<p>Northstarmom, if you don’t mind me asking, what does your son attend. </p>
<p>I have no gotten fee waivers at all. Honestly I have never heard of free waivers. I will make sure to get free waivers.</p>
<p>twomules, I am not against Liberal Arts Colleges I just have not looked at many LA schools. What are the differences between a LA school just a National school. For someone planning to go to MD and do Research which would be better.</p>
<p>Hi OP,</p>
<p>I am a student in a very similar position as you. Our stats are nearly identical although I come from a low(er) income background. As you can see, I’ll be a member of the Stanford Class of 2014.</p>
<p>I recommend that while you keep the schools you have, reach higher. I know it sounds crazy, and it took a long time before people convinced me to reach higher. The fact of the matter is that as a lowish income, high-achieving student, you are an extremely competitive student at top schools. I’m not saying that you’re going to join me at Stanford, but that sometimes the results are surprising. I know that low-income students especially tend to underestimate themselves, though I don’t exactly know your background, of course.</p>
<p>There are a few different ways to get fee waivers. The easiest is through your guidance counselor. There are two major fee waivers: CollegeBoard and NACAC. The CollegeBoard will give you several different kinds of fee waivers: waivers for the SATs, the SAT Subject Tests, and college applications (you will then submit the waiver number to the Common Application). The NACAC waivers function similarly. Last but not least, each individual school can give out fee waivers. They can mail them to you or you can write a letter requesting a fee waiver because of your circumstances.</p>
<p>QuestBridge is a special application program for high-achieving, low-income students. Because the application is tailored to the experiences of students from the lower social strata, QuestBridge helps boost the admissions rate of said students. It is a really remarkable though often misunderstood program. I am a Quest Scholar at Stanford University, so if you have any questions, please ask them.</p>
<p>"Northstarmom, if you don’t mind me asking, what does your son attend. "</p>
<p>My son is a URM whose scores were 98th-99th percentile, but grades were below a 3.0 because he was lazy. He is attending a tier 2 LAC, Rollins College in Florida, which has been an excellent place for him and even gave him some merit aid. A student like you probably could get a full ride plus laptop from there. It would be a safety for you.</p>
<p>I agree with Applicannot that you have better than average chances at the top colleges in this country. Best of luck to you.</p>
<p>If you want more advice from other experienced, nice, parents, post on the Parents Forum.</p>
<p>applicannot, Northstarmom and others. Thank you for everything. I have learned a lot in the past few days that . You all have truly made my life better. Thank you very much!!</p>
<p>Don’t know if this was mentioned before, but I’d apply to Amherst if I were you. You have incredible chances.</p>
<p>If you’re wanting med, would you consider a BS/MD program? Yes, most are ridiculously competitive; however, they’ll allow you the time to get that PhD you want. I’d consider Brown PLME, Northwestern HPME, USC’s, & Rice/Baylor. You should try – nothing ventured, nothing gained. </p>
<p>I would also encourage you to reconsider Duke. It’s no more of a party school, IMO, than Penn or some of the others. On the east coast with research opportunities (your requests)…possibly consider UVA, UNC, and the ivys for good measure. Good luck!</p>
<p>With your high scores, high rank (absolute GPA doesn’t matter since you are highly ranked), great AP course load, pretty much any school except HYPSM is a match for you.</p>
<p>BU is a poor fit for you since they are notorious for giving out poor financial aid. Just keep TAMU + perhaps UT as your safety. Add some reaches that you really like.</p>
<p>Many of the top privates schools offer free tuition/no loans for families under a certain level. Apply to as many of them as you can. This will ensure you a great education with no financial strains on your family or yourself.</p>
<p>Check this out: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/452165-master-list-no-loan-no-income-income-limit-colleges.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/452165-master-list-no-loan-no-income-income-limit-colleges.html</a></p>
<p>Reach-
Match- Northwestern, Vanderbilt, JHU, Rice, WashU, Brown
Safety- TAMU, UT</p>
<p>OP,</p>
<p>As a current Meyerhoff Scholar, all I can say is that the Program just DREAMS to have kids like you check out UMBC! :)</p>
<p>Please, for your own sake, ask for a HS counselor nomination. I can say with a fair degree of certainty that you would be invited to attend Selection Weekend.</p>
<p>This is just my personal opinion, but from what you’ve said, the Meyerhoff Program seems like a perfect match! Just PM me if you’ve got any questions at all.</p>
<p>You mentioned that you fell in love with the Boston area…though it may not seem like a huge research university, look at Tufts. You’d probably get in with your scores and they have a great med school and undergrad pre-med program. They also offer early admission to their med school to Tufts undergrads - you can apply junior year and if accepted, you’ll know you’re in med school once you graduate. </p>
<p>Heck, while you’re at it, apply to Harvard. It’s a reach (as it is for everyone), but they offer some of the best financial aid in the country. You’ll never know if you don’t try, right?</p>
<p>I agree that you need more reaches. Research opportunities can be great at liberal arts colleges too. There are a number of threads on science at Williams vs. Amherst and those are worth considering along with Middlebury.</p>
<p>Tufts and BC are great applications for you if you can afford them. Northeastern is a great safety.</p>
<p>I would watch the Wire before commiting to anything in Baltimore. :)</p>
<p>Have you looked into the BS/MD program? In that program, students enter the program as undergraduate and will automatically enrolled in an MD program if you maintain a good grade in the undergraduate program. Brown and Northwestern are the leaders of these programes. If you qaulify and because of your financial status, they will fly you out to get interviewed and it is possible that you can get a full ride all the way to a MD program. These programs are very difficult to get in, more so than applying to an Ivy school, perhaps only 1 to 2 percent acceptance rate. But I think you may qualify for that.</p>
<p>Read some threads in the pre-med section on cc or here:</p>
<p>[Pre-Medical</a> Forums - Student Doctor Network Forums](<a href=“http://■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/forumdisplay.php?f=5]Pre-Medical”>http://■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/forumdisplay.php?f=5)</p>
<p>In addition, there are similar programs in phrmacy, dentist and law, it dependes what you want and like.</p>
<p>I just want to reiterate what others have said – DO NOT DISCOUNT LACS</p>
<p>Many have research opportunities staring end of freshman year. Because of your URM status, many would court you with lots of merit. </p>
<p>Ursinus (in PA), Rhodes (in TN) are really worth you looking into. Even if you opt to not attend, having a good financial package may help you come spring to negotiate with other schools.</p>
<p>Ursinus may be especially appealling because it has no app fee, uses the Common Application and I believe is SAT optional (you can self report SAT) which would save $ even without a fee waiver. </p>
<p>And as others have said, don’t be afraid to reach high.</p>
<p>You should also register for the venture scholar program ([Ventures</a> Scholars Program - <a href=“http://www.venturescholar.org%5B/url%5D”>www.venturescholar.org](<a href=“http://www.venturescholar.org/index.php]Ventures”>http://www.venturescholar.org/index.php)</a>) which is for URM students who are interested in science and math. There are schools that offer application fee waivers to Venture Scholars (i.e., Brandeis) and the website lists scholarships and open houses offered by universities that are members of the Venture Scholar consortium.</p>
<p>If you have time, I heartily second the idea of visiting some schools that will pay for your travel costs. For example, Middlebury offers a program you might be interested in [Discover</a> Middlebury Program | Middlebury](<a href=“Fly-in Program | Middlebury College”>Fly-in Program | Middlebury College) and there are lots of others listed in the link found in twomules’s post. You might have to fill out applications for these programs relatively quickly, but please go to the websites and look at the deadlines as soon as possible if you’re interested.</p>
<p>The last time I looked TAMU covered all direct expenses for those making under $40,000 per year. They are very eager to recruit minorities. Otherwise their scholarships aren’t very good or are nonexistent unless you are NMF.</p>
<p>I disagree on LACs. The top 20 are good, but after that you start to get into no-name territory. Their brands just don’t carry as far. But to each his own.</p>
<p>“I had no Idea my stats were something good, thank you for making me feel a lot better.”</p>
<p>Wow! That is hard to imagine. Just look at your percentiles on the SAT report. My D’s scores where not as good, and by this time her senior year, it seemed like “diversity” programs where beating down the door! FWIW, she ended up at Duke, is NOT a party person, DID have a little trouble adjusting, but is now a rising junior and LOVES it. I don’t know about need based aid there, and have am not sure about your GPA, but I don’t think you should not have any trouble getting in ( I watched there admissions data for quite awhile). Also, based on the past, they will likely invite you out for an overnight if you don’t get to visit.</p>
<p>Same goes for Smith, if you are female, and if want to consider that. Check out their “Woman of Distinction” program if it’s not too late.</p>
<p>@informative, why would you say that? I spent an entire summer in downtown Baltimore and had no problems at all.</p>
<p>Besides, UMBC isn’t in the city. We’re at least 10 minutes out by drive. We’re a suburban campus.</p>
<p>OP –</p>
<p>The cheapest colleges to attend in the country are Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Williams, Amherst … for families with annual income under around 70k, tuition, room and board are typically paid in full. Even for families with up to 80k income, tution is typically waived, leaving just room and board. MIT might be just as generous but I don’t recall reading that specifically.</p>
<p>You should most certainly apply to at least half of the top 10 ranked USNWR Unis.</p>
<p>Since you love Boston, both Harvard and MIT are no brainers… apply. You may find two or three of these schools fighting for you with increased aid offers.</p>