Help with safeties?

<p>Hello! I'm Hope, and I've been having a lot of trouble picking out safer schools to apply to. My top two choices, preference based, are McGill and Cornell. I want to do a double major in computer science and linguistics, so any school I apply to needs to have both of those programs, preferably strong ones. I'll just list my stats. I appreciate it if anyone can help out.</p>

<p>Unweighted GPA: 3.81+(I had a lower grade that should be resolved by midterms)
Weighted GPA: 4.46+(same as above
SAT: 2180 (1470 CR+Math)
SATII Lit: 720
SATII Math IIc: 630
SATII French: 500
Class Rank: 6-7/115
AP: English Lit&Comp, Calc AB, US Gov&Pol (My school only offers AP to seniors. I took all of them)
EC: Soccer 10-11, Yearbook 9-12 (Now head editor), Co-runner of my schools GSA
Bonus: I'm a lower-income part Native 15 year old bisexual girl, if any of that does anything. My birthday is in about two weeks. I'm also a National Merit Semifinalist, hopefully a finalist.</p>

<p>I'm also applying to Dartmouth, Yale, Purdue, Stanford, UPenn, and UVermont. If your recs are on the common app that would be even better, as I qualify for common app fee waivers. </p>

<p>Thanks so much! If you need to know anything else, just ask.</p>

<p>What would be helpful, OP, would be some vague understanding of how much your family has said they can offer you each year for four years. Since you’re not going to any college you cannot afford, what have your parents said about affordability? have you run any net price calculators and shown your parents the EFC?</p>

<p>They can’t, really. My mother is a full time student with a part time job, mostly living on her student check and food stamps, and my father hasn’t been heard from in about two years. </p>

<p>Will your Native identity be part of your application in any way? of what state are you a resident? You played h.s. soccer in 10th and 11th grade and you were only 13 and 14?</p>

<p>Dang, girl.</p>

<p>My Native identity is actually the topic of my essay. I’m legally a resident of Michigan, I believe, but I’ve lived in Rhode Island for the last 3 1/2 years. And yep! Freshman year orientation I was 12.</p>

<p>Have you tried the net price calculator at each school’s web site?</p>

<p>Unfortunately, many schools with good financial aid want your father’s financial information. Unless the school uses FAFSA only, or states that it does not use non-custodial parent information, or has a non-custodial parent waiver process that you clearly satisfy, be sure to include your father’s income and assets. If not available, or he is expected to be non-cooperative, then expect no financial aid from schools that require his financial information.</p>

<p>You may want to add some safeties from these lists, in case none of your schools works financially:
<a href=“http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/”>http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://nmfscholarships.yolasite.com/”>http://nmfscholarships.yolasite.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Check the residency rules of Michigan and Rhode Island; if a resident, check if any of the in-state public schools for those states will be affordable.</p>

<p>in general, if you went to school in RI for 3.5 years, you’re a RI resident as far as colleges are concerned:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.ribghe.org/residency1for2012.pdf”>http://www.ribghe.org/residency1for2012.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Your public flagship would be URI, which you can get into probably, but in order for it to be a safety you have to be able to afford URI. The school has a bad reputation for supporting its students, so make sure you run the net price calculator to determine that you can afford it. It seems likely, but you need to be certain about safety schools.</p>

<p>You might also check out some less-than-most-selective colleges that say that they meet 100% of need for students who can get into their schools: Mount Holyoke and Bryn Mawr come to mind as having CS and linguistics. These won’t be safeties, but they could be matches and less risky than many of your other choices.</p>

<p>Are you a resident of another state because of your tribe ties? </p>