<p>Howard doesn't have the funds to meet fully most students' financial need. </p>
<p>There are, however, colleges that might fully meet your need due to the fact that you are disadvantaged and have high scores. Your taking a gap year and carefully applying to colleges might ensure that.</p>
<p>Keep in mind, however, that most colleges that meet your need will include loans and work study as part of their financial aid package for you.</p>
<p>I have started to seriously think about that and it is making more sense everytime i think about it, if i took the SAT again this spring can I use it next year?</p>
<p>Sure, you can use it next year. I think that they keep the SAT records for at least 5 years. All colleges care about is making sure that they're getting SATs from your junior or senior year (or presumably after that if you take time off before going to college).</p>
<p>From what I can tell, Howard is rather weak on financial aid. If you take a gap year, do something useful with it. </p>
<p>The advantages to a gap year is that you could apply to colleges that you are interested in and that you would be eligible for the DCTAG program ($10000/year for public and $2500/year for private). You would also be better able to get a good finan aid package by applying to the right colleges. </p>
<p>However, the disadvantages might be that you would lose some momentum by being out of school for a year, and I was under the impression that your gpa wasn't the best coming out of high school. You have very good SATs, but they will care about your gpa since that says something about your study habits. If you have a good trend with a good gpa in junior and senior years, then you would probably be okay. As a transfer, they would look at your freshman college grades, and not your high school grades and this might help. Some colleges do prefer freshman applications to transfer applications, but this might not be a big factor compared to the gpa.</p>
<p>I want to thank everyone who helped me out on this forum , I got some new ideas on what I should do and how to achieve my dreams, thanks especially Northstar for the CityYear Program (IT LOOKS REALLY GOOD). I will continue to post and get help. Honestly speaking, this site was a godsend and I dont why I never heard about it before i stumbled on to it<br>
THANKS</p>
<p>I got the Legacy scholarship at Howard University, all I have to pay for is room and board. And I got a pell grant for 4K. I am only paying 4K a year for college!!!!!!</p>
<p>that's great, congrats!
after reading this forum i just want to say something. First of all, all of you who live in America where every child is required by law to go to school, are very lucky. Every single one of you has the opportunity to learn, and yes, some of you have to manage jobs to help support your family and all, but you're still alot better off than any kid born in the slums of a third world country. It's frankly extremely annoying when any american kid says that he does not have a chance to be sucessful because he certainly does.
also, many replies have said "look at Bill Gates and such, they dropped out of school..." and by this you imply, hey, they didn't go to school but they still make great money so wohoo. Please remember that money isn't happiness and if your goal in life is to get a job that pays good money, it's going to be an empty life until you change your values. Yeah, people are impressed when you have a nice house car, but they are also impressed when you help one, or two, or millions of people. I just hope that people here have goals other than making good money.</p>
<p>Good for you. Congrats. :)</p>
<p>havent you ever heard of affirmative action?
read up on it.</p>
<p>I havent been on for a while, but as an update I just wanted to let people know that I am doing really well here at Howard and I may transfer, but im not sure yet. Either way, this thread helped me alot and just looking at it in retrospect made me realize how desperate I was back then. </p>
<p>Things are looking up people!</p>
<p>Joe,
Thanks for the update. It's great to hear how well you're doing.
I encourage you to start a new thread describing more about your current Howard experiences and your background. It would be wonderful encouragement to the low income students from uneducated backgrounds who lurk on our site, but often are too intimidated to post.</p>
<p>Warmest wishes as you continue your college experience.</p>
<p>Good luck Joe. I miss DC especially since it snowed (!!) here in Madison last night.</p>
<p>colleges look for applicants who succeed with the resources they are dealt. And employer do the same. Joe should concentrate on finding a school that will give him good learning opportunites and not just look at schools for the prestige factor. He could wind up at a prestigious school and be very unhappy and bitter.</p>
<p>College is, ultimately, about learning. Don't miss the boat, Joe.</p>
<p>It's been two years since this thread and I was reading over it today...I just want to let CC (and the people who posted) know how influential this thread and site have been in my progression as a student and a human. I am now at UNC-Chapel Hill on my way to an econ degree (hopefully) and I honestly attribute it to the hard work I put in as well as the advice I was given by this site. Life is crazy, huh...</p>
<p>joe,
I'm sorry that I did not see this thread when you originally posted it, but I want to offer my sincere congratulations! You asked for advice and received some good advice, you worked hard, and you have a lot to show for it.</p>
<p>Everyone's giving you advise on how to get into Harvard. Sorry. You're not. AND THAT'S OK. Most people don't. I'm sure as hell I won't. </p>
<p>Do as well as you can this year at community college and transfer to a better school next. Sure, it probobly won't be an ivy but it will certainly get your life on a track out of the vicious "the poor become poorer" cycle.</p>
<p>Congratulations on trying to get yourself out of that cycle!</p>
<p>Wow. I just realized this is very old. My bad.</p>
<p>Again, a reiteration of my congratulations!(you actually followed my advice before I gave it to you:) )</p>
<p>"It's been two years since this thread and I was reading over it today...I just want to let CC (and the people who posted) know how influential this thread and site have been in my progression as a student and a human. I am now at UNC-Chapel Hill on my way to an econ degree (hopefully) and I honestly attribute it to the hard work I put in as well as the advice I was given by this site. Life is crazy, huh..."</p>
<p>Congratulations, Joe, and thank you for taking the time to update us. It's like a Christmas present to me to hear that some of my advice helped make a big difference in your life.</p>
<p>Please, please, post a separate thread describing your experience so that other students who are similar to the way you were 2 years ago will be inspired by your experience. I am sure there are many low income students who lurk here, and are too intimidated to post. They could learn so much from you, and may miss this current thread. </p>
<p>A title like, "low income student is now at a top tier college" would draw their attention to your thread.</p>
<p>Happy holidays to you. Please update us when you graduate so we can celebrate along with you.</p>