Need some major help for college pickings...

Paying for College
1

<p>So to sum up my resume, my ec's are average:clubs, community service,shadowing, etc. i go to a very competitive highschool (top 15 in new jersey). Thankfully my school doesnt rank but my weighted GPA is 4.24 and my SAT is 800cr/750m/740w with a 750 math II and a 740 Biology M. I hope to major in Bio with a minor in math.</p>

<p>Currently my list is
Reach/target
JHU
pro: good money
con: very competitive (not good for premed GPA), hard to get into
Vanderbilt:
pro:good money
con:hard to get into
Emory
con:bad aid...
Carnegie Mellon ( i was thinking about EDing here, but it seems that financial aid is not very good- load heavy, so i may not. however the closed campus in the city feel is exactly what i am looking for ideally)
U Michigan-super expensive public school
Boston College-not known for good aid</p>

<p>Safety/low target
College of William and Mary
U Maryland
U Pitt
Lehigh
Rutgers
Northeastern
Boston University</p>

<p>So my dilema is that i one day hope to go to med school so i am obviously very worried about the 8 years of debt. Also my EFC is ~16k although if i ask my dad he says 25k or lower a year (including loans in this 25k). Therefore I have been pretty worried about my school choices in that when i originally picked out my schools, i didnt account for how good the financial aid is. also i did not do well on my PSATs so i do not have the chance for a National Merit scholorship like many others...</p>

<p>So my question is, are there any schools you recommend that are affordable? I prefer schools with <20k students with closed campuses, and its very important for me to be very near/inside a city, but these are not rigid boundaries (except for the city factor. its one of the reasons i do not want to go to Rutgers, which would be a relatively cheap option.</p>

<p>If you took the time to read all that, thank you very much. Even moreso if I can get some advice.</p>

<p>TL;DR: Are the schools on my list good for an EFC:16k and future medical student for need based aid. any suggestions. thank you so much.</p>

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<p>Interesting you put Emory down as bad for aid when they meet full need… </p>

<p>I take it you are from NJ since you say Rutgers would be relatively cheap. You’d get great merit aid at Bama and UAB. I doubt you’ll get anything at UMich. Why is William and Mary in the safety category since it will cost $48K/year?</p>

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<p>I have been meaning to take off William and Mary…my college counsellor told me a small liberal arets school would meet pre-med needs well since I would be able to research a lot but it really wasnt factoring in financial aid.</p>

<p>Also I neglected to say that my parents want me to go to college relatively near to NJ, 4-6 hours. And I really really really want to be near/in a city.</p>

<p>About emory and bad aid, most of my information about how well aid is at a school comes from reading a few cc threads on them. I recall reading the Emory was good for really poor students who could get good aid or really rich students who didnt need aid and I dont fit into either category.</p>

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<p>Each school now has a net cost calculator on it website (or will before the end of the month). Try running those to see how much each school will cost you. W&M is a great school but it’s an OOS public.</p>