<p>^ Sadly? If your parents are willing to/capable of paying for your entire college education, you should be ecstatic. I would be.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>I agree. There’s nothing to be sad about if your parents can pay full freight!!! :)</p>
<p>TK has a good point - the moms always know what’s going on. Anyway, I agree with her - unless you are independently wealthy trying to visit all of these schools in one summer is crazy. Even if you are wealthy, it will likely be overwhelming - for example, it is recommended to not visit more than one college per day, so that you can separate the experiences and really simmer over a school.</p>
<p>It does appear that you spent too much time on the rankings and not enough time looking at the actual physical locations of these schools, other suitable schools that they are nearby (for example, if you are going to do Columbia, why not look at some of the CUNY schools like Hunter and City College, and Fordham University, that are more safety schools? If you are going to look at Princeton, you could also check Temple and possibly Villanova in Philadelphia. In Chicago, look at UIC. Etc.)</p>
<p>Bowdoin is not at all urban, nor is it close to an urban area. Neither is Dartmouth or Cornell. Cornell is quite far away from NYC and Buffalo.</p>
<p>University of Rochester is another suggestion - in Rochester, NY. Northeastern University in Boston, if you are going to be there anyway. University of Minnesota is in an urban area and is one of the most affordable public universities for OOS students. University of Miami, in Miami, FL. Emory University in Atlanta, or Oglethorpe (smaller college). University of Richmond in Richmond, VA.</p>
<p>Take a look at University of Rochester. While not necessarily a saftey, it would be a solid match with a top-notch political science department. It fits your criteria.</p>
<p>Oh no, they can’t pay for the whole thing. We’re in the income bracket that gets totally screwed–the one that will never in a million years qualify for financial aid, but could not fork over $50,000 easily, especially in this recession. Luckily, I have a grandmother that is willing to finance it if I go to a school that she approves off: see giant list above…</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice guys! If I severely edit my list, would you be willing to critique it and tell me if it’s more feasible? </p>
<p>Really, you’ve been very helpful =)</p>
<p>And if, after visiting multiple schools in large cities, I realize I’d prefer a more rural school, I’m only a sophomore, I have time to change my mind. :-)</p>
<p>You really only need one safety. Especially if it’s a school like UMich, which you can apply to early even if you do ED or SCEA at another school. A group of five or so good privates (like Rice, Georgetown, Cornell, Northwestern, and Washington U.) could almost count as one safety. Sometimes, like if your HS has a connection to one of these colleges, one alone could almost be a safety (the case with my HS and Northwestern). </p>
<p>The ultimate authority on determining safeties are your preferences and your HS’s naviance page.</p>
<p>bump…</p>
<p>You really only need one safety.</p>
<p>I disagree. I think every student should have 2-3 financial safeties for a few reasons.</p>
<p>1) you may change you mind in the spring and no longer like your safety</p>
<p>2) you may not get accepted or may not be able to afford your top choices once you see the aid packages, therefore if you have 2-3 financial safeties, you’ll still have a choice to make (you won’t feel like you’re “stuck” with no choices.</p>
<p>3) you may not get accepted to your safety (it happens!)</p>
<p>*Harvard
Yale
Princeton
Stanford
Brown
Columbia
Cornell
MIT
Dartmouth
UPenn
University of Chicago
Georgetown
Northwestern
Amherst
Bowdoin
Washington University
Duke
Johns Hopkins
Vanderbilt
Notre Dame
University of Virginia
William and Mary
*</p>
<p>So are you saying that your grandma will ONLY pay if you get accepted to one of the above schools? What if you apply to several and don’t get accepted, but you do get accepted to a couple of matches or safeties. ARe you saying that if you get rejected to the top choices, then she won’t pay and then you can’t afford college at all?</p>
<p>If that’s true, then grandma needs to be educated by you and your parents. She needs to be told that those schools routinely have to reject many top students just because of limited spaces.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Given the length of your list, it’s quite obvious, lol.</p>
<p>Look at NYU, College of Arts and Science.</p>
<p>“You only need one safety”.</p>
<p>Here’s what happened at our house. My D had only one safety. And she was already accepted (rolling admission). Great. Done deal, right? </p>
<p>BUT we ALSO needed it to be a financial safety. D was offered the chance to submit a separate application for scholarships, which she did. Again, we think we’re done because she is very eligible for some of these and we’re hoping she’ll get them.</p>
<p>What happens is that her teachers didn’t submit her recommendations on time. Long story and we did end up getting it “fixed”, but…it was a NIGHTMARE for awhile in our house. This was the ONLY college we could probably afford, and…through no real fault of her own (though she should have followed up), she wasn’t going to be considered for scholarships. </p>
<p>So…“stuff happens”. Our big state Uni is on that “hottest colleges” list. Their applications have gone up and the required stats in the past 1-3 years have increased a lot. So…one never knows what tiny little glitch might stand in the way of your one safety. I’m not saying you necessarily need more, but…it was awfully scary when we saw that net collapse below us.</p>