<p>None of us can second guess the admissions process. People get accepted with lower stats than usual- because they wrote a fabulous essay- or fill a need in the profile of the entering class- or for all sorts of reasons we can’t predict. And there reverse is true: someone seems to have it all- perfect scores and grades, great essays, and still is not accepted. If you think you might like to attend a school: apply. Once all your admittances come in, then make your choice. I think if you “would love to attend Harvard” and it would make your Dad happy to apply: do it. And if you don’t get accepted, so be it. At least you tried. My son applied to 10 schools last year. His preferred order at this time of the year was very different than it was by the time he got accepted. His initial first choice was no longer his favorite. He is now at Wash U in St Louis (in Sept his 8th choice!)- but by April, his first for a variety of reasons (even over some IVIES)… and he is VERY happy there. The moral is: apply to schools you would like to be at- and be open minded about where you will end up. What you "love’ may change between now and then. As you have already discovered in changing your first choice from Hampshire to NYU. IF you apply RD you have a lot of time to decide which is the best for you, and which will offer you an aid package that is the most advantageous for you. Then you can make a final choice.</p>
<p>Please note: A friend of ours interviews for Harvard. He absolutely does not look for the 4.6 perfect SATs kid. HE (and I’m just talking about his criteria) looks for the different, outstanding kid who can contribute in a different more individual way. </p>
<p>My husband interviews for another ivy. He has been known to not endorse a straight A student in lieu of someone who is terrific in a different area.</p>
<p>Both have had their candidates accepted. In my husband’s case, a girl with a 3.6 (her school didn’t weight aps) and a 1950. Yes, she did wonderfully well. So, don’t discount the possibilities. And again, what does it cost? The application fee and a few hours.</p>
<p>Come on folks, get real – this kid is not going to get into Harvard – she has a 3.2 UW GPA, 3.6 weighted, PSAT 207 – and she says her transcript has “lots of A’s & B’s, some C’s” and 3 D’s. </p>
<p>What she does have in her favor is URM status (african american), plus the good fortune to live in a state where the NM cutoff is low (New Mexico, cut off this year appears to be 206).</p>
<p>To the OP: I agree that you should apply to Harvard just for the sake of appeasing your dad, but only if he pays the application fee – or if you have a fee waiver – and then explain to your dad that your LOR’s have to go out to all colleges at the same time and be coordinated through your high school GC, so that part will be done in a few months when all your college apps are done. </p>
<p>You do have an excellent chance of admission to Gallatin, but you are likely to get little or no financial aid there. A typical aid award might be a $10K grant, with your family expected to pick up roughly $40K each year in loans. You won’t be able to do that. </p>
<p>Hampshire is a reasonable target for you; so is Sarah Lawrence and Goucher. These schools will probably give you reasonably good but not great financial aid if you get in.</p>
<p>You really can leverage your National Merit status into a lot more money for college, if you are willing to consider some less quirky/creative schools, and the types that really show the love to National Merit finalists. It is true that your GPA could keep you from advancing to finalist status – I don’t know, you will just have to see what happens. If you do make finalist, you will be getting mail from various schools, including some that offer full ride scholarships to NM finalists. Those “full ride” schools may not seem like the type of place you want to be – but research what sort of programs they might offer for you, and apply to at least one. Just think of it as your ultimate financial safety. (That is… at least one college you know you will be able to afford to attend.)</p>
<p>Good luck with your applications, girlcanDISCO. I think you’ve got a lot going for you!</p>
<p>Also, I think it’s good that you have dropped the idea of NYU ED. I do have the impression that large loans can make it “possible” for you to attend, thus interfering with breaking the ED agreement. I think other people on this forum could tell you for certain about that.</p>
<p>In general, colleges seem to be more willing for an applicant to break the ED agreement in order to attend in-state public schools that are significantly cheaper, and they are less willing to break it for a student to go to another private college.</p>
<p>The problem is not that you would be stuck with ED – NYU is fairly lenient about letting people drop if they don’t like the financial aid. But NYU is also very deceptive in the way they present financial aid – many students mistakenly believe they have been offered a package that fully “meets” their needs because NYU puts a suggested “parent loan” in the aid column.</p>
<p>So a student who does not understand the financial aid process, will see that their full cost of attendance has been “met” – and assume they were given very generous aid – and only later realize that the NYU package will require their parents to borrow $40K or more – and of course the parents are certainly in no position to do that. By the time the ED-accepted student realized what has happened, it’s too late - they already accepted their spot, the deadlines for applying to other colleges have passed. The NYU and financial aid boards are full of this – the same scenario is repeated year after year. </p>
<p>This isn’t as much a problem in the spring because then the student can compare other aid awards. Even if they are confused by NYU’s packaging, most students (or parents) - will start to break down each college’s award package into the separate components of grants vs. loans vs. work study as they compare awards, so they are less likely to be duped by the false characterization of parent loans as “financial aid”.</p>