School Recommendations! Please? Financial Trouble.

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Thanks for visiting.</p>

<p>I am from a low income family, multiracial asian, from an "okay" public high school in SoCal with around 2,500 students. We didn't send anyone this year to the Ivys, only to Cal and UCLA. </p>

<p>Here are my stats.</p>

<p>California Resident
Junior
Male
Asian
GPA (unweighted): 3.98
GPA (weighted): 4.55
Class Rank: 6/589
SAT: 2040 - Math 760 CR 600 Writing 680
SAT IIs: World History 760
I will be taking CHEM and USH this june.
AP Tests: World History, US History, Chemistry</p>

<p>JUNIOR Courseload 1st Semester Grades, same grades for second as well
AP USH - A
AP Chem - A
English Honors 3 - A
Spanish 3 - A
Art - A
Pre Cal Honors - B</p>

<p>Courseload for Next Year: Hardest Courseload Offered at School
AP PHYSICS B
AP CALCULUS BC
AP STATS
AP SPANISH LANG
AP ENGLISH LIT
AP GOVT/POLITICS</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:</p>

<ul>
<li>Founder/President of Habitat for Humanity, sophomore year. Put in around 300 hours of service, raised over $5,000, organized events (10, 11)</li>
<li>Habitat for Humanity Hospitality Committee - 50 hours (10, 11)</li>
<li>Boardmember on City's Comittee - Attend annual meetings, social gatherings, make up programs for youth of city (10, 11)</li>
<li>Work: 25+ Hours a week to support family's income, gets paid cash. (9, 10, 11)</li>
<li>Volunteer at various organizations - 200 hours (9, 10, 11)</li>
<li>Senator Campaign Internship - Precincts walking, Phonebanking - 150 hours (11)</li>
<li>Intern at Law Office: 100+ Hours (11)</li>
<li>Academic Decathlon (School won 1st Place County) - Top 20 at State Level out of 80 teams (11)</li>
<li>Mr. Tolerance - Advocate for Tolerance on Campus (9,10,11)</li>
<li>Founder of Breakdancing Crew - Perform at various shows/festivals (9, 10, 11) </li>
<li>Student Leadership Conference, Sacramento (10)</li>
<li>Student Leadership Seminar, Sacramento (11)</li>
<li>Writer for School's newpaper (9, 10)</li>
<li>Competitor for American Chemical Society test (11)</li>
<li>UCI EAOP College Prep Program (9,10, 11)</li>
<li>School's Link Crew Program - Link Crew Leader (10, 11)</li>
<li>Student Council (12)</li>
</ul>

<p>UPCOMING Extracurriculars for Summer
Boy's State, California (11)
UC COSMOS (11)
Law Institute (11)
Summer Leadership Conference (11)</p>

<p>Awards:
Habitat for Humanity dedication award (10, 11)
Harvard Book (11)
1st Place Academic Decathlon Team (11)
1st Place Super Quiz (11)
Boy's State Nominee, Selected (11)
Best Freshmen Writer (9)
Best Sophomore Writer (10)
Shakespeare Recitation (Lady Macbeth) - 10
Volunteer of the Year, Library (11)</p>

<p>My major is political science, minor in East Asian Studies</p>

<p>I am very undecisive in my colleges. So far, finances has been a problem for me. Because of this, I have to base most of my college on financial reasons.
Because of this, I have no clue what school offers a lot of aid
First off, I wanted to clarify that my parents are retired, and they don't work. Therefore I work, gets paid under the counter. This money is used to pay the monthly bills, insurance, cell phones, etc etc. However, I plan to state this in FAFSA, so I have no clue what my EFC will be.</p>

<p>I've researched various schools such as the UC's, they offer decent aid but I think I need to go outside of California. </p>

<p>Thank you for your help!</p>

2

<p>According to the Princeton Review, the following schools offer the best financial aid packages: Princeton University, Pomona College, New College of Florida, Stanford University, Truman State University, Lake Forest College, Claremont McKenna College, Beloit College, Williams College, and Wabash College. See this article for more information about them: <a href="http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/departments/college/?article=Top10FinancialAid07%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/departments/college/?article=Top10FinancialAid07&lt;/a>. </p>

<p>Also, you might want to try to focus on "need blind" colleges so that your chances aren't hurt by colleges rejecting you beause they can't give you the financial aid you need (I don't know how often colleges do that). The following schools are listed as "need blind": Amherst College, Bennington College, Boston College Bowdoin College, Brandeis University, Brown University, Caltech, Claremont McKenna College, College of the Holy Cross, Columbia University, Cornell University, Cooper Union, Dartmouth College, Davidson College, Duke University, Earlham College, Emory University, Fordham University, Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, Georgetown University, Harvard College, Haverford College, Hiram University, Johns Hopkins University, Lawrence University, MIT, Middlebury College, Northwestern University, Pomona College, Princeton University, Rice University, Stanford University, Swarthmore College, University of Chicago, University of Notre Dame, University of Pennsylvania, University of Richmond, Vanderbilt University, Wake Forest University, Washington College, Wellesley College, Wesleyan University, Williams College, Yale University.</p>

3

<p>You'll definitely have a great shot at merit aid many places (including a number of UCs). Aim to apply to a wide-ish spectrum of schools: reaches that will guarantee to meet need, but also safeties/low matches that still excite you but might offer you good merit scholarships, and perhaps admissions to honors programs.</p>