<p>Hi! Here's the sitch: I'm a good test-taker but very much a dabbler/unproductive void in society as it stands, i.e. 2400 SAT, 3.91 UW GPA, expected NM(S)F, 800x3, several 5s on APs, and somewhat lackluster ECs relative to many of my statistical counterparts. My parents are divorced; my custodial parent makes <$50k, and I'm unsure of the other's income, but I do know he struggles financially and won't be contributing anything.</p>
<p>ECs:
- Volunteering 3.5 hours a week at the hospital since summer of '10
- Volunteering 4 hours a week at the library
- Organized series of fundraisers for expanding tutoring program's scope, raised $3k total
- Working 18 hours a week since summer of '10
- Tutoring elementary kids 3 hours a week since 9th</p>
<p>That's pretty much it as far as anything meaningful goes, and even then, I'm well aware that I cover almost every extracurricular cliche in the book (sadly, I never bothered with Key Club). I do a lot of stuff that I'm not entirely sure would be relevant or wanted in an application, like bookbinding, NaNoWriMo + Script Frenzy, and random film competitions with my friends -- essay material, right? I'm a little confused about where to draw the line between personal hobby and application mentionable.</p>
<p>So, all this info leads me to my question: where should I look? I'm definitely applying to my state flagship for one, but I think I prefer smaller universities (<6000) and LACs. Culturally, I'd enjoy a place with an available but not domineering party scene and a certain degree of nerdiness, and dare I say it, quirkiness. Location is not a huge issue. I'm comfortable in both rural and urban environments and don't really care about East Coast vs West Coast vs Midwest. I have no clue about a major.</p>
<p>Thanks for reading (and hopefully replying?!). :)</p>
<p>You should consider HYP, which I believe will be almost free if you can get admitted. Also consider schools like Davidson, Dartmouth, Brown, Vanderbilt, WUSTL, and Emory.</p>
<p>Do you know if your non-custodial parent will fill out the NCP paperwork that many top schools require?</p>
<p>If he won’t (or won’t do it for all 4 years) that could be a problem.</p>
<p>Is it possible that he earn enough that it would affect your aid? I know that you said he won’t contribute, but do you think he might earn enough that it could affect your aid?</p>
<p>Last year, a student with divorced parents got accepted to MIT, Brown, and Columbia. His mom earned about $55k…his dad earned around $30k…no savings either parent…the family contribution for each school was about $16-17k…no one could pay it. </p>
<p>And, of course, if your dad refuses to fill out the paperwork, then that could affect your ability to get any aid.</p>
<p>Apply to some top schools and hopefully they will work out…but also apply to some schools that will give you big merit for your stats. Also apply to USC…they often give big scholarships to stats like yours, and they give NMF scholarships, and they don’t often consider NCP income.</p>
<p>Every college and university library needs people who know how to bind books. If you let the library staff know that you have this skill, you can have one of the most interesting jobs on campus. Be sure to let them know. A young lady I know learned bookbinding at Wellesley, and was able to do that as her student job for the next three years.</p>
<p>If you are female, your grades and scores put you into the range for Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Mt. Holyoke, Smith & Wellesley - all of which have good financial aid. They also would guarantee you serious money at some of the other women’s colleges such as Agnes Scott. For the full list, see [The</a> Women’s College Coalition](<a href=“http://www.womenscolleges.org/]The”>http://www.womenscolleges.org/)</p>
<p>Naaaah, it’s pretentious to brag about yourself as being unpretentious. It’s not pretentious to brag that others (schools or people) are unpretentious, especially when it differentiates them from a lot of their peers. It’s a straight up compliment.</p>
<p>Whoa. Thanks for the awesome starting-off points, everyone!</p>
<p>@surfwakesnow165 I was seriously surprised and humbled by your suggestions. I’m going to give the list a deeper look later, but my first impression is liking WUSTL, Yale, and Brown the most.</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids I don’t have contact with him so I can’t say anything for certain, but I think I can expect my NCP to fill out the forms. I’ll hazard a guess and say he probably makes around $35k a year. I think my income is going to be the problem. It really inflates our EFC (which is still pretty low – around $3k for my mom and me), but it goes almost exclusively toward medical bills and rent.</p>
<p>I’ll investigate USC.</p>
<p>@M’s Mom Really, really like Grinnell from what I’ve seen so far. I love how the school itself is very accepting, as shown by things like gender-neutral dorms. Grinnell seems like a charming town, too.</p>
<p>@happymomof1 Thanks for the information – I didn’t know bookbinding could be such an asset. I’m not sure if a women’s college is for me, but I’m going to definitely give them a good look before knocking them off the map.</p>
<p>In addition to HYPS, You should also consider Duke since it offers same kind of education but with better scholarships. Many kids accepted to HYPS go to duke for the full scholarships.</p>