Seeking input on my list of potential transfer colleges

Transfer Students
1

Hi, my name is Jessica and next year in fall 2017 I will be entering my second year of Nassau Community College. I currently have a 3.87 GPA and hope to have a 3.92 by the end of the Fall semester. This may be long, so I’m sorry about that. Below I am going to first list the potential schools, my EFC etc, then go in depth and to why I’m iffy about the school or why I’m more certain about a certain school and what I want from school as a whole, all of the classes I’ve taken so far and the classes I’m going to take in Fall, and activities I’ve done. If any one has school suggestions, see a school on my list that you think I should get rid of, or just transfer advice in general I would be very thankful.

List of schools *PS this list consist of a lot of reach school, I am looking for more target schools I explain why so many reach later on

1.University of Virginia
2. Pomona College
3. Penn State (was previously accepted)
4. University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
5. Syracuse University
6. Vanderbilt
7. Tulane
8. University of Southern California
9. Pitzer College
10. Colgate University
11. Claremont McKenna College
12. George Washington
I’m also applying to 4 SUNYs but the only one I’m certain about is Binghampton

I don’t want to apply to as many schools as I listed, the list used to be a lot longer. I took out a lot of schools that didn’t offer a lot of financial aid. My EFC is 1320 but my mom can’t actually contribute anything (she’s in the process of paying me back money).

I’ve recently added UVA to my list because it has a lot of the things I want in a school. It’s a big school with D1 sports, I think it has a good location, has generous financial aid, I looked into my major requirements and I liked the classes. I like the programs, the school has this good vibe about it if that makes sense. Honestly when I saw the website I just really like the school then when I looked at their academics I liked it a lot more.

Pomona has a “Politics, Economics, Philosophy” major that I like a lot. I’m currently a political science major but if I went to Pomona I would define lay try and change it to that. Pomona is a really good school for my major. It’s in California which I love. I like that you can take classes at any one of the colleges on the Claremont campuses because I saw that some of he other schools had classes I liked. One of the drawbacks for me is how liberal the school is. When reading reviews about the school on Niche, which I do for every school I look at, the students said it was overwhelmingly liberal which is annoying to me. I also think they take the least amount of transfers of any school on my list.

Penn state was my dream school, I thought it was the best of both worlds academically and socially. I still think that but when I got accepted the first time I got about 25,000 in aid and this school cost over 50,000 for an out of state student so I don’t think it would be financially doable honestly. When I visited I liked the people a lot more than I like the school. When I slept over at a dorm and ate in the cafe a lot of students sat with me and I thought that was really nice. This city girl also saw a cow for the first time which was cool. But when I got to the campus it was kind of a dud.I

I like UNC for a lot of the reasons I like UVA, big state school that still offers a good name and friendly people. A girl I watch on YouTube just graduated from UNC but I watch her vlogs and it seems like a great place. She shows the good and the bad, the activities, sororities, and sports etc and it seems like a place I could be happy.

Syracuse, I remember applying to Syracuse in highschool and then having the worse interview of my life so I pulled my application. Honestly right now I can’t tell you what I like about Syracuse other than it’s environment of students because I keep thinking about how mad that admissions officer made me. I know one negative about the school is the price tag.

Vanderbilt is really good for my major. I spoke to a representative at a college fair I went to this year and she told me I had a real shot of getting in. I like the program and internship opportunities I was told about. The main thing that concerns me is he schools location. I’m from NYC and I’m black. I’ve never directly faced racism so I honestly don’t think about it that much so when I met with the Vanderbilt lady, I had never heard of the school before that, I thought this school is great I hope I get in. Then, as stupid as this sounds, I watched family guy last night where they drive through the south then got arrested and that freaked me out. Then I looked up most racist states and Tennessee was on the list. So that bothered me because I didn’t know what to do with that information.

My hand is tired and for the rest of the schools it’s mainly the same reasons as listed above. About the SUNYs btw the reason I’m not focused on them is because during my first application process my school pushed SUNYs onto us hard and I applied to four then like I am going to now. It was the most complicated process ever, they lost everything, I was supposed to be going to Buffalo and they changed the housing and over admitted people, the housing was so much money and the SUNYS I got into ended up costing more or around the same as most of the schools I got into. I am applying again but there aren’t any that I love.

I want to go to a big school but I’m not against a small school. I want to go to a school where I can go to games I love hockey and baseball. No I wouldn’t go to a school based on their sports but I am taking into account how much I will enjoy the school itself. I hated my highschool, I don’t like my home life (it’s one of my motivators in doing well, the thought of being able to leave), and I’m just not happy with my current situation so I want to be in a place where I will be happy. I plan on going to Law School, hopefully a tier one because I want to go into coorporate law. I want to have an internship while in school. I want to live somewhere really different from NYC because I’ve never loved any where else. I want to study abroad because I went on a highschool trip to Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Liechtenstein and I loved it there. As I said before I’m not into an extremely liberal school like Reed. And if the school is liberal I just don’t want it to always be the topic of conversation. I want to dorm so I can have that experience. I don’t think I can afford a sorority but I’ve always liked the thought of them. I don’t care if the school is predominantly white or what the demographics are as long as it’s a good environment to be in. I’m fine with any size classes, all my classes now have about 25 people but I’m not a big talker so I wouldn’t mind a bigger room.

Classes I’ve taken
Fall 2016
HIS 20th century Europe, B
ENG 101 A
Intro to Politics and Gov A
Algebra 2 and Trig A
PHI Critical thinking A
Spring 2017
Pre Calc A
Eng 102 B+
Intro to Sociology A
Intro to Psych A
Business Law A
Fall 2017
Intro to Philosophy
Calc 1
General Chemistry
ECO principles of macro
ART Drawing
Yoga
Volleyball
I’m taking these classes so I can get an associates degree and I’m taking the economics class because UNC recommended taking it and two other classes before transferring

My first semester I did something called “conversation partner” where I was paired with someone who was learning English and we met once or twice a week for an hour and we talked. I got a job at the movie theater in November. I’m going to work at a summer camp this summer. During the fall I really do hope to join a club. Also I do events for animal adoption and fundraising for shelters. I really want to volunteer at a shelter at least once a week starting in the summer. I’ve also looked into volunteering at psychiatric facilities and shelters because it’s another “passion” of mine.

2

If you didn’t like the campus that much and think it won’t be affordable, I’d take Penn State off your list, assuming you have other options you like better and which are more cost-effective.

3

@bodangles I think the only reason I kept it on was because it was where expected to be for so long. Even though they said I get automatic readmission, I think you’re right. I may get readmitted and end up with the same financial aid package. I’m planning on visiting UVA in the fall and I’m going to sleep over and “shadow” a student so hopefully I still like it after visiting

4

Go to each college’s web site and run its net price calculator to see what kind of financial aid and net price it may offer you*. If it is too expensive, and does not offer large enough realistic-for-you merit scholarships for transfer students, then remove it from your application list, since there is no point in applying to a school that is too expensive.

*Some colleges say that their net price calculators are only for frosh, implying that they may offer worse financial aid for transfers. In this case, treat the result as a best case scenario, but recognize the risk that the actual aid is likely to be worse.

5

@ucbalumnus I did that for most of the schools that meet “100% demonstrated aid” and the numbers ranged from me contributing 5,000 to about 10,000. The reason I put 10,000 there is some of the packages included 5000 lonas so even though it said 5000 out of pocket it would be loan since I don’t have that money. I’m apply to a lot of scholarships this year, math teacher is on the board for my schools scholarships and she said nobody applies so hopefully I’ll get some. I’m also applying to a lot of private scholarships but I’m not counting on getting them so I don’t really want to consider it in my decision. Vanderbilt, UVA, Colgate, had. 5200 contribution I believe. I think for UNC I would have to pay the most. I don’t really want to take out more than 10,000 for loans per year since I plan on going to grad school

6

I wouldn’t apply to Syracuse a second time if that admissions officer made you angry the first time.

7

@LBad96 yeah I have no “good reason” to go. It’s another school my high school college office pushed because they did interviews at my school. The guy was just so rude and started making fun of the fact that I was selectively mute growing up and how I want to be a JAG attorney because I’m a corporate one and then I got really passive aggressive and was short with him. I didn’t know if it was a reason to take t off my list or not

8

It’s not a bad reason at all. Go right ahead, take it off.

9

Federal direct loans are up to $7,500 for each of junior and senior years. Beyond that, loans would need a cosigner or be taken out by someone else, or you could try to find a part time on or off campus job to earn a few thousand dollars during the school year.

So (assuming no contribution from parents or other source of funding) your net price limit is $7,500 if you take loans only, or maybe $10,000 with both loans and part time work earnings.

10

Surprised Penn State is on the list, since its financial aid is poor even for in-state students; it is likely to be far too expensive for a high-need out-of-state student like you. Check its net price calculator.

11

@ucbalumnus the first time around they gave me somewhere between 22,000 and 25,000. My mom really pushed the school so I really loved it but when I applied I thought I had a college fund like my brother did and I didn’t really know how financial aid works

12

You may also want to post on the financial aid forum. As said above, you will qualify for 7500 loan as a junior, and with an EFC of 1320 you will qualify for a partial Pell Grant. If your parent applies for a Parent PLUS loan and is denied you are eligible for an additional 4000 in a direct loan to you the student.

Merit aid and schools that meet full need for transfer students are fewer, but some on the financial aid forum may be able to suggest some more affordable target and safety schools.

You may also want to look at the accessibility and travel costs to schools farther away.

13

@KatMT I thought about accessibility but I only plan on coming home once year. I just don’t know how I’ll actually get my stuff there in the first place. My mom said I can drive it over because I’ve always wanted to drive cross country. A lot of schools I looked at don’t offer merit aid for transfers. Some have scholarships I can apply to and some have scholarships I’m automatically considered for but most only offer need based for transfers. I don’t know if my mom would actually take out a loan for me because her credit may as well be negative and she’s the worse budgeter I ever met.

14

If it was not affordable then, it is unlikely to be affordable this time around.

15

@ucbalumnus so far Syracuse and Penn State are off