Help! The Vast World Of College/University Selection is Eating Me Alive!!

College Search & Selection
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<p>@intparent I understand where you are coming from and I thank you for the advice. I just don’t want to rule out a college that really fits because of the money. I am not in the best financial as I already have two sisters in college and haven’t received any scholarships. I have heard from counselors, peers, and the internet that one does not truly know if a college is affordable until I get my financial aid package. If i don’t get into those colleges, then I don’t have to worry about it. I know about the calculators, but my parents don’t have time to sit down with me and fill out that information as I do not know it all. I am not trying to waste anyone’s time and they don’t have to take the time to respond to my post if they do not want to. I appreciate all the people that have commented even if most of them didn’t help. If I get into all the schools I apply to (including international ones) and money is really not working for me, then I will go to the S.korean schools which are much cheaper than American schools.</p>

<p>Thank you for your help.</p>

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<p>This internet site (CC, where people specialize in helping students find colleges) will tell you that you CAN know what your FA package will look like by running the net price calculators. You are wasting your own time as well if you don’t take advantage of these tools to see what you can afford. And you will waste a lot more time on applications and providing financial aid materials, while possibly finding yourself with no affordable options in the end. Ask your parents to take some time over a weekend or evening to help you will this. It is a very important step in the process. Also, be aware that many guidance counselors don’t know a lot about the financial aid process, and/or don’t give a lot of advice on it. And your peers likely know very little about it, honestly. </p>

<p>You are probably going to fall in a difficult spot in admissions. Sounds like your family can’t afford a lot, but you also don’t have high enough stats to get into many of the schools that meet need. So the colleges you can get admitted to will likely leave you with a large gap that can only be filled with private loans. You should look very hard at your in-state options in California — you are lucky to live in a state with such a broad array of choices in the public university system.</p>

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<p>chocohearts08, do you think you could study & retake the SAT or maybe the ACT in October? If you could get it higher you would have more merit aid options.</p>

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<p>i studied to take the sat and got an 1830.I retook it and got an 1820. i definitely want to take the act. I took a mock test hosted at my school and got a 25. The scores are really similar so I don’t know how much better it is going to get.</p>

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This is a plan fraught with danger. I’ve been on these boards for a long time and it’s very sad when a student fixates on a college, gets in, and then can’t afford to pay. My advice is to start with the money.</p>

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<p>Like I said, I won’t really know if I can afford the college until I am accepted and receive the financial aid package.</p>

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<h1>23 Did you do a lot of practice tests and review the wrong answers? That’s the only way to get higher scores on these tests. It’s basically drill, drill, drill.</h1>

<p>But it could be that you are not a good test taker.
If you have 2 siblings in college (undergrad?) that will bring down your parent’s EFC, which is good for those colleges that meet full need.
One rule of thumb is that the colleges with the large endowments (billion of at least hundreds of millions) are more likely to have money for aid. On the other hand, you should be at least in the upper half of the kids that apply. So it’s a balancing act in finding the college that will want you & give you the aid money plus you also want them.
I think the fact that you are looking for an unusual combo - politics/fashion - could help you stand out. Make sure your application shows that.
Do you speak/write Korean?</p>

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<p>That is not a good idea. Net Price Calculators on any school website will give you a very accurate estimate how much financial aid you will qualify for at that school. Unless you have odd circumstances with your family (divorce, owns a business/farm, self-employed), you can expect to receive around how much the NPC tells you. In the case of divorce, run the calculator for both of your parent’s incomes, assets, etc. and add the two numbers together for a reasonable estimate.</p>

<p>You don’t need to wait until you receive the financial aid package until you can consider if cost is not an issue.</p>

<p>Unfortunately, cost has to trump all other factors when it comes to college. There is no point in considering a university at all if your family will not be able to afford it. You do not want to get very excited for a dream school only to find out it is not affordable in the end. You may not want to consider cost, but it is the biggest barrier between you and getting your degree.</p>

<p>Have you looked indepth at all of the UC’s that you would potentially be able to attend? There are dozens of CSUs and UCs, each with a distinct vibe and atmosphere. </p>

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<p>Ouch. Some people are so mean on here. You said a 3.9 GPA are you sure it’s not maybe unweighted (out of 4.0)? Because I had that freshman year and it converted to a 3.2 unweighted, but I’ve done a LOT better since then and think I’m around a 3.6-3.7. I took the SAT and got a 1500 (with weeks of studying) and the ACT analysis tests I’ve done show me getting around a 30, so I strongly suggest ACT, it’s also (IMO) an easier test to study for. Ivys are a reach, but they’re reaches for everyone, just higher reaches for us. I was interested in U of Chicago but they have around an 8% acceptance I believe, so I took it out. The cost of a school should never discourage you to apply! :slight_smile: Even if people tell you about averages, but they’re averages for a reason so odds are if you need more aid you’ll get a higher aid package. I think we think the same way. I hear people tell me “No, don’t do that. No don’t apply there.” And I don’t listen because people on this site can claim to be anything they want (not speaking badly of anyone on this thread, just in general), so they could be professionals or just people who think they’re professionals at this. I’ve learned students who go out of their country to study don’t get much aid, so it might be best to stick with schools in the US. If you use fee waivers to apply then all you have to pay for is the test scores to be submitted, if you exceed the free ones given. Look around for where you want to study. I for example wanted to go to a school in New York and wanted to pick NYU, but they have terrible aid, so I looked up schools in New York state and checked each individual one out. I would do this by Googling “New York University niche”. A college prowler website comes up and gives reviews and you can look through what people have said about the life, scholarships, and at the bottom is a graph where you can log in and put in your stats to see how you fall among the students enrolled. I’m sure someone is going to use that block thing and comment back about something I said in this comment, but oh whale. Don’t let other people tell you where you can and “should” apply. Use the essay to your advantage and tell your story. Also knock senior year out of the water! Some schools will require a mid year transcript and it could be the difference between denied and waitlist and waitlist and accepted. There’s a reason there’s always that one random person who gets into an obvious super high reach school. I personally am only applying to one ivy, Harvard. But another school has a 30% acceptance and I’m still chancing myself. And to anyone who wants to say it’s a waste or I’m wasting my money, I’m also applying to 5 safety schools. Don’t let strangers online lower how you think of yourself, you clearly have hope and sometimes that’s what is needed for motivation. GOOD LUCK!!! :slight_smile: :)</p>

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<p>It is ridiculous to ignore cost in the process of selecting colleges to apply to. The Net Price Calculators are fairly new in the past few years, but all colleges are required to have them now. They do a good job of predicting what you will pay for a college in most cases. Honestly… students who aren’t mature enough to consider the cost of colleges before applying probably ought to take a gap year. Or they deserve it when their parents inform them in the spring that the colleges they most want to attend are unaffordable. Then they come back out here and whine that their parents are mean to them.</p>

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<p>@intparent I actually never said ignore it, just don’t let it make you not apply at all. There are things you can do, getting a job, loans, applying to a lot of third party scholarships, things to make your dream school a reality. And I don’t think maturity is defined by considering the cost of a school. You can take responsibility and that’s mature. That’s why you apply to safety schools too, so you have somewhere to go (if after all your work you still can’t afford it). It’s okay to apply to some high sticker price schools, so long as you have your safety net. Also nowhere in my comment did I say to ignore price. Can’t you read? I gave information and advice as to how you can see costs and how much a school can offer. And nobody’s whining, OP is simply asking for help and advice. </p>

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<p>The OP is ignoring cost, will think about it later. That is a recipe for trouble. And we see kids (and their parents) who are crushed in the spring every year because they applied to schools that were clearly unaffordable from the get go. The outside scholarships that are big enough to matter are tremendously competitive. Colleges expect you to get a job, take out loans, and many of them still gap you so you may have take out private loans that can haunt you for decades after graduation. And yes, maturity IS looking realistically at the cost of a school. The Net Price Calculators are easy to use – anyone who ignores them in today’s college search world is just setting themselves up for wasting time on colleges that are unrealistic.</p>

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<p>I know a girl who applied to scholarships, almost as a part time job, and she’s going to college with everything paid (minus personal expenses), but she’s supposed to get a nice refund check so essentially she’ll be getting paid to go to college. Applying to a lot of local and smaller ones can give a bigger payout than the huge national ones. That’s what she did and I’ll try to do the same. Guess maturity is defined in different ways but different people. I wouldn’t use that word exactly, but I know what you’re saying. And some kids have parents who don’t want to pay or give up information until it’s time to officially fill out FASFA. Which sucks, but it is what it is. But I’m against people flat out telling people not to apply to a school and that it’s a waste. Oh whale. My own personal opinion. </p>

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<p>^ I’m guessing that she will attend a CC or a local directional U. And what will she do for her other three years when those one time scholarships are gone?? </p>

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<p>Take a look at IU Bloomington – it has a fashion design program, big sports (especially basketball), big school spirit, decent weather (some but not tons of snow) and plenty of kids from coasts. IU superstores both SAT and ACT and will look at weighted gpa as the basis for admission rather than recalculate it as unweighted. </p>

<p>They do have automatic scholarships based on gpa and test scores, as long as applicants apply before Nov 1, however with a $32,000 OOS tuition, the $6000 scholarship is not going to make much of a dent in fees. </p>

<p>Most publics do not give a lot of merit money or financial aid to OOS students. Privates who meet full financial need can be a better financial option for families whose Expected Family Contribution, which can be estimated on the Net Price Calculator on a school’s website, is a very low number. An important question is whether a specific school does say it meets 100% of demonstrated need. </p>

<p>The problem is, for many of us, what a school determines we can afford to pay – our EFC – is much much higher than what we can, because of life circumstances, actually afford to write a check for. So families go in search of merit money to close that gap between what financial aid says we can pay and what we can actually afford to pay. Parents – the ones offering advice here – know from experience that financial considerations cannot be separated from admissions considerations. We have all seen, every year, the sad posts of students saying that they were admitted to a school they love but their parents just said that, even though they thought they could find a way to make it work financially, they cannot. Families need to look hard at finances before a college list is finalized to avoid that spring of senior year heart break. </p>

<p>So, if your family is not a full pay family that can easily write a check for $65,000, then you need to talk with your parents about finances and run the NPC on a few schools’ websites to see what the estimate of your contribution looks like. If your family cannot pay that amount, then you need to identify schools that will give you merit money because they want students with your qualifications. Typically, that means schools where your stats put you in the tippy top part of the class, at least top quartile. Also, remember, families cannot simply borrow it all to make up the gap. Students are limited by federal law to what they can, on their own, borrow each year – it is about $5500. Parents need to qualify for and agree to borrow amounts – there are limits to that as well, a family cannot simply borrow $60,000 a year for 4 years to pay for school. </p>

<p>Good luck with your search. </p>

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<p>I would agree with others about using the Net Price Calculator. Run through it yourself to see the questions, then ask your parents for answers. </p>

<p>If affordable, Fordham in NYC fits your criteria:</p>

<p><a href=“http://fupaper.files.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/2008/11/fordham_university_keating_.jpg”>http://fupaper.files.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/2008/11/fordham_university_keating_.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://www.fordham.edu/academics/colleges__graduate_s/undergraduate_colleg/fordham_college_at_l/what_we_do/fields_of_study/fashion_studies_mino_92959.asp”>http://www.fordham.edu/academics/colleges__graduate_s/undergraduate_colleg/fordham_college_at_l/what_we_do/fields_of_study/fashion_studies_mino_92959.asp&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>But, be advised there are two campuses - One more traditional campus (gothic with greens) in the Bronx and one urban campus in Manhattan. There is a shuttle service that runs hourly between the two.</p>

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<p>The difficulty with this strategy is that many schools will not stack scholarships – instead, any new merit money you bring to the table reduces your need, and so reduces the aid received from your school. It is important to know whether you are looking at a school which “stacks” – allows you to apply your merit money to your own EFC or does not – uses your merit money to decrease its own aid to you. It doesn’t seem fair, but it can be a cold surprise to realize the time spend tracking down $500 scholarships only reduces your own financial aid award from a school and does not contribute to paying your own EFC. </p>

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<p>She’s not going to a community college. She’s going to a school with 25% acceptance and it’s a four year university. I can’t think of the name but it’s in Georgia and is known to have a great medical program. Starts with an E… I’ll have to ask. </p>

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<p>And obviously she’ll save the money she gets from refund and apply to scholarships every year? </p>

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<p>Emory meets full need. That is not necessarily true of the OP’s list. Any scholarships must be defraying the student portion of contribution.</p>