<p>i got a 1360, full ride.</p>
<p>how the hell... all i can say is the american collegiate system is so messed up its not even funny... not to say you didnt deserve it <em>staticsoliloquy</em> either for merit or financial purposes, but in the end, it is us upper-middle class, above-average but not super-unique-and-amazing students, who get into great colleges, but are still punished because they cant pay for it... they are the ones forced to take the most loans..</p>
<p>I would just like to agree with all of the others that said that scores are not everything. I was accepted BME to hopkins and i think the major component was my strong essay and teacher recs. SATs were not all that high at 1390 (740m,650v) and IIC 790, IC 750, and Writing 670. THe main things to focus on are a strong gpa, be well rounded, and write a good and thoughtful $10 essay.</p>
<p>they also don't like to have too many of one major, seeing as they moved 100+ prospective science majors from the accepted list to the waitlist on march 29th.</p>
<p>When you apply to Hopkins, do you have to declare your major on ur app or can u apply undecided?</p>
<p>"When you apply to Hopkins, do you have to declare your major on ur app or can u apply undecided?"</p>
<p>Well, the girl that I posted about applied undecided.</p>
<p>you can declare your intended major or not. If you plan on doing anything other than science, I recommend stating an area of study.</p>
<p>JHU gives out a lot of money for need-based. (which may explain why some ppl who got lower SAT scores and not-as-stellar school record received full rides while others got jack). It really is a horrible thing (the upper-middleclass getting nothing, i mean).</p>
<p>"how the hell... all i can say is the american collegiate system is so messed up its not even funny... not to say you didnt deserve it <em>staticsoliloquy</em> either for merit or financial purposes, but in the end, it is us upper-middle class, above-average but not super-unique-and-amazing students, who get into great colleges, but are still punished because they cant pay for it... they are the ones forced to take the most loans.."</p>
<p>i don't think it's messed up. my family struggles for 11 years. we barely make enough to survive. i worked my ass off in college, balancing a research position at work, school, gov't, volunteering, and clubs. I sleep 3 hrs a night all of junior yr. quite literally. this is my reward. if it makes you feel any better, i'm not going to johns hopkins.</p>
<p>Yes, I'm sure you did deserve it. And, and, and ... I think it's sad you're not coming to JHU. We're nice, I promise.</p>
<p>hey staticsoliloquy, you're going to MIT, right? congratulations. I hope you have a good time there. And maybe you can give me your spot since I was waitlisted at Hopkins... lol j/k but for real have fun at MIT!</p>
<p>staticsoliloquy - i'm not saying you dont deserve your scholarship. could you telll me to how many colleges you got good finaid packages that would've been financially feasible for you to go there? what about private need-based scholarships that you may have applied to?
There are like 982735728 opportunities through private scholarships and through colleges for 'financially needy' people to get the money they need to go to college. people who make A LOT of money per year can pay for college through w/e salary and investments they earn. so we, the middle class who are just as good students as any one else, are stuck in the middle, because we neither qualify for any aid (merit or need-based) but we cant REALLY pay for it either (b/c schools and fafsa dont take everything into consideration when determining your EFC) yet those of us who get into great schools are the ones MOST forced to take gargantuan loans to pay for our education... can you really tell me that is fair? my family cant really pay for JHU either, but i didnt get anything... im still going because i want the education, so you may say its my fault for choosing it.. but we shouldnt be punished for wanting to go to good schools that we cant pay for... whether you have $20K/year or $100K/year, if you cannot afford $45 K/year for college, the colleges/feds should take that into consideration.</p>
<p>well...if you dont have what it takes to get merit-based scholarships, that's your own fault, you can't complain about not being smart enough to get those scholarships. also, you're complaining about ONE incidence in your life when people who make less money than you MAY have the advantage. what about the remaining 17 years of their life, when you, the "middle class" people have it so much better than those "underclass" people. you know...life isnt fair, you can't go through life arguing about everything that doesnt please you or doesnt work to your benefit. there ARE other people that are less fortunate than you. instead of *****in bout how horrible being a middle class is during college time, why dont you be more considerate of others, dont be so self-centered here. common...
oh and dont get mad at me, i'm just saying what i think is true, and the truth is...those who are complainign about "i hate being middle class" are spoiled self centered brats. and nope it's NOT fair, deal with it.</p>
<p>i dont want to start an, 'i'm smarter than you' debate here, but i dont think you have any right to say that i'm not smart or w/e...of course i know what it takes to get merit based aid, but that doesnt mean that i will get it.. if they only give out scholarships to a handful of people, and i dont get it because i dont have the academic record they have, doesnt mean that i am any less capable then they are, but that is just how the system works, and you cant argue that. you can however try and change the system when it comes to the finaid process and college tuition. College tuition, for many of the private schools, is rising at almost 7% a year, which is higher than inflation. that means that by the time i graduate, tuition alone will be ~$38,000, that is a hell of a lot of money, and no1 should have to pay that kind of money for education, but that is a different problem altogether... and what are you saying that middle class people have it so nice and easy... you know nothing of my family situation over the past 18 years, so i find it highly rude for you to judge or even assume anything...dont polarize that which has so much gray area. colleges and fafasa dont take any of that gray area into account, and no1, not even the federal gov't should sit by and watch it happen.
this has nothing to do w/ my benefit, because this problem is much greater than you or me. the middle class is the largest class in america, so i think that which affects the majority of people is a significant problem. i'm not trying to be self-centered, but there is such a thing as the truth, that you and any1 else, whether they are poor or rich, should understand. education shouldnt be one of those 'well tough, life isnt fair' type of matters, b but should me more equal for all. they have taken the steps to insure that children from low-income families in america get the education they deserve regardless of cost, but they havent insured that for everyone. i'm not saying that a child from a 30K fam should get as much aid as a child from a 100K fam, but there should be something for the 100K child if they honestly cant pay for it, and the guidelines cant be as stringent as they are.
In the end, no matter how your fam original situation was, if you were given finaid and you go to a good school, you will be able to make a better life for yourself (on avg) than your parents did for you, which is a great success, and you will come out of school w/ little or no loans on top of that. the system brings you out of the income levels you faced before. for those who could, according to fafsa or jhu/etc, pay for college, will come out of school with the same opportunities as their classmates, but with large financial burdens in the form of loans. does that mean we are all even? should it be a revenge situation?
every situation is diff, i understand, so we cant generalize everything, but this is the basic fact of the matter...</p>
<p>O and NGUYENT - common is a word like "it is common for you to..." Come On (or c'mon) is the word i think you were looking for</p>
<p>lets try and be mature about our convos, btw... all this name calling and being rude is soo juvenile</p>
<p>hmm...i think you kinda contradicted yourself there. "let's try and be mature" while you pick on nitty gritty things like the difference between COMMON and COME ON? i think you've got to be quite dumb to think that I was trying to use standard english/grammar. and this isnt name calling...it's just the truth. ^_^
oh and btw...umm...i didnt read your essay, i'm sure it's great and it deserves a 2 as an AP essay, but it's too long for me...the only thing i read was where you said NGUYENT, sorry.</p>
<p>truth has to be based on fact... what you said was opinion, because you dont really know my situation... what i know i said is fact...
nitty gritty isnt demeaning, and i never judged your character... and you did again anyway... i think you need to chill</p>
<p>"i didnt read your essay, i'm sure it's great and it deserves a 2 as an AP essay, but it's too long for me..."</p>
<p>no comment</p>
<p>okay, i think that there's a limit to everything, just like this dumb discussion we've got going on here. once you write something, i write something back, then you write something back...i think that's about when you stop. get over it. and PLEASE do NOT quote anything that i write, what are you? some kind of literary critic? obviously, u have no idea how to tell the difference when someone is being sarcastic and serious. anyways, end of discussion, please dont write anything back okay? the more you write back, the dumber u look. bye.</p>
<p>nguyent, I think you are the one who keeps looking dumber every time you respond. You try to argue a point and then you openly admit to being unwilling to hear any responses. Even if your "it deserves a 2" line was a joke, it was a terrible one, and I would have called you out on it too.</p>
<p>Kams is right about the aid situation, and how fafsa is inaccurate, although kams, even the very poor face problems with fin aid. I have many friends who are very very poor, and many of the need based aid packages do not seem to be enough for them. (my friend had to appeal to columbia for like an extra 8k a year in order to attend, and he's not even going to live on campus) Also, with regard to merit based aid, when you go to a private school or any other very competitive school, it can be nearly impossible to compete GPA wise with students from crappy public schools, and thus getting private scholarships can be impossible.</p>
<p>Also, heard this, but I don't know if its true. For many need based aid schools, if you win some outside scholarship, they deduct that amount from your package since you "no longer need it"</p>
<p>Higher education admissions in general is just a very crappy system.</p>
<p>hm... well that is an interesting argument tam...
sry if my pts offended some of you... its just the way i feel about the system... some1 has to fight it right? if some1 cant pay for all of the college costs, no matter what their circumstance, they should recieve some aid from the govt or college... congrats to any1 who recieved any merit or need based scholarshps because im sure you deserved it.. hey if you got in to jhu you must be on the right track right?
there are millions of untapped dollars out there that can be used to curb the costs of education... why cant we use that?</p>