Your family income level does not guarantee you acceptance at any college in this country.
I also found this article interesting. Not posting it for comments…just as an FYI.
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OP linked to their CC Chance Me thread with that info. Here is the link — it was buried a bit in a post within this thread.
ahhhh - my bad - i’m never good with finding “other” threads or when people tell someone - you posted 8 threads on the same - i never figure out how they know, etc.
Thanks for this.
Edit - turns out I commented on the other post (of course I did :))
Prestige and jobs - all that matters…the issue is, Harvard has plenty who don’t become successful and a name your state school will have plenty that do - while the averages favor Harvard, it’s still a crap shoot.
I also don’t understand having UCB as your top choice but applying ED to Cornell - how does that make sense?
OK - thanks for providing - glad this one is comprehensive and I assume done 
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Don’t let rankings be your sole guide. Research each school to determine fit for the program and experience you want.
As for rankings, you’d be better served looking at the list of top CS schools rather than simply the “top national universities” list.
Agree! Liked this CS ranking the best when my son 22 was applying EA last year:
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This list doesn’t include parts of the Bay Area where average home values exceed $20M+
Thanks for the resource. I’ll be sure to take a look at this
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You are fortunate that your parents can pay the costs for you to attend any college. Your task now is to find schools where you will get accepted, and where you would be happy to attend.
You wrote “ Our family income is roughly 70k and they have a trust fund specifically to buy a house wherever I commit so housing prices aren’t a concern.”
I gather there is money set aside for college tuition for you as well as housing.
So…now start looking. I think “need aware” really doesn’t matter.
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Off topic, but would love to know for my own knowledge where the average home price exceeds $20mn.
In any case, I think you are overestimating the power of your family’s income and net worth.
Unless they are willing and able to donate tens of millions towards a new building or endowing a chair - it doesn’t really matter to a college if you live in a $20mn home or a $2mn one, or if your family makes $850k or $250k.
Time to move on and look at other factors that will get you admitted to a school that’s right for you.
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Beverly Hills, Monaco, Atherton, Ross/San Rafael, Palo Alto, Redwood City
Atherton has the highest prices but the median is about $8mn. You are overestimating - which is my larger point. You’re focusing on the wrong thing.
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Online numbers are artificially lowered
From Census data:
| City | Median value of owner-occupied housing units, 2016-2020 |
|---|---|
| Atherton | $2,000,000+ |
| San Rafael | $975,500 |
| Palo Alto | $2,000,000+ |
| Redwood City | $1,424,200 |
While $2,000,000+ could reach $20,000,000, it is unlikely that the entire cities (as opposed to some neighborhoods) have medians in the $20,000,000 range. Indeed, real estate web sites suggest that the median recent sale price in Atherton is around $9,600,000, and the median in Palo Alto is around $3,500,000.
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Hopefully OP is aware that all this discussion about home prices isn’t relevant to his college admission chances!
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What motivated you to start your non-profit in China, and if it is formally designated as a 501c3, what kind of help did you have with that? So many kids are “running non-profits” now that I think colleges look more deeply at that particular EC.
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Especially if an admissions reader wonders how a high school student in the US would help high school students in China cram for the gaokao (entrance exam for universities in China).
Although neither here nor there, after looking at real estate websites, I have to agree.
https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-search/Atherton_CA
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I’ve avoided commenting on this thread because, as others have mentioned, the manner in which this topic was brought up left me cold.
In your original thread, you asked about hooks and seemed intent of having them. I mentioned that you were 1) male with a good GPA and strong SAT scores, 2) Asian, 3) from California, and 4) full pay. Of course, those are only hooks at places where those qualities are not present in abundance, and you don’t seem overly interested in those schools. But, I am the one who told you that being full-pay can be beneficial for admissions, and thus, probably and unfortunately, contributed to the formation of this thread.
In your view, an $870k annual salary is upper middle class and “pretty broke” compared to your friends and you think that average house prices are $20M. This leads me to believe that you live a very insular life. If your family’s income is what you say it is, then there should be a means for you to interact with people outside of this wealthy enclave.
Your thread indicated that you have 60 hours of volunteering. I don’t know where you have been volunteering, but I would urge you to work with organizations that deal with a large swath of the general population or to find some organizations that are focused on people with low incomes. But do not go into it with a savior complex where you, an academically strong student from a wealthy family, are going to show your beneficence and help them. Go into it seeking to form genuine relationships and to listen to them, as you have a lot to learn from them. Also, think about how you can broaden your exposure in other ways. Participate in robotics at a library or club in a non-wealthy area. Teach younger children debate at under-resourced schools.
Continuing to remain in your bubble where an $870k income is “pretty broke” is going to be harmful for you in a number of ways. Your expectations are completely unrelated to reality for more than 99% of Americans, which is one of the wealthiest countries in the world. Learning what life is like and how materially blessed your family is will help you immensely. If you need extrinsic motivation, it will help you with your college applications, getting jobs, working at jobs, etc. But for non-material advantages, it will help you connect with others and to feel a greater sense of shared humanity with the people who live in this country and on this planet.
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Nah, I think you’re fine. All you said was that full-pay can be beneficial at some colleges, which is true. But the point that may have been missed by OP is that either you’re full pay or you’re not. That’s all there is to it and nothing more.
He appears to have extrapolated from there to believing that the higher the family’s income/net-worth/home value/etc the more attractive the applicant is to colleges, which of course is definitely not true*. Hence the pointless discussion about Bay Area home prices.
(* unless, as I said above, you’re donating in the tens of millions. Then yes, you are a very attractive candidate!)
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Interested in Muhlenberg, Conn College, Wheaton and you are male, full pay, with a nice profile? Yes it helps. HYPS? not moving the needle.
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