Mistake to not apply to any Ivies?

Parent Cafe
51

<p>If your daughter is not in the top 10% of her class, she probably could not get in to any of the Ivies. But then, she’s not even interested in them. The only appealing feature you’ve mentioned is their excellent financial aid. For that, you have a lot of other choices.</p>

<p>About 40-50 schools are need-blind, “full-need” schools. This number includes all 8 Ivies, but that means quite a few non-Ivies commit to covering full need. Still more schools cover 90% or more of demonstrated need, or cover close to 100% (but consider need in some admission decisions.)<br>
[Need-blind</a> admission - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Need-blind_admission]Need-blind”>Need-blind admission - Wikipedia)</p>

<p>Then there are schools that are relatively generous with merit (non-need-based) aid. Look for these schools if you cannot cover your Expected Family Contribution (EFC, which you can estimate with an on-line calculator).
([FinAid</a> | Calculators | Expected Family Contribution (EFC) and Financial Aid](<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Expected Family Contribution (EFC) Calculator - Finaid)) </p>

<p>Suggestion: if one of your main concerns is financial aid, then first estimate your EFC and whether you can cover it. Decide whether your strategy will emphasize need-based or merit-based aid. If need-based, then check out some of the relatively less selective schools on the wiki list above (e.g. Grinnell, Holy Cross, or Rochester - which are still quite selective). If merit, then search the forums for threads like this: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/696637-merit-aid-percentage-common-data-set-6.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/696637-merit-aid-percentage-common-data-set-6.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>The Kiplinger “best value” ranking site is another useful resource.
[Kiplinger’s</a> Best Values in Private Colleges-Kiplinger](<a href=“http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T014-S001-kiplinger-s-best-values-in-private-colleges/index.php]Kiplinger’s”>http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T014-S001-kiplinger-s-best-values-in-private-colleges/index.php)
[Kiplinger’s</a> Best Values in Public Colleges-Kiplinger](<a href=“http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T014-S001-kiplinger-s-best-values-in-public-colleges/index.php]Kiplinger’s”>Best College Values, 2019 | Kiplinger)</p>