<p>I have nothing more to offer beyond what has already been expressed. I applaud the effort and interest that you have taken on this young womans behalf! Kids who have accomplished what this girl has should have people advocating for them. Very solid!</p>
<p>Maybe encourage her to apply to the state flagship then (You said it wasn’t NY but all the states around NY have flagships). You can count on the tuition being lower than private colleges EVEN if she loses scholarship/financial aid, and there will always be a lot of smart motivated students, in the honors college or elsewhere. And SUNY Binghamton or SUNY Geneseo in NY are both good schools and give merit aid to out of state applicants (with the numbers you cited getting in should be no problem); I think their cost without aid is equal to instate for UConn or Rutgers. You don’t want to set her up for a situation where she goes to a LAC, gets great aid the first year and has to drop out the second because her GPA fell too low for merit aid or something if the family’s financial situation is so fragile.</p>
<p>It’s probably too late for merit scholarship application to many colleges.
And I don’t know about other state flagships but application deadline for University of California campuses was November 30.</p>
<p>A few private schools have Jan. 15 deadlines, though one dean told me theirs was soft, but the somewhat later financial aid deadline was hard.</p>
<p>SAT results have come out looks like. Does she still not have a score?</p>
<p>This young woman is certainly going to qualify not only for aid, but for merit scholarships based on her stats, assuming her SAT scores are high enough. The women’s colleges, in particular, offer merit scholarships and some don’t require any additional application to be considered. Have her look at Bryn Mawr, especially.</p>
<p>And by the way, she does have ECs–her two jobs. ECs aren’t always fun. Work certainly counts, as this is how she spent her time.</p>
<p>“Affluent school counseling” is generally less helpful for kids who don’t fit their demographic profile. It’s just too much work to try to “spin” a kid like this one when there are so many easier wins (high stat, high income) for them. Don’t mean to sound cynical, but I’ve heard a lot of stories from people in this girl’s situation.</p>
<p>I wonder why the counselor of the HS in this affluent district let this poor kid fall through the crack.</p>
<p>It seems she did not take the PSAT. Otherwise she would have taken the SAT earlier to meet NMSF.</p>
<p>She did not take the PSAT. I specifically asked. Not sure why. She would have been working for me at the time it should have been taken and we are VERY strong about giving kids the time off for important things like that.</p>
<p>And she has really fallen through the cracks. If the numbers she’s giving me are correct, she’s selective college material. (But I always ask them what they want to be when they grow up and in the fall of 2012 she wasn’t thinking <em>college</em> and <em>career</em>)</p>
<p>I know a lot of people who majored in languages (most French) and they went to all kinds of schools: sister started at Middlebury but transferred to Wisconsin because of finances; cousin from Wesleyan; boss U of Wyoming; SIL from Metro State Denver (after starting college at Northwestern). You know what they all have in common? They all speak French. And not a single one works in ‘French’, although 3 of the 4 had a first job answering phones in French, which led to them learning the business and going into that field (land development, law, and telecommunications).</p>
<p>It doesn’t sound like this is a driven student. I don’t think that is a bad thing, just that she hasn’t sought out LACs or Ivies or even big state schools. She might be perfectly happy at a local school, especially for a year or two. My sister loved Middlebury (she was driven, researched all the schools, applied with no help from school or parents), but she didn’t like having no money, not being able to come home for Thanksgiving, not being able to go to Cape Cod for an expensive weekend with all her friends and classmates. It can be really hard to go to college with everything different. A girl I know went to Alabama and lasted a week! She is wealthy, bi-racial, but it was just too different for her to be in the south</p>
<p>A friend I know went to school in the midwest. She lasted an entire year. The first day it snowed, she knew she was transferring back to HI–too cold and too different. No one else cared about the snow or understood her excitement and amazement at seeing it. </p>
<p>The young woman is lucky you are taking an interest in her. Perhaps a gap year might be good, if she missed merit and FAid deadlines and wants to apply again next year? The best merit & FAid packages are generally offered for entering freshmen. Good luck! In-state publics (including directional Us) often offer merit awards for high-achievers. Sometimes they have agreements with nearby Us as well, so they are treated as in-state there also.</p>
<p>Does she want to and is she able to commute? Dorm?</p>
<p>^ Some poor kids never think that they would go to college because of money concern, let alone Ivies and LACs. When I was younger I never thought that I would send my kids to private colleges. I was lucky to find out CC and other resources later. Poor parents don’t have that luxury. Like the OP, I always encourage the poor kids to fly higher and farther.</p>
<p>If she knows what linguistics actually is, then you probably know that it’s really hard to find at a small LAC. She would need a consortium or a university. Also, I think if she gets her portion in by Jan 1, many schools will accept the transcripts and test scores a bit later. </p>
<p>Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Haverford and Swarthmore all require SAT IIs or the ACT, so those are out. </p>
<p>Within striking distance of NYC, no SAT II’s needed, with Jan 15 or later deadlines, that provides good aid and also has access to good linguistics:</p>
<p>Smith College - Top linguistics in the country at UMASS
Mt Holyoke - top linguistics in the country at UMASS
Neither of these two requires the SAT II and both have Jan 15th deadlines </p>
<p>A bit farther
Brandeis and University of Rochester both have linguistics and good FinAid but they have Jan 1 deadlines and both only require the SAT. So if she can apply this week, she can probably get her transcript in late. </p>
<p>NYU has good linguistics but of course their FinAid is awful. </p>
<p>Not worrying about linguistics, and looking at other nearby schools with Good FinAid that just require the SAT:
Holy Cross - Jan 15
Johns Hopkins - Jan 1 - SAT required, SAT II just recommended
Franklin and Marshall Jan 15
Trinity College (CT) - Jan 1 - SAT required, SAT II considered if submitted
Union College (NY) - Jan 15</p>
<p>NYU’s finaid is low on average, but for their chosen few, with merit it can be good; only applying reveals it.</p>
<p>Middlebury.</p>
<p>CRD: I am assuming she knows what linguistics is, and isn’t using it as a catch all for multiple languages and translation. I know the latter is an interest for her.</p>
<p>I’m going to try to have a sit down with her this week and see how I can more specifically help as we come right up on the 1/1 deadline, with the 1/15 deadline further out. She may have her SAT scores by now.</p>
<p>Actually Johns Hopkins has good linguistics in the cognitive science department. </p>
<p>There are 6 and only 6 options</p>
<p>Smith, Mt Holyoke, Brandeis, Rochester, Johns Hopkins and NYU. </p>
<p>Only Smith and Mt Holyoke have 1/15 deadlines. </p>
<p>The rest are 1/1.</p>
<p>SAT scores are available as of 12/23. </p>
<p>She needs recommendations too. </p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>If it all seems like too much to accomplish in such a short time and her choices too restrictive given the deadlines, she could consider a gap year.</p>
<p>As long as the student has their part of the application done by 1/1 or 1/15 or whenever the application deadline is due, they are ok. Recommendations, transcripts or other school based items are not due on these deadlines.</p>
<p>I opened a commonapp and put a bunch of schools on the list, clearly indicating it is not for applying.</p>
<p>However, many of the schools listed send out a reminder every other week asking to file it. They will take applications and then follow up saying something is missing. They will give waivers if needed.</p>
<p>No paperwork started yet, nothing will work.</p>
<p>I think the hardest part is getting the teacher and GC recs on time. She should think and ask for them right after the new year.</p>