<p>When BU has over 40,000 applications for 2000 seats, and the majority of applicants have stats as good as or better than yours, and even 2400, 4.0 students are rejected purely due to numbers, it can’t be called a “safety”. Even if they admit 4000 for 2000 seats, that is still only a 10% chance. Are your EC’s incredible, filled with leadership, a thousand community service hours, etc.? My D’s stats put her right into every school she applied to, but she wasn’t accepted to every school, and that seems to be the story of lots of kids I have spoken to. Even kids who thought for sure they would get into UConn- Storrs didn’t, and were absolutely shocked! Do not think that any school is a “sure thing” these days!</p>
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<p>Most of the doubters are asking you if you know that they are certainly affordable, because a safety must be affordable.</p>
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<p>Huh? What are you talking about? Last year’s admission class at Boston University they received 38,275 applications and admitted 22,187 - i.e., 58%. Only 4,409 who were offered a spot chose to attend. Furthermore, the 75th%-tile ACT was 30 well below the OPs 33 score.</p>
<p>Source BU’s common data set: <a href=“http://www.bu.edu/oir/files/2011/03/cds-c.pdf[/url]”>http://www.bu.edu/oir/files/2011/03/cds-c.pdf</a></p>
<p>BU should certainly be considered a safety.</p>
<p>There is a difference between pretty sure of admission based on your own HS’s Naviance, and absolutely guaranteed admission based on the college/university’s own formal stated policy. You need to find one place that falls in the second category. It may not have everything else that you want, but you should be confident that you could be happy there if all else goes wrong. If you can’t find anything like that, spend some time developing a Plan B for yourself in case you aren’t admitted anywhere you can afford.</p>
<p>OP, check with William and Mary about applying ED. Most schools with an ED program say that you can turn down an ED admissions offer if the financial aid package doesn’t make the school affordable. Although W&M uses the Common App (which has an ED agreement that allows you to back out for for financial reasons), the W&M website says that if you are accepted you MUST attend. Check CAREFULLY here! </p>
<p>I agree with others that you need to have a budget before we can help. If your parents say they can’t afford to pay for more than 10 applications, then it’s unlikely that they can afford to pay for any school you want to go to. However, if they just don’t want to pay for lots of applications, apply for your ED school and any EA schools. Complete but don’t submit your RD applications until after you get your ED and EA results. If you are accepted ED, then you’re done. If you’re denied or deferred ED and are accepted elsewhere EA, then you can recalibrate the rest of your RD list. If you have EA acceptances that you prefer and that are affordable, you can drop schools off your RD list. </p>
<p>If you are rejected everywhere ED and EA, then you have to scramble to find other options…but at least you’ll know early on that you need to be less reachy.</p>
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<p>Reputation shmeputation. If you don’t like it as much as other safeties, drop it.</p>
<p>Okay financial information:</p>
<p>My parents are divorced and my mom makes about $30,000 a year while my dad makes $140,000. However my dad and I are estranged right now and I’m not sure how much he’s going to contribute for college, so that’s not too reliable. My mom said she will only pay for 3 apps (because she’s crazy and thinks I only need to apply to 3 schools) and the rest i am paying for. I can’t really afford to pay for more than 7 apps myself especially since I’m expected to contribute to my tuition.</p>
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<p>Based on that, you should expect very little need-based aid at schools which consider both parents (even if divorced) in determining expected family contribution. You should probably make plans based on the worst case: your father’s income is used against you for financial aid purposes, while he does not contribute anything. This likely means that much of your list will not be affordable (you can check the net price calculators at each school’s web site).</p>
<p>This means that you need to find schools which will give you large merit scholarships, such that the remaining cost of attendance can be covered by Stafford loans and realistic (i.e. not that much) work earnings during summers and school sessions. Fortunately, there are some which can be safeties based on automatic large merit scholarships: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html</a> .</p>
<p>Not sure of their FA policy for out-of-state students but try U Missouri St Louis - well known for their undergrad journalism school.</p>
<p>Sorry, but unless your guidance counselor knows FOR SURE that your parents will pay ALL costs for Fordham, Miami, etc, that counselor can only advise you about ACCEPTANCE safeties.</p>
<p>If you re-read the posts, people are saying that those schools aren’t safeties if you’re not 100% sure that you have all costs covered.</p>
<p>Since you’ve expressed concern about the cost of apps, that suggests that money is a concern.</p>
<p>How much will your parents pay each year for college?</p>
<p>Ok…so NOW you provide VERY important info…that your family can’t/won’t pay much. </p>
<p>So, guess what that means? Right now you have NO safeties. </p>
<p>You can’t contribute much to your education other than a $5500 student loan and maybe a couple thousand earned during the summer.</p>
<p>You need to identify a couple of schools that will give you HUGE merit for your stats…AND…who won’t ask to see your dad’s income.</p>
<p>University of Missouri (in Columbia, not St. Louis) is definitely one to look into. Their journalism program is top-notch. I toured in the spring because I’m interested in journalism. With your stats you’d be well above their averages and could probably get good merit aid. If you wouldn’t mind a large state school in a college town, their program is good.</p>
<p>Thx for the correction missmbv; an alumni of UMissouri @Columbus is a friend of mine and her journalism degree has served her well.</p>
<p>You need to check out the financial aid policies of all the schools on your list.</p>
<p>Schools that ask for non-custodial parent (NCP) info will give you ZERO need-based aid, regardless of how little your mother earns. That’s non-negotiable, meaning that you can’t say, “Oh, my dad and I aren’t getting along right now, so I really do need financial aid.” Whether or not your dad wants to pay is irrelevant. He is ABLE to pay, and that will disqualify you from eligibility for need-based aid.</p>
<p>So, you need to focus on two types of schools:</p>
<p>(1) Schools that do NOT ask for NCP info and provide generous need-based aid</p>
<p>(2) Schools that provide generous merit-based aid.</p>
<p>What that means is that even if you know you can be admitted to School X, you also need to be such an exceptionally qualified candidate that you will not only be admitted, but be admitted with a generous merit scholarship.</p>
<p>If your guidance counselor’s only concern is getting you admitted somewhere, then you’ve got a problem. Sure, you can get admitted all over the place . . . but if none of those offers include the merit aid that you need, you’ll still be flipping burgers next year instead of going to college.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, and tell your mom that the days of applying to only three schools are long gone. Even kids who can pay the full cost of tuition are applying to more schools than that . . . and a kid who needs significant financial aid needs to apply to many more schools than three! (Yes, I know you already told her this. But now you can tell her that a complete stranger on the internet just said the same thing!)</p>
<p>By the way, fee waivers are always an option if you really can’t afford the application fees. For many schools, all you need is a letter from your guidance counselor saying that paying the application fee would be a hardship. Keep in mind, though, that you still have to pay to send score reports to each school, as well as the CSS financial aid profile for those schools that require it.</p>
<p>First priority, though, should be to find affordable schools!</p>
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<p>I agree need-based aid will not be great in this instance, but it won’t necessarily be zero. Some schools will award need-based aid even with the total family income of $170,000, plus there may be other factors besides income that figure in.</p>
<p>Whether need-based aid is zero or close to zero makes no difference. If the expected family contribution (EFC) is calculated based on Dad’s income - and Dad refuses to pay anything - they’re screwed. Mom’s income of $30k will NEVER be enough to cover an EFC based on a total income of $170k (Dad’s income plus Mom’s income).</p>
<p>We must be mindful that other students may read this thread, and it would be wrong to have anyone leave with the message “$170,000 income = ZERO aid”. This is not necessarily true, and for other students the difference between ZERO and actual aid may be very significant.</p>