Hispanic Students - COLLEGE CLASS of 2015

Student Lounge Hispanic Students
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<p>BVMom2,
You’re welcome! With everyone working together I think we’re making some progress in figuring out how to navigate admissions and FA/merit so that our kids have some good choices in the spring.</p>

<p>Best of luck with Reed and Willamette, both great schools but unfortunately too close to home for my kids. </p>

<p>copterguy,
My D1 had a school I thought was totally impractical as well, I let her keep it just because she was so insistent, I think because it was my UG alma mater. It was a UC that was ambiguous on their website as far as possible merit aid for OOS students, and even calling, I was unable to get a firm answer one way or the other on what was available. In the end she was admitted, but with 45k in loans! Needless to say she didn’t attend. I still remind her about it because it was by far the biggest pain in the rear application she filled out.</p>

22

<p>Itsv - yes, we do know about the National Hispanic Scholarship at Knox. Thank you. I think it was thanks to your earlier postings on the scholarships that we started looking at Knox. I’m just not sure if the $16K scholarship out of the $40K cost will make it work. At this point I really don’t know what our EFC is going to turn out to be. Divorce late in 2008, incomes both fairly high, but almost no assets. And really not much money left over to pay for college. Joint 2009 tax return makes it difficult to estimate what 2010 tax return will look like. But I really need to get busy on that! Maybe that is where daughter gets procrastination from. :-)</p>

23

<p>I would appreciate any thoughts…
I have received several emails from Harvard. At first I thought they were mass mailings but now I’m wondering if maybe they mean more. I cut and pasted the letter below. </p>

<p>Dear xxxxx,</p>

<p>I’m a coordinator for the Harvard Financial Aid Initiative (HFAI). Our office received information indicating your interest in attending Harvard College for your undergraduate education and your eligibility for financial aid. I am here to help answer any questions you have about applying for admission or financial aid. But I’m also here to talk to you about anything and everything regarding Harvard. So let’s talk! I know applying to college is a tough process and deciding where to go is even tougher, so please let me know if you have any questions or concerns about the academics, extracurriculars, social life, advising, personal wellness, and people at Harvard. Even if you don’t have any particular questions at the moment, feel free to contact me whenever you do.</p>

<p>Just a little about me: I’m a junior here at Harvard and I absolutely love being here now more than ever! I feel more and more fulfilled everyday and the opportunities for academic pursuit, cultural exploration/travel, free time hobby finding, and personal growth still seem endless. I’m originally from the San Francisco Bay Area so I know what it’s like to go to school far away from home. Interestingly enough, I’ve found Harvard to be my other home :slight_smile: I’m majoring in Sociology which is fantastic! Outside of class, I enjoy dancing, painting, singing, eating around Boston, and spending time with the wonderful people I meet at school.</p>

<p>Please feel free to contact me at this email address.</p>

<p>I hope your school year at xxxxxx is going well!</p>

24

<p>Schools, including the most selective ones, do often have current students contact URM applicants. I’m a little surprised that it’s someone from FA, are you applying through Questbridge? If you’re a competitive candidate for selective colleges and are URM, colleges will be paying special attention to you.</p>

25

<p>The letter was sent to my son. He does not belong to Questbridge. We live in a high cost area, our income is more than 60,000(family of four)but less than 80,000. We are Puerto Rican and he would be considered a first generation student. His has a 96 unweighted gpa, 5 AP classes and the rest are all honors classes. His SAT score is 2020. He strong in Math. Math sat 1 770, Math I 730, Math II 780. He just took the sat again in October and feels he did better than last time. He wants to major in Engineering.</p>

<p>He does have leadership - Middle States Committee </p>

<p>I always thought he was a good student but not ivy eligible. We have received emails from Harvard from the latino community but never any email that seemed personalized. I always figured they were mass mailings trying to up their application numbers.</p>

26

<p>He sounds pretty good except for the lower SAT score, but as a first gen college student, that’s the part they’re most likely to be lenient on. Being a Hispanic interested in engineering, might very well have caught their eye. I would definitely consider throwing in applications to a couple of the most generous need-only FA schools (HYPS) if they appeal to him. You might also want to try running some FA calculators on school websites such as Dartmouth and Amherst, they can give you some idea of how much FA you might expect from schools that are still very generous but a notch down from HYPS. As long as he has 1-2 solid admissions and financial safeties, and a few match schools, I wouldn’t hesitate to try a few of the very selective schools. If he’s applying EA anywhere, that might help give you an indication of how schools will view him.</p>

27

<p>He is not interested in HYPS I don’t think he feels he would fit in. I have received several emails from colleges with priority applications and offers of scholarship money. Many ask him to apply and they would respond by December 15th. This particular one caught my eye only because of the inclusion of his high school. I will run a few FA calculators to see where we stand. Thanks for your help. I will ask him to consider some reach schools.</p>

28

<p>Entomom and smileygerl.</p>

<p>I too got a call from Harvard but and admissions URM rep not from FIA. This must be a multi-pronged outreach to Latino families they think might not otherwise apply, for monetary reasons in this case, even though you are not low income, 80k for a family of 4 is not a lot of money, and your status ad a Puerto Rican URM is even more in demand than other latino students in general. P.R. students seem to be the toughest recruits to get. I agree the SAT is on low side for Harvard–can he re-take it? I know its fall and tiring to think of taking test again.</p>

<p>I think everyone should apply to one reach school and Harvard will not let your son flunk out. If they admit him they see things that show he can make it there. Of course its a reach and if FIA is calling maybe they will waive the application fee for you-after all it is the FIA calling-they have the money. I just hope they are not just trying to up the yield of minority applicants-that would be cruel if it was not done with some more fact checking on his grades, SAT, etc.</p>

<p>FWIW, been reading top destinations for talented Latino youth and found two wildly different studies, one had Princeton at number one-the other Princeton is not even on the LIST! Weird. </p>

<p>Hispanic Magazine article:
<a href=“hispaniconline.com”>hispaniconline.com;

<p>Bettter IMHO:
<a href=“http://i.allschoolguide.com/article/top-25-colleges-latinos[/url]”>http://i.allschoolguide.com/article/top-25-colleges-latinos&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>For my money I go mostly by enrollment percent where MIT, Stanford, Columbia, Swarthmore (to my surprise is at 10 percent), and Rice, and UT at Austin have numbers cracking 1o percent or MIT in the teens–impressive. On the other hand if the percent is near or below 7 it could indicate that the school just has a hard time convincing qualified candidates to go there–which you could use to your advantage with some research to back up the theory!</p>

<p>So Entomom, Itsv,not one NHRP congratulatory letter from colleges we are in touch with but they already know we are interested I suppose-but it would be nice still</p>

<p>Entomom, gonna write you a PM on a decision I am hoping I do not regret on a
school my D really likes. Okay, hope I helped instead of confusing people, it is confusing.</p>

<p>WLM</p>

29

<p>smiley girl…if your son is interested in Engineering he may like Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh. It is one of the best programs in the country and they have done a great job with attracting hispanic and aa kids. At the diversity weekend during application time, we met a family from puerto rico and, happily, we met them again at orientation. THey have an active chapter of hispanic professional engineers and my S really liked the atmosphere compared to some of the smaller, LACs in the Northeast, that, frankly he found to foreign for a hispanic kid. They have a very limited endowment and are not generous with FA with one MAJOR exception. They will try to match FA offers from top universities. So they offer some FA to qualifying students but then, in order to get a good student, they will use their limited FA to meet the offers from competing universities. ONe of my S’s friends who is first generation american/bolivian is on almost a free ride after showing good offers from competing schools.</p>

<p>A very good reason to apply to Harvard is to be able to use the acceptance and FA (which will meet full need) to other schools as a bargaining chip in April. They do understand that FA is a factor in decisionmaking so they encourage kids to send them copies of their aid offers. CMU is not the only private school to do this so having an acceptance and FA offer from a big name school can be helpful. </p>

<p>Has your son looked at the Coopers Union in NYC. Tuition is free for all and there is aid for other expenses for qualifying kids. If you live in NYC or have relatives there he can live at home.</p>

<p>You may live in a state with a great instate engineering program so hopefully your S has looked at these. Again, having an acceptance in hand from a top notch private can be helpful for improving merit/FA offers to the extent these schools are able to help. Few have the endowments of Harvard, but they would like to keep their best students in state so I would encourage your son to apply to at least two top engineering programs (Harvey Mudd, CMU, Cornell, CalTech, MIT) and Harvard especially if he is already doing the common app. I was very uncomfortable using the letters as bargaining chip in April, but at least two schools told us they welcomed these and it helped them make sure that they made competitive offers to kids who needed financial aid. </p>

<p>Good luck to your son!</p>

30

<p>Harvard said we received the email based on standardize test scores and because we are eligible for FA. My son must have just made the cut off and/or maybe because he is a National Hispanic Scholar. Truthfully, I doubt highly he would ever be accepted to Harvard. If he were granted a fee waiver I would apply, but our money will be better spent where he has a chance. I have put Cornell on our list as it appears to be a better match. What CR + M score do we need to be competitive for reach schools? He currently has a 1400. Hopefully we will receive good news come Oct 28th when the SAT results come out. I have my fingers crossed. </p>

<p>I want to thank everbody on cc for their invaluable advice. I will keep you posted…</p>

31

<p>After speaking with my son, he desparately wants to apply to Cornell engineering ED. He feels it greatly increases his chance of admission. I am truly against this as we will lose FA bargaining power. If he listens to me and then does not get in during RD, I will feel terrible. Help…</p>

32

<p>Has your son considered Rice University in Houston? Excellent engineering school, merit scholarships, wonderful, diverse student body, residential college system and down to earth students where everybody fits in. Just a thought. Hard decision because finances are a pressing reality of college choice and it has to work for your budget. Good luck! He will no doubt have many excellent options. Olin School of Engineering offers 1/2 tuition scholarship off the bat plus financial aid…in Masachusettes.</p>

33

<p>We live in NY and he wants to stay within a 5-6hrs of home. I ran the Cornell financial aid calculator and our cost would be 15,000yr but the FAFSA efc is 13,000yr. I thought if accepted throught RD we would have bargaining power to get 2,000 in additional grant aid to match FAFSA efc.</p>

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<p>Smileygril</p>

<p>If you son is interested in Cornell then he should contact Dee Gamble at the school who I think is in charge of minority recruitment. He was very helpful last year to my son’s friend who also was interested in engineering at Cornell. I know he waived the application fee and was very helpful. Talk to him about your reservations. </p>

<p>As far as ED here is something on the subject that changed my mind. [Does</a> Applying Early Decision Work? | The College Solution Blog by Lynn O’Shaughnessy](<a href=“http://thecollegesolutionblog.com/2010/10/21/does-applying-early-decision-work/]Does”>Does Applying Early Decision Work? | The College Solution Blog by Lynn O'Shaughnessy)</p>

<p>Based on my son’s experience it seems like ED would have helped. If it is only a 2K difference then I think you still would have some pull at negoiating with the school.</p>

35

<p>Letters referencing National Hispanic Scholar starting to come:</p>

<p>Washington University in St. Louis - talking about the Rodriguez Scholarship. Looks good, D would like this school, but we don’t think she has enough communicty service to the underprivledged to qualify for this scholarship. Others who do should check this out.</p>

<p>Letter from UT Dallas, with no specific details. But web site looks like a very good, full ride? offer for National Hispanic scholar. Academic Excellence Scholarship Program
[Office</a> of Undergraduate Education - The University of Texas at Dallas](<a href=“Office of Undergraduate Education - The University of Texas at Dallas”>Office of Undergraduate Education - The University of Texas at Dallas)</p>

<p>Letter from Iowa State says ‘a letter will soon be coming that outlines scholarship assistance we are prepared to provide’. No further details in letter.</p>

<p>Fordham - Full Tuition (doesn’t say anything about their expensive Romm and Board) IF in the top 10 % of high school class. (D is not, rank about 15%).</p>

<p>This is exciting. Hoping for more to finalize the list of schools to apply to. Applied to Willamette, hopefully get Knox done tonight. UOP and University of Arizona done in the next couple of weeks. Planning trip to University of Arizona on Nov 19 (that is most likely school).</p>

<p>Oh, turned down for Reed Multicultural Scholars Visit Day all expense paid trip. :-(</p>

36

<p>sg,
I’m not familiar with the ED/RD admission numbers, so I can’t comment on how much an ED application would help. </p>

<p>As far as the 2k, although everything counts, it isn’t a large amount in the greater scheme of things. And the main way you’re going to be able to have some leverage RD is if he is accepted to some peer or higher schools and they offer him more generous FA packages that you can take back to C. Again, I’m unfamiliar with C and whether or not they match FA offers from other schools. One final caveat, FA calculators are great, particularly the college specific ones, but you need to be careful if you have any intricacies in your taxes. For instance, if you own a business or have anything else that complicates your taxes more that straight salary, interest, capital gains, etc., then the EFC could be less accurate. There’s an example on the FA & Scholarship forum of a member who has a small business and their early read (recruited athlete) was much higher than anticipated based on calculators.</p>

<p>BVMom,
We got the UT Dallas and Fordham too, I don’t think either will fly with D2 due to location. Mailings from WUSTL have been surprisingly absent for us, but I think the Rodriguez is much too competitive for D2 to have a shot, for the same reasons as your D.</p>

37

<p>Our taxes are pretty straight forward(w2 earned income only). It upsets me that they use primary residence as an asset which could be valued 15% less next year. </p>

<p>I called Cornell and requested to speak to a multicultural recruiter. They just forwarded my call to the admissions office. There was no enthusiasm to speak to me, I guess there is no shortage of applications from urms. Reality is a tough pill to swallow(ouch)…we will definitely apply ED after I receive SAT scores.</p>

<p>Thanks again for all the help and good luck to everyone with the admissions process.</p>

38

<p>^^It’s a tough one, best of luck!</p>

39

<p>Update: </p>

<p>D2 hit the Submit button on school #3 last night. Only one more early application due by Monday, but she’s only just started the essay :rolleyes:. D1, an English major, is on standby all weekend to edit it and I’m hoping that she won’t have to submit on Nov 1 because it’s a CA school and there’s always the possibility that the system will go down with all the traffic that day.</p>

40

<p>smiley girl…get your son to look at the Coopers Union before he commits to ED Cornell. Just ask him to look…if you have any relatives in NYC this could be a fantastic way to get an excellent education very, very cheaply. If he gets rejected by Cornell, he should be applying to RPI and CMU…CMU will try to match RPI merit/FA offers. The schools are close to home and offer some of the best engineering programs in the country. RIT offers great scholarships to Hispanic students–all these are backups if he is decides not to do ED Cornell or is rejected.</p>