Right. There’s always a chance, she’s definitely weighing the option of doing Princeton as her early action. Just wonder if it is such a small chance that she’s wasting other more likely opportunities. Hard to know.
But thanks for the tip on it not needing the demonstrated interest! We aren’t able to visit, except virtually and she’s done that.
The EA schools HYPSM don’t need love. Maybe S a little bit. They ask why Stanford.
Will she be Pell grant eligible? Cal Grant eligible? If you don’t know, run the EFC Forecaster here and let us know the answer. Expected Family Contribution (EFC) – BigFuture
Please note that starting with 2024-2025, FAFSA will no longer divide calculated EFC by the number of kids in college, the FAFSA EFC will be the full number calculated for a given student. This may impact Pell eligibility. We also don’t know whether meet full need schools will adopt this new methodology (hopefully not but it’s worth a question to the fin aid depts).
You have said you have run a few NPCs…which ones? Do they look affordable?
I agree with others that all the private school targets are reaches, especially in the RD round. Her local CSU should be a safety if affordable, what school is that and does it seem affordable?
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I don’t believe my older kids got Pell, just federal loans. Here’s the results of the calculator -
Federal
Methodology
Parent contribution: 9306
Student: 4510
Institutional
Methodology
Parent:18147
Student: 6280
Her brother currently in college graduates this spring, then it is three years til the next one enters, so she won’t be overly impacted by the change you mentioned. She won’t have the benefit of a second child in college the first three years anyway.
The schools that look affordable so far are unfortunately the most elite, they offer the most aid purely on need. Amherst, Swarthmore, and Vassar are a few that look like she’d be taking minimal loans. We haven’t investigated the merit based scholarships enough and I think that’s what she’d be relying on if she ends up at a lower tier private.
UCs will run her in the high twenty thousands from what we’ve calculated.
Cal state wasn’t on her radar, but perhaps it should be - the closest and one of merit, would be cal state Long Beach. I think at that point though, she might consider two years at a community college and then transfer.
Thank you for all your input! This process could be a full time job! I’m very helpful to everyone sharing what they know!
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What do you mean by “one of merit”? Have you looked at Cal Poly SLO?
I don’t see UCSB on your list. UCSB has a very good chemistry department and, depending on her interests, she might look at CCS in Chemistry.
Is she a National Merit Semi Finalist?
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You need to find the net price calculator for EACH college, not a generic one. The formulas vary wildly. Please take the time to do the net price calculator for each school of interest.
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Even though it’s not East Coast, Rice is very generous with aid for lower income students.
< $75k family income, full tuition, tuition fees, room and board.
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I hear you and thank you. We are going school by school as we work to narrow her list. You’re right that it is varying.
I think most of the small liberal arts colleges on the east coast on that list are more likely reaches than matches. Is she considering applying early decision anywhere? I think that is a good move if she is strongly interested in Bowdoin, Bates, Colby, Hamilton, Colgate, or Middlebury.
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@742
Just curious why Santa Barbara and USC were dropped out of your list.
Also with the randomness in UCs acceptances/rejections over last 2 application cycles, IMO, don’t put any UCs in your safe list other then UC Riverside and UC Merced. Good luck.
If your daughter in National Merit Semi Finalist (or Finalist)?
NMSC doesn’t announce finalists until Feb. 2023.
Thank you. We haven’t looked at the cal states much at all, but I am aware of slo and the quality reputation, did not know specifically about chemistry, though. Long Beach is super close and a good school, that’s why it came to mind first.
She just took the SAT in August, just got scores back last week, so not sure of the timeline for national merit.
Thank you for your help!
Santa Barbara will be included, dropped on this list only by accident.I think USC will be cost prohibitive. Thank you!
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I agree with the previous posters and don’t believe applying EA at Princeton will give your D much of a bump, if any, while applying ED to Amherst/Williams will likely improve her chances. However, if your D has a clear cut #1, she should apply early there. 5 years ago, my D agonized over whether to apply EA to her dream school Princeton or apply ED to Williams where she was a legacy. I started a thread at that time and received much good advice. In the end, my D went with her heart and applied ED to Princeton but ultimately was deferred and later rejected. She never regretted that decision because she said she would have always wondered “what if” if she hadn’t tried.
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I know she isn’t interested. I want to put it out there for others that might read this thread. Long Beach may be close but CSUDH might be considered your local CSU. Applicants can look up their local CSU here: CSU Local Admission and Service Areas
National Merit is based off of her PSAT score. CA Selection Index is 220. If she is a semi-finalist, you should hear from her school soon. If you don’t want to wait, you can calculate her SI yourself.
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According to that link, all California frosh applicants are “local” to CSUB, CSUCI, CSUDH, CSUMA, SFSU, SSU, CSUStan (the local area is given as “State of California” for these campuses).
CSULB apparently has a very large difference in admission threshold between local and non-local applicants, although the exact numbers are not publicly stated.
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CSULB guarantees if you are local and meet the minimum eligibility requirements, you will get an acceptance and if you are not admitted to your major, they will accept local applicants as Undeclared.
CSULB’s Chemistry department has a solid reputation so it would be a safety if within the local service area.
If the Cal states are not to her liking, the CC to UC/CSU transfer pathway is well defined for California residents and it would be another safety option.
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Yes, Dominguez Hills is closer - thank you.
Did not know about the guarantee - thank you very much, we’ll look into this and the transfer program!
Unfortunately she had an index score of 215, California cut off was 220. Thank you for the link to clarify!