Parents won't pay a cent, should I lower expectations? (Will chance back)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>My parents have a high family income, but are dealing with a lot of problems and plus still have to pay mortgage on the house, grandma has cancer, etc.... Income is ~$120,000, but I pretty much am not going to get a cent for college. </p>

<p>And the retarded CSS form says our EFC is ~$30,000. So basically need based aid is useless to me. So not only do I need to GET INTO these schools, but I also need scholarships from them to bother attending. </p>

<p>Ethnicity: Asian
Family Income: $120,000
Location: Florida</p>

<p>School Type: HIGHLY competitive public high school with best IB program in state of Florida. Consistently ranked near the top 100s each year, sent 8 to Duke last year and 2 to Harvard.
UW GPA: 3.96-something. Only got 2 Bs ever, both Freshman year. I picked up the pace afterwards.
W. GPA: (Out of 5): Around 4.6
Class Rank: ~31/620. Took too many elective classes fresh. and soph. years. </p>

<p>SAT I: (Single sitting/Not superscored)
800 CR
780 M
650 W (Don't know what happened...Whatever)
1580/2230 </p>

<p>SAT IIs: (Single sittings also)
800 Bio M
800 Chem
800 Math II
790 Literature</p>

<p>5 AP English Lit, 5 AP Comp. Science A
6 IB Spanish SL, 6 IB Math SL (Stupid IAs killed me)</p>

<p>Senior Schedule: I already got straight As first quarter, so I definitely expect all semester As. I believe most colleges look at 1st semester grades/rank for RD? </p>

<p>Biology HL
Chemistry HL
Math HL (i.e. Calculus II)
U.S. History HL
English HL
Physics SL
Theory of Knowledge (Weird required IB class)</p>

<p>Awards:
National Merit Semi (234 PSAT)</p>

<p>ECs/Service:
Eagle Scout, with a VERY demanding project of almost 200 hours and $1300 budget. </p>

<p>Weightlifting Team 10,11,12. Varsity 11,12. A huge time commitment, and I love it so I wrote my common. app. essay on it. </p>

<p>3 Mission Trips to Katrina Disaster Relief.... with church youth group. </p>

<p>Worked all all through junior year to senior year/ 12 hours week as a server at a retirement home...
Which led me to volunteer there as the regular BINGO caller. 2 hours/week, for a year and a half. </p>

<p>Spent around 150 hours doing volunteer work at my church this summer, helping to renovate the sanctuary... will have a glowing rec. from my pastor for doing so. </p>

<p>Intended Major:
Biochem :) </p>

<p>Colleges:
University of Florida (Safety)
Vanderbilt
Davidson U. (First choice- nominated them as my National Merit first choice... I know it's hopeless to get scholarships here, but I do love it)
Washington & Lee
Furman U.
University of Richmond</p>

<p>...And just for giggles (and for a chance at the lottery, cause if I get in I might be able to pay the 10%.)
Harvard
Yale. </p>

<p>Will chance you back! Thanks!</p>

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<p>Bump? :frowning: Help.</p>

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<p>I at Richmond and Washington/Lee. I do not much about Florida schools.</p>

<p>Chance me also? <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/802020-texas-has-bison-but-vermont-has-ski-slopes-where-shall-i-end-up.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/802020-texas-has-bison-but-vermont-has-ski-slopes-where-shall-i-end-up.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

4

<p>Between my parents they make close to $150k, and they’re not paying a cent. </p>

<p>I did not get a full scholarship, so I took out student loans, that’s what they’re there for. Get low interest student loans and go to a good school, it’s NOT worth lowering your expectations for $$$, that’s a decision you’ll come to regret.</p>

5

<p>apply. you have good stats, take out some student loans and pay them off. It has been proven it is worth the investment.</p>

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<p>I think Vandy has a good financial aid program?? And I agree, loans are worth it. Your stats are basically perfect, so a lot of schools would be willing to give merit aid. In-state for Florida shouldn’t be too bad?</p>

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<p>UF gives no aid at all, so it’s my safety and it’s cheap, but I would still end up paying around $10,000 for room+board and all that, which is basically the most my parents are willing to spare for me. </p>

<p>I don’t know about student loans. After all that, I still plan to do med. school, and $300,000 in debt is pretty ridiculous.</p>

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<p>If Florida has an Honors program that would be helpful? Go there so you aren’t in debt, do extremely well, then apply to a top med program.</p>

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<p>Yea I’m pretty much going to 90% be at UF one way or another… they do have an Honors program, but it isn’t much different from the regular program… maybe like 1-2 ‘Honors’ classes now and then. But hey, it’s not a bad school. I could have had the luck to be living in like Alaska, or something.</p>

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<p>You shouldn’t lower your expecataand with your statscome; with your stats you could probably get a lot of scholarships. If worse comes to worse, take out loans. Unless you apply to state schools, all private institutions regardless of how highly ranked they are will cost about the same. It would be a waste for you to have spent all this time for good grades to go to a mediocre school. </p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/804594-chance-me-jhu-mit-ed-ea.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/804594-chance-me-jhu-mit-ed-ea.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>I’m going to disagree with above posters. I wouldn’t take out more than 10k/year in loans. My parents aren’t paying for school either, and I know I have a cheap option (UAlabama), so why spend more money? Try to find merit where you can, but be realistic</p>

<p>Save your money for grad school.</p>

12

<p>No one has actually chanced me yet :(</p>

13

<p>Buuuuump… </p>

<p>If any of you haven’t checked, my class rank is rather low. Will coming from a very competitive school help offset that? (Sent 8 to Duke, 2 to Harvard last year)</p>

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<p>id say that you have a good chance at all,the last two of course are subjective. apply to all and see what you get for merit, you’ll never know if you don’t apply.</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/805515-transfer-change-yale-uchicago-gwu-georgetown-etc.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/805515-transfer-change-yale-uchicago-gwu-georgetown-etc.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

15

<p>The basics:
First you say your parents won’t pay a cent.
Later you say they’ll pay $10,000 and that will cover your expenses at UF.
You’re also in the market for grad school. </p>

<p>We have this exact same situation in our house. Do you KNOW what new doctors make, and how long it would take you to pay off that debt? This is a no brainer. Go instate at least, or to one of the many schools that are free to NMF. You’re still going to be called Dr. Mowmow regardless of where you do your undergrad work. Go somewhere that you can go for free or cheap…you earned it. And then you’ll also have a better chance to really stand out/excel. Then maybe you can even get scholarships for med school at a “better” school. If not, at least you’ll enter med school unburdened with loans to which you’ll only be piling on. A molehill becomes a mountain VERY quickly. And, when you are trying to get a job as a doctor…it’s where you went to med school that counts, not your undergrad work. </p>

<p>Note: The 10% you mentioned that you’ll have to PAY if admitted to a top Ivy is not the “whole story”. That’s an outright payment estimate. Then, at your income level, the package will also include some loans to make up the difference.</p>

<p>As for chancing you…I’m sure you already know you’re “in” at most of your first list (though nothing is ever guaranteed)…and you’re a candidate for top Ivies but they’re a guessing game for anyone. But…have you not yet even applied? Even to UF? I know our in-state had a deadline to be considered for scholarships…and I’m assuming that’s how you’ve whittled that COA down to $10,000. I know a NMF is eligible for a few/several scholarships at UF. You might end up going there for free (that’s what we’re hoping for at our house). Then maybe Mom/Dad’s $10,000 a year could be put away and make a nice little dent in your first year of med school. </p>

<p>Good luck to you.</p>

16

<p>I think you should definitely get loans and never set expectations lower than what you worked hard to achieve :slight_smile: Chance back?</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/805737-columbia-college-chicago.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/805737-columbia-college-chicago.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

17

<p>Hey! I live in Florida also, and I’m a senior in the best IB program in Broward County…lol </p>

<p>From my understanding, just by getting the IB diploma you automatically qualify for Bright Futures which pays 100% - 75% of your tuition depending upon which level of the award you qualify for. Also, you’re DEFINITELY in for UF. They love IB kids… and your stats are good. Be sure to apply for other scholarships and things though if you can’t rely on financial aid.</p>

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<p>Funny, I thought our Volusia county school had the best IB program :frowning: Lying guidance counselors :slight_smile: </p>

<p>Eh Bright Futures is max 75% now. UF doesn’t offer any other scholarships, except a pretty small National Merit one, from what I’m aware of. I might be able to scrape some outside scholarships, though.</p>

19

<p>Bump thread resurrection!</p>

<p>Bad news :frowning: My school didn’t nominate me for the Davidson Belk scholarship. So I have to cut Davidson off my list, and it was damn first choice too. Some girl with a 1300 SAT I got the nomination, lol… I mean, come on, I know SAT isn’t that important, but when you’re below the 25th percentile… </p>

<p>Aaargh. Anyway, time to change my National Merit first choice from Davidson to Washington and Lee.</p>

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<p>Shameless bump.</p>