<p>Just so you know, when a student goes to college, his family doesn’t move with them, so you could apply to any school even if your family doesn’t want to move :).
The top schools actually take travel costs into account and throw that into financial aid so that you can go home for the holidays, etc.
However your list is not very consistent, UChicago and Dartmouth are not similar at all.
If you like UChicago, see if William&Mary offers Questbridge. (If not = not affordable).
If your family makes $15,000 or even $20,000, your EFC is zero, they can’t afford to pay anything for your education.
For this reason, you should apply to as many “100%” schools as possible:
[100%</a> Meet Need Colleges | CollegeGreenlight](<a href=“Colleges with Need-Blind Admission for U.S. Students”>Colleges with Need-Blind Admission for U.S. Students)
I would definitely include schools like Rice or Emory (perhaps Oxford’s Emory). You also need safeties.
NYU is notorious for giving bad financial aid - a recent applicant whose family makes about $25,000/year was expected to pay nearly $16,000… needless to say, she gave up on NYU immediately.
Notre Dame is seriously Catholic, so if you’re not, it may be a problem. There are parietals for example (women and men live in separate dorms and they’re only allowed to visit at specific times.)
Questbridge gives you much better chances than ED.
Try to use number2.com as much as you can so that your SAT score is as high as possible.
Get your vouchers (guidance counselors) ASAP and plan to take SAT Subjects in May and/or June.</p>