<p>I did Truman’s NPC calculator, and I would only get 3,000 in merit, leaving me with $17,000+ to pay. I know there’s financial aid, but they obviously don’t meet need and I’m not expecting them to come anywhere close to covering that…</p>
<p>I’ve heard Kirksville is horrible, too. I never expected much of rural MO, but I don’t know if I could handle such a dry, depressing atmosphere…it’s what I’m trying to get away from. Also, I know that those NPC calculators aren’t completely accurate, they’re just rough estimates, but they’re all I have to go by. I’m not really basing my decision on one or two grand, but if a school’s EFC for me comes out to be one or two grand less than Barnard’s, I have to assume it’s worth investigating. Yeah, I figured ED isn’t best. I feel like I’ll lose that ED boost, but I really need to compare. Yes, I am a URM and first-gen…will that help me some, even without ED? I know Barnard is already really diverse and has many low-income students, so will it still matter? I just feel like in ED my app would get a closer look, versus in regular decision where there are 5000+ applications and I’d get overshadowed by all the really amazing ones…</p>
<p>Yeah, I know that’s something to consider. I don’t want it to completely deter me from applying, though. To just get in would be amazing. My mom knows how much I want to go to Barnard and up until this point she believed I was doing ED. I don’t think she realizes the gravity of the situation. She seems so disinterested in all of this, but I guess I can’t blame her since she knows even less than I do.</p>
<p>URM and 1st In Family will be HUGE for Barnard. Perhaps more important than ED. You will not compete on the same entry requirements as ordinary applicants.</p>
<p>Call them and talk to them directly about your situation, both admissions and financial aid. You should have a better idea of what to do once you talk to them. If you don’t get the answers you want to hear, call a different school. Might be a good idea anyway, just to compare.</p>
<p>Have you considered some of the great LACs in the midwest? Macalester has already been mentioned, but there are others - including several that offer to meet financial need. Carlton, Oberlin, Kenyon, Oberlin, and Grinnell come to mind. But they aren’t the only ones. You may get merit aid at slightly less prestigious schools. Only Macalester from that list is urban, but the others are probably very different from your high school. If at all possible, you should try to visit a few. You may find that being around stimulating and accepting peers is really what you’re after - and location is less important. You could always go to New York after you graduate. (Brooklyn is full of graduates from prestigious liberal arts colleges.) As already stated, if you really need aid, you’re better off being able to compare offers and not applying ED anywhere. I love Barnard too, go ahead and apply, but try to keep your options and eyes open. </p>
<p>On the cost issue - sorry for being a pest, but my daughter spent time on the Columbia campus with friends and was blown away by how much money they were spending. And she goes to school in a city where she goes out quite a bit.</p>
<p>@MrMom62: Really??! That makes me feel so much better. I already felt so inadequate. I didn’t know how significant of an impact that would have. What do you mean by calling them and explaining my situation? What exactly should I be asking? I don’t really know what else they can tell me…should I tell them they’re my top choice, but I can’t apply ED for financial reasons?</p>
<p>@opine1: not really, until now. I really wanted to get out of the midwest, honestly, but I know the school is probably more important than location. I’m adding Macalester and Oberlin, and maybe Carleton. Grinnell is too small for me. I really want schools with around 2k or more students. </p>
<p>And no, it’s fine! I get it. I know it’s something I should really think about considering my money issues. If I’m lucky enough to get in Barnard RD, I’ll have to really talk to my mom about that stuff, because it’s not like she’ll be able to send me tons of spending money. On the other hand, if Barnard has many low-income students, some who come from families that make even less than mine, I should be able to make it fine, right? </p>
<p>I actually feel a lot, lot better about applying to many more schools. I won’t have my Barnard decision in December, but I know this is better because then I get to see if it’s worth it in comparison to other colleges. Also, who knows, maybe I’ll end up liking another college just as much. I’m really surprised my counselor wasn’t more adamant about getting me to not do ED, because it seems she would know what was best. I guess she was just trying to let me do what I wanted, but…</p>
<p>How many do you think I should apply to total? I’ve realized that at this point my list is basically exclusively LACs, is that okay if that’s the atmosphere I want? They all have much better aid than most universities, where you have to be at the very top of everything or get into a Ivy or similarly-ranked school.</p>
<p>Have you figured out a safety which you will certainly get into and certainly can afford? If not, then you need to consider what your plan will be if you get shut out – probably community college and then transfer to an in-state public school.</p>
<p>If you call Barnard and let them know your situation, URM and 1st in Family status, plus financial status, you are going to push up your level of interest score. If they take an interest in you, they’ll guide you through. It’s way better than sending in an app and seeing what happens. Talk to them, they are looking for students like you.</p>
<p>If anyone has the idea that there’s this huge pool of academically qualified URM, 1st in Family students just dying to get into small women’s LACs, there is most certainly not. One of them is dying to hear from you. Maybe not Barnard, but maybe Barnard. One of them will certainly take an interest. </p>
<p>@ucbalumnus: I think I’ll apply to UMSL and commute there…that can be my safety, and then I’ll do CC if I absolutely get shut out of all 10/something schools. If I had to transfer to an in-state public, just curious, would that definitely mean taking out of a ton of loans? Do they give aid to transfers? </p>
<p>@MrMom62: Would emailing the admissions counselor assigned to my region/state and explaining the situation to her do the same? Say that Barnard is my first choice, but ask her if she thinks I should just wait for RD given my reliance on financial aid?</p>
<p>Policies vary by school and state. You can go to the web sites of the potential transfer target schools and run their net price calculators, pretending that you are a transfer student/applicant instead of a frosh student/applicant, to see if what financial aid will look like in that case (some may not even ask whether you are frosh or transfer, since they offer the same aid, but some do ask which means that they may offer different aid).</p>
<p>outofit, I think you’ve received a lot of good suggestions. I like the idea of adding some midwestern universities, where you will get even more boost from your race/ethnicity. I’d also not axe Grinnell just yet. True, it’s a little smaller than some of the others on your list and it is undeniably rural, but it is extremely well funded and excellent academically. I’d also look at the Maine trio: Colby, Bates, Bowdoin.</p>
<p>I think it’s okay not to apply to large universities if that’s not what you want, but in addition to small LACs you might add some medium sized privates. Emory and Rice come to mind. There are others, but need to get an idea of your grades and scores to suggest.</p>
<p>I’m a little unclear how much debt you project you/your mother will go into if you choose Barnard. Although big debt is not a good idea, a reasonable amount of debt isn’t something to be afraid of. Of course, each person and family defines “big” and “reasonable” but to me, $10,000-15,000 at the end of four years is acceptable. That’s for you, not your mother. Again, whether you’d be willing to make that kind of intra-family agreement to pay back the debt yourself is a personal decision. </p>
<p>Have you looked into QuestBridge? If you are a candidate you will get a lot of support and advice from this organization.</p>
<p>
Why do you feel this way? Many, many college graduates from all over the country, from all sorts of school locations end up in New York or other big cities. My son felt just the opposite: College was probably the only chance he’d have to experience rural life. Most jobs are in cities and the better education you are armed with the better job you’ll get. </p>
<p>It’s not just the diploma, it’s the connections, references, internships and contacts you get along the way. LACs and some medium sized privates are especially good at this.</p>
<p>Rice has actually been my favorite school since I was a freshman. I knew it was really hard to get into so I constantly tried to find similar schools, to no avail. It’s so special and unique. I know for a fact I can’t get into Rice. My ACT score is barely their 25th percentile. I’m taking it again, but I feel like I would really struggle there…LACs are just more holistic. I just really like the small, intimate feel of LACs. </p>
<p>Also, I know debt is inevitable and I’m expecting to come out of undergrad with at least 20-25k. I just don’t want my mother to take out anything to pay. I know it’ll be on me. </p>
<p>I thought the Questbridge deadlines were past? I don’t think I’m qualified enough, honestly. </p>
<p>And I feel that way because I know NYC is incredibly expensive, and once I get out of undergrad, unless I go straight to grad school, I’ll have to worry about paying off my loans and everything…I don’t know. I guess it’s possible, but it won’t be Manhattan, haha</p>
<p>I don’t know if you’re qualified or not because I don’t know your grades, scores etc. LACs can be holistic, yes, but grades are still and important factor for all the schools on your list. (I’m not familiar with URichmond, though.) Other factors such as background, ECs, talents etc can compensate for weak scores, and some schools are score optional, but it’s hard to balance out a weak GPA.</p>
<p>My GPA isn’t really weak. I just didn’t want to oversell it. I have an upward trend. Freshman year I had a 3.53. Sophomore and Jr years, I had somewhere between a 4.1 and 4.2. It’s averaged out now to 3.99. Senior year is ~4.3x so far because I have more weighted classes, so it’ll be higher soon. My school is weird, even in regular classes, A+s = 4.33, so it’s like we almost don’t have unweighted GPAs. I have no idea how to figure out my unweighted GPA, and my counselor said not to worry about it. My school doesn’t rank, but someone told me the counselor told her her rank. </p>
<p>My ACT is 30…, second time, a 29, unfortunately. I said it was barely Rice’s 25th percentile, which is 31. I’m retaking, though. It sucks because on English I got 34 & 35 and 31 & 32 on reading, but my math and science are both 26. I do well in actual math classes, but I guess there’s just a lot I don’t know. I’m actually studying this time, so hopefully I can get it higher.</p>
<p>A strong GPA can compensate for weak scores, especially at LACs and some medium sized privates. Having lopsided Reading/Math scores is not necessarily a problem either – colleges understand that everyone isn’t good at both and that some kids don’t test well. Retake the ACT, maybe try the SAT, then don’t worry about it. A 29/30 isn’t a positive, but it’s not as great a negative as you might think.</p>
<p>Concentrate on putting together an application that emphasizes your strengths. You do this through essays, recommendations, how you describe your involvement in ECs and personal background. These kind of subjective elements are what will make or break your chances. Look at score optional schools. </p>
<p>Yes, it does appear that Questbridge’s deadline was September 27. You might ask your counselor to appeal to them for an extension, especially if you weren’t aware of the program earlier.</p>
<p>i really also like mount holyoke and smith and maybe holy cross, and they’re all test-optional. do you think the negative of the low math/science scores outweighs the positive of the english/reading and that i shouldn’t send my scores to any test-optional schools?</p>
<p>Your ACT is just fine as a URM and 1stInFam. They will be thrilled to hear it. Really.</p>
<p>You can email the Admission Officer at Barnard, or any other school, but a phone call is always better. Why don’t you do both? Email, introduce yourself, explain your situation, URM, 1stInFam, GPA, test scores, and say you’d like to talk with them about opportunities at school X. Tell them why you like their school, but have concerns about affording it due to your family situation. Ask for them to call you or ask when would be a good time for you to call. Most of them are probably on the road right now, but I’m sure you’ll hear back rather quickly.</p>
<p>Talking to an actual human at each of the schools in question will get you more info and a feel for how the schools will view your application than a month of posting on CC. But I’m sure we’d all love to hear how it all goes.</p>
<p>i never really thought about the SAT, but i guess i can try it. </p>
<p>thanks for all the suggestions, everyone! seriously, all of this has been so helpful. i’m no longer doing ED at barnard and even if i get rejected RD, which is likely, i have a really nice list of LACs that are reaches and matches, and even though my fingers are still crossed for barnard, i’d be happy to attend any of them. i also have a better idea of safeties now, since mizzou is way too expensive for me to call a safety. </p>
<p>i feel much better about getting a chance to compare aid offers, and now i can relax since the ED deadline isn’t hanging over my head. i can also take the ACT two more times if i want. i feel really relaxed about the process now. thanks so much!!</p>