<p>my son's friend from out of state just ask him to ask me for help on colleges (yes--it is late, but her school is just now having the kids think about college).</p>
<p>white female from Kentucky
rural high school, rigorous course schedule for the school (2 AP classes, honors classes)
3.6 UW GPA
school doesn't rank
28 ACT composite
Great EC's for her school, nothing national
no hook</p>
<p>interested in a school within a days drive of Louisville, KY if possible
prefer suburban to urban, rural as a last choice</p>
<p>she wants to major in Arabic, Chinese or Russian (preference in that order) but she has not taken any classes in those.</p>
<p>finances will be an issue -- parents will not pay a dime. I have asked her to figure the EFC, so I will hopefully have that later. she says "cost is not an issue" and she has applied to Georgetown -- so I am concerned that she has not idea how this works.</p>
<p>She is interested in ROTC (not sure if it is too late for this year, but I will have her check)</p>
<p>Any suggestions would be appreciated. We tried the counselor-o-matic, but it gave us many schools that don't offer any of the languages and other schools that I think are totally unrealistic (Duke?)</p>
<p>While I realize it may not be your place, this poor girl may need a reality check. "She wants to major in Arabic, Chinese or Russian (preference in that order) but she has not taken any classes in those"?????? </p>
<p>"Cost is not an issue.." but "parents won't pay a dime"???</p>
<p>Umm, maybe you could start from the other directions. Suggest schools still taking applications and awarding $$ with a VARIETY of majors.</p>
<p>And she really, really needs to apply. She can always decide in March and April, but it's tough to make a decision if there's no choices.</p>
<p>And I echo bus52. What makes her think she's interested in those languages if she's never taken them? Not to discourage her, as it's likely that she'll end up changing majors at some point anyways, but it just seems odd.</p>
<p>University of Louisville has both a Russian Studies major and a Chinese minor. It's a far nicer school than people think. They also have a study abroad in China (among other places). They have scholarships, but she's missed the deadline. There is another scholarship she can try to get for future years, and I always recommend students have a sit-down with the finaid office anyway. Without knowing her EFC (and she needs to get crackin' on the FAFSA and the app - deadline is March 1), it's hard to say what kind of aid, if any, she'll get.</p>
<p>Wow. This is really, really late to just start figuring out colleges. I realize the school just started them on this, but if she wanted to go to college, she probably should have taken some initiative. Oh well - kids are kids ;)</p>
<p>I agree with the reality check. Since her parents won't pay a dime, she needs to apply to public 4-year and 2-year colleges in her home state. She needs to definitely include colleges that are within commuting distances as very likely, she'll have to live at home and go to college.</p>
<p>She can forget all of the colleges on her list. Even if she gets in, she can't afford them without help from her parents. All would expect her parents to contribute, and there's no way that they'd give her the aid to fill the gap, which with most would be enormous. </p>
<p>Sounds to me like she's living in a dream world. Arabic, Chinese, Russian, but has taken no classes in those? Not realistic at all. Wants a school within an hours drive of Louisville, yet applies to colleges far, far away!</p>
<p>Due to her lack of initiative in thoughtfully pursuing college and due to her lack of funds, sounds to me like she could be an excellent candidate for a gap year. She could be an Americorps Volunteer, getting about $200 a week to use for living expenses. At the end of her one-year commitment, she'd get about $4,700 more that would be designated specifically for her to use in college.</p>
<p>Her counselor sounds out to lunch since the counselor allowed her to apply to schools that are so unrealistic for a student with no $ from parents. Of course, the girl may have neglected to mention that fact to the GC.</p>
<p>Before applying to ROTC, she needs to think very long and hard about the consequences of doing this. She is living in such a dream world that it may come as a shock to her that there is a war going on, and she might end up in it. It also may be a surprise to her that ROTC means getting up at 4 a.m. to do things like taking long hikes with combat boots and a heavy pack on her back.</p>
<p>She really sounds like a person who needs to live at home and commute. That's probably the only way that she can afford college anyway.</p>
<p>I totally agree with the reality check -- that is how I came to be involved. My son and I talk all the time about colleges and how the admissions process worked, so when she told him that she was hoping to go to Georgetown and mentioned her stats, he asked me what I thought. I asked a few more questions -- and when she said her parents would only pay for a meal ticket and nothing else (and they make at least over $75,000 a year -- she really didn't know how much) I told him to ask her a few more questions.</p>
<p>Both my son (who has taken Arabic and Mandarin) expressed our concern over her wanting to major in a language she has never taken, but she doesn't seem to really get it.</p>
<p>I agree with a gap year or commuting or local school -- but knowing kids (and especially his friends in this town) they want out! that is why I thought I would do some checking.</p>
<p>my guess is that she would be as unrealistic about ROTC as anything else.</p>
<p>I am going to do some more checking for her -- any suggestions would help. I have a feeling she will be one of those kids who either has no acceptances come May (and she is a pretty good student with decent stats) or an acceptance she can't pay for. All too common!</p>
<p>as far as her EFC, I tried my best to explain and emphasize that she at least needs to get her parents to use the calculator to figure out the EFC -- maybe it will be low enough that she could get decent aid. Since her parents told her they wouldn't give her any money -- they figured they didn't need to do FAFSA anyway (I think they though it was an agreement to pay the amount). Like I said -- totally clueless about how it all works.</p>
<p>Don't know what the foreign language dept. looks like, but has she looked at Berea? Full tuition in exchange for 10 hours of work a week. A friend's son attends and s VERY happy. It's near Lexington, if I recall. My sister has two SILs attending U of L on scholarship (one in pre-pharmacy, one in music -- decent grades, decent but not spectacular test scores) and they are both happy, too.</p>
<p>Berea requires families to file the FAFSA, and takes kids with an EFC of $4,500 or less. Because they don't charge tuition (or, as they say, they give a full-tuition scholarship to each student), they have income eligibilities.</p>
<p>berea was one of my first suggestions -- but she won't qualify.</p>
<p>I think the college counselor is used to kids either not going to school or attending community college. They probably only send a handful of kids to 4-year schools each year -- and they most likely go local.</p>
<p>My son took Mandarin from a University of Louisville professor (we used to live there) and my impression was that the department was excellent and well respected. I am going to at least push for an application to U of L (maybe suggesting a transfer later to get her to consider it?)</p>