What do you think of my choices? (Enough safeties/matches/reaches?)

College Search & Selection
1

<p>What do you guys think? Also, if you have any other suggestions based on my stats, etc, please let me know! </p>

<p>Sorry for cross-posting this, I'm just curious and would like as many replies as I can get :)</p>

<p>Looking to go to: George Washington, BC, BU, Tufts, Georgetown (longshot, only through lineage), University of Florida, or Bard College</p>

<p>Stats:</p>

<p>GPA: ~3.5 unweighted, ~4.0 weighted, these will hopefully be a bit higher by the end of first semester Senior year.
PSAT: 130 on Math and Verbal overall, 66 on verbal, 64 on math (This was kind of rushed though, only taken for AP Lang as an assignment)
ACT: Taking in June
SAT: Taking in June</p>

<p>Classes this year:
AP Psychology (A's)
AP US History (A's)
AP English Language & Comp. (A's)
Precalculus Honors (C's - ouch)
Physics Honors (A's and B's)
Debate VI Honors (A's)
Government Honors (A's)</p>

<p>Extra-Curric:</p>

<p>Debate Team (~325 NFL Points...for those who know what those are)
President of Debate
VP of Law Club
Mock Trial Team
Social Studies Honor Society
JETS</p>

<p>Community Service: Look to be a Counselor at local summer camp, should get ~100 Hours
Work: Public Library</p>

<p>Lineage: Cornell(Great Uncle), Georgetown(Grandfather and Uncle), Penn State(Great Uncle - head of Gerantology)</p>

<p>Background: Single-Parent Home, Dad pays no child support, etc. Roman Catholic, Irish-Italian, Public School in Florida</p>

<p>Looking to major: Poli. Sci., Government, Political Media/Communications
Minor: Journalism/Psych</p>

<p>Courses for Senior year:
AP Euro
AP US Gov
AP Microeconomics
AP Environmental Sci
AP Lit
AP Stats
Debate VIII Honors</p>

<p>Probably going to take AP World and Comparative Gov. exams for the heck of it as well</p>

2

<p>Make sure that you have a financial safety -- a school that you know you'll gain acceptance to, can afford, and would enjoy.</p>

<p>The single parent without financially contributing father can cause problems with financial aid if your father has the $, but simply refuses to contribute.</p>

<p>There's a good chance that the college will still expect him to contribute, and will calculate your financial aid accordingly. If your father also is the type who won't provide his tax info, that will cause even more problems.</p>

<p>Colleges take a tough stand on this because they know that if they allow parents to get away with this, other parents will do the same. Why should people pay their share if the college will?</p>

<p>With all of this in mind, unless your mom has a large salary, you may have to go to UF or to another college that's likely to give you merit aid. Based on your PSAT scores, I think that all of the schools that you listed except perhaps UF and Bard are far reaches for you.</p>

<p>The most important thing to do right now, however, is to figure out what your mom can pay for your education. There's a chance that Florida schools will be your best bet since they are low cost and you may be able to get Bright Futures or other merit aid.</p>

3

<p>Umm, actually, the average GPA at UF is a 3.9 and at BU, GW, Bard it's around a 3.5 and only a 1240-1290 SAT, so, seeing as I got a 1300 rushing through the PSAT's, I don't see what you mean as for the others being reaches, since they're easier to get into. Also, my father is legally disabled, they will not expect him to provide any monetary support as he cannot legally work.</p>

4

<p>GW is not known for generosity with need-based aid. It gives merit aid, but that merit aid is hard to get. It also is a hot college now, becoming a first choice college for the type of students who in the past would have used it for a safety.</p>

<p>BC also is another college that is hot. I don't think that it is that generous with need-based aid either. Merit aid exists, but is difficult to get.</p>

<p>BU gaps aid big time. </p>

<p>Georgetown is a big reach.</p>

<p>I don't know how Bard is for aid. If you are a Florida resident and get your application in early to UF, I think you can get in, and also probably would qualify for Bright Futures -- full tuition scholarship. The later one submits one's applications to places like Fla. public colleges, the harder it is to get admitted. As the class fills up, standards get higher.</p>

<p>Make sure that your dad is willing to submit the paperwork about his income. Some students have not gotten the financial aid they needed because their fathers refused to fill out the paperwork about their own income or lack of income. To do this, your father will have to provide his tax information. The same is true of your mom.</p>

5

<p>What if the Child Services cannot even find him and no one has any idea where he is or what he's doing, they've been divorced for over 15 years.</p>

<p>I understand about them being hot, but I really have no desire to stay in state honestly, because I want to actually get a good Undergrad education, and while UF's rank is up there, too many TA's teach classes and they don't have the Poli Sci program I desire, plus, I just hate Florida and the only relative living here, my mom, dislikes it as well. </p>

<p>Also, because GW and BC are getting better each year, you think I should apply ED to GWU?</p>

6

<p>If money is an issue, you should not apply ED to any place because if you don't get enough financial aid, it is hard to get out of ED. Not applying ED also would allow you to compare offers.</p>

<p>In the situations in which no one knows where the father is and the father has not been financially supporting the student, the colleges ask for documentation of this. This has come up on the financial aid board of CC, so check back messages there for more info.</p>

<p>I think that you need to talk to your mom about exactly how much she feels she can afford to pay for your college education. Florida public universities are very cheap for in-staters, especially if they qualify for Bright Futures. That can be a hard deal for most families who aren't wealthy to turn down particularly since UF is now ranked in the top tier, higher, incidentally than are BC and GWU.</p>

<p>To get the kind of aid that you probably need from an out of state private college, you'd more than likely have to apply to a lower ranked tier 2 college where your stats would be in the upper 25%. You also may need to look at places in the midwest, northwest or far northeast because they may be happy to have a Floridian who's willing to trade sunshine for snow and sleet.</p>

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7

<p>Well, realistically, since we really can't afford anything, it doesn't matter where I go, because even if you get everything paid for at UF, the room and board alone are a few thousand per year, and yes, while UF is listed higher than Bard and GWU, it doesn't have a good Political Science program at all. I'm not one who "settles" because I cannot afford school, I'm looking for the best school for me because it has what I want and will get me where I'm looking to go in life. Albeit, money is an issue, so I can't go somewhere with no aid because 140,000 in loans isn't so pretty, however, as long as I can get some decent aid, apply for some government grants, etc, plus the fact that my mom and dad literally cannot afford much of anything combined (hopefully this will end up being a positive thing, no savings, etc) then I'm going to try to get where I "want" to be, not where I "can" be. I would much rather pay back loans for 5-7 years and receive an amazing education than pay back no loans and be dissatisfied.</p>