<p>Pepperdine is a party school AND (very) conservative, those two are not mutually exclusive!</p>
<p>Make SURE your parents have $50,000 set aside to pay for your schooling. If they say they’ll take on a loan, change your strategy: loans are not guaranteed and if your parents already have loans or have a non stellar credit history the banks simply won’t lend them enough (or at all); you’re only allowed $5,500 for your first year and in the best circumstances it’s dubious your parents could borrow $40,000 per year (= X4). So you have to be sure.
Your parents may not understand how financial aid works. </p>
<p>The first 3 schools you need to focus on are your safety schools. Everyone can have dream schools, that’s easy. What’s hard is finding safety schools that are similar in atmosphere/vibe and academic offerings to your dream school. Those schools are the most important for you because if for any reason you aren’t admitted to your dream school or can’t attend any other school, you still have a choice. Just go back to April on CC (any given year) and you’ll have tons of posts “I didn’t get in anywhere, what do I do now?” (“didn"t get in anywhere” typically means “I got into a bunch of schools but can’t afford them and I don’t like my safety” - a safety should be a school you like and can afford).</p>
<p>Assuming your parents have $50,000 (X4) set aside for your education:
UC Berkeley, UCLA: impossible
UMich, Barnard, Wellesley: high reach
Kenyon, Case Western, UC SD: reach
UC Irvine, Davis, SB, Denison: reach/match
Ohio State, Agnes Scott, Wooster, Purdue, UIUC: match</p>
<p>IF your parents don’t have $50,000 set aside for your education:</p>
<p>UC Berkeley, UCLA, UMich, UC SD: impossible
Barnard, Wellesley, Kenyon, Case Western,: high reach
UC Irvine, Davis, SB: reach match for academics but unaffordable
Denison : reach/match
Ohio State,Agnes Scott, Wooster, Purdue, UIUC: match (but may be unaffordable depending on state of residence)
Not sure re: Purdue and psychology!</p>
<p>For psychology, a good match school would be Clark (in Boston).</p>