<p>If i include that i come from a low income family in my essays, will that hurt or help my chances for top tier schools? When I say top tier, i'm thinking top 20, not so much HYP b/c i wont be applying to those</p>
<p>Why wouldn’t you apply to HYPS? These colleges are actively looking for talented low-income students; if admitted, they would meet 100% of your need with incomparable financial aid packages.</p>
<p>To answer your question -no. Top colleges are usually need-blind, which means they don’t look at your finances when deciding whether to admit you or not.</p>
<p>If you can portray your situation in light of the obstacles you’ve overcome/how they have made you grow as a person, you’d have a compelling essay. :)</p>
<p>By the way, have you heard of the Questbridge program?</p>
<p>Please look into QuestBridge! It includes partnerships with the best universities and liberal arts colleges in the USA and is meant specifically for low income students.</p>
<p>@Lilliana330 I’m not applying to HYP b/c I know I can’t get in. Also, I know that top colleges are need-blind but if you tell them you are poor in your essays, then they will have to know, so I wanted to know if that would hurt or help me. Also, yea I have heard of Questbridge, thinking about it</p>
<p>@superdub I don’t think it should hurt you. If you can make a compelling case like I said before, it can only help you. If not, it’d be neutral, in my opinion. If you go through Questbridge though, your low-income status will be an advantage no matter what, since it’d put your application on a separate pile from non-QB applicants. It would also give you some leeway on stats, since they’d be looked at on the context of the opportunities you’ve had/haven’t had.</p>
<p>Here is a list of scholarship opportunities that you may find useful.</p>
<p><a href=“Automatic Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-p1.html</a>
<a href=“Competitive Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1461983-competitive-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html</a></p>
<p>Do you have any idea what you want to major in? </p>
<p>Have you been through the QB process? I am a bit confused because it says the application for College Prep Scholarship is due in March but I won’t even have my test scores by that time. </p>
<p>@Ctesiphon Econ, many family income is below 40k wont i qualify for most financial aid?</p>
<p>Some schools are better than others at meeting students’ financial need. The Ivy League schools (especially HYP) typically ensure they pay for almost (or all) of their student’s tuition, almost all.</p>
<p>You’ll have to run the net price calculator on the schools’ websites you are interested in to see if it would be affordable for you. The above lists can give you safeties where you can get guaranteed scholarships if you are unable to get aid at any other school for whatever reason.</p>
<p>These colleges claim to meet 100% of financial need:
<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2013/09/18/colleges-that-claim-to-meet-full-financial-need-2014”>http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2013/09/18/colleges-that-claim-to-meet-full-financial-need-2014</a></p>
<p>Superdub…</p>
<p>Most schools do not give much in need based aid, so even if your family has the most need, there will be schools that will give you VERY little.</p>
<p>Go to the QB site and find out what’s needed. You may not yet need to submit SAT scores. </p>
<p>The schools im interested in are willing to give me plenty of aid ACCORDING to their net calc. According in caps b/c im not sure how accurate these calcs are. And thanks, but im not gonna do the QB college prep, i’ll just apply for college match in august maybe</p>
<p>@superdub Yes, I went through the College Match process. I became a finalist, but I didn’t match. I applied thinking I had an EFC of 0 (miscalculated some income); had I known, I would’ve skipped it & gone straight to the regular decision process. However, your income seems to qualify for an EFC of 0 at most Questbridge schools, so definitely go for the Match!</p>
<p>The College Prep Scholarship isn’t a scholarship per say, unless you’re applying to top summer programs. However, even if you’re not applying to any summer programs, you could earn an invite to a college conference at Stanford/Princeton/Northwestern (this year’s schools). Representatives from ALL Questbridge schools will be gathered there; I found the opportunity to question admission reps (from 35 different schools) in person quite invaluable. Current students/Quest Scholars will also be there -good sources for the not-so-official details of each school.</p>