I can't decide

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I can't decide what colleges to apply to. help me choose!</p>

<p>I live in northern va
senior in high school</p>

<p>SAT: 2200 superscore, 2160 raw
SAT 2: 750 math2, 800 korean, taking bio either oct. or nov.
GPA: 4.1 weighted, not sure about unweighted but at least 3.6</p>

<p>I am looking for small to medium schools, not LAC
I don't want super large class lectures, quality of teaching above average
city or near a city, a lot of opportunities for summer
north is preferable, none below North Carolina, east coast, east of the mississippi river bc too far
financial aid is always good, income <60,000 single parent, but im not gonna worry too much about that now, I can work and apply to lots and lots of scholarships to help me out. </p>

<p>i'm doing EA to UVA and Boston College
thinking of:
U Mich
Tufts
Brandeis?
Brown (highest reach)
U Chicago (probs not even gonna try)
Safeties:
V-Tech or JMU, but not gonna apply to either if I get accepted into EA schools, and I think I have a good shot at them, esp bc im instate and stuff </p>

<p>suggestions and opinions good or bad tell me i appreciate it</p>

2

<p>major? </p>

3

<p>oops forgot to put it
biology major</p>

4

<p>have you thought about Questbridge? It might be right for you with your income situation. </p>

<p>I’m still working on a list.</p>

5

<p>Chicago, Rose Hulman, Carnegie Mellon, Emory, JHU</p>

<p>Villanova, Barnard, URichmond, Lafayette, LawrenceU, URochester, Oberlin, Brandeis, Case Western, SUNY Binghamton </p>

<p>Vermont, WPI, Clark, Seton Hall, UPitt, Quinnipiac, Syracuse, Rutgers, Goucher, UMaryland Baltimore</p>

6

<p>Cornell </p>

7

<p>i have actually but I don’t like the binding nature of it… i also don’t have enough time
also I have taken 5 APs so far, taking 4 plus multivariable calc this year
world his 4
lang 5
Calc BC 5
Psych 5
Econs both 3</p>

8

<p>@jkeil911‌ are those OOS public Us like Vermont and Rutgers really a good idea for a single parent family with an income of $60K?<br>

OP, you need to run the Net Price Calculator on the web sites of your schools (each one is different). Then have a discussion with your parent about how much your family can afford. The best scholarships are offered by the schools themselves. Any outside scholarships tend to only be available for your freshman year and they what do you do? Also competing for a spot at UVA will be difficult since you’re from NOVA.</p>

9

<p>good point, @Erin’s Dad. Almost any public except those offering OOS merit (Pitt) is going to be too expensive for a family making less than $60K, including Binghamton. More importantly, none of them fits the small-to-medium restriction except UMD Baltimore.</p>

10

<p>Are you intended to be on the pre-med track as a bio major? You need to find the lowest coa schools but good in pre-med to attend</p>

<p>Look into the automatic full tuition/ride thread.</p>

<p><a href=“http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/”>http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

11

<p>You will not hear back from UVa on their EA decision until January 31st. That is too late to apply to what you say are your instate safeties if you do not get admitted EA to UVa. Deadline to apply to Virginia Tech and JMU is January 15th. You say you don’t want to worry too much about money right now but it would be a good idea to keep tuition costs, transportation costs, etc. in mind when looking at schools.</p>

12

<p>UofC and Brown are your super-reaches (GPA too low). You have an okay shot at Brandeis, Umich and Tufts. </p>

13

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<p>that is naive. OOS publics aren’t going to give you much/any need-based aid. Some might give you some merit, but perhaps not enough to be affordable.</p>

<p>Applying to lots and lots of scholarships will not likely work because most only are for ONE year (not four!) and are for SMALL amounts!</p>

<p>You do need to worry about this now…this is app time!</p>

<p>Do you have a non-custodial parent? If so, then his income will also count at the schools that give the best aid.</p>

<p>Are you a likely NMF?</p>

<p>VT and JMU may not be real safeties since neither guarantee to meet need. So, even tho they will accept you, you are likely going to get gapped with aid…and then they wouldn’t be affordable. A school has to be affordable FOR SURE for it to be a safety.</p>

14

<p>Lehigh?</p>

15

<p>William and Mary is another great in-state option. </p>

16

<p>You may also want to look at George Mason which may allow you to commute. Probably not what you want to hear but it may be workable from the finances. Definitely look at that link in post #9 for some financial safeties.</p>

17

<p>Results for EA come out in December.
Thank you I will consider some financial safeties…
I have also been looking at Barnard College?
Is it worth taking a chance even if I wont be able to afford it? </p>

18

<p>Thank you I will look into some financial safeties…
I am also interested in Barnard College, do I have chance?
Also would I qualify for low-income and what is the average amount of financial aid an out-of-state city college offers?</p>

19

<p>“Results for EA come out in December.” </p>

<p>Not for UVa. As I said earlier, EA notification date is January 31st. <a href=“http://www.admission.virginia.edu/admission”>http://www.admission.virginia.edu/admission&lt;/a&gt; Therefore, it would also be a good idea to add a couple of other instate choices to your list . Virginia Tech, JMU and William and Mary are all nice schools. No problem seeing if you can get merit aid or better financial aid out of state but it is good to also make sure you have an instate option as well (and UVa is not a given for any student these days).</p>

20

<p>UVa and William and Mary would probably be the most generous with need based aid. Other options are commuting to GMU if you are in commuting distance, as has been mentioned, or starting at a community college and then using an articulation agreement to transfer to one of the instate 4 year colleges. Or looking for merit aid or generous need based schools elsewhere. Hopefully, you are getting good guidance on all of this . Have you talked to your family about all this yet? How much they can help you, whether or not they will support you going out of state, help with transportation, etc. Good luck. </p>