<p>Hi guyz,
I am currently attending the Honors College at Miami Dade College. I need help with looking for universities I can transfer to. After speaking with a career counselor, I have decided that a math major is better for me, since it will give me more flexibility of choosing a career. I wish to attend a university that has very strong mathematics department as well as a good physics department since I wish to minor in physics as well. I'm also looking for a university I could afford as well. </p>
<p>My parents currently have their EFC at 22,000 and the number is expected to increase a bit. In high school I was never able to get the grades (3.80 GPA, 29 ACT) for scholarships to upper universities that I applied to (Besides UF, UM,FSU but for some reason I was an idiot who didn't apply for bright futures until AFTER graduation (This invalidated me ) (I also never took the NMSQT)(In addition, I was also disqualified from the ROTC due to 40% hearing loss)). I'd seriously like to attend a top 50 university with a strong math/physics department. I chose not to attend any of these universities because after having a long talk with my parents they'd only fund up to 30,000 of my education (through about 10K savings and 20K loans that they'd be able to cosign/pay for in the upcoming years) and I'd be left with a 40,000 gap. So I chose to attend the honors program at MDC and get a free education up to an A.A. Degree, so I could be able to use my parents 30K on a private/out of state school when I transfer.</p>
<p>Considering my parents have a 22K EFC (and it is expected to slightly increase) what schools should I look to transfer to? I'd rather not attend an LAC.</p>
<p>22k EFC means you basically won’t get any aid if you try and go out of state. Someone correct me if I’m wrong about that.</p>
<p>I would say UF. What is your college GPA by the way?</p>
<p>With a $22K EFC, the OP would get aid at private colleges that meet need. However, he would need to calculate EFC using each institutional methodology as these schools also use Profile and the EFC can be quite different than the FAFSA EFC. Also keep in mind that at most school, the first “aid” will be student loans, work study and the student contribution from summer work.</p>
<p>The problem is that probably at minimum, colleges will want $44K over 2 years and your parents are only contributing $30K. So you have a $14K pus gap before you even begin to consider the student loans that wil most probably be part of the package. And since your parents are already borrowing to meet their EFC, you will most probably rack up lots of family debt.</p>
<p>If your college GPA is good you will have a lot of choices, but consider how much debt is acceptable.</p>
<p>Well, my college gpa is 4.0, but thats only the 6 credits I got from summer school by taking math and English classes. I will probably be able to stay in the 3.5-4.0 GPA range.
In addition, I wouldn’t mind paying 300 dollars per month for 10 years or twice as much for 5.</p>
<p>I’d attend UF, but I wish to aim for something better than that…</p>
<p>Miami Dade Honors College has an articulation agreement with Georgia Tech, you should really look into that school.</p>
<p>Michigan is good in math and physics. So is Cornell, Berkeley, Harvard, Texas, U-Chicago, Yale, Columbia, Wisconsin, and UPenn. Just to name a few.</p>
<p>I looked at Georgia tech. While it does appear to be a good school, it’s TUITION price tag is about 25K for out-of-state people and the general costs of living is about 10K alone for two semesters. I’d rather have something with closer to 25K per year costs of attendance to keep my own loans from being too high.</p>
<p>You would be hard-pressed to find an out of state school, better than Florida, that will cost you 25K per year including room & board. Your best bet would be a private university that will cover the price gap.</p>
<p>Which schools might those be?</p>
<p>In general, it’s harder to get aid as a transfer than as an incoming freshman. Not being familiar with your school and program, I don’t know if you’d be considered a typical transfer or not (maybe it’s different for students with an AA degree). But without more info on your status and GPA, your in-state flagship is your best bet.</p>
<p>My current status is a 4.0 gpa (will probably end up being 3.80-4.0) with the few credits I have earned taking summer classes. I intend to obtain the AA degree before transferring, to give myself the option of transferring to universities that only take in transfers at a junior level. My in-state flagship is good, but they aren’t top 50. Im not looking for full need either, just most.</p>
<p>BUTT: Bring up this topic.</p>
<p>I would suggest looking at some of the top 50 universities in physics and math. The easiest way to do this would be to go to the usnews website and look at the grad school rankings (if you put much weight behind what usnews says). Make yourself a list of schools and then go to each school’s website and see what kind of financial aid they offer. From this you will be able to get a list of schools that meet your criteria.</p>
<p>Here is math:
[Rankings</a> - Project - Graduate Schools - Education - US News](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-mathematics-programs/rankings]Rankings”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-mathematics-programs/rankings)</p>
<p>and physics:
[Rankings</a> - Project - Graduate Schools - Education - US News](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-physics-schools/rankings]Rankings”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-physics-schools/rankings)</p>