I don't really know where to apply....

College Search & Selection
1

<p>First off, this is my first post, so, hey!
Secondly, and to the heart of the matter; I'm a rising Junior from a rural town in Texas, and I've been home-schooled my entire life. I'm pretty unsure of where to apply come Senior year, and which schools to consider safeties and matches and such, so I was hoping you guys could help me out.
Da Stats:
SAT: (projection from practice tests:)
Math: 600-650
Critical Reading: 750 or >
Writing 750 or >
GPA: (This one is a little murky. I got about four B/B+'s my Sophomore year, which brought my GPA down quite a bit, considering my Freshman year was a little rocky too. However, one of those B's was in Choir. (do admissions people even look at that?) Also, during my Freshman year I was taking mostly Sophomore classes, and during my Sophomore year I was taking mostly Junior classes, etc, etc. I'm not quite sure how that would figure in, if at all.
My overall GPA looks like it will turn out to be:
3.69-3.77
on this scale: 4.00=A+, 3.75=A, 3.5=A-, 3.0=B+, etc.
I also took a English Comp. class at my local Community College my Sophomore year for Dual Credit, and I got a 4.00 in that + a small award. This semester I'm taking Lit., Health and Speech. (I think I might do poorly in speech, as in B- to C. How much does this matter?)
ECs:
Soccer 9, 10
Choir 9, 10
Video(film) 9, 10, 11 (directed a feature-length film, our teacher is trying to get it into a [very] small film festival)
Taught myself to play guitar
I greatly enjoy writing fiction and poetry
Occasional misc. volunteering at church
Family Income:
About 65k. w/housing allowance. Apparently they can give out about 5k per year for school.</p>

<p>Schools I've been lookin' at:
Kenyon (top choice. Worried about the cost, though.)
Emory (I figure this will be a reach...?)
Cornell/Rice (Oh, I seriously doubt I would get in to either, but I thought I'd give it a shot anyways.)
A&M (Probably get auto-admitted [1300 {out of 1600} with at least 600 in both for SAT requirement, correct me if I'm wrong])
UT
Bennington (I know Jonathan Lethem went there, and I also know his background was, eh, less that afluent, so I'm hoping they give out a good amount of aid?)
SMU (Maybe?)
Boston U (?)
Trying to find more cheap/public schools that have reasonably good English programs, since
I want to major in English.</p>

2

<p>If you’ve been mostly homeschooled, how relevant is your “GPA”? Who has been grading you, apart from your CC classes?</p>

<p>Homeschoolers who are interested in selective college admissions are often advised to take more than the usual 2 or 3 SATIIs in order to “validate” the work they’ve done on some kind of national scale. So you might want to start by picking a couple of subjects you were strong in during the last two years, then get the practice test books and see how you do. You could then study for and take the tests either later this fall or in January. (I <em>think</em> there is a Jan test date…) That would give you enough time to take a couple more in the spring. As well as your SATs or ACT, of course. Note that you will probably need to take the ACT with Writing.</p>

3

<p>“If you’ve been mostly homeschooled, how relevant is your “GPA”? Who has been grading you, apart from your CC classes?”</p>

<p>Erm. My parents. I just realized how subjective that would sound to virtually everyone.</p>

<p>I’m taking the SAT and PSAT in about two weeks or so. If everything goes according to plan, I shouldn’t really have to re-take it. Hopefully. </p>

<p>As for the Subject Tests: would I <em>have</em> to take a mathematics test? I think I could probably do well with Literature, either/both of the Histories, and maybe Physics, Biology or Chemistry, but I’m, er, a bit weaker with math. I was hoping that this wouldn’t be focused on as much if I were going to be majoring in English anyways. Is that reasonable?</p>

4

<p>

It depends on the school. And your CC grades and SAT test grades are going to be way more important than your parent-assigned grades.</p>

5

<p>Right. Considering this, how disastrous would it be if I did get a B±C in Public Speaking? Provided that I also got a 4.00 in the rest of my classes, which is very likely.</p>

6

<p>The scale you’re using is a bit lower than what we usually see. Typically 3.7= A- and 3.3= B+. Making that adjustment should give your raw GPA a bump up. But, I agree with you and the other posters that as a home schooler with your parents assigning grades, your GPA will not be considered as a strong factor by schools, nor will recommendations coming from your parents. Your standardized tests and other objective data in your application will be critical components along with your essay and any recommendations you submit from outside your family. If you will be taking AP courses, getting those tests done in time to post your results on your apps will help schools evaluate the rigor of your courses. Also, you should do everything possible to avoid Cs in your junior year.</p>

7

<p>A key issue here is that your EFC is most likely to be a lot higher than $5K. Colleges will add the housing allowance to income when calculating it. You need to calculate EFC as private colleges will and determine if the family can meet it. If you can’t and don’t want to borrow the difference, you need to look at low cost schools or those offering merit aid.</p>

8

<p>According to the calculator at collegeboard, my EFC for a private university is about 10-11k.
I wouldn’t mind taking out the 5k difference in loans so much. (20k total isn’t too bad, right?) But I’m a little…unclear on one thing. If my EFC is more than we can pay, does that mean that in addition to the loans I would take out to cover the difference, I would also have to take out loans to help bridge the gap between our EFC and the total cost of college?</p>

<p>I suspect the answer is “yes”, and “it depends on the school”, so…does anyone have any vague ideas as to the amount of loans I would have to take out to attend somewhere like…Kenyon?</p>

<p>Lastly, a big thank-you to everyone who has helped in this thread, honestly. :)</p>

9

<p>Hippo - It really does depend on the school. My D applied to LACs (not Kenyon though) with all being 100% need met schools. Some of the schools were “no loan” schools. Theoretically, at those schools, a grant covers the difference between the EFC and the cost of attending. However, we found as much as a 15K difference between the schools as to the expected family contribution. Some schools that weren’t “no loan,” included loans, both Stafford and/or parent loans, in the financial aid package. The family contribution seems to be calculated differently at the different schools. If the individual school has an on-line financial aid calculator, I found that to be very useful and predicted closely what that school would offer.</p>

10

<p>I did look for a calculator on Kenyon’s website, but they just linked me to collegeboard. Hopefully that’s reliable.</p>

<p>Oh well, I guess I’ll just apply when the time comes and hope for the best. :)</p>

<p>P.S. Any suggestions as to schools I could apply to that would give me a reasonable shot at merit aid? Assuming my SAT comes out to 2150.</p>

11

<p>I don’t think you <em>have</em> to take a Math SATII, unless you are applying directly to engineering or math/science programs. Or maybe business. In that case, they would probably want to have some impartial idea of your math skills. I do think that it would be a good idea to present at least one science score, though.</p>

<p>I’d say that your CC grades are going to be very important, and you should move heaven and earth to make sure they are good. If you see yourself getting a C, go to the professor and ask what you need to do to raise your grade or drop the course now and replace it with something else. (I think that public speaking skills are great for everyone to have, but Speech is far from being a core academic class.)</p>

<p>You will also need teacher recommendations. It sounds as if you should definitely request one from the CC teacher whose class you did so well in. If you have another adult who has known you well through a job or EC, ask them too. Presumably your parents will be doing the GC rec, so you might get both of the teacher recs from CC teachers, unless you have had another teacher through a homeschooling co-op or the like.</p>

<p>Re loans…it depends on the school. The EFC is the expected family contribution towards the total cost of college. Some schools will actually meet need by covering the difference between the EFC and the COA with a combination of grants, work-study, and possibly some federally-subsidized loans (if you qualify for them). Some schools will say they are “meeting need” by offering you a grant that leaves a big financial gap, which they will offer to cover with a loan to your parents. (You are not going to get a personal loan for $20K per year from anyone.) Some schools might offer a combination of merit aid and need-based aid and loans. It really runs the gamut.</p>

12

<p>If my EFC is more than we can pay, does that mean that in addition to the loans I would take out to cover the difference, I would also have to take out loans to help bridge the gap between our EFC and the total cost of college?</p>

<p>Yes…you are responsible for your EFC. So, if there are loans or gaps in your FA package, and you ALSO cannot afford your EFC, then you’ll have a big problem because you won’t be able to borrow enough. </p>

<p>Students are limited to small annual amounts of federal student loans, so if the max is in your FA package, you won’t be able to borrow more for any gaps in aid or gaps in EFC.</p>

<p>With a SAT 2150 (assuming at least a 1400 M+CR SAT), there are schools that will give you big merit for that.</p>

<p>For merit to reduce your EFC it has to be huge. Otherwise it will just reduce your aid and not reduce your EFC.</p>

<p>For instance…</p>

<p>$55,000 School Cost of Attendance of a private U
$20,000 EFC
$35,000 “determined need”</p>

<p>Aid package…
$10,000 merit per year
$5,500 in student loans</p>

<h2>$10k grant</h2>

<p>$25,500 in FA package…$9500 gapped</p>

<p>So…If a school gives you $10k per year merit scholarship, then that will just go towards “need” and your $20k EFC stays the same. And, worse, you still have nearly a $10k gap in addition to the $20k EFC.</p>

<p>Here’s a better alternative…</p>

<p>$35,000 School Cost of Attendance of an out of state public or cheaper private
$20,000 EFC
$15,000 “determined need”</p>

<p>Aid package…
$20,000 merit per year (for instance, a free tuition scholarship)</p>

<h2>$5,500 in student loans</h2>

<p>$25,500 in FA package.</p>

<p>Since the school has a COA of $35k and your aid package is worth $25,500, then all you have to pay is $9500. You’ve cut your EFC in half and you have no gap. :)</p>

<p>ASSURED SCHOLARSHIPS…$$$ CC Important links to Merit Scholarships given for stats… </p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html&lt;/a&gt; </p>

<p>FYI…
There are 3 kinds of merit scholarships…</p>

<h1>1) Those that are awarded to every student that meets a certain criteria…such as having a certain minimum SAT/ACT, GPA, and applying by a certain date.</h1>

<h1>2) Those that have competitive merit. The school selects a few high stats students from a larger pool of high stats students.</h1>

<h1>3) A subgroup of #2 are schools with competitive merit that also look at financial need.</h1>