I need ideas

<p>I am going to stop posting on this thread after realizing you turned down a full ride at Amherst.</p>

<p>
[quote]
I might go visit this week. But I'll admit that I'm scared of going to a school with that many students and ending up feeling like a faceless drone.

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</p>

<p>exactly my point!</p>

<p>free education? good luck with that...especially with your desire to go to a top school</p>

<p>and with that attitude you shouldn't bother applying to swarthmore lol.</p>

<p>top schools give good money to poor people :) take a look @ harvard, dartmouth, amherst, yale, emory, rice, etc all cap the amount of loans for people with incomes in the range of 30-50 thousand.</p>

<p>why do people think its impossible to get a free education, its not!</p>

<p><a href="http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/daily/2006/03/30-finaid.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/daily/2006/03/30-finaid.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p><a href="http://www.amherst.edu/%7Epubaff/news/news_releases/2007_2008/2007_07no_loans.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.amherst.edu/~pubaff/news/news_releases/2007_2008/2007_07no_loans.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p><a href="http://www.futureowls.rice.edu/futureowls/Costs_and_Financial_Aid1.asp?SnID=1418876704%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.futureowls.rice.edu/futureowls/Costs_and_Financial_Aid1.asp?SnID=1418876704&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>From rice's website:

[quote]
For families with less than $30,000 in total income, we meet all need with grants and work study - no loans

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</p>

<p>My family's income last year was 20,000, i should have no problems :) This year, its going to be around 40,000 though...so i should still have not that many loans anyways, at least with emory.</p>

<p>
[quote]
The Loan Replacement Grant (LRG) replaces loans for dependent undergraduate students whose families' annual assessed incomes are $50,000 or less.

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</p>

<p>you just gotta know where to shop!</p>

<p>and to all you haters that wanna come up on here and say, "well, if u knew about it, why didnt you apply?" actually, i didnt know about it. CollegeConfidential didnt post the news about the emory advantage program, and i didnt hear about it until june (it came out in january 2007), when a poster wrote about it when CollegeConfidential posted an article about davidson removing loans from their packages.</p>

<p>Ah... it's great how this country rewards irresponsible parents and sticks it to the upper middle class who actually saved for their children's education.</p>

<p>sorry about this situation mojo... i left UCLA for almost all of those reasons. have you tried contacting all of the schools you got accepted to and asking if they're willing to reconsider your matriculation? I mean... transferring twice? You're also an incoming second year right?</p>

<p>Jimmy2588:</p>

<p>What was your major? Did you enter UCLA as a freshmen? How many quarters did you attend? What school did you transfer into?</p>

<p>I'm am going to have to choose between UCLA, Cal or a LAC next year and I'm already so confused as to what would be best for me!</p>

<p>im going to be there as a 3rd yr. and yeah, it would technically be transferring twice. I have seen it before. One friend of mine was at LMU, transferred to USF, and then transferred again to Vassar.</p>

<p>eddyx, i think its funny that u were trying to talk smack about me for not liking ucla and not wanting to go to occidental, but now u find yourself confused.</p>

<p>eddyx: I was there as a first year and attended 3 quarters. I was going to be an econ/phil double major and I will be going to Williams this Fall.</p>

<p>The choice between a research university and an LAC is a big one. Your main trade off is definitely going to be size and personal attention. At UCLA, you will be in classes that are 300+ (most of them). Sure, I had a class or two with less, but that is the minority. I figure that the more general your class (regardless of whether or not its upper div or lower div), the bigger it will be. So your first two years will be large classes. I don't know how much smaller they get.</p>

<p>Another thing is definitely community and social scene. Unless you have a car, LA is not as close as you think. Westwood got old after the first week and public transportation sucks and parking is expensive. Social scene revolves around frats if that's your thing, very political--even for a social person who showed up at parties with a decent M/F ratio.</p>

<p>So, if you want a tight knit community and small classes (like.. high school, but not), then LAC. If you want to meet new people all the time and like being anonymous in class, then UCLA. </p>

<p>I don't hate UCLA at all, I loved my time there and made the best of it, but I am still moving on, so your choice is mainly going to be between size and personal attention.</p>

<p>Mojo: Most schools have a 2 year residency requirement, so I am assuming you are just going to stay an extra semester? Also, like I said earlier, have you tried contacting the schools you were accepted at this year and asking them to reconsider you?</p>

<p>yeah, i already considered the extra semester! i dont think that should be a problem.</p>

<p>I * was * going to contact cornell, but then i got scared and i kinda already i know they will say no (they start school on the 18th). Also, i am not sure if i can stand the isolation and weather. How did u choose williams? did u see it?</p>

<p>this is weird, i am in the same position u were, and thats what i was trying to avoid! i thought i would end up liking ucla.</p>

<p>Is cornell the only other school you got accepted to that you are considering? If you really do want to go there, I say just ask, the worst that can happen is they say no.</p>

<p>In regards to williams, I did get a chance to visit. and I knew isolation was what I wanted (dmouth/amherst/williams were all tied for my first choice). I've lived by LA my entire life... and I have never felt the need to go into the city... even while I was at UCLA. I also figured now is the best time to get out to CA and try something new. williams seem to offer something refreshing that you don't get in california--lots of nature, fresh air, people who aren't rude. ultimately, my choice was between penn and williams, but i figured penn would be more of the same thing, so i opted for williams. even though im not there yet, i am definitely excited.</p>

<p>anywho, you aren't even there yet either, so don't hate just yet... i didn't hate it. i worked around all the problems and just sucked it up for bad professors. I had the hardest time leaving (mainly because of my friends rather than UCLA itself, but still..). So, just go in with a positive attitude.</p>