What schools should I be looking at in my financial situation?

College Search & Selection
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<p>Quick rundown of stats..
SAT: 2050 (retaking in the fall), ACT: 32
3.94 UW/4.0
7 AP's (Calc BC, Euro, US, Lang, Lit, Spanish, Stat)
Football, Wrestling, Track athlete
Participant in CrossFit and Olympic weightlifting programs (nothing competitive, it's just for fun)
Mantis Boxing lessons
9 years of choir (select show choir for 3 of those years)
Mu Alpha Theta (secretary), World Language Honors, FBLA, History Honors, Physics Olympics
Volunteer work at local hospital</p>

<p>I've been looking at colleges like UPenn (in-state), UVA, GW, USC (born and raised in Cali), but I don't know if these schools are realistic options because my family makes ~50K a year before taxes. We're not going to be able to pay much. Do I qualify for need/merit-based aid? Should I be aiming lower, at local schools like Temple? I'm an Asian male, first-generation student, if that matters.</p>

2

<p>You will get great aid from richer and better schools- at the Ivies and the like you practically will get a free ride. I’d recommend rich privates such as the Ivies (particularly HYP and Dartmouth), WashU, Rice, Emory, and Northwestern. Also check out a couple LACs which also tend to have GREAT aid. With your parents income level, the cheapest schools are going to be the best ones (they have the best aid) so finances should not be a barrier for you at all. My advice: Aim high, apply to lots of schools so you can negotiate offers, and try to raise your SAT to a 2250-2300+ or ACT to a 33-34 so you have have the best shot.</p>

<p>I also think you should branch out to smaller privates - places like USC and GW tend to not give nearly as good aid as a place like Bowdoin or Rice (much richer schools per student).</p>

3

<p>Wow that’s awesome… should I consider all those mentioned schools as reaches? And should I focus on private schools?</p>

4

<p>Take a look at this: [Colleges</a> That Claim to Meet the Full Financial Needs of Students - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/articles/2010/02/18/colleges-that-claim-to-meet-the-full-financial-needs-of-students]Colleges”>http://www.usnews.com/education/articles/2010/02/18/colleges-that-claim-to-meet-the-full-financial-needs-of-students)</p>

5

<p>Out-of-state publics aren’t likely to give you significant aid, so UVA and USC probably wouldn’t be affordable for you. UPenn and Georgetown would be reaches, as would the schools mentioned by slipper.</p>

<p>Look at a lot of the top universities and LACs and see what you like. What type of school are you looking for?</p>

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<p>@averby That’s great, thanks a lot.</p>

<p>USC’s a private, right? Anyway, Penn is really my parents’ dream school… honestly I’d love to go out of state, somewhere new and exciting. I guess I want a mid-large size school, so a small LAC isn’t very appealing to me. A school in the city or in a great town would be awesome too.</p>

7

<p>[Out-of-State</a> Scholarships - Undergraduate Scholarships - The University of Alabama](<a href=“http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out_of_state.html]Out-of-State”>http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out_of_state.html)
University of Alabama Presidential Scholar</p>

<p>An out-of-state first-time freshman student who meets the December 1st scholarship priority deadline, has a 32 ACT or 1400-1600 SAT score and at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA will be selected as a Presidential Scholar and will receive the value of out-of-state tuition for four years. (Free tuition)</p>

<p>If you are in the college of Engineering, you will also receive an additional 2,500/yr
[Scholarships</a> - The College of Engineering - The University of Alabama](<a href=“http://eng.ua.edu/undergraduate/scholarships/]Scholarships”>Scholarships – College of Engineering | The University of Alabama)</p>

<p>Those are on top of the Federal Aid you may qualify for - </p>

<p>Max Federal Aid;
Fed Direct Subsidized Loan $3,500.00
Fed Direct Unsub Loan $2,000.00
Federal Pell Grant $5,550.00
Total $11,050.00</p>

8

<p>to correct notanengineer, UVa is VERY generous with aid, just the same as some of the elite privates, and promises to meet full need. (Same with UNC.)</p>

9

<p>@gojack That’s crazy… I’ve never thought about going that far south though…</p>

10

<p>I just don’t think you need to go for a “merit” aid school. You’re definitely going to get the best aid from a rich, private school. I think you’re best bet is to improve your stats to give yourself a good shot of getting in. If you’re accepted, a school like Rice, Duke, Emory, Vanderbilt, or Northwestern is probably going to foot 100% of the bill. I’d shift the list a little towards places like this (with Tufts, Wake Forest, Boston College, and others as more match-y schools with decent/ good aid).</p>

11

<p>UPenn is not a state school so being in-state has no bearing. UPenn does have generous aid.</p>

12

<p>Right, I just meant it was local.</p>

13

<p>One question - why retake the SAT? It seems like you are doing better on the ACT. Why not just focus on that and aim for a slightly higher score on that test? College’s only need one test, there’s no glory in taking both tests.</p>

14

<p>I never thought of that… I guess living on the East Coast, the SAT is just the more popular test. You’re definitely right though, the ACT was a bit easier. To be honest, I didn’t study at all for either test, so I have no doubt there’d be marked improvement after some studying.</p>

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<p>Plus the 2050 looks kind of ugly…</p>

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<p>Yeah you should submit one or the other - whichever one is better. Try a couple practice tests for the SAT. Unless you are breaking 2250, I’d probably aim for a 34 or 35 on the ACT. No reason to have to study for both.</p>

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<p>With a family income of $50,000, some highly selective schools like Harvard and Stanford will give you a full need-based ride if you get admitted. However, that is the hard part.</p>

<p>You may end up having to apply to a combination of reach schools with generous need-based aid and deep safety schools with guaranteed-for-your-stats merit aid (like University of Alabama).</p>

<p>Normally, in-state public universities are commonly looked at, but Penn State may not be the best at financial aid: [Penn</a> State - Office of Student Aid](<a href=“http://www.psu.edu/studentaid/needtoknow/osapolicy.shtml]Penn”>http://www.psu.edu/studentaid/needtoknow/osapolicy.shtml)</p>

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<p>

My bad, I was just thinking about UCs. I actually did see UVA and UNC on averby’s full need list, but wasn’t really thinking about it.</p>

<p>Most schools will just look at both of your test scores and look at the “better” one (though some, like Yale and Tufts, look at your entire testing history, but there’s no avoiding that). So right now they would probably mainly look at your ACT. Have you taken SAT Subject Tests?</p>

19

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<p>Perhaps you need to rethink this. There are only about 2 dozen major universities that meet 100% of financial need for all of their students, and I wouldn’t rate any of them a “safety” or even a “match” for you. These schools are all in the U.S. News top 25 or just outside it (e.g., Tufts, Boston College, UVA and UNC Chapel Hill OOS), and all have sufficiently low admit rates that even with your generally very strong stats there’s no guarantee you’ll be admitted. </p>

<p>I think you need to think about “safeties” and “matches.” Often in-state publics are admissions and financial safeties, but in your case the financial safety part is not so clear, as your in-state publics (Penn State, Pitt, and Temple) don’t meet 100% of need even for in-state students; and you’re going to have plenty of need. You should perhaps still apply to one or more of them and see what kind of aid package they offer; you should be a shoo-in for admissions. For financial safeties, though, you may need to look at private colleges that meet 100% of need but are not as selective as the 2 dozen top private universities. And those would be mostly LACs, like Macalester (46% admit rate, though reportedly lower this year due to a surge in apps), Occidental (43%), Trinity (41%), Lafayette (43%), Gettysburg (40%), St. Olaf (57%), Wabash (49%), and similar schools.</p>

<p>I don’t mean to discourage you from applying to the most selective private universities. I think you’ve got a pretty good shot. But you’ve got to be realistic, and you need some back-ups in case the reachy schools don’t pan out.</p>

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<p>I’ve been looking at colleges like UPenn (in-state), UVA, GW, USC (born and raised in Cali),</p>

<p>=============</p>

<p>Out-of-state publics aren’t likely to give you significant aid, so UVA and USC probably wouldn’t be affordable for you.</p>

<p>???</p>

<p>USC is not public…it’s private. And both USC and UVA give great aid.</p>

<p>That said, as an Asian male, I do think you need to raise your scores for a better chance at ivies that give great aid. </p>

<p>UPenn is private, so it doesn’t matter that you’re “instate”. </p>

<p>That said, since PSU (your instate flagship) is rather awful at aid and merit (most merit is like $5k per year for Shreyers)…you need to apply to a few other FINANCIAL safety schools where your stats will give HUGE merit.</p>

<p>Can I ask you…are your parents self-employed? If so, some of these CSS Profile schools can be brutal with expected family contributions from the self-employed. </p>

<p>Also, your FAFSA EFC will be based on income and savings/investments/etc…not just income…so if your parents are pretty good savers, then you could have a highish EFC.</p>

<p>Run a FM and a IM aid calculator…do both methods.</p>

<p>[FinAid</a> | Calculators | Expected Family Contribution (EFC) and Financial Aid](<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Expected Family Contribution (EFC) Calculator - Finaid)</p>

<p>Football, Wrestling, Track athlete</p>

<p>I see that you don’t want LACs…do you want schools with big team sports to watch?</p>

<p>What is your major?</p>

<p>How much would your parents contribute? Ask them. :)</p>