered.</p>
<p>I did not look up your schools, but my guess is that they will not meet 100% need without merit within need, and they are not cheap state schools. Rutgers is the only state school on that list, and they do not usually meet 100% of need, as you probably know When you are talking about a $40K tab, it becomes an issue. And often with these schools, the aid package has a lot of loans in them. My advice would be to look for some financial safeties unless you know that Rutgers would be fine. Many of such schools have later app deadlines so it is not too late, and if you end up not needing them, so much the better.</p>