@thumper1 They’re not self-employed.
You would be eligible for a range of scholarships at University of New Mexico. At the very least, you’s be eligible for the Amigo Scholarship–which would grant you in-state tuition rates. The Amigo Scholarship is automatic for OOS students who meet the criteria (23 ACT, 3.0 GPA) until the funds run out. Application deadline is Feb 1.
UNM’s direct costs (tuition, fees, room & board) are around $18K annually.
You would have been eligible for the Regent’s Scholarship (a true full ride covering tuition, fees, room, board plus a $500 allowance for books & travel), but the deadline for applying was December 1.
@blackspiderman Your counselor should have a copy of the teacher recommendations. This should be easy. Just submit without recommendations if need be.
Have you decided what to do? Community College can be a great option but you still have time to apply other places if you want. A lot of schools with Jan 1 deadlines will accept supplemental info after the deadline. In other words, you only need to submit the app by 1/1. The letters of rec and transcripts can come after that.
I hope you aren’t beating yourself up about that mistake. You have great stats and have clearly put in a lot of hard work. And I seriously doubt you are the first person to click accept when they didn’t mean to! This is a really stressful process and I’m sure you are ready to be done. But don’t give up yet, call Wisconsin, call your counselor, email your teacher, do some more research on schools. Keep pushing until you end up in the best place for you!
At the vast majority of high schools, your teacher recommendation are also digitally available to your school counselor. You need to ask.
Of course, if you really don’t want to look into any of the financially possible opportunities on this thread…fine. That is your decision.
But please…don’t place the blame on being able to get recommendations sent by your teachers. That is just an excuse…and one that is likely not grounded in fact.
It sounds like you only want to apply to flagship colleges in the Midwest…and really, that’s fine. But you need t9 understand that out of state public universities…like Wisconsin…are all likely to come in with net costs above $25,000 a ear for you.
Your choice whether to pursue addition options…or not.
Those recommendations are uploaded ONCE and can be uploaded after the Jan1st deadline.
Considering your stats and the merit scholarships/inancial aid you could get at elite colleges, you should really look into good schools (like Smith or Barnard, etc.) that meet need, so that you have a full college experience with residential life. If you attend a CC, you’ll forfeit the best merit scholarships.
Do you have geographical constraints (ie., parents who want you within 6 hours of home)?
@MYOS1634 Even if they have a copy, the recommendations are written specifically for each school I applied to. It’s not one of those situations where the name of the college on the rec can be changed and voila there’s a new rec letter. Also, pretty sure my counselor isn’t allowed to edit a rec letter and submit in my teacher’s name. This is not an excuse, this is a legitimate problem. I want to apply to the schools that you very kindly listed, but there isn’t enough time to obtain recs.
@gearmom Most (if not all) of the colleges listed require recs.
@BSL1199 Thank you for your kind words. Honestly, clicking accept isn’t really the issue anymore I’ve discovered. Wisconsin gives refunds up until May 1st, but I’m starting to realize that I might not be able to afford an actually 4-year university at all, and that’s a bit soul-crushing. I know community college isn’t the end of the world, but I can’t help but feel like I worked hard all these years for nothing.
@MYOS1634 I do have geographical restraints. Also, another thing, my test scores and general stats appear to be below average for Barnard. I will look at Smith however.
Also, wanted to mention, if I attended my local CC I’d probably have Financial Aid money left over, like my brother did. He practically went to our local CC for next to nothing, and used remaining funds when he transferred.
@MYOS1634 I just looked into Smith. They require 2 teacher evaluations and 1 counselor evaluation by January 15. Last time I asked a teacher to write recs, it took her months. They also recommend having an interview before January 15, which is not possible for me either. I’m not banking on making that deadline. I’ll just have to see what the colleges I applied to can offer, and go from there.
I thought with Common App that recommendations are done once?
@sunnyschool Nope. The Common App connects to a site called Naviance, where teachers submit letters of rec. The two letters of rec I requested for two separate schools were submitted at different times by the teacher. They have to personalize each rec letter to fit the school.
Oh OK - but isn’t it a matter of them just pushing the button to send that Rec to another school?
And btw, Naviance did not exist until fairly recently. Nor did all these hoops to jump through. So even though I went to two large state universities (undergrad), and one Ivy (grad school), I have zero experience with any of this. 
You have more experience with Common App and Naviance than me.
Even if it’s Naviance- it should be the same rec, no? (That’s how it’s done at my school). Either way, there’s no need to personalize it- just have them do a general one about you. (Probably more effective regardless).
You won’t know…if you don’t ask. My bet is your teachers will be very willing to do those references for you…especially since there are some financial constraints that make these additional applications necessary.
Ask them. Tomorrow. Do NOT wait.
You are not the first kid to want to add colleges to your application list…and you have a VERY good reason. The ones your chose might not be affordable.
@sybbie719 anything you can add about how to approach the GC for assistance?
@hope469 Not at mine, unfortunately (or fortunately, I dunno if personalized recs make a positive difference).
@sunnyschool The recs are personalized, that’s the problem, and you have to request each of them separately. And of course, I completely understand that technology has changed. I hope I didn’t sound harsh towards you for not knowing everything about how modern recs work. That was absolutely not my intention. I completely understand where you’re coming from.
The personalization of those recommendations can EASILY be changed.
Ask.
@thumper1 Unfortunately, it is finals week and I really have no opportunity to contact my teachers face-to-face. I don’t know how well email would go down, because they’re busy and I dunno how pleased they’ll be about writing a rec during our brief break. I also don’t want to risk pissing them off because I have most of them next semester. I think I’ll just have to go to CC if my current colleges can’t provide. It’s fine, I’ve come to terms with it.
Your choice…but I think you are being foolish. And short sighted.
Surely your school counselor can answer your question before January 15.
Most schools will accept the application…and supporting materials, like the references, can follow.
By the way, if you can’t get the LORs in on time it is ok. What is important is to get your application in on time. Seriously, it shouldn’t be that hard to remove a college name and drop in another.
My older daughter’s counselor was so sure she was going to get into her ED school that they didn’t prepare RD packets for her (it was before electronic submission was possible). Her counselor was able to send in her LORs after the holidays.