Do not assume Ole Miss will not be okay because you are Jewish. My ex BIL is Jewish and attended years ago. They have excellent merit and it would be short sighted to not consider it.
@twogirls well if OP needs big merit that would be the Presidential at UB which states that in 2017 the lowest gpa to receive the award was a 95 UNWEIGHTED–OP must have an UW gpa in the high 80s? Even small merit is highly unlikely with that gpa, despite the great test scores. Also, I would guess OP class rank is not in the top 10%?
Yes you are right… I forgot that he needs one of the big awards.
I understand the west of the Mississippi thing is weird, but my parents said I couldn’t go out west unless I got a full ride. Even full tuition wouldn’t be enough for them.
I forgot to mention that I am not religious - my mom is just extremely concerned about me being Jewish and safe in college. It wouldn’t have to be a yeshiva, just a school with a Hillel and a few Jewish kids, and not in a place where my parents think everyone is racist.
UB is a good option for merit, but an insane amount of kids from my school matriculate there - it would be high school 2.0 and even with the huge student body I’m not sure if the attitude of people there is less cliquey. I sure hope so… and my GPA is probably like an 88-89 UW. We weight weird, so with 4 AP’s and a few honors my WGPA would be a 91-92 with standard .5 H/1.0 AP/IB weighting.
They want to visit me several times per year and want me to come home for the holidays. My parents are still scared I’ll be a mess in college despite my guidance counselors and my teachers praising my maturity and saying I will likely do well in college. I really want to go out west too, but unless I get a full ride they won’t even pay for transportation and probably will push me towards a closer school.
OP- you have an opportunity here to try and educate your parents.
Most college kids do not get multiple visits from their parents a few times per year. I had one kid 45 minutes from home and other than drop off and pick up, our only time together were the formal holidays and breaks. This was not a kid coming home to do laundry… colleges have washing machines, weekends are super busy with jobs, volunteer obligations, other EC’s, plus tons of studying. I don’t know what we’d have done if we HAD visited- hung out at a Starbucks while the kid was at work???
Sounds like your parents are backing you into a wall- so maybe a candid discussion is in order. “with the budget I have, are you guys comfortable with me living at home and commuting to Baruch? And if not, can we talk about other realistic options- going further away with a merit award to stay within budget, for example?”
You need more from them than just “no faraway schools”.
Have your parents gone to college and was it a CUNY/SUNY? Are you twins the eldest going to college?
Do your parents understand how far $12,000 will go, or not go, annually towards college costs?
How long ago did they attend college? Prices have gotten much higher and automatic merit awards have been eliminated or reduced at many schools…or are now competitive
I think your parents are placing way too much emphasis on coming to visit you at college (as it probably is not going to happen).
Undergrad, took Chick to school, got her settled in, came for freshman family day in the spring (4 hour drive), came back at graduation.
Law school, flew in to move her in and get settled, did not come back until graduation.
Ask your parents what college they think you can attend for $12,000 a year. Do the net price calculator for each school for need based aid. Unless merit awards are guaranteed, don’t count on them.
Do you have siblings in school?
That isn’t right for a $250k income
This poster is a twin
YOUR FAFSA EFC is not split? Your FAFSA EFC is your FAFSA EFC.
That is still too low for that income.
Are you saying that you got YOUR own EFC back and it said $27,500?
And you ALSO got twin’s separate Efc back and it said 27,500 as well??
Your family filed two SEPARATE FAFSAs, one for EACH twin and each processes FAFSA said $27,500?
That doesn’t sound right.
Your mom’s friends are LYING to her. Top privates do not give merit to average students,. Heck, average students aren’t even admitted to top privates
Isn’t the FAFSA EFC split? I’ll go in there and see what happens if i hypothetically didn’t have a sibling. Doesn’t matter too much either, as I’ll have to grab full tuition+ anyway.
I don’t think it’s as much lying as she has a skewed perception of how competitive of an applicant I am. My mom thinks my “special story” of growing up with multiple learning disabilities and working through them with an insane amount of help along away will set me apart. This was also from 5-10 years ago, but I honestly don’t know how much more competitive it is for merit at a Northeastern/Tulane type school than it was back then.
My parents are irrational people. They don’t think I’ll be able to live on my own, despite the fact that I have for months at a time at sleepaway camp and never had any major problems. My parents want to control our lives for a little bit longer so they can sleep at night knowing we are safe and miserable in a frigid school closer to them. My dad graduated from Wesleyan, and my mom went to the same CC that I’m going to for 1.5 years then transferred to SUNY Albany, then did her master’s at a CUNY and another professional degree at the College of St. Rose in Albany. My parents think they know enough, but the more research I do the more I find out they are misguided or completely wrong.
Our school stopped ranking, but my guidance counselor hinted at second or third decile, which would be at least close the top 10% at a school not chock-full of T20 admits as mine. My grades are more bearable in context.