<p>@jushyo
No offense, but citing a blog doesn’t help. What is truly middle class? Is it the families that fall within the middle 50% of income- and the upper class it the 75th percentile while the lower class is below the 25th percentile? Or do we break it up evenly and say middle class people make incomes from the 33rd percentile to the 67th percentile? Middle class has become a generic term, and the people with high EFC’s are not necessarily in the upper class. I don’t think class is as black and white as you make it out to be- when determining class, people take into account not only income, but assets, property, and expenses. A family may make 120,000 a year, but in a county where property taxes are extremely high, they have 2 kids to support, and each parent works three jobs, would you really consider them to be upper class?</p>
<p>As someone with a high EFC, I still consider myself middle class, and I think my family in general considers itself middle class. My parents still refuse to tell me their income, so I don’t know exactly where we lie, relative to other families, but we live a very middle class lifestyle, live in a middle class neighborhood, etc. My sisters and I go to public school. </p>
<p>Since I have two sisters, my parents have three children to support, and taxes are quite high here in Illinois. We have two houses, one back in Las Vegas that my parents have leased, and one in Illinois (we’re living in it) that my parents intend(ed) to renovate this year and sell for a profit, eventually moving to Virginia, where my dad works (he comes home on the weekends) and lives (so there’s also the cost of the apartment). So, regardless of the assets, I don’t think my parents are sitting on a pile of money. They don’t have college funds for me or my sisters.</p>
<p>I have to say that I agree about the middle class being subjective and I also agree that the middle class has a hard time with all of this. Our EFC is about 35,000 and that is much more than we can afford to pay for the 1st of my 3 daughters. We live in a very high COL area and have 2 other children to support. I have a FT job and my husband has a FT and PT job and yet we don’t have a whole lot of expendable cash left over at the end of the month. We live in a middle class neighborhood, drive older cars and work very hard. Most of our friends struggle to pay college tuition and most of their kids have loans. My DD has worked so hard through HS and even though she has been accepted to all of the schools she applied to so far and has received a scholarship to every one of them, the reality is she will have to take out loans or we will.</p>
<p>America really doesn’t have a class system which is one reason why the definitions are so fluid.</p>
<p>In Europe and other parts of the world, classes are mostly fixed - you are born into a class and you die in that class. In England, you can be a royal and bankrupt like the Duchess of York, Fergie. Her class doesn’t change with her income although her class gives her rights and privileges that make it more possible to create greater wealth. In America, we all have the same economic and legal rights which makes us all free to move up and down the economic ladder as well as in and out of “classes”.</p>
<p>This matters because colleges look at things as fixed when they are fluid. A $100K income in NYC is lower middle class and in parts of Kentucky it’s wealthy. To people living in Africa off $2000 per year and less, every American is super wealthy. Colleges have no sense of perspective. They drop you in a bucket and make people struggle.</p>
<p>You should have sent an international form or something like that…
Well indeed, your counselor should have… (but that was supposed to be sent by january… I guess)</p>
<p>Maxyend, where are you from? (the previous comment I posted was for you btw)
I am from Ecuador</p>
<p>^Western Europe.</p>
<p>I think my school probably sent that with the common app, right?</p>
<p>I think you guys misunderstood what I said. I agree 100% that EFCs are ridiculously high for many families who are too poor to afford college outright and too rich for a lot of aid. However, what I’m saying is that this area is “upper middle class” (and I’m part of it), not “middle class.” If you think 120,000 is “middle,” you would be shocked at what some people live on.</p>
<p>Most people making $120,000 started out making much, much less. People all start somewhere. And judging people either way is stupid.</p>
<p>If someone says its hard, it’s hard. Period. It’s ridiculous to compare.</p>
<p>Someone already mentioned this, I think: the cost of living should also be taken into account. I’ve lived in two different states, and the cost of living in one (Illinois) has been much higher than in the other (Nevada).</p>
<p>Well. Now that all the serious FA talk is over…</p>
<p>Question: Its Ivy decision day. Which decision are you opening first?</p>
<p>I’m opening Cornell (got a likely letter) to start things off on a good note, Penn, Columbia, then Dartmouth (care most to least). What about you guys?</p>
<p>Penn (likely letter) first haha. then I don’t know at all! Haven’t thought about it! I care most about Columbia, was deferred SCEA from Harvard and Princeton is just yeah.</p>
<p>Dartmouth, UPenn, Columbia, Brown, Yale, Princeton and Harvard. </p>
<p>Already know about Cornell. <em>^▁^</em>
Ordered from last to first choice.</p>
<p>I’m so jealous of all of you likely people! Congrats though. I’m probably gonna do Brown first then Penn, since I know Brown is already a rejection.</p>
<p>@alexisss typical of you to post like minutes before me, and you already know about Cornell?!?! and I thought you couldn’t apply to HYP cause of SAT 2s?</p>
<p>Expecting rejections across the board. But probably start with Penn.</p>
<p>@sanguinee</p>
<p>I got a likely…</p>
<p>I took three subject tests, lol. <em>^▁^</em></p>
<p>I’m feeling a start with Princeton, then UPenn, then Cornell, then Harvard… mostly because I’ve been feeling like I had good chances at Princeton and Cornell, an okay shot at Harvard, and no chance at UPenn… so the idea is, with any luck, it’ll go Acceptance → Rejection or Waitlist → Acceptance → (Who Knows?).</p>
<p>Harvard and Princeton are tougher than penn… Except if you apply to Wharton in which case it’s the same</p>
<p>I’m checking UPenn 1st, Dartmouth 2nd. If I don’t get into any of them I’m getting myself some scuba gear and a bucket of ice cream to prepare for the flood of tears and depression that will follow my inevitable rejections to everywhere else.</p>