<p>it’s tricky. We’re not exceptionally well-off but I know if I get into my number one choice of school, we’ll do whatever it takes. Even if it means I’ll have to pay off the debt years after graduating. </p>
<p>I am torn between the two schools. I would be downright giddy at either of the schools but each one has so much to offer. They’re two very different schools and appeal to two very different sides of me. </p>
<p>I think I’d be more at ease at Brown, but I feel like ten years from now, I will really appreciate the Columbia core curriculum and my experience living in NYC, and of course, the opportunities that come with it. </p>
<p>After researching the rest of the summer, I should have a verdict on my ED decision. I just hope I haven’t screwed myself over already. I know people think I am overreacting, or some think that i’m bat **** crazy for even hoping for those schools after messing up my junior year (the most important year), but it is what it is and I just want to do whatever it takes, and worry however much I need to, at this point to get in somewhere I love.</p>
<p>My weaknesses are the sciences and spanish, but I plan to go into something with no lab-science base and I’m already fluent in 3 languages. I am going to select fields of interest to show them that my weaknesses won’t necessarily hinder me from being successful in my future plans. I feel like Brown would be more lenient towards someone who may not be completely well rounded at everything because they have no core curriculum and I will get along fine with all the classes I choose to take (as in, not science ones.). But Columbia, I feel, would prefer someone who was pretty good at everything since its core curriculum requires pretty much everything. </p>
<p>ChasingStarlight – You’re being too casual about the financial implications here. I applaud you and your family for saying you’ll do whatever it takes to get you to the best school you can get into but you don’t want to take on debt that could be crushing if you don’t have to. There are so many good schools and one of them out there might give you a lot more money than your dream school.</p>
<p>Here is the reason finances keep some families from being able to apply early decision. Sometimes it is hard for a family to see how much need based assistance they will get from a school, or maybe it looks like they won’t get enough, then they can’t go early decision.</p>
<p>Financial aid packages vary greatly between schools. Some families have to be able to shop around, it has to be a consideration in the decision about where their kid will go. Now I understand that some people are in the position of Obstinate and they can tell how much aid they will get from a school and it will be enough so then they can go early decision.</p>
<p>OP - I don’t do chance threads often…Very unlikely with Columbia, unless you have some very special hook(s). Always view ED as your one free option (option usually costs something), use it wisely. Pick a school you will have a better chance of getting in, otherwise you are throwing it away. With your GPA, any top 20 schools would be a stretch, to be very blunt. If you want ED to help you, then you will need to go lower, otherwise do RD.</p>
<p>Well, oldfort. if I were to get denied ED, then I would get denied RD. And I’m not going to ED somewhere I’m not sure I completely want to attend. It’s only these two schools that I’m absolutely sure I’d want to attend. I have no hooks. Don’t have legacy, skin color, extreme athletic abilities, or any of that. I am an indian girl at a top school with a crappy GPA and an otherwise well above average and fairly unique resume, and that’s what I’ll work with. It’s not about if I will apply to these schools or not because I can or cannot get in, but when I will apply to better my chances, however slightly. </p>
<p>I will get tons of money from OSU ( in state) and probably from U of Indiana- Bloomington because I have guaranteed admission and I have legacy.</p>
<p>I will probably get into UMich just because it loves our high school, but with little money. I think I’d be okay going to Umich, and so I’m not applying to many schools “ranked” under that besides UNC Chapel Hill, and that’s a maybe. </p>
<p>"A little off topic, but every now and then I want to apply somewhere ED just to save the stress and the money of applications… "</p>
<p>applicannot - This is where a carefully selected rolling-admissions “safety” school can come in handy. Maybe your home-state public, maybe a relatively un-talked-about-at-cc second or third tier college/U, or even (gasp) your local community college, but certainly a place where you could be happy, that you can afford without aid other than aid determined by FAFSA, and that offers your intended major. Find a place like this, and get it in the bag early. You will feel soooooo much better knowing that you do have a place to go no matter what. And, sometimes this kind of search identifies a place that turns into a first-choice!</p>
<p>Wishing you all the best.</p>
<p>P.S. Happykid just got a postcard from Longwood U in Virginia. They are offering instant admissions decisions for students who come tour the campus this summer. Details at whylongwood.com</p>
<p>applincannot-- Early Action is good, too, if you want to get early acceptances which are not binding. And, the advice to do some rolling admissions is solid, too. I completely ‘get’ the desire to know early and not have quite as much stress.</p>
<p>I actually have a rolling admissions school that I love - Pitt. On an income of $20,000, there is no school (except community college, but I’d rather go $60,000 in debt) I can afford with only FAFSA aid. That said, my prospects for scholarship money at Pitt are excellent and I should have the decision by December. So, that rolling admissions advice is DEFINITELY solid.</p>
<p>I think I was experiencing a lot of stress because my limit of applying to six schools had slowly grown to eight. I think I’m comfortable with six (I was bottom heavy, now I’m a little reach heavy) again, which helps some. So many of my applications are essay-heavy that the thought of filling out literally twenty or so essays is daunting. But I’ve been reading, and happymomof1/poetgrl, your advice has been great. My current early action school is a mega reach, but as per poetgrl, I think trade it out for something a little more realistic. In fact, I’m off to look for a list of EA schools right now.</p>