No safety schools

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I'm so lost. I have a lot of reach schools, but no safety schools.
I'm only really applying to need-blind/full-need schools because my family income is very very low. (one parent is on disabilities check)</p>

<p>some basic stats:
top 10% at my school.
GPA: weighted: 4.33 or something like that. unweighted: around 3.8 I think.
ACT: 31
SAT IIs: over 600, but bad.
Extracurriculars: GREAT. won 1st place nationally as an editor/been to state for other things/leadership awesome stuff
APs: Passed 3 of them, (didn't pass one because I wasn't talking the class, bad decision, bleh)
My test taking skills are not where they should be, but I'm a strong student overall.</p>

<p>Does anyone have any suggestions?</p>

2

<p>The State you live in would be an important piece of information. If anything apply to in state schools where the tuition will be cheaper</p>

3

<p>CA.
I’m applying to the UCs.
Sorry for forgetting that earlier!</p>

4

<p>You need to Google the meets need list and apply to some of the less competitive ones. St. Olaf comes to mind.</p>

5

<p>Your safety school would likely be some Cal States or a low ranking UC.</p>

<p>A low-ranking UC would probably be the best safety for a low income student since the UCs offer Blue and Gold and you’d also get Cal Grants and Pell Grants towards your costs.</p>

<p>The UCs are pretty good about meeting need for low income students (not for middle income students) because of Blue and Gold, Cal Grants, etc. </p>

<p>Which UCs are you applying to? Are you guaranteed admittance into some UCs? If not, then you need to include UCR, UCMerced, and UC Santa Cruz as your safeties.</p>

6

<p>Holy Cross, Colgate.</p>

7

<p>In California, your safety is the CCC that is easiest for you to commute to. Find it. Find out how it operates - in particular how difficult is it to get into the classes that you would want. Find out if there is an honors program or any kind of scholarship that you might qualify for. </p>

<p>Worth reading through:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/291483-update-what-i-learned-about-free-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/291483-update-what-i-learned-about-free-ride-scholarships.html&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/148852-what-ive-learned-about-full-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/148852-what-ive-learned-about-full-ride-scholarships.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Wishing you all the best.</p>

8

<p>You test scores are going to make getting into a private school that fully meets need fairly tough. I can’t think of one that actually meets need without huge loans that would be a safety for you. So it looks as if your safety is going to be a UC or Cal State.</p>

9

<p>Just throw in the top 5 state schools in your list and you should be covered by the UC system.</p>

10

<p>With those stats and very low income, a low tier UC will be the financial safety school. </p>

<p>What is your “UC GPA”?</p>

<p>Which UCs are you applying to?</p>

11

<p>I had never heard about the Blue and Gold aid thing! That’s so helpful!</p>

<p>Well, I was going to apply to Berkeley, SB, SD, LA…but now, I don’t know.</p>

<p>I’m checking out those links now! Thank you!</p>

<p>Thank you everyone who has taken the time to respond to this. I really appreciate it.</p>

12

<p>Well, I was going to apply to Berkeley, SB, SD, LA…but now, I don’t know</p>

<p>The above schools will be reaches/matches for you. it’s ok to apply to them, BUT you also must apply to a couple of UC safeties…like UCR, UCMerced, and maybe UC Santa Cruz (not sure if UCSC can be a safety).</p>

13

<p>Thank you guys for all your help. I learned a lot!</p>