<p>I am a high school senior with 4.0 UW gpa, 30 college credits at end of this year, and 2080 SAT (expecting a substantial increase in this score after last test, plus additionally taking in December a final time).
I am interested in Carnegie Mellon, Emory, Notre Dame, Georgetown, and Stanford as a potentially large reach (I can dream can't I?)
The problem is, my parents have no support for me regarding these schools. My mom does not have a job, and my dad works making between $110,000 and $150,00 yearly. I have one sister who is attending an obscure school in PA ($30,000 yearly) For them, all they harp on is the financial aspect. If I get accepted to a top university and don't receive adequate aid, I better forget about it. ($50,000 is just unrealistic and ridiculous to them).
Based on my college credits, I may only have to attend for 3 years, shaving off a year of tuition. Am I wrong for believing I can attend one of these schools? Can I expect to receive some minor aid, as I have my one sister in college?
Does anybody have any advice for my situation?
My parents want to ignore my stats and at best send me to my flagship, or an obscure school that is nearby. Maybe I am a bad son, but I just feel like so many other people have support from their parents to go to the best school they can get accepted to. I just have exactly the opposite :(</p>
<p>I’m sorry about your situation, but all is not lost. Hopefully you will have some merit option, or maybe even some fiancial aid, that will work for you.Your stats will certainly help.</p>
<p>I agree many have financial support to go to the “best” school they can get into, but I don’t think most do.</p>
<p>Some highly selective schools are very generous with need-based aid (e.g. Stanford, MIT, some Ivy League schools), so they may be less expensive than the state flagship in net cost after non-loan financial aid, if you are admitted (which is of low probability even if you get your academic credentials into the top range – 4.0 GPA in the most rigorous high school courses available and 700+ on each SAT section). Of course, you should still have some schools in your application list that are safe for both admissions and cost.</p>
<p>Check the financial aid pages at each school you are considering and see if they will be similar or lower in net cost compared to the state flagship. Of course, many state flagships are perfectly fine schools as well. (What are your state of residency and intended major?)</p>
<p>I am from MD, so I would possibly attend UMD- College Park.
It is one of the better state schools, but could definitely be better 
I’m hoping to have SAT’s at 730 CR-700 M-750 W after last test, maybe give or take a bit in each section.
I understand Stanford is a big reach, that’s why it is alone in my list and I have no ivies. I have one big hook, being that I started an online business junior year. (created a web site, had a few employees, and netted a couple grand in a few months).</p>
<p>Flagship is looking like 22k total.
Is there a good argument I can present to my parents as to why I want to go private (Mellon, Emory, Georgetown) as opposed to UMD?</p>
<p>UMDCP should not be considered a booby prize or anything like that – it is a good school for many subjects. (Depending on the subject, it may be better than some or most of the other schools you mentioned.)</p>
<p>As far as the other schools go, put “net price calculator” and/or “financial aid estimator” in their website search boxes. See if the estimate of costs that you and your parents would have to pay out of pocket or through loans is similar to or lower than UMDCP. If so, then that should be a perfectly good argument to go there if it is a better fit for you than UMDCP.</p>
<p>Of course, if they do not want you to go to schools that are as good as or possibly better fit than UMDCP, but not more expensive, then that is a different problem entirely.</p>
<p>What is your intended major?</p>
<p>I’m undecided. I’ve grown up my entire life planning on going into Law, but recently have been confronted with some very disconcerting and discouraging statistics. At the moment I am leaning toward IT, and possibly becoming an air traffic controller. </p>
<p>But, as I said, I am definitely not certain about what I want to do, therefore I feel going to a great “all around” school would be a good idea.</p>
<p>IT is usually found under business schools, usually with relatively weak technical coverage (which shows in many cases when IT people have to do technical things like computer and network administration). Taking the CS courses in operating systems, networks, databases, and security should strengthen an IT person’s technical skills.</p>
<p>An alternative is to do CS (but take some relevant business/IT courses as electives), which could allow entering both computer software and IT jobs and careers.</p>
<p>Note that some majors need to be started early to avoid delay in completing prerequisites, so you need to take courses to work toward all of the majors you might do early on.</p>
<p>Law school can be done from any undergraduate major, though you’ll want to get both a very high LSAT score (175+?) and very high GPA to get into a top 14 law school from which good lawyer jobs recruit from.</p>
<p>OP - Georgetown, Notre Dame and Carnegie Mellon are known for bad financial aid (search these colleges forums and the financial aid forum for more info). I have experience with all 3 colleges . Carnegie gave the best aid (we are Hispanic) by matching another college aid. My son has better SAT, we have another child in college, our income is higher and we got some grants varying from 12k to 28k.
Many families with income close to 200K, 2 children in college, reasonable assets in relation to income, receive grants in their financial package.
Contact the financial office and ask for an estimate (Carnegie will do that).</p>
<p>What do you mean when you say you have 30 college credits? Are they dual enrollment? If so, will they transfer to any college/university? I hope they are also listed as high school credits. If not, you may not be eligible for freshman admission at many schools, but instead be considered a transfer.</p>
<p>Or, are they AP and you are just estimating the college credit? That will vary by college.</p>
<p>Most are dual enrollment at my local community college, which my school weights as honors classes (the only way to get the honors multiplier at my tiny school, which doesn’t offer but two AP courses). I WILL HAVE 30 college credits, not currently have. I am taking 9 credits next semester and assuming I will pass a self-studied AP exam with a 4 or 5 at the end of the year.
10-20K aid from Mellon would probably be sufficient for me to attend. If some of my classes don’t transfer, I’m not that worried about it.</p>
<p>@lillymom- what were the SAT’s like? Hispanic has to be a significant help as well when dealing with acceptances.</p>
<p>You should sit down with your parents, and find out what they will be chippinginfor your education. The simple truth may be that with your sibling in college, they are already tapped out, and knowing that you have the grades and exam scores to land a big merit-based scholarship is a huge relief to them. For ideas along that line, pop over to the Financial Aid Forum, and read some of the threads.</p>
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<p>50K/year for college is ridiculous and unrealistic for a lot of people, maybe most. Your parents have to worry about educating two kids and that’s very hard to do. They also have to worry about retirement so they can avoid moving in with you or your sister. Cut them some slack. You’ll have some decent choices.</p>
<p>You need to have some realistic safety schools, especially those known for giving good merit aid.</p>
<p>Baylor is currently my main safety, and a very likely candidate.</p>
<p>Op - Definitely being a minority is a big advantage at Carnegie and Notre Dame. My son SAT was 1480/2160, Math II 790, Physics 720 UWgpa=3.7. Carnegie is very open about their financial aid policy, they will match offers from certain colleges and they give more to students that they want to enroll. There is an estimate form on their website that you can submit online. Our estimate was a little less than the final package.
SCS is very competitive.
[Admission</a> > Admission Statistics](<a href=“Home - Computing Services - Office of the CIO - Carnegie Mellon University”>Home - Computing Services - Office of the CIO - Carnegie Mellon University)</p>
<p>Ps; my son was accepted at CIT and MCS</p>
<p>What would be better for you about Baylor than UMDCP?</p>
<p>Smaller classes and more intimate relations with professors. Looking at very similar tuition with scholarships. I’d assume Baylor’s courses are less rigorous, but there is no great way of knowing for sure. UMD is more of a match, which is why I stated Baylor was my safety. My SAT would put me in the top 20% of students at Baylor as opposed to maybe top 30-40% UMD</p>
<p>You are Entitled to feel any way you want about how much money your parents give you/borrow for you when you are a legal adult :)</p>
<p>Post #2 is right on. I estimate that less than 10% of high school seniors have parents who are able to pay for WHATEVER school they get into. Another 20% or so are willing to take on substantial loans that will materially, negatively affect their retirement years (as another poster pointed out… and increase the odds you’ll have to support THEM at some point), but MOST will not. Think about it… full rate at most elite privates is now $60,000 COA for the 2012 entering class. If your father makes, say $130,000, with one sister in college, your EFC could be about $35,000. Most people making $130,000 cannot come close to paying $35,000 for child #2, along with Child #1 at $30,000… that requires mega savings, or mega borrowing. I assume from the way they talk they don’t have mega savings, but are willing to make sure you get educated at either a less expensive private, or at your In-State tuition options.</p>
<p>Your home is in the vast category of households with over $65,000 income, (under $65k many colleges will enable a student to attend free of charge), but not enough income to pay the going rate without huge, and ill-advised, borrowing.</p>
<p>Yep, it’s a rough position to be in. I can’t imagine how difficult and frustrating it must be for families with $80,000-100,000 income. My parents are really into donating to charities and such, which is why I listed income the way I did. While they make x amount, the actual available funds are at the lower end.</p>
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<p>Some introductory courses at Baylor can be large. For example, Chemistry 1301 and 1302 can have over 100 students per lecture section. This is probably smaller than at UMDCP, but don’t assume that every class is a 20 student class with a faculty member.</p>
<p>Take a look here:
<a href=“Baylor University Course Listings”>https://www1.baylor.edu/courselistings/</a></p>
<p>In general, if class size is important to you, look at the school’s schedule of classes to see what the enrollment limits on the classes are.</p>