<p>Hey guys,</p>
<p>So I have a pretty large college list. I feel most of them are attainable, but my logic is that by paying an extra 100 bucks, I may be able to get more aid, and get into a better school. Does that make sense?</p>
<p>Honestly, right now I have about 30 campuses in mind. How can I reduce this number? SHOULD I reduce this number?</p>
<p>Have you run the net price calculator on each school’s web site to get a financial aid and net price estimate? If not, then do so and eliminate all of those which are too expensive and do not have in-reach large-enough merit scholarships.</p>
<p>Yeah, thanks! I’ll do that. Maybe that’ll help cut down the number.
What is an okay number though? Would something around 20 be alright, according to my “logic”?</p>
<p>If you do proper research you don’t need a list of 20 schools to get into a good school with good aid. A list of 6 is normal, I’d say 9 max if you really want to make sure you have a decent number of packages to compare in the spring.</p>
<p>At least one college must be a safety that you like, are certain to be admitted to, and are certain that you can afford. Everything else is optional.</p>
<p>Once you have identified your safety, you can eliminate other schools that you would not choose over your safety under any circumstances.</p>
<p>I totally get what you guys are saying, thanks so much!</p>
<p>Is there any more info I can give about myself that would help? Like a college list, or something?</p>
<p>If you post your grades and scores and if a hook or URM, then you can get feedback on what types of schools to cross off your list. Also, how much you can pay per year.</p>
<p>Sorry, not sure what hook and URM are.
SAT - 1970, ACT - 29.
I’m not sure how much telling you my school grades would help, as the system is different here in India. (I’m a US Citizen, btw, and applying as one)</p>
<p>Honestly, there isn’t an exact number about how much my family can pay. We are definitely in need of lots of aid, and we’ll go for the best college that gives a good amount of aid.</p>
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<p>Run the net price calculator for every school and check with your family as to whether the net price is affordable at all and if the school is “worth it” at the specified price.</p>
<p>A “hook” is a special thing that might make a college admit you with lower scores/grades, like being a great athlete or musician or a legacy (a parent is an alum). “URM” means “under represented minority” which can be a hook at schools that are looking for more diversity. Being male can be a hook at some LACs; being female can be a hook at some tech schools.</p>
<p>The strongest “hooks” are if your parents donate enough money to name a building at the school, or if you are a recruited athlete at the school.</p>
<p>If your family makes less than $50,000, apply to Berea College. It’s very difficult to get into, but all students who are admitted get a full-tuition scholarship. Being lower-income is a pre-requisite to apply.
If you need a lot of financial aid, these colleges meet 100% need:
[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)
Although the college gets to decide what your “need” is, these colleges are typically more generous than most.
Before you continue with your list, run the Net Price Calculator on each to see how much you’d be expected to pay.
Since your parents live in India, you wouldn’t be considered in-state anywhere, so if you have a lot of financial need you may be better off with private colleges (OOS universities won’t provide much, if any, financial aid, and will NOT meet need.)
What are your IGCSE’s or O’Level results? Are you preparing ALevels or the IB diploma?
Schools that are interested in students with international experience (for three different levels of selectivity: Middlebury, Macalester, St Olaf) would be interested in your application and more likely to provide an interesting financial package.</p>
<p>Yeah, I think everyone is saying to use the Net Price calculator. I’ll check it out. :)</p>
<p>The thing about this 100% Need met list, is that either the college 1) Isn’t great for engineering (as far as I know) or 2) Something like Cal Tech or Yale, which will give full aid, but you have to have amazing stats to even qualify.</p>
<p>Yes, my family makes under 50,000.</p>
<p>Nope, I’m not doing IB, and I haven’t taken any AP Courses. I’m in the ISC Board.</p>
<p>Would you consider any of these schools as well?
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-20.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-20.html</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1461983-competitive-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-4.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1461983-competitive-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-4.html</a></p>
<p>@ucbalumnus - I checked out the threads, but most of the criteria for eligibilty for full scholarship are things like >32 in ACT and stuff. </p>
<p>Also, and this may sound stupid, but location is very important for us. Location is up there with financial aid on the scale of importance. It’s gotta be somewhere in California, or NY-Penn-NJ-Massachusetts.</p>
<p>Schools on the 100% list are all highly selective schools. Those with a program in engineering are all excellent and there are several that fit your geographical considerations. If you’re going for computer science then pretty much all schools are possible.</p>
<p>Why CA but not OR or WA? </p>
<p>If you need financial aid and you’re not in-state anywhere, your odds of admission with sufficient aid increase at either a private school or a school from the list UCBAlumnus provided - and it’s up to you to get to the required SAT or ACT. If you can’t, you’ll need to change your list drastically since odds are low you’d get into a 100% need school from the specific locations you mentioned without high grades/high scores. And if you’re applying to public universities as an out of state student, you’ll have to pay anywhere between $35,000 and 50,000 a year. Remember you can only borrow $5,500…</p>
<p>If you give us your list of 30 we’d be able to tell you which ones are unlikely to be affordable and which are reaches/matches/safeties - if you need a lot of financial aid, your best bets are schools where you’re among the top applicants and/or schools that aren’t located on either coast.
For example, odds are very low you’d get into CalTech with an ACT29 but they’re decent for Wpi or RIT.</p>
<p>If you are considering CA as well as NE states, your location issue must not be related to drivability from wherever it is you live. (It might help if you explain what it is.) If possible, I would encourage you to look beyond those states and consider schools in other parts of the country in which you might be “geographically desirable.”</p>
<p>It’s a long story why we chose those states, but in short, our family might be moving back to the States. That’s why I’m being a little selective about location.</p>
<p>@MYOS - In fact, I do have WPI and RIT in my list. Here is what I have. Be prepared, cause it’s long :P</p>
<p>UC - Berkeley, LA, SD, Merced, Davis, Irvine. Riverside. (Berkeley and LA are reaches, I think, but why not apply?)</p>
<p>CSU - Cal Poly Pomona, CalPoly SLO, SJSU, SDSU, Long Beach.</p>
<p>SUNY - Stony Brook, UBuffalo, SUNYIT</p>
<p>CUNY - CCNY, CUNY Tech</p>
<p>Penn State - University Park, Harrisburg, Wilkes-Barre.</p>
<p>Rutgers</p>
<p>NJIT</p>
<p>UMD (Maryland)</p>
<p>UMass Amherst</p>
<p>RPI</p>
<p>WPI</p>
<p>RIT</p>
<p>Temple</p>
<p>Ohio State U</p>
<p>NYU Poly</p>
<p>and if you guys think it’s worth my time, maybe Carnegie Mellon.</p>
<p>You can be totally frank if you think I won’t get in, or if I won’t get aid.</p>
<p>Have you run the Net Price Calculators?
I’m not sure you understand how financial aid works - you can get educated and ask questions on the website called The College Solution, the person there is a financial specialist. Read the sticky threads at the top of the financial aid forum here on CC.
In a nutshell: 2/3 your list are not possible.</p>
<p>If your family makes under $50,000, then all UCs, all CSU’s, Penn State, UMD, and Ohio State are unaffordable (since they’d cost more or almost as much as your family makes in an entire year).</p>
<p>Umass Amherst, NJIT and Rutgers will probably not be affordable either unless you don’t mind letting your family survive without heat/AC and on nothing but rice every day.</p>
<p>CUNY schools are affordable only if you can get into Macaulay - with your current stats, it’s dubious, but you can try.</p>
<p>NYUPoly, RPI, RIT, and WPI are the only possible options - and even these may not have enough financial aid. But at least you’d have <em>some</em> financial aid that would bring the cost down a little or a lot. (Run the net price calculators)</p>
<p>You need a few other schools for your list - schools that are affordable.</p>
<p>But how accurate are the net price calculators? Will they give an accurate representation about how much aid I can receive?</p>
<p>Do you have any recommendations I should add to this list? I’m pretty surprised, to be honest. I have a friend who got into UCSD, and he’s paying 21k, with 8k loans. Doesn’t that mean he got around 25k off? Isn’t that a good amount? Or are you saying that I, personally, may not be able to get that kind of aid, with my scores?</p>