<p>Hi VindicatingVIN:</p>
<p>I’m not certain what year you are in School, but please try and take this time to ENJOY looking at all schools wherein your grades, test scores, and other stats may/will qualify you for acceptance. With over 4000 Colleges and Universities in the United States, the process of narrowing down your list of possibilities may certainly seem a bit overwhelming at times.</p>
<p>If you are in need of “excellent financial aid and scholarships” choose schools wherein your stats place you in the top 1% -2% of the applicant pool of your targeted choices. You’re going to have to continue ti do a bit of research in this area, but there are sites (often on the colleges own website) which publish the incoming freshman class statistics (from the year prior). Generally, the top 50 Schools do not offer much in the way of “excellent financial aid and scholarships” except for their tip top candidates.</p>
<p>IF you have the stats for USNWR’s top 50 list, look at statistics that list the number of students who’ve earned scholarships/financial aid from those schools and what the average financial award packages were? Again, this is going to take a bit of research to confirm. IF your stats make you more competitive for Schools (tier 2) USNWR 50-150, begin to look at the accepted student profiles of those schools on their websites. Many people are not overly impressed with USNWR’s “ranking system” but USNWR does offer a good basic over-view of all the schools they profile. (Ex: Cost of Attendance, most desired majors, room and board fees, greek life, male-to-female ratio, deadlines for applications/ED, EA, and RD deadlines, photos of the campuses, and comments from students). USNWR= Not a bad place to start (or return) to USNWR for a more complete review of the colleges you’re interested in. </p>
<p>If your parents are not married, (but do live together) I “believe” that you can have the parent with the lower income (your Father) file as the custodial parent. Because your parents are not married, I “think” this is possible. Don’t trust my guess…(Vist the FAFSA site for specific answers to this particular situtation, or perhaps one of the FABULOUS financial aid parents on this site will chime-in for you). It DOES MAKE A DIFFERENCE, because families with incomes of less than $50,000.00, AND OTHER QUALIFICATIONS may qualify for some amount of government financial aid (beyond that of just the stafford loan) by way of the “simplified needs test.” (Requires a 1040A filing and other requirements). You have time to sit down with your parents (after researching the FAFSA rules) and determine how much (if any) monies they can pay towards your college education. Your COA “parental budget” information is critical! Once you KNOW what your parents can/cannot afford to pay towards the cost of your education, you’ll be in a much better position to continue to research schools that meet your academic and social requirements.</p>
<p>No need to focus on what your major will be right now…enjoy creating a list of schools wherein your stats are competitive, the campuses provide the social qualities that you’re looking for, and wherein you’ll be able to afford the COA. </p>
<p>Lastly, please do not worry about finding a school that you will “adore.” Students sometimes seem to get so trapped into believing that there are only 1 or 2 schools that they will enjoy attending. This is simply NOT the case. Often, students attend their “dream school” only to find out that it was not the picture they’d imagined during their college selection process. There hasn’t been ONE STUDENT…ever (I cannot imagine), who has known without a shadow of a doubt what he/she will REALLY FEEL about the school he/she attends until the end of the Freshman year experience. Take a deep breath, and look at the process more as if “you’re CHOOSING” which Schools meet your needs, as opposed to allowing the thrill of this journey to be clowded by uncertaincies. Just do some more research, you will begin to be able to compile your narrowed list. </p>
<p>I guarantee you, there are more than just a few schools that will grab your attention…you just need to make certain that the COA does not grab your wallet and leave you shaking with high debt 4 years after the “dream.” Visit College **<strong><em>, and see what STUDENTS HAVE TO SAY about the schools they attend. College </em></strong> also has a seperate internship information profile, which will list for you additional information about the nature/type of internships the specific colleges offer. </p>
<p>MUCH success to you !</p>
Some schools that are on her list are