@pickledginger well I already sent in my app to UPitt and none of my schools have merit aid deadlines that have already passed, for me the earliest for scholarships is December 1st for USC and BU. Thank you for your feedback though!
Safeties have to be affordable. If your parents really can’t contribute anything, you need to reevaluate your list.
Your budget means instate. I am not sure you have a single 35K OOS school on your list. R&Bi s often 10-15K. I too am taken aback your apps aren’t in already. They should have been finished IMO.
If you want a real residential college experience you should drop Baruch. Lots of commuters.
“I’m probably going to get little aid because my parents have a relatively high income even though they have like no money to pay for my college which is unfortunate”
Then NOTHING out of state is a safety unless you have run the NPC and know that it is likely to be affordable.
I think that it is okay for you to apply to NYU knowing that you will not afford it, but don’t think of it as a useful application. I wouldn’t apply to more than one on this basis. You should radically trim the unaffordable schools. If necessary you could run the NPC first to get a better guess about what each will cost.
You have multiple very good in-state schools on your list, which I think is a good plan. I would try to get the in-state applications in very soon (if they aren’t already in).
@Sybylla Actually, I ran NPC on multiple schools tonight, and BU ends up being about 30k for me. Same with several other out of state schools, so I think I’ll keep those OOS schools on my list. As for my apps, why are you surprised they aren’t in yet? The deadline isn’t until December 1st for any of them, and UC/CSU is due November 30th. I’m just tweaking my supplements until they’re as good as can be, don’t see anything wrong with that. Applying earlier than Dec 1st won’t do anything in terms of admissions/scholarship chances.
@DadTwoGirls thank you, I ran NPC and eliminated all the unaffordable ones (except NYU- one can dream haha)
I think its a total waste of time to apply to OOS schools that are unfordable “Just to see if you get in”. The time spent on those apps takes away from time spent on other apps and other things.
^^^^ Exactly.
Run the Net Price Calculators for all of your list, and eliminate the ones that do not look like they will be affordable.
As for safeties, other than an automatic admit for your grades and test scores (see the threads at the top of the financial aid forum and near the top of the parents forum for information on that topic) you need to run your remaining list of affordables by your guidance counselor. You need to identify a couple places that have never never ever rejected a student from your high school with your grades and test scores.
With CA state public schools, you already have 2 reaches, 3 matches, and 2 safeties. My suggestions for beyond that:
Drop Chapman and LMU: You don’t need more safeties, and they will likely cost more than any state school.
Drop UW and GW: Not particularly better than other schools in what you want to study, and likely more expensive
Drop CUNY Baruch: Yes, it has cheap tuition, but NYC is very expensive and it is not really the same as going to NYU
Northwestern, Carnegie Mellon, and USC: You could keep one or two of these reaches, or three if you really like writing essays and paying application fees. If you managed to get a $30K on a BU NPC, maybe the financial aid would work out at one of these schools with better financial aid
Boston University and Northeastern: Could keep one, or two if you really like Boston
NYU (Stern): Go ahead and apply. The NYU NPC is pretty useless, other than telling people they can’t afford NYU (which may be the point). But their financial aid seems to be pretty variable. Maybe it would cost $35K, maybe it would be $65K. You never know (though I wouldn’t bet on the first one).
UT Austin: If it keeps your parents happy, applying is probably not too high a price to pay.
U Pitt: Sounds like you already applied
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BU ends up being about 30k for me. Same with several other out of state schools, so I think I'll keep those OOS schools on my list.<<<
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That OOS point means public to me. So what schools exactly are you talking about?
You seem to be casting a very wide net. What hasn’t been mentioned here is that so many of these schools will have a very different feel. Urban vs. Suburban, Smaller private vs. large public. East Coast vs. West Coast. It’s great to be open to things, but in general, most people have some sort of preference (i.e. west coast, medium size, suburban, good programs for X, etc.) If you create that tighter window, it will be easier to research colleges that are a great fit for you.