<p>I am sure your parents EFC is not 0, even if a school like Barnard would meet 100% of your financial need, why wouldn’t you go to Lehigh for free (especially if your father doesn’t make that much money)?</p>
<p>^So you want to portray yourself as a “xxxxx humanitarian medical doctor” in your application? </p>
<p>If so, then you would write the essay that makes a passing reference to the SURF program, talk about how you’ve become interested in global health issues (your volunteer experiences? Reading Mountains Beyond Mountains?), how you want to bring about XXXX and how the SURF program would help you achieve your goals. </p>
<p>This topic of global health issues, how you got interested in it, what you hope to accomplish in it , how you would like to pursue it, etc. could be a whole essay topic. Then in the WHY Harvard essay, you can re-iterate your goal of being involved in global health issue and mention the SUrF Program.</p>
<p>Frankly, if this is what you really want to do (get involved in global health issues), I would use this year to find an internship or something like that to get some hands on global health exposure next summer. Then apply to your reach schools and you’d have a killer essay backed up with some real life experience which has a lot more punch than a 16 year old talking about wanting to be involved with global health issues. Shows real initiative.</p>
<p>I think that if you want to get into the Harvard and Columbia/Barnard, it would make more sense to work this year to set up something big for next summer.</p>
<p>I would rather go to Columbia or Harvard. Besides, it’s not just about the money. I want a REAL college experience and I feel like I won’t get that at Lehigh. Nevertheless, I am still strongly considering going to Lehigh because of the financial aid.</p>
<p>Thanks for the link, midmo! :)</p>
<p>Actually I want to do more of the research type stuff, not so much global health issues. I want to eventually get a combined MD-PhD and so research on diseases, cancer, and aging. I am currently doing some research on neuropeptides and brain aging.</p>
<p>OP- I sympathize. I know many faculty kids and they end up in sort of a financial and admission’s no-man’s land.</p>
<p>You need to do a little more research on how financial aid works in order to intelligently approach your application strategy. You are unlikely to see a tremendous amount of variability in the aid package you get from your target schools (i.e. need only.) The amount of loan component may vary-- but none of these schools are going to give you the “free tuition” deal at Lehigh.</p>
<p>In order to get some of the very lush merit aid packages you need to drop down a notch in selectivity and look for places where your ethnicity and scores and geography are unusual and highly desired. Those places all exist so you need to go find out where they are.</p>
<p>For sure this process is not all about the money. But I do know many faculty kids who end up disappointed come April-- mainly because they assume that if the choice is Columbia/Barnard or Dad’s employer, they think that their financial aid from Columbia/Barnard will compete favorably with Dad’s employer, or at least be manageable for their parents, and then the EFC is just not workable. And the default option is sub-optimal.</p>
<p>So if you’re going to apply this Fall, you need to have a candid conversation with your parents. Do not assure them that you will for sure be getting “a lot of aid”. You won’t know that until you run the estimators (which are only estimators.) Do not assume that the colleges will “work with you” if their grant is too low for you. Barring a change in circumstances (parent losing a job, sibling critically ill requiring lots of out of pocket medical expenses) they won’t “work with you” too much beyond the facts of their calculation. And do not assume that the well publicized outside scholarships will be falling in your lap-- and in some cases at the schools you’ve listed, every dollar of outside merit aid will just get deducted from your institutional aid, i.e. it helps the school but it won’t help you a nickel.</p>
<p>So go do some homework. Lehigh is a great fall back; you can probably find lots of other schools which will excite you.</p>
<p>If you were my D I’d advise you to focus on two of your EC’s, dump the rest. It’s great to keep busy, but you don’t want to come off as a serial joiner.</p>
<p>At all the schools I looked at, merit aid detracts from the family contribution first, then work-study, then need-based financial aid. They only offered grants, not loans as part of the financial aid package.</p>
<p>OP, when I try to imagine how your parents might look at this, I conjure up a vision of parents who are very proud of their daughter and want to give her as much leeway as possible in the choice of college–but who find themselves recoiling in horror when they discover that their expected contribution is going to be very difficult to meet.</p>
<p>Some schools you haven’t mentioned give merit scholarships, have good research programs, have medical colleges on campus and even have neurobiology programs: three come to mind off the top of my head: Rice, WashU (St. Louis) and Vanderbilt (there are more). However, I do not think you will be a good candidate for the top scholarships IF you do not finish high school. Sure, you are signed up for a bunch of AP courses this year, but no one knows for sure how well you will do. You need some more SAT II scores, as someone mentioned above.</p>
<p>Your ethnicity and your geographical location will be far more likely to help than hinder you at the schools I mentioned above, also.</p>
<p>My main ECs are: Math League student representative (2nd place at 2 competitions), Chinese Club founder and president, Science Fair Organization president (3rd place, states), Science Olympiad (silver medal), Odyssey of the Mind, Teen Advisory Board president, Youth Group leader, volunteered over 300 hours at hospital, research in biology lab at Lehigh University, church pianist</p>
<p>Should I also get rid of Math League, Chinese Club, and church pianist? Which other ones?</p>
<p>Good luck. </p>
<p>A lot of great schools with great undergrad research opportunities would give you a ton of merit aid (my nephew researched neuropeptides at a Big Ten school). I get the sense you’re wedded to the Harvard/Princeton thing, so I wish you the best of luck.</p>
<p>I totally understand why you don’t want to go to Lehigh and bump into Dad all the time, but you should cast a wider net, just my 2 cents.</p>
<p>Also, if I go to Barnard, I’m pretty sure that I would be able to graduate early in 3 years with all of my AP credits. That would save me a lot of money and make up for the difference in family contribution. Another thing is that I want to get a MD/PhD, which usually takes 8 years, so getting a head start on that education isn’t a bad idea.</p>
<p>My parents would probably sell the house and everything else they own to send me to Harvard/Princeton. Don’t worry; I won’t let them do that. In fact, I intend to pay for every cent of my education (financial aid, grants, scholarships, work-study, internships). Plus if I go to another school, Lehigh has to give me $5000 every year.</p>
<p>So, should I get rid of Math League and Chinese Club? Which other ECs are unworthy of mention?</p>
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<p>You need to check how that will work as a pre-med. Some of my son’s friends, who are planning on medical school, have told me that med schools do not count some of the AP courses as college courses–no matter what the grade and score. That means that even when they are able to use the AP credit to move into higher level courses as freshmen, they still have to take the required number of courses, leaving them unable to graduate very early. </p>
<p>I’m talking about bio and chem courses here.</p>
<p>Other posters no doubt know more than I do about this. My son is not a pre-med; I’m quoting his friends.</p>
<p>I’m going to be using all my AP credits for non pre-med and non major courses.</p>
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<p>I’m sure you must realize that the financial aid award is based on your parent’s income and assets, so when you say you intend to pay for all of it yourself, you are committing yourself to paying back loans for many years to come–unless you take the advice of several of us and keep some merit schools in mind. </p>
<p>You seem intent on leaving school early. That is fine; I think it means you will be at Lehigh, which is also fine. Do a very good job there, and you should be able to get into a combined MD/Phd program, which is far easier to pay for than just an MD (usually).</p>
<p>Good luck to you.</p>
<p>I won’t have to take out any loans, that is if I get into any of the Ivys I’m looking at. Actually, I would probably be better off financially there than at many other merit schools. With need-based aid, I end up paying next to nothing. Also, if I go to Barnard, I can graduate early there too.</p>
<p>I am a bit confused, what exactly are you asking on this thread? It appears to me like you have all the answers already, not sure what else people could offer you here.</p>
<p>I’m going to disagree with the other parents here–I don’t think you drop ANY of the ECs. Frankly, I think that’s ridiculous! I might agree that even a year ago, it would have made sense to drop a couple and focus on a few, e.g., by writing up your research and submitting it as an Intel project. (That would still be a good idea, if you can do it.) But at this point, you’ve done what you’ve done, and IMO should list everything. It’s good that you do have some awards–that will help. </p>
<p>Here’s the deal, OP. I’m not an adcom, but I like to think I have some idea of how the system works. </p>
<p>Lots of very smart kids apply to the top schools. In going through the applications, it’s obvious to all of those concerned that the vast majority can do the work. So, how does a H or P choose which kids to admit?</p>
<p>They pick the kids who can add something to the class that others can’t. As the adcom reads your file, you want him/her to think “If I don’t admit this kid, there’s not going to be anyone in the class like him/her.” You also want the person to LIKE you. </p>
<p>So, when you write your essays, think of what makes you unique. </p>
<p>The problem really isn’t that you’re Asian. The problem is that there are lots of other Asian-American kids applying to Harvard or Columbia who also excel in math and science and play the piano. WHAT MAKES YOU DIFFERENT FROM THEM?</p>
<p>You want to write about a topic that shows who you are and how you think and convinces the adcom that if he decides to admit another Asian girl who is just as good as you are in math and science, the class at H or P or whatever will be worse for it. </p>
<p>I’m not an adcom, but I can’t imagine thinking “Well…if I don’t admit this applicant who kept practicing piano even though her teacher told her she wasn’t particularly talented, I won’t get any other really hard workers in next year’s class.” </p>
<p>So, paraphrasing A Chorus Line dig down to the bottom of your soul and write an essay that you don’t think anyone else in the world could write.</p>
<p>Some people are unique–or close to it–by virtue of what they’ve accomplished. The Intel winner would be an example. YoYo Ma–who was already a well-known cellist when he went to Harvard–is another. Others are unique because they combine unusual interests–the ballerina who wants to major in engineering and has the math and science scores to support that aspiration or the boy from a farm in Idaho who is an aspiring opera singer and has already sung in professional companies. ( A long time ago, my kid had a friend who was one of the best high school debaters in the US who also won first place nationally in 4-H for the hog he raised. He got into Harvard. )</p>
<p>From what you’ve said, you aren’t like that–and that means you’re going to have to dig deeper into yourself and write an essay that is going to make an adcom feel like there’s just something a bit different about this girl. </p>
<p>However, there’s something else you need to do. You need to apply to schools where there aren’t as many Asian girls from Pennsylvania who excel in math and science applying. Most Asian American kids want to go to college on the coasts, especially in California and the Boston to DC corridor. Apply to colleges outside those areas. Also apply to colleges which have good math and science departments, but which aren’t MIT, Harvard, Princeton.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>How can I make my application better? What ECs should I try to emphasize? Should I change my Common App essay topic?</p>
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<p>Most of the colleges on your list offer need based aid ONLY (no merit aid)…Duke and I believe UChi offer merit aid. The others do not.</p>
<p>Re: asking for more?? The schools will use the financial information YOU provide to them to calculate your need. For schools that meet full need (most on your list do), the SCHOOL will then determine your need and the financial aid package to meet that need. Unless your financial circumstances change…it is HIGHLY unlikely that just “asking for more” will net you much. There have been reports of students who have gotten more favorable need based aid packages and who have presented those to schools which didn’t quite match up and have gotten additional aid. To be honest, in this economy, I don’t see that happening as frequently.</p>
<p>The MOST important thing you can do RIGHT NOW is have a frank discussion with your parents about how much they WILL contribute to your college education annually. It really doesn’t matter what the school says if your parents are not willing to make up the difference between the financial aid offer is and your cost of attendance.</p>
<p>In addition, take your family’s income and assets and run them through one of the financial aid calculators. These will give you a GUESSTIMATE of your family contribution based on the numbers you input.</p>
<p>Financial aid is largely based on parent income and assets…mostly income. If your parents’ combined income is in the $100,000 range, your family contribution will be somewhere between $25,000 and $33,000 per year…depending on assets. This is an ESTIMATE and is not necessarily what YOUR schools will compute…but it’s a ballpark (1/4 to 1/3 or pretax income).</p>
<p>Okay, right now I don’t really need any financial advice. I am mainly looking for advice on how I can improve my chances of getting accepted into any of these schools?</p>