<p>@mom2collegekids, the last I checked 25 and 16 are 41. Am I missing something?</p>
<p>OK so the updated list is as follows. </p>
<p>Separated into likelihood of application:
Definite: Cornell, NU, UPenn, PSU Honors and non-honors, JHU, Lehigh, Pitt, UMCP
Potential: UMich, Rice
Unlikely: Minn TC</p>
<p>Separated into Safety, Match, Reach:
Safety: Pitt, PSU Regular, Minn TC
Match: Lehigh, UMCP
Reach: Cornell, NU, UPenn, JHU, UMich, Rice, PSU Honors</p>
<p>I know what you guys are saying about Minn TC, but I’m just not feeling it, to be perfectly honest.</p>
<p>Honestly don’t apply to a school you don’t feel passionate about. You have a great list already and it makes no sense to spend extra time on applications to a school you may not even attend, nevertheless visit</p>
<p>Belay that order, Ensign! Do apply to schools that you’re not convinced are for you. Something about them is tugging at you.</p>
<p>OP, the new list looks good. You’re in at your safeties. You’re very likely in at your matches. If you can go to one of those and be happy and afford them, the rest are bows on the lexus. You can get a superb education at any one of them and leave school without too much debt.</p>
<p>Having said that, the list will probably change between now and your last application.</p>
<p>@Alexandre - all very reasonable, but IMHO it would be appropriate for you to disclose your role as moderator</p>
<p>@shawnspencer I’m confused by what you’re trying to say. Are you trying to say that, for these schools I’m unconvinced about, I’m unlikely to go there, but I still should visit? Or that I’m unlikely to go there, much less visit?</p>
<p>@jkeil911 I have a question about the safeties: If I’m sure that, out of the safeties, I’d definitely go to PSU Regular, should I disregard applying to Pitt/Minn-TC/any other safety I might add?</p>
<p>perhaps, but I would say no. perhaps between applying to psu and going to psu, something about psu turns you off. maybe it becomes apparent that the football team is going to have a rough time during your four years, and that’s important to you. it’s nice to have an inexpensive backup.</p>
<p>@jkeil911 </p>
<p>yep, thanks for catching that. lol I frequently have crazy addition problems when I try to add sideways and I dont have enough fingers and toes. ha </p>
<p>so, it should look like this… (i hope!!!)</p>
<p>so if parents have a 100k income and a 25k family contribution, they will still have to pay that cost in many cases at full need schools</p>
<p>for example</p>
<p>62k COA
25k EFC
need = 37k</p>
<p>but…the 16k tuition benefit will get applied like this…</p>
<p>62k
25k + 16k family contribution (41k)
need is now $21k…so the school will provide aid (grants, loans, w/s) to meet that need, but the family’s contribution stays the same.</p>
<p>How much will your family pay each year? I have a feeling that the parents may be thinking that the $16k can be a chunk of their contribution, but it wont be at need-based aid schools.</p>
<p>=======</p>
<p>PSU is likely an academic safety, but can only be a true safety if the parents will agree to pay the rest of costs. The $16k tuition benefit will cover instate tuition. Will the parents pay the other $15k or so for Room, board, books, fees, travel, misc? </p>
<p>Sorry for the confusion. I meant that if you are not initially interested in the school or a school that you would make you say “wow I would love to go here” your time might be better spent on your other applications. My reasoning was that if you are unlikely to visit (due to distance and other factors) and wouldn’t really be excited about attending, all things equal, then your list already has some great choices on it so there is no need to add more</p>
<p>Check what colleges Penn has tuition exchanges with (benefits of working for a university). There should be a whole network of colleges where you may get free tuition or discounts.</p>
<p>Check where the 16k benefit can be used (any restrictions?)</p>
<p>Run the NPC’s at every school on your list. What are your parents saying when faced with the numbers?</p>
<p>Penn State’s total cost of attendance, in-state, is 31k.
Shreyer only guarantees 4k in scholarships. You MIGHT get one of the “random” scholarships awarded dependin on major or ?? (no one knows exactly what criteria are used for some of them). But no one can count on them.
If the 16k benefit applies, can your parents pay the rest? If it doesn’t apply, can your parents pay the rest? If the answer is “no”, then Penn State cannot be a safety since it’s not a financial safety (you’re sure you can get in but you can’t afford it, at least not for sure.)</p>
<p>Since your parents make about 100k, their EFC is likely to be in the 25-30k range at meet-need schools (and can be <em>anything</em> at schools that don’t meet need, such as Penn State, Lehigh, Pitt, UMD-CP…) Can they pay that much? What if it’s more? </p>
<p>If your parents can’t/won’t pay their EFC, you’d need to add schools that have big merit scholarships - check out the financial aid forum.</p>
<p>Remove UMN-TC since you’re not feeling it, but seriously check out UMich, Rice, and RPI .
UMich is likely to be too expensive though (55k OOS, so you’d need to win a near full ride or full tuition for it to be affordable.)
If you like Lehigh, check out Bucknell, Union, Lafayette, Trinity (CT), Clarkson, and run the NPCs to see if they’d be affordable, especially taking merit into account (check out their merit scholarships).</p>
<p>U. Del is strong in chemical engineering, so might be worth adding. They do offer some merit aid OOS.<br>
Wash U is another reach to consider.</p>
<p>You should probably apply to Penn ED, given your tuition discount.</p>
<p>I think what is really missing from your list is targeting schools that offer a lot of merit aid, such as Case Western or Northeastern. You can’t expect merit aid from any of your reaches, many of which don’t even offer merit aid. I think you need some more match or low match schools which offer good merit aid. UMCP probably doesn’t give much merit aid OOS. If you would be content with Pitt or Penn State it is less important to find other schools, since you would be likely to get merit aid at them.</p>
<p>It is a bit more work to track down which schools offer a lot of merit aid, but there are some threads here on CC, and you can look at the CDS for individual schools. The key points to consider are what % of students get merit aid, and what the average amount is. </p>
<p>Find the EFC at each school’s website, and see if you will be eligible for any need-based aid. </p>