<p>My point about HBCUs is that you are in search of some sort of prestige. You have said it repeatedly. On another thread that you started, you asked if your families salary and mothers education somehow dissolves your blackness…Huh? And you call us weird? So when I mentioned salaries of the uber rich HBCU families… they are proud of their heritage and proud to send their offspring to HBCUs. They wouldn’t send their children anywhere else & here again, they are incredibly successful people. You are also going into a field that is rapidly changing and taking a turn for the worst. One thing I am learning about HBCUs is that corporations and other highly respected organizations are flocking the places like Howard to scoop them up for employment. They take great pride in their students and groom them for success. </p>
<p>My first point is this, adding a school to your list that you can get some great merit aid. Sometimes in life we can’t have what we want. But we get what we need. What if you DO get into all if those other schools on that list? But you get no merit aid? Then what? What is your plan then? What if the only school that gives you money IS a school like Howard? </p>
<p>What scholarships do you think you will get with a 3.5 GPA? DD has great stats, high need, a killer resume, and has still lost out to others in scholarships. Again, this is a high stakes game you are playing. And those who win are the kids who can play the hand that they are dealt. It’s all about having options and an open mind. That’s what my own stubborn DD had to learn. And she finally got smart(because of my advice) & had some great results. Had it not gone the way that she hoped, she had some backups. Howard being one of them.</p>
<p>I forgot to mention last night, my cousin who graduated from NC A&T in 2013, has just moved back to CT. She has an interview with Chanel in NYC today and ELLE magazine next week. She had an internship with ELLE in her sophomore year. Her fiancé/college sweetheart is also interviewing in NYC next week at one of those place with 2 names(sorry, I can’t remember) He was some sort of math and economics major. </p>
<p>You assume that you will be upset and flunk because there is no “diversity”. Which is a very sad statement. It says a lot about you and your ability to step up to life’s challenges. What about feeling blessed and lucky to be receiving a highly discounted education?</p>
<p>lol…I dont think she meant that. I think she was asking if being an affluent URM would eliminate or lessen the “nudge” for admissions…and actually she is correct. Privates really want to give a nudge to a hard-working URM who achieved despite underprivileged circumstances. That nudge isnt as likely for say, the URM child of a wealthy surgeon educated in a prep school.</p>
<p>I am just going to say what I am thinking (no offense to anyone or their choices), because I live in an affluent neighborhood with affluent AAs…some (not all) of these kids feel that they don’t fit in at HBCUs because they have lived their whole lives in the so-called “white world” because of their parents’ careers, their neighborhoods, their private prep schools, etc. Their social circles, their churches, etc, are largely white, with certainly a mix of other races. Some of these kids have white parent. Some of these kids (the children of Army officers) were raised/educated in Germany for many years. Many of these kids just don’t see themselves in a college of mostly black students. </p>
<p>I suspect that this may be the case with the OP.</p>
<p>I get that completely!!! My own DD felt that way until I sat down with her and showed her the hard facts about acceptance rates to places like UPENN, P’ton,Williams, Wesleyan, Amherst and UNC!!! There were no guarantees and she had to be smart in her list. I told her that an HBCU would be far better than our local CC. I’m only saying that an HBCU is an OPTION well worth considering. Especially when your high SES parents are only paying half. I know a few kids who were against HBCUs but once they visited, they fell in love. Had they not even been open enough to consider it, they would have never had the college experience of a life time. </p>
<p>Just as my dd considered and attended Smiths open house last spring. Even though she was dead set against applying. There was no harm in looking at the school for a day. She went and her mind wasn’t changed. No harm no foul. The cost? A tank of gas. At least she opened her mind and looked at it. </p>
<p>I’m sure your neighbors who are against HBCUs have far MORE OPTIONS than @KiaraInNYC. It’s just an option to consider. Let’s say she DOES get accepted to all of those schools. Who is going to help her pay her half??? That is the question. </p>
<p>I am a parent, not a student, and I am pretty sure you are not going to hear what I say any more than you have listened to any of the other posts, but here is an effort anyway.</p>
<p>The above is just plain false. When you apply to college, you are competing with kids from around the entire country. There are amazingly strong students out there. I have some of them living in my home. Your application, not only for acceptance but for the limited merit money, will be compared to applications like my ds’s. My 12th grader has a 4.0 unweighted GPA. He has a 4.0 GPA including multiple university courses he has taken dual enrolled at our local university…his coursework is beyond community college level course offerings. He has completed 5 math courses POST-AP cal BC level, and 5 physics. (These are all 200-300 level classes). He is not an anomaly. There are plenty of talented kids just like him that get rejection letters or get accepted without scholarships to the top schools that they are competitive for. These are the kids that I have read mocking posts about here on CC about how are they doing research, etc. My ds started high school alg at age 10. He has completed multiple research projects at home via his laptop and online data and creating mathematical models, etc. They are real kids and they really exist. </p>
<p>My ds was accepted to some great schools, some with merit $$ and some without. We aren’t in the financial position of your parents bc we can’t afford to pay that much for him to attend college. Our EFC is as much as what your parents say they are willing to pay, but we have a very large family and we live off our $$. Even with stats like our ds’s, really top colleges do not simply give him more $$ to attend. Why??? Bc he isn’t that unusual!! There are other kids out there just like him that can pay and they will be filling his seat in the fall.</p>
<p>Our ds will be attending the “lowly, lacking prestige” University of Alabama in the fall. Why? Bc that is where he was offered enough scholarship $$ to attend full-ride for all 4 yrs (not just full-tuition.). He plans on triple majoring there. He was accepted into their research honors program and plans on making the best of his opportunities there to excel (which he already does.)</p>
<p>I am just incredibly blessed that my ds entered the application process with his eyes wide open to our financial realities and applied to a broad range of school where not only would he be accepted, but where he would get enough merit $$ to make it affordable. He could have accepted admissions to much more “prestigious” schools, but ultimately, none of us believe (that would be both us parents and our ds) that name is going to matter as much as what he accomplishes over the 4 yrs at the school he attends and that UA will provide him a solid education and not inhibit his acceptance into grad school (his ultimate goal.)</p>
<p>Good luck on your college application process. But, you really need to accept that there are some really strong students out there going far beyond what you post as not even being realistically possible. And your application will be sitting next to theirs.</p>
<p>totally agree! that’s why she needs at least 3 financial safety schools. If one is a HBCU willing to give her a half-ride, then add it to the list!</p>
<p>I think the bigger obstacle is that she and her parents have set up parameters that aren’t workable for their situation (half-ride merit needed, good-but-not-top-stats daughter, prestige wanted, etc).</p>
<p>The app list can be as follows:</p>
<p>NU - big reach financially and academically
USC - same issues
another big name - same issues</p>
<p>Mizzou - match, but a financial “reach”
Are any of the Jesuits known for journalism??
maybe a Midwest LAC with good J that wants more diversity and would give merit? - still a financial reach
maybe a DC-located school with good J - still a financial reach.</p>
<p>then 3 financial safeties ((depending on her final test scores)
an HBCU willing to give her at least a half-ride
maybe Bama if she gets at least an ACT 30 or SAT 1330
SUNYs…one that will give her a half-ride
Truman State? dont know how big their merit offers are, but the school is a hidden gem
maybe some of the CTCL’s if they give huge merit and want more ethnic diversity.</p>
<p>another concern is that the parents may refuse to pay half of a private that they don’t perceive as prestigious. They may have no intention of paying $30k per year for some lesser-known. Their half-ride offer may have hidden strings…the school may need to be impressive. If so, then the safeties need to be cheap enough that their half would be lowish.</p>
<p>we need to know which direction she wants with J. </p>
<p>I’m wondering if the financial decision from the OP’s parents is based on a feeling that the OP should be doing a little better, and maybe an attempt to push the OP into working harder. OP is a junior, I assume, wants to go to a high prestige college but took the SAT without even prepping? Hasn’t started prepping yet? Many of the kids you are competing with have already completed their testing and will be working hard on essays and scholarships while you are playing catch-up trying to score well on the SAT. I also would be hesitant to spend a fortune on a college education for a kid whose grades and scores aren’t that high and who didn’t even prep to try to win the test-based scholarships.</p>
<p>@mathyone You are probably right. OP has unreasonable high self-esteem that her parents may try to force her to see the reality as nothing they said (50% merit aid, Northwestern admission, etc) seems to be feasible anyway.</p>
<p>It’s so utterly ironic how my own dd has much higher stats than OP and didn’t think she had a shot anywhere! Made a nice list of schools, even interviewed at schools where she was initially against, after doing MATURE, THOUGHTFUL research and was accepted to 9 of the 11 schools that she applied to. </p>
<p>The OP should apply to Northwestern if she wants to. And to USC too, if she wants to. </p>
<p>Actually she can apply to ANY college she would like to apply to. BUT, she needs to have a serious discussion about finances first…with her parents…who apparently are already dealing with other kids in college.</p>
<p>To the OP…the ADDITIONAL information you JUST supplied about having siblings in university might help you in need based aid at some schools. It all depends on the timing of your siblings college enrollment, and the school policies. How many siblings will be in college at the same time as you are (for each of the four years )? Where are THEY attending college? Were the same financial guidelines given to those siblings? Where are they going to college and how are they funding college?</p>
<p>I ask about siblings because this ADDED piece of information is an important one. Clearly, if those siblings are in college NOW, your parents and siblings are well versed in terms if costs and how financial aid works. You initial post made it sound like you were the first in child in college in your family and they didn’t know how financial aid worked, or the costs of college,meta. Clearly, this is not the case if the siblings are already in college.</p>
<p>ETA…and if you have siblingS in college, it is very possible that your family finances will affect your parent’s ability to pay $40,000 to $60,000 a year.</p>
<p>Most of the schools you list do not meet full need. </p>
<p>Have you run the net price calculators? If they ask for your academic stats, they might include potential merit awards.</p>
<p>And lastly, if UF is the most competitive school on your list of colleges upstream, then the others are likely unattainable for you in terms of admissions.</p>
<p>That new information change the whole picture (again). I don’t believe the parents would have no idea about college cost, merit aid, and admission rate of prestigious school when they already have a kid in college. I do understand why they can only afford 50% of CoA. But it should have been a certain amount instead of percentage.</p>
<p>I am another parent strongly supporting HBCUs!</p>
<p>Parent of a NC A&T grad!! Love the campus, love the cafeteria and love, love the school heritage and pride. Son graduated with a mechanical engineering degree with many small class sizes and tons of research money available for undergrad research, no waiting in line!</p>
<p>And this is from a family with the kiddos (5) having multiple ivy acceptances, West Point, Naval Academy, MIT, CalTech, NU, Duke, JHU, UNC, and OOS publics and private LACs some with full-rides. And the A&T grad turned down a nice selection for an HBCU. He was hired before he graduated, was recruited heavily as were many of his peers.</p>
<p>And he is a URM but NOT AA. So there is diversity on campus, just depends on hard you want to look.</p>
<p>Cast a wide and VARIED net, maybe take the ACT, bump the scores and see where you land.</p>
<p>College is supposed to open your horizons, take you on a new journey, and try new things. This is that first step. Really look outside YOUR small and narrow box of what things should be. Researching the different types of schools and visiting allows you to explore options you maybe did not realize were possible.</p>
<p>Nothing is set in stone, just try turning over a few and see what you find. You might be pleasantly surprised.</p>
<p>I’m not an expert in the HBCU’s but I have visited one. Until I did, I had no real idea about what it would be like. I could also say the same thing about every campus I have visited. Being on a campus, meeting students and faculty, is an entirely different experience than reading or hearing about one. Every campus I have been on had a unique culture and vibe to it. The college culture is also influenced by location and the local population.From my visits, I can assume that the HBCU’s are also different from each other. I would expect that Howard University, located in Washington DC, a major metropolitan area would be different in many ways from Claflin University in Orangeburg South Carolina.
Ethnic makeup of a college is part of what determines fit but it isn’t the whole of it. Visiting a campus makes a difference. Colleges we thought would be a good fit on paper turned out not to be, and vice versa. If a school has a program or scholarship that looks like a possible fit, taking a closer look at it doesn’t mean a commitment, but it may change how one sees it. </p>
<p>@NewHavenCTmom When I say prestige, I’m talking about the communications program. Not necessarily the prestige of the entire university. As for scholarships, if you go on fastweb.com, there are tons of scholarships to apply for. Also, I just got accepted for a summer job, so I’m gonna see what I can save</p>
<p>@mathyone If you can’t already tell from the name of the thread, my parents are not interested in spending a ton of money. It was only after I got my score back that they decided that I did in fact need a prep course. I am also heavily involved in ECs that take up most, if not all of my free time. So I had no time to enroll in a prep course.</p>
<p>You need to target 32 ACT or 1400 SAT CR+M in order to open up a wider range of affordable safeties. Note that most of the automatic big scholarships that match your profile (high GPA, not as high ACT/SAT score) are HBUs; the non-HBUs are more likely to offer scholarships to the opposite profile (not as high GPA, high ACT/SAT score), or require both high GPA and high ACT/SAT score.</p>
<p>@Mom2aphysicsgeek I never said that colleges don’t compare you to other students. But most admissions officers look at you in the context of your school and situation. Your child is obviously successful and in a great position, you did a great job. But his situation is not comparable to mine because I have no idea what his school is like compared to mine. I never said Alabama lacks prestige. In fact I never actually went in depth about Alabama. In fact, prestige isn’t all I care about. You would be able to tell based on my top two schools. I only mentioned prestige because I said I didn’t want to go to a CC and I find it insulting to say that my grades would only get me into a CC. I didn’t list everything, but I have also looked at ASU and FGCU. So I’m not some arrogant teenager who is trying to go beyond her reach for schools. Do I have reach schools? Duh! What student doesn’t? But I also have safety and match schools. I’m not implying I’m getting a full ride, but the point of starting this thread was to ask of colleges would understand my situation.</p>
<p>Where do your siblings go to college and what years are they? are they undergrads? or in grad school?</p>
<p>How are their costs getting paid? do they go to privates? if so, did they have higher stats and get large merit? if not, how are THEY paying half of their COAs?</p>
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<p>Kiera…what are your safety schools? Keep in mind that a safety is a school where you know 100% that you will have all costs covered with assured merit amounts, assured grants, and/or family funds. FOR YOU…that means a safety where you know for sure you will have a Half Ride scholarship so that your parents will pay the other half.</p>
<p>@cttc I am part of a women’s mentoring program recognized by the White House, I have a summer internship at a national news network, I tutor, I have roughly 400 community service hours, I am a state champion debater and I am the editor of my newspaper. I also curated a museum exhibit at the NY Historical Society to show artifacts and family heirlooms that my peers have. I have done summer workshops and programs at Harvard and NYU. I also got accepted for a job yesterday! I’m also a published author.</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids I have a sibling who was in university. My parents paid out of pocket. He never applied for aid, and my parents paid around $23,000 out of pocket. However, he started acting out and partying hard and his GPA dropped to like 1.7 so my parents pulled him out and enrolled him in CC. He couldn’t handle the maturity that went with going away to university, so they brought him home. They are currently paying for that. I am sorry, but I’m not exactly sure how much they are paying for that.</p>
<p><<<
He never applied for aid, and my parents paid around $23,000 out of pocket.
<<<</p>
<p>so…he went to a state school for cheap and your parents paid for all. so how does that square with what you said earlier that they will only pay half no matter if you go to a cheap school or a pricey school. Seems like they will pay full-freight for a SUNY. </p>
<p>what are your safety schools that you are certain to have all costs covered?</p>
Your application, not only for acceptance but for the limited merit money, will be compared to applications like my ds’s. My 12th grader has a 4.0 unweighted GPA. He has a 4.0 GPA including multiple university courses he has taken dual enrolled at our local university…his coursework is beyond community college level course offerings. He has completed 5 math courses POST-AP cal BC level, and 5 physics. (These are all 200-300 level classes). He is not an anomaly. There are plenty of talented kids just like him that get rejection letters or get accepted without scholarships to the top schools that they are competitive for. These are the kids that I have read mocking posts about here on CC about how are they doing research, etc. My ds started high school alg at age 10. He has completed multiple research projects at home via his laptop and online data and creating mathematical models, etc. They are real kids and they really exist. </p>