May want to consider Oberlin as it’s got a great STEM program and does provide some significant merit scholarships; my STEM DD was awarded $30k/year, but she chose to attend another school - it was something we could afford as we had planned on being full pay.
For a college that requires both parents’ financial information, if you are not able to get financial information from both parents, and the college does not grant the waiver (each college may make its own decision), then you will not be able to get financial aid from that college.
Kenyon, Oberlin & Wake Forest all have acceptance rates below 30% meaning they are safeties for no one. Even Case Western Reserve I would be sceptical to call a safety with a 35% acceptance rate.
As for safeties, in-state UC Davis, UC Irvine and UC San Diego would be good options. Since money is an issue, if you want to go OOS you could try 'Bama since you would qualify for an automatic full tuition scholarship. My advice would be that any school with an acceptance rate higher than 40% would be a safety.
@TheGr8Gatsby, I disagree as I believe a safety is based both on acceptance rate AND an applicant’s academic profile. Our DD’s just went through the process last Fall and included schools in the USNWR LAC #20-30 range as safeties - they were accepted to all, including Bates, Kenyon and Oberlin.
@Chembiodad Congrats to your daughters on their fantastic acceptances which I’m sure were well deserved. But a safety is a school you should be 100% certain you will accepted to (and 100% sure will be affordable) and places like Kenyon only accept 1/4 of applicants including those with ivy worthy stats like the OP. Kenyon, Oberlin and Wake Forrest would be low matches for the OP and they will be very likely to get in but it wouldn’t be guaranteed.
All three should be considered reaches due to the uncertainty of getting the non-custodial parent information or waiver for financial aid.
In addition, all three use “level of applicant’s interest”. An “overqualified” applicant needs to convince them that they are not being used as “safeties” that s/he is unlikely to attend.
If you use a school that admits 35% as a “safety” you definitely need more than one. Many schools are need-aware so it’s not just your stats that improves your admissions odds, it’s also your money.
My D didn’t get into (or was WL at) one or two schools in her cycle that were surprising. We didn’t consider them safeties and I’m glad we didn’t. They too had 35%-ish accept rates and she was way over their 75% stats-wise. I suspect they thought she wasn’t that into them and indeed, she did wind up at a much more selective school. So they were right.
@Yarnweaver - All of the reaches on your list (except Chicago and Vandy) will expect the CSS Profile and the non-custodial parent form as well. If you cannot reach that other parent and that parent has not supported you in any way, you can go through the process to request a waiver of that parent’s info. Every school has its own process so it will vary, but begin by asking the parent you live with if the other is totally unreachable, then enlist third parties to confirm this, ideally a guidance counselor (who might need to write a letter), perhaps clergy or caseworker, etc. None of those schools will be safeties financially, no matter how competitive you are for admission.
Some possible safeties to consider are the guaranteed full tuition or more merit schools - you have the GPA and test scores for most or all of them: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/20798968/#Comment_20798968
Talk to your parent and find out what amount of money is available to you each year if you can’t get anything from the other. When you have that number, we can help you come up with some other schools to add that would be affordable and where you’d be likely to get in.
@TheGr8Gatsby, I don’t think it’s a linear formula as the OP’s stats place them well above the top-25% at these schools and assuming interest is demonstrated acceptance is likely unless financial aid is required. While financial need with be an obstacle as all are need aware, merit aid may be a solution.
OP, best to focus on need blind schools as there are some great options.
@TheGr8Gatsby @Chembiodad thank you for the suggestions—will check them out.
@ucbalumnus @OHMomof2 I’ve asked and definitely won’t be able to contact my non-custodial parent. Annual income is around 30k. Should I ask my school counselor to send in documentation for the waiver application? I don’t think there are any contracts/legal documents at my disposal.
Again, thank you all for the help! I wasn’t aware I needed to provide info for both parents as I’ve been told it wasn’t necessary.
@Yarnweaver Re non-custodial parent info for the CSS profile, do contact the admissions offices of the schools you. are interested in. I did this recently and several told me that they do indeed review the family situation on a case by case basis after you fill in the waiver request. They seem to be requiring some kind of proof that the non-custodial parent is not reachable: from a therapist, social worker, court or other official channel. Maybe a school counselor would be ok, but best to check with each school to see what they require. Also re financial aid given your stats, look at midwest schools that are offering good aid packages these days to attract students. To differentiate yourself, work on your essays and have a trusted writer/teacher give you feedback through several drafts. Use Zeemee (download the app on your phone) and before posting content, keep the profile private until you are ready to share. Embed the link to Zeemee into the common app under “additional information.” Show your videos and photos and captions for Zeemee to a trusted advisor. Also show the schools you are interested by contacting them, and as others have said, create a balanced college list which includes schools that are safeties both financially and academically: then it will be up to you to make sure that the schools all know that you are truly interested. I know one student who was admitted to Cornell but waitlisted at Lehigh and given a full ride at Rochester–Lehigh understood that she was applying to them as a safety: she had not visited and did not reach out to admissions. Best of luck!
@Tara108 thank you! I’ve heard from one friend who went through this process 4 years ago that she didn’t have to file the waiver until she was accepted (to JHU). Her mom ended up sending them a letter, and it was waived. Is that an anomaly?
If you apply to any schools where you need to get the non-custodial parent requirement waived, it is best to ask for the waiver as soon as possible, so that you know whether it is accepted or denied early, and the schools can make up their financial aid offers early enough for you to be able to decide based on them.
@ucbalumnus that makes sense. I’ve found the application form; I guess I’ll speak with my counselor tomorrow.
My college list as of last week was UPenn (ED), UChicago (EA), Johns Hopkins, Brown, Duke, Columbia, WashU, Northwestern, Rice, Vandy, Cornell, USC, Emory, Amherst, Swarthmore, Haverford, Barnard, Boston U, Stanford, UWash, and Scripps.
If you show interest, I think you can consider Scripps to be a safety. Emory and Boston can be considered matches. UCs can range from safeties (e.g., Riverside, Davis) to matches (UCSB, Irvine, UCSD) to reaches (UCLA).
Most of the other schools on you list are reaches and your list is pretty reach-heavy, as you already know, not to mention long. I’d look into UCSB’s College for Creative Studies.
Apply by Dec. 1st for merit consideration at USC, and think about submitting scholarship apps at some of the other schools. I’d cut Cornell, Columbia, and U Wash for reasons mentioned above.
Many schools will be willing to talk to you about the process and criteria they use for waivers. They won’t give you an answer before you’ve applied, though. So my advice is to get your applications and financial aid applications (FAFSA and CSS) in early, so there is time to seek a waiver. Some schools report financial aid offers with acceptances, but generally this initial offer doesn’t take into account special circumstances (because they don’t have time to consider this for every applicant). Once you’ve been admitted, though, they will be happy to spend time on your special circumstances. Does your NCP pay child support? If not, and there has been no contact for several years, I think you are likely to get waivers. If the NCP pays child support, it’s much harder to prove they don’t have resources to pay for college (and certainly you can’t claim the whereabouts are unknown if your CP is getting child support checks).
If you are claiming no contact and no support from the NCP, they do generally require confirmation from an unbiased third party, such as a social worker, minister/rabbi/imam, or school official.
Maybe Pomona instead of Scripps or in addition to. Pomona was noted of all colleges by Princeton Review to offer the most financial aid. Bates College has a small but good Chemistry and English departments. I was a Chemistry major at Cornell and minored in English. I’d put Cornell back on your list. Great place. finally, you only need one safety if admitted to, you would happily attend.
You can google [college name] and “non-custodial parent waiver” to get an idea of what they will need. They will want this whenever you submit your financial aid stuff or they won’t process it.
Here is Amherst’s and it appears to be pretty standard, put out by CSS but not all schools use this one so it’s best to check them all once you decide where you are applying: https://www.amherst.edu/system/files/media/NCP_CSS_Profile_Waiver_Request.pdf
The conditions for the waiver request on that form are
Barnard is different, no form, just a letter from custodial parent - https://barnard.edu/finaid/frequently-asked-questions/regular-decision-applicants
In short, this is an additional obstacle that you will need to overcome. You need to be on top of this paperwork as well as the app/regular financial aid stuff.
It would be best to have a couple of safeties that are definitely affordable, and that means FAFSA-only colleges that meet need, like UCs or guaranteed merit Us from the list i linked earlier.
@Yarnweaver Definitely do not wait to aks for the waiver forms AND each school’s requirements: provide what they request and follow the timetable each school suggests to you. Asap is good.
*ask