<p>I'm trying to be a Good Mom, and am hiding my panic. But...will my kid go to college?? He's really hoping for pharmacy. His Dad has early onset Alzheimers (no family history) & can't work, so I'm hoping for a school where he might get financial aid. </p>
<p>He's applying to the University of Pittsburgh, Ohio State, UCONN, SUNY Buffalo, Duquesne, the University of Toledo (all with Pharmacy programs) and the University of Ohio and Penn State for possible prepharmacy work. The number of schools still on the list is proof of panic. If he got a guaranteed admit into its School of Pharmacy he'd probably be happy to go to Podunk Community College & Barber School. </p>
<p>He has a 3.65 GPA due to a bad sophomore year, but is back to doing 4.0+ work now. He's in the upper 1/3 in a top high school. SATs are 640 math, 640 verbal & 700 writing. He's taking them again to see if he can get them higher, and will be taking the ACT shortly. He's played varsity and AAU travel basketball in grades 10, 11 and 12 (he's getting some recruiting calls and letters from Div. III coaches, but wants to focus on grades in college). The usual volunteering, two clubs through high school and now works at a coffee bar in a chain bookstore. He has 13 college credits so far (6 AP credits in Euro history and US history, a B in a 4-credit statistics class at the University of Pittsburgh and 3 credits for French I from LaRoche College). This year he's taking calculus, anatomy, Chem II, AP economics and English, and has over a 4.0. </p>
<p>What do you think of his chances of getting in at these schools? Any recommendations for us?</p>
<p>Hey fellow pittsburgher!</p>
<p>From what I know of some of the schools that you mentioned, I'm pretty sure that your son is fine. You're worrying too much. I won't address specific schools because I don't want to pretend that I'm an expert, but he's FINE.</p>
<p>His chances:</p>
<p>University of Pittsburgh--Safe Match
Ohio State--Safe Match
UCONN--Match
SUNY Buffalo--Safety
Duquesne--Match
University of Toledo--Safety
Ohio University--Safe Match to Match
Penn State (University Park)--Match</p>
<p>He could get financial aid (grants and scholarships, not loans) at any of these schools, but his best chances for financial aid would be at Ohio State, Toledo and Ohio University. Penn State is a maybe. </p>
<p>Make sure you fill out the FAFSA immediately after the first of the year. You have to wait until then, both because you want the aid to be based upon 2006 earnings of you and your husband, not the 2005 earnings (which I presume were higher), and because he doesn't start college until next year--and thus the financial aid has to be based upon 2006 anyway. As far as applying to the schools, apply early, because you chances for aid are greater in that case, plus they give scholarships to early accepted applicants. At a school like Penn State, which has a rolling admissions policy, your son could apply today (although he'll need some time to write good essays).</p>
<p>Wait to decide which school he will attend until after he gets the preliminary financial aid offers--which will probably not be until March or April, since you will not be filing the FAFSA until January. Most schools don't require a decision until May 1st.</p>
<p>Best of luck to your son and to your family. Write back or post again if you have more questions. Also go to the financial aid portion of collegeconfidential for the real experts on that subject, who can probably give you even better advice than mine.</p>
<p>P.S. My son was accepted at Pittsburgh (though he's attending Indiana), and he had weaker grades and test scores than your son (though he did take a full IB diploma program). So try to relax as best as you can, because it's a long time until April 1st when a lot of these acceptances will go out in the mail.</p>
<p>Wheeeeeew. I can't tell you what a relief these responses were. I honestly had myself convinced that he would not get into the colleges on his list.</p>
<p>No school today, and he got the apps in for most of these online, and started getting the packages ready for the guidance office to add the transcripts. We know a kid who got accepted to Pitt last week, and other kid was accepted to The Citadel...it's becoming more real.</p>
<p>Thank you for taking the time to respond.</p>