Hispanic Junior Worried About College

<p>Hey Guys!
I'm a Junior in High School(Maryland) freaking out about not getting in to college...
I have a 3.5 GPA and am taking all AP (this year) and honors (all other years)..
I am looking into majoring in Computer Science..
What colleges should I be looking at and which offer good money for students like me?
I'm am really interested in the University of Maryland-CP and in Baltimore County</p>

<p>Why are you freaking out? The best way is to combat that problem is to prepare yourself. Read up a little on financial aid so you know how the whole process works. I recommend a good website like [Prepare</a> for College | Federal Student Aid](<a href=“http://studentaid.ed.gov/prepare-for-college]Prepare”>http://studentaid.ed.gov/prepare-for-college) or [FinAid</a>! Financial Aid, College Scholarships and Student Loans](<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>http://www.finaid.org/)
You can also start looking at the Financial aid forum here on CC, often there are important topics to get you started “pinned” at the top.
You didn’t mention any ACT or SAT scores, those will be important in admissions and can also affect financial aid especially at private schools.
You can look up admissions info and financial aid info on schools using College Navigator [College</a> Navigator - National Center for Education Statistics](<a href=“http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/]College”>College Navigator - National Center for Education Statistics)<br>
P.S. - Please ignore the occasional rude person you encounter here on CC, most people here are helpful.</p>

<p>What does your guidance counselor say about those two? Does your counselor think you are likely to be admitted, and to get the kind of need-based and/or merit-based aid that you need?</p>

<p>Which county are you in? Check your CC, and read up on any formal articulation agreements between that CC and UMD-CP and UMD-BC. Read about scholarships at the CC as well. For example, Montgomery College offers several different types of full scholarships, some of which don’t require exam scores, just a GPA of at least 3.0 and letters of recommendation.</p>

<p>Talk with your family, and find out whether or not they can help you pay for your education. Then run the Net Price Calculators at the websites of the colleges and universities that you are interested in, that will help you see which of them are likely to be affordable.</p>

<p>As BeanTownGirl wrote above, there are many useful threads in the Financial Aid Forum. Scroll down through that forum and read up on this topic. Your GPA is good. If your ACT or SAT scores are good too, you could have some nice options.</p>

<p>Suerte!</p>

<p>Check out the Hispanic Students forum (under Admissions, Specialty Topics). Start with the Resource sticky thread at the top which has lots of information about scholarships, summer programs, flyins, etc.</p>

<p>Did you take the PSAT this year? Do you know about NHRP scholarships?</p>

<p>What colleges should I be looking at and which offer good money for students like me?</p>

<p>There’s no way to know from the limited info you’ve given.</p>

<p>We don’t know if your family is low income, middle income, upper-middle income, or high income.</p>

<p>We don’t know if your family has assets (savings, investments, properties, etc). </p>

<p>We don’t know if your test scores will be high enough to get accepted to the limited number of schools that give lots of aid to those who QUALIFY to receive aid (based on family income/assets).</p>

<p>We don’t know if you have a non-custodial parent. </p>

<p>We don’t know if your family can pay the amount that schools will expect them to pay.</p>

<p>Yes, cost constraints and financial aid situation is very important. Many of the good schools for CS are public, which usually means limited need-based financial aid for out-of-state students, although some have large merit scholarships or relatively low list prices even for out-of-state students. Fortunately, UMCP is good for CS.</p>

<p>Thank You guys so much!
I have not taken the SAT but i know I’ll at least get a 2000.
Im from Montgomery County. My family is middle income(roughly $70000 for 5 of us)
no assets, no non-custodial parent</p>

<p>Try the net price calculator on the web site of UMCP, UMBC, and other schools you are considering in order to get financial aid estimates.</p>

<p>Ok, now that its tax season i can really get a window at how much aid ill get (since my parents have the info available).
Thanks!</p>