Where can I get in, I am so lost ... though no Ivies since that is unreasonable for me

College Search & Selection
121

You’re under a lot of pressure, but please be realistic. Consider YOUR needs. You, firstgen, want a really good school. You need as much money as you can get. Please show your parents this thread, because maybe they will see, even if you don’t, that your best chance of securing funds for college comes from applying ED.

All this stuff you want… “a college with a good reputation that will accept me and allow me to graduate so I can work straight out of college (internships, co-ops, and the like…I could use connections and things like that…” is EXACTLY what colleges like Lafayette and Lehigh will be able to help you do.

What’s going to be different if you wait and apply to all these schools RD? Are you going to visit them all, assuming you have affordable choices, and then decide? What if your only affordable choice is community college followed by transferring? Because that is a real possibility. Community college is affordable and is a great choice for many, but is it better than ED to a superior school? Will you fit better at a local regional U that offers engineering and is affordable? Maybe. But here is one thing for sure that may be different if you apply RD: not getting the money you need.

This statement is very confusing: “I don’t want to have to worry that I picked a school not fit for me that won’t give me the aid that I need with the major I want.” Please understand that if you apply ED, you’re only going to be attending if it’s affordable. You won’t be attending any school that doesn’t give you the aid you need. Full stop.

Read post #116 again, in particular this:
“Lafayette admits more than half of its entering class ED. So, if you apply RD, you’re not only competing in a larger pool for a smaller number of spots; you’re also being considered for a dwindling amount of financial aid money. When your application is read, things may well have crossed over into the phase where they’ll choose an equally-qualified full-pay candidate over you, where the reverse would have been true in the ED round.”
This is not just true of Lafayette, but of other colleges of its caliber.

I sense that you want to know the unknowable. A wise person once said to me “Make the unknown a little more known.” Do your research and apply ED, because frankly, what you want may well not happen any other way. You say you don’t want to regret, but will you regret missing your best opportunity because you were worrying about the unknowable?

122

I don’t think anyone has mentioned Penn, but it is easy to get to from New Jersey and very generous with financial aid. It is one of the very few schools that do not include loans in financial aid packages (although students can take loans if they still need to). It is undoubtedly a difficult place for a low-income student, as there is a lot of wealth along with a lot of temptation to spend money (problems that are certainly not unique to Penn), but it is still worth considering. I gather that engineering is very hard, but graduates do well.

123

I know it is a bit foolish, honestly I just don’t like to restrict myself. Now that I know I probably have to go ED, where since Nov. 1 was ED for many schools?

124

With my S20, he did ED to a school that was realistic for him to get into to (not Princeton!) but still very good. There is no need to think in terms of a dream school. You bloom where you are planted. This is especially true for engineering. Although not an expert on this subject, my understanding is that by and large schools teach the same engineering curriculum. You just need a reasonable education in a place reasonably close to home. Don’t complicate things. I vote for the likely very good school for ED (like Lafayette), not the reach.

125

You don’t like to, but hey ho, we all have to do things we don’t like. Lafayette is 11/15. Unfortunately, you’ve missed Northeastern and Lehigh ED dates.

@twinsmama , PSU is generous with FA? For an OOS student? My kid wasn’t offered a penny last year at PSU but got a TAP grant in NY.

126

I don’t think I can recall seeing a thread on here where so many people are pulling for someone like this before.

My two cents, feel free to disagree and/or disregard.

Do you want to go into engineering or are you attracted to the incomes in that field? Further up the page it says you would consider CS or Physics. Again, passion or potential earnings? By the way, I don’t think there’s a wrong answer to this question.

Based on the details you’ve provided, I think you should be concentrating your energies on schools that are needs blind.

I personally think you will get in somewhere great regular decision should you chose to wait or be unsuccessful in ED rounds. Of course, we haven’t seen your essay (don’t post it up here) and we don’t know what your letters of recommendation will be like, though I think it’s safe to assume they will be at least favorable.

You can apply to more colleges through the common app by removing some of your existing ones - it won’t cancel those applications - the common app website should guide you through it.

If Engineering is truly what you want Lafayette looks hard to beat given the persuasive arguments above.

But, if you’re not beholden to Engineering, and I hate to confuse the issue with yet another school, I would seriously suggest looking at Williams early decision. Your stats make you competitive, your first generation status will be looked upon favorably, financial aid is about as good as it gets there (you may get a completely free ride there), they do not consider an applicants level of interest as heavily as some other colleges mentioned (officially, at least), the application is straight forward, common app plus one brief optional essay (from memory 250 words, an experience in your life, a lesson it taught you and how you would apply that lesson to your time at Williams), an amazing alumni network (I am told), no interview required, also they have a brand spanking new science building that should be ready for your first semester. ED acceptance rate around 30%, again, from memory.

I don’t think it’s for everyone, it’s in a pretty remote corner of Massachusetts but it’s not that far from NJ. I think, from what you’ve told us, you’re a tough kid and you could make just about anywhere work given the chance. Others may disagree but I think it’s worthy of consideration.

@TheGreyKing Your thoughts?

I would also, seriously look at Bates. I think your first gen status is a hook there, your stats line up and the aid is good. They only require the common app, I believe, no supplemental essays, great school, lots of help for a first gen kid there. I think they take about half the class early decision. Regular decision, it looks a very tough admit.

As for making your dad proud of you, I’m willing to bet he already is. And wherever you end up, embrace it, love it, never look back, never think what might have been.

Good luck.

127

Has anyone mentioned Bucknell yet? It has an ED deadline of 11/15, is in PA, and offers engineering, but I don’t know if engineering there is good. No idea about FA.

For other top colleges with 11/15 ED deadlines, google compass prep .com, ED deadlines. I can’t link it here.

@Jon234 , good suggestions re Williams and Bates. Agree with both, and ED deadline is 11/15.

128

@firstgencollege, PLEASE take what @Lindagaf is saying to heart. It is hard to hear you talk about not applying ED when it is clearly your best chance to get what you want and need, and the downside that you perceive is really not that significant in the scheme of things. Good luck. So many people are rooting for you!

129

Compared to other schools, Bucknell offered really poor financial aid when my kid applied.

130

If I truly asked myself, I’m fascinated by how things work and how I can create them, might be why I looked at computer engineering, also tech is really interesting to me. However it is primarily for the incomes in the field, seems steady and since my strong suit is mostly in math (took all the math classes available, yes calc too, and had nothing for senior year so took stats as an elective). It seems practical for landing a job. I love reading but I can’t make a career out of that (read mostly fantasy and like to see character development), I like to draw but am not that good and haven’t competed so that is a hobby, I like to research and dive into things I find interesting but have never done experiments or created anything, so a hobby. I am taking an intro course for engineering so that is how I realized it was feasible for someone like me though it is kind of challenging. Yes, need blind is something I need to look at but I feel that those schools won’t want me due to my stats. One letter of recommendation is from my calc teacher that saw I was very good at math and that I was a year younger than all the class, the other is from my bio teacher, I got a 5 on the bio AP which he told me about and remarked about it for being the first for the school (for bio at least). Yes I’ll see about Williams and Bates but I feel as if I have to look at everything. Before I saw nothing for me (only knew about the ivies and the locals but never really planned to apply to ivies), now there are so many options that they are overwhelming. Thank you all for the support and yes I know my family is proud but they deserve something more, my success is all I can give them, so that is what I hope to give them.

131

@firstgencollege You say, “my succss is all I can give them.” Remember though that success is not about getting into an elite college. It is about what you do with your life after that. Initially my family was not thrilled with what I went into but later saw what a satisfying and great career I had, and were proud of me. Try to focus on having a realistic admissioin plan and the success will naturally follow.

132

As to where… I think Lafayette is an excellent place for a student who thinks he will want engineering, for general aptitude and career-opportunities reasons, but who isn’t set on a particular discipline yet.

They have a first year curriculum that allows you to choose a particular major within engineering after getting exposure to all the options. And they have a Career Gateway Center that works with you the whole four years - Princeton Review rates it in the top 20 college career centers in the nation.

I agree that there would be more options if OP took engineering out of the mix… but he’s already feeling uncomfortable about narrowing his options. If he has a well-targeted ED school with a favorable NPC result, that keeps the engineering option open for him, why not go for it? Suppose he applies ED to Lafayette by 11/15. By mid-December, he may have an offer that meets all his needs, educationally and financially. My prediction is that he’ll be accepted, but of course you never know. If not, well, he’ll also have an EA decision from Northeastern, which will either give him a great option, or give another data point to guide his strategy. Plus he should hopefully have his financial package from NJIT by then, so he’ll have a better idea whether that safety is affordable. At that point, if he needs to go into the RD round, he can consider picking an EDII school - maybe Lehigh, or perhaps one without engineering if that seems wise. (Although, schools like Williams are tougher to get into than Lafayette, so I’m not sure why he’d give up his engineering option for a worse chance of admission.)

My feeling, OP, is that Lafayette has everything you say you want, and a very favorable financial projection. It’s a good engineering school for a student with interest and aptitude but without a ton of college-level experience going in. It’s known for good career guidance. It’s a good distance from home - close enough for ease of transportation, but far enough to separate yourself from your family’s struggles and focus on your education. I’m not seeing a downside here. If the comfort level isn’t quite there for you, is there any way you could get over there for a visit in the next couple of weeks, before the 11/15 deadline? There are Open House events later this week, if there’s any way you could arrange transportation.

133

OP, as for not wanting to restrict yourself ask yourself how you feel about rolling the dice on a $280,000* (maybe more) throw? Why not give yourself the best chance?

My eldest didn’t do early decision because I didn’t understand the financial aspect of it well enough. She’s first gen, applied everywhere regular decision, it is not an easy thing to do. It is stressful and time consuming and it eats into homework time. I would imagine this would be compounded for you given that you work.

Compare the regular decision rates (forget the overall published acceptance rates) at some of the schools you like or the ones mentioned here and see how comfy you are with those odds.

Take Bates. ED last year 741 applied 334 accepted. That makes the regular decision rate single digits. You’re going to have so many kids who didn’t get in their number one choice ED applying there because there are no supplementals and it’s a terrific school. They are all going to be phenomenally well qualified kids, it’s going to be hard to stand out in the RD crowd. Still feel like rolling those dice?

Your first generation status will carry more weight at some colleges than others. Be careful.

You can only go to one school. Even if you get 10 offers you still have to chose eventually.

Had I known what I know now my kid would have done ED. My younger ones are doing so.

What do you mean those schools won’t want you due to your stats? Google where a 1480 SAT puts you percentile wise. Also pick a few colleges and google their common data sets.

You’re a bright kid. Most of the bright kids are doing ED somewhere. The kids with the expensive private school educations I’d imagine almost all of them are doing ED. Why? Because it’s the smart thing to do.

*Approx value of a potential scholarship.

134

@Lindagaf I meant the University of Pennsylvania. Very generous financial aid and all as grants, not loans. Of those the OP is considering, only Princeton can say the same, and only Princeton would be likely to provide better aid - and Princeton is harder to get into than Penn. I agree with you that Lafayette would be a great ED choice for the OP, but I do think Penn is worth a shot in the regular round.

135

Ah, sorry @twinsmama ! Haha!

OP, I’m going to disabuse you of some incorrect notions. My D is at an LAC mentioned in this thread. She was just offered her first job with a salary near six figures, and no, I’m not exaggerating. She is a classic liberal arts major. It’s all about your brain and what you do with it.

136

BTW we visited Lafayette a couple of times and got to hear a lot about it because my daughter participated in a scholarship competition there. It was my favorite school that neither of my kids ended up going to, and I think it would be a great place for someone like the OP. I suggested Penn based on money.

137

Ok, it’s just that engineering seems like the reasonable option, thanks for the support. I truly don’t know much which is why I hold these notions. I know I’m misinformed but I choose what I think will give me the best future. I want to have the odds in my favor. Technically I feel I can do anything, I simply feel I have no passion which is a problem for me since it makes my choices that much harder. College is a complication since I haven’t explored so I have no idea what it is I will do, I feel without anyone to turn to with my questions (except here since I have learned a lot from all of you, more than anywhere else, even researching on my own), so I take aim and go wherever I hope will get me somewhere better.

138

At this point, it’s probably best to narrow the discussion to schools with an 11/15 ED deadline, as the decision on the “critical path” for OP is whether he can identify an EDI school he can still apply to, that is compelling enough for a binding app. Schools like UPenn, with an 11/1 ED1 deadline and no EDII, are no longer on the table for ED. Schools like Tufts, for which the ED1 deadline has passed but for which EDII could still be an option, can be held in reserve for a possible future discussion. My personal opinion is that asking OP to shift gears and apply ED1 to a school that does not have engineering, is muddying the waters. Suggestions of schools that don’t meet full need are probably also not useful at this juncture.

Lafayette sets the bar as an EDI school with an 11/15 deadline, full-need-met aid with a favorable NPC result, an engineering program with flexibility to choose/change majors, a stat profile within which OP is comfortably above median, and a strong boost both for ED and for URM/1st-gen.

Given that as a baseline, are there any suggestions that meet or exceed those criteria?

139

@aquapt it was mentioned earlier that the OP was open to physics and CS. With his stats I would be reasonably confident he would be accepted RD to Lafayette. I felt taking a shot at Williams ED was a more than reasonable thing to suggest given the information provided.

140

“a college with good reputation that will accept me and allow me to graduate so I can work straight out of college” + “connections” + “worry that I picked a school not fit for me that won’t give me the aid that I need with the major I want”
====>
So
1° Lafayette is the most affordable option. It’ll be between $2,000 and $4,000 net price, right? (And if they admit you and it isn’t affordable, you show a screen capture of your net price result, indicate you applied based on this result, and really can’t afford to attend with the new number, so, can they use professional judgement on this so you can actually attend? You DO NOT have to attend if they don’t give you enough money and at this point THEY admitted YOU so they really want you to come, and thus you’ve got leverage. Writing back to a private, meet need college after a disappointingED financial aid package usually results in a (slightly or much) improved package. They WANT you to come. Colleges “that don’t meet need”… don’t have any self imposed obligation to provide sufficient aid, so that how you pay for college isn’t their problem. it’s a big difference between “meet need” colleges and others. Only ~80 colleges “meet need” out of 3,700 in the country.)
2° It has the majors you want
https://engineering.lafayette.edu/
https://compsci.lafayette.edu/
https://engineering.lafayette.edu/engineering-international-studies-dual-degree/
3° Its majors actually succeed. Whereas most universities see an attrition of about 60% in STEM, especially engineering (that means 2/3 students who wanted to major in engineering or CS change their major), Lafayette students have remarkable persistence: 29 freshmen in civil engineering, 28 graduate with a degree in civil engineering 4 years later; 62 freshmen in mechanical engineering, 62 graduate with a degree in mechanical engineering 4 years later…
4° It’s prestigious through the Midatlantic region and the Northeast AND ABET-accredited so recognized in the entire country.
5° You get 4 years of personalized career preparation.
https://gateway.lafayette.edu/
6° If you apply ED, your odds are excellent, over 50% rather than about 20-25%. And you’ll know before Christmas.
The deadline for the application is NOVEMBER 15 and you need to complete FAFSA AND CSS PROFILE by that date. The supplements are relatively easy: 1° how are you and Lafayette made for each other? and 2° What’s your favorite thing to do and why? (200 words each, send to me as well as your commonapp essay).

So, really, the only real worry or question is “fit”. So, explore.
https://admissions.lafayette.edu/
https://diversity.lafayette.edu/
https://diversity.lafayette.edu/2019/10/24/lafayette-earns-national-recognition-for-diversity-in-engineering/
https://campuslife.lafayette.edu/traditions/