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Some large assumptions you’re making.</p>
<p>With your current stats, don’t bother with HYP.</p>
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<p>It’s funny how the kids that actually have work ethic and parents who instill a strong respect for educational excellence get pooh-poohed, but if this was some minority kid you people would probably be giving him a tongue-bath by now and promising HYP full rides… CollegeConfidential everyone! 
:rolleyes:</p>
<p>Thanks for all the comments. It is an irony to see my parents get punished for what they have accomplished. Both of them have Ph.D and graduated from Univ. of Michigan. Is it a sin that they set the goals high for them? They work hard and they deserve to keep the money. Why should they give it to me? It is a total BS wrt EFC calc. Get rid off the sham. Why should parents contribute for education? Is it my parents fault they got Ph.Ds. Does HYPM expect my parents to be on unemployed and live miserably? It is so wrong to rob the money from hard-working and smart class people. What if they do not want to pitch in? This is not a biblical age we live in. Look at India and China. Those countries recruit the best kids for best colleges irrespective if your parents are filthy rich. Once again, top universities in USA are preaching socialism non-sense. Distribute the wealth to the needy. It is just so annoying.<br>
What’s up with SAT junk? The exam is so archaic. ACT is so backward too. We should start emphasizing on advanced science and advanced math if we want to compete with India/China. We are losing the edge to emphasize so much on CR and grammar. Who needs to read essays and understand every rule in grammar? The SAT does not correlate with academics and IQ. It is just an English test. We better learn something useful from India/China. In India/China, they do not care about language at all. They do not even bother checking CR/grammar. Ask anyone who goes to school there. I am not going to lose my sleep over Harvard/Yale. What they are doing is so wrong. Once again, I am not going to even take a single dime from my parents. I am confident that I will succeed in my goals. I will brief the status next year. Peace everyone.</p>
<p>My parents made 170K last year as combined income and we live in Florida where the house vlaue plunged 50%-60%. People need to wake up and dump the EFC nonsense. It is a rip-off calculation. If we want to follow India/China, let us follow them. Best students go to best universities for free of cost. Get rid off the race barriers, financial barriers. Recruit the best and talented to compete with the best of the world. It is unfortunate to see lots of brainy, medium rich kids getting turned away because of the EFC BS.</p>
<p>Look at this following post by someone. It is just the opposite of my scenario. I am not trying to be rude here. This guy even wants application fee waiver. My parents made 170K, their asset is less than 100K due to housing crash and 401-K loss. It is unbelievable. It is better to own a business and claim all fake losses and hide the money under the pillow and pretend that you are a beggar. Harvard will pay for your education free. No point in working as a W-2 income holder. Lot to be observed.</p>
<p><<I want to apply to some Ivy Leagues for undergraduate school, but I am not sure if my family can afford it. Although we fit the low income standard (~45k/year), we have a lot of assets (800,000 - 1 mil). This makes my family look rich, but it’s only because my parents have been saving like every penny for all their lives. So basically the schools will think my family can pay more than we actually can (we can’t spend my parent’s life savings for college). Are Ivy League’s more generous with their aid, given my family’s income statistics? My parents are willing and able to pay ~10-20k (although 20k is still on the really expensive end) … Should I even apply?</p>
<p>P.S. My sibling goes to a state school, and does not receive financial aid. We also have a 5 person household. >>></p>
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Could you post a link to the paper. I’ve always wondered what type of cancer research a high school student does, especially research that gets published… something not easy to do even for PHD grad students. You have your own lab in your garage?</p>
<p>satacer…you have some fine things to bring to college applications. Financial need is not one of them. You should try to round out your application list with some schools where merit aid is a possibility for you. Apply to the Ivies and see…you never know…but have other schools on your application list as well so that in the end you can compare financial aid.</p>
<p>And listen to your parents…if they say they are going to pay $x per year for college, believe that.</p>
<p>Hey Foo:</p>
<p>I go to a magnet school in Florida. My school teaches all Biotech classes. I took AP Bio when I was in 9th grade. My Mom is a biochmist. No worries abt Biology and Chemistry. I had the inspiration at a younger age. I got the internship at NIH last five months ago. Do not underestimate others. Work hard and believe in yourself.</p>
<p>Thumper1:</p>
<p>Thanks for your kind words. I am still going to apply for IVY schools. The irony of the matter is, our combined family income when I was born was 26K. My Dad was a post-doc then. If I were to plot the curve of our combined income for the last 18 years, it will be close to 60K to 70K. My Dad and Mom each spent nearly 27 years of their life in getting edcuated and working as post-docs. Don’t they deserve to enjoy the new-found wealth? In the last 5 years our income has gone upto 170K. The biggest mistake was buying a house in Florida and beileve in the American dream. Take care</p>
<p>The best universities in USA shoud adopt different standards than a local state university. Trust me, if you want to join IITs or the top medical schools in India, the JEE and medical exams are killers. You have to be so sharp in science and Math. The IITs are better than MIT here. The IITs do not want to rob you either. If you have the brain, teh cost of education should be free for anyone at any school. Do not rob Perter to pay for Paul’s education. Let Paul pay for his education. Why should we care about race, gender, financial barriers, for at least the top universities?</p>
<p>@satacer,</p>
<p>I have to ask, are you applying to any schools in India or China??? If not, why not? You seem to be enthralled by their systems. My school has MANY students from China and India who dreamed of going to school in the USA, if YOUR dream is India or China, … go for it …</p>
<p>*It is unfortunate to see lots of brainy, medium rich kids getting turned away because of the EFC BS. *</p>
<p>The problem may be that you think your only hope for success is to go to an ivy/elite. That is soooooo not true.</p>
<p>Brainy kids have options that “good stats” kids do not. Brainy kids can get big scholarships to good colleges. Be grateful for that. :)</p>
<p>I feel the most sorry for the kids with the ACT 25/26s and good GPAs, good family income, but little funds for college. Income too high for free fed aid, stats too low for merit and stats too low for schools that give great aid. </p>
<p>Also…this country has more brainy kids than it has seats at top schools. So, no matter what admissions or financial system is used, there are going to be many brainy kids who won’t get admitted. I doubt every brainy kid in other countries get seats at the best universities.</p>
<p>The US has the best colleges on the planet…there’s a reason why int’ls are clamoring to come here and not vice versa.</p>
<p>*MY SAT superscore is 2130.</p>
<p>My GPA - 4.0 and school rank is # 1. I have vast amount of medical research, hospital, doctor shadowing and leadership experience to compensate for less than stellar SAT scores. I have concocted good essays already and they will be very compelling.</p>
<p>I am looking into combined medical programs in:
Rice Baylor
Univ. of Miami
Wayne State
Case West
Union Albany
Ohio State
Penn State
Univ of Cinc
Univ of KY
UAB</p>
<p>BTW, I am from Florida and I am an Asian Indian women.</p>
<p>In addition, I am looking into pre-med programs at Emory/John Hopkins/Yale/Duke as well. *</p>
<p>Right now, your stats aren’t really high enough for ivies. Even if you were to raise them, it’s still a crap-shoot since those schools reject high stats kids all the time. </p>
<p>You have to deal with reality and not “if only” situations. </p>
<p>Don’t assume that your next test will yield a much, much higher result. It may or may not. You also can’t count on a higher score giving you admission to any ivy.</p>
<p>I don’t think your list should be limited to only elites and those with BS/MD programs. By doing so, you’re not considering schools that would give you better merit scholarships for undergrad. </p>
<p>Don’t forget, if you come in with AP/IB or dual credits, you can still graduate in 3 years at many universities that have better merit…so be open to that.</p>
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<p>That’s one of the best sentences I’ve ever read on CC. </p>
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<p>FooMonChew, some high school students can find mentors at hospitals and universities. The most outstanding example of this I’ve seen was a young student who started working as a 10th grade high school student on a biochem project at a tippy-top university, the kind of place referred to here on CC by a single letter. 
By the time 12th grade rolled around, the student’s work been published in prominent scientific journals. That wasn’t the best part: when the student (still in high school, mind) needed to correspond with professors at other universities, they assumed that this student was a post-doc, based on the language and knowledge in the student’s emails. The student didn’t win Intel, but was one of the finalists. Then came the college admissions process–I’ve never seen anything like it. The student was recruited like a hot Div 1 football prospect, with Nobel laureates, lab heads and even academic deans calling to urge the student to attend their school. </p>
<p>The student ended up taking a full ride at a tippy-top school. Though admitted to every Ivy League the student applied to (including Harvard), the student turned them all down since they couldn’t offer any academic merit scholarships, preferring to save funds for med school. The student is now finishing up med school at yet another single-initial school.</p>
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<p>$170K in income is a high income. Yes, I understand that it’s only in the last five years…but it is what it is. Your eligibility for need based aid is LOW.</p>
<p>BUT you are in Florida? Aren’t you eligible for Bright Futures? Couldn’t you attend college for a very low price? Please consider adding a couple of FL schools to your list…it’s a financial homerun.</p>
<p>With an income of $170K you won’t be eligible for much financial aid from Harvard. All colleges first look to parents for payment of tuition. If your family can afford the tuition at Harvard then that is who Harvard expects to pay.</p>
<p>Your family isn’t not being penalized for saving, it’s just that other families whose financial circumstances aren’t as good as yours are being given some financial assistance from Harvard.</p>
<p>You’re right, some of those families haven’t saved as yours did and now they’re getting financial aid that you won’t be eligible for. That is frustrating to see but remember, these families don’t save for anything. They live paycheck to paycheck, they haven’t saved for retirement, they have dug a financial hole for themselves and I wouldn’t want to trade places with them.</p>
<p>You have many options, schools with merit aid, state schools. I wouldn’t worry too much about the poster on the other thread whose family has $1 million in assets, he or she won’t be getting any financial aid either.</p>
<p>To the OP…I apologize…I see from your other posts that you ARE applying to some instate FL schools. Keep an open mind. You can get an excellent education there for a very modest price. Save your money for med school where there is precious little financial aid.</p>
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<p>I am personally offended by the above comment. The implication is that working hard and earning a good living ($170K for the year is a good living)…is something parents should regret doing. Sorry…but that just rubs me the wrong way. OP…you should be PROUD that your parents have achieved what they have both in their career fields and in their incomes. This is quite the achievement for ANYONE…and most don’t have the earnings your family has.</p>
<p>The real problem for the OP is that the family is only willing to spend $15K or so per year for college. OP…you are not unique in your situation. Housing costs have taken a hit almost everywhere and many families are in the same situation as your parents with real estate that is no longer worth what they originally thought it would be worth…or what it was worth in the past. That does not make you any more eligible for need based aid than the next guy.</p>
<p>Please…you have some great schools on your list where you could garner some significant merit aid. Case Western is one. Have you considered Pitt? They offer some very fine merit aid to high achieving admits…and they have a fine med school.</p>
<p>Yes, the student is eligible for BF, but I think she doesn’t really like Florida schools…altho UF is kind of her safety school.</p>
<p>I think she needs to change her mind about focusing only on ivies/elites and schools with BS/MD combo programs because she’s limiting herself unnecessarily.</p>
<p>Right now, your SAT isn’t high enough for ivies and isn’t high enough for good merit at some schools. </p>
<p>What is your best SAT breakdown from ONE sitting?</p>
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That explains why no one from India/China bothers with schools like Harvard, Yale or Princeton while thousands upon thousands of U.S. HS students are just dying to go to Tsinghua. Honestly, your rant just sounds “I did bad on the SAT, therefore it’s a bad metric for success”.</p>
<p>They’re not getting punished for their accomplishments. In fact, the fact that you are even considering and eligible for schools like Harvard and Yale are rewards for their efforts. No one owes you an education beyond high school, and definitely not an education at Harvard or Yale - it costs a lot of money and your parents have, relative to other Americans, a lot of money. No one is “robbing” you; they’re expecting you to pay for the education you want.</p>
<p>If they abolished financial aid and didn’t practice “socialism” of redistributing their wealth you still wouldn’t get any more money than you do now. Are you assuming that those families who make $40K didn’t work hard and accomplish much? Perhaps they did not have the resources your family does or they fell on hard times.</p>
<p>Don’t discount your Florida state schools. You can get an excellent low-cost education at UF and then go on to an Ivy medical school where you’ll spend the dough.</p>
<p>Gotta say…the OP’s SAT score is TERRIFIC. Most students would be thrilled beyond belief to have the current scores this student is posting. Even with a perfect SAT score, acceptance into the Ivies is not a sure thing. This kiddo has great stats…and his original list of schools seems to be well balanced with regards to merit aid possibilities and costs.</p>
<p>The only thing he/she probably will NOT see is need based aid…and he/she probably won’t see need based aid at any school. But there are tons of excellent schools out there that would be thrilled to have this student. He/she just has to keep all options open.</p>