You really should go to Uconn instate–do well for a year or 2 and then transfer if necessary.
In addition to all the good advice you have been given, I would suggest the following. You’re scores are within striking distance of some top 50 schools, including Brandeis. If your parents will commit to paying what the Net Price Calculators say for Brandeis (or a similar school), think about applying early decision. Brandeis’s ED1 deadline is Nov 1, but they have ED2 with a deadline of Jan 1. That might significantly increase your chances. The acceptance rate for Brandeis ED is 41%. Your SAT scores are in range. Brandeis is only one suggestion that might work for you. There are other top 50 schools that are similar. Please talk to your parents and act quickly.
I’m filling out everything I can and trying to cram everything before the EA and ED deadlines hit. I really appreciate all of your guy’s advice so far and have changed my list a lot. UCONN gives very little scholarship money to instate and I would be unlikely to afford attendance there. My brother is in debt regardless of my parents assistance so he can’t help me here financially, he’s helping me find colleges though.
^Wait. Your brother is in debt to Harvard? He’s ghosting you.
OP, I’m sorry, too. On a 100k income, if they raided any assets (savings ) there may be nothing for them to give. Some posters here are very adept at helping find good, affordable options.
You’re listening here and sound bright, both of which are good. But you’re in a pickle. Now, I wonder if there’s some back story that’s relevant. Have they always made you and your brother compete? Was there a blip in your hs years that concerned them?
You have some 3 year ECs, but also the 1 years. You want to help people and make a point of that in the essay. But there’s no centerpiece where you help them. The essay may need some help. I wonder if you need some help reworking your apps.
Take a breath. This tough situation affects many more kids than you realize. Affordability becomes #1. Can you afford CCSU or ECSU (I assume you mean CT schools.) If so, these give you a chance to do your very best and later consider a transfer, use the time to find schools that would offer transfer FA.
Sure. Go ahead and apply to a few reaches. (I always regretted not applying to that Ivy…until I realized, decades later, that I wasn’t interested enough to visit. Long story.) But see if posters can help you Id affordable matches. You have 6 good weeks to explore.
Hugs. But state U isn’t “closing” doors. It may be how to open the new chapter, for now.
Transfers get lousy aid.
That 1460 is very valuable - but it’s value is list if she first attends a college then transfers.
So op should apply to all Connecticut public universities, but she’s right, UConn isn’t known for good merit aid. 
Explain how your brother ends up being in debt if your parents raised your college fund (as well as, presumably, his) to send him there. Are your parents unable to contribute from their income?
Does your brother know your parents used your college fund for his college? How does he feel about it (ie’., Does he intend to pay you back?)
OP needs help now with the facts her parents left her with. The GC can’t change their minds. So what’s truly affordable? What offers her max FA, for her picture? Now. What can she find in the next 6 weeks? Someone mentioned Agnes Scott. What about running the NPC on Sweet Briar, with its low cost and FA, and philosophy major?
OP will qualify for need based aid at many schools, with a $100K family income. Of course, parents will have to fill out FAFSA/CSS. Maybe brother can help convince them to at least help there. Then add in $5,500 loan, work study $2-3K, summer earning $2-3K and she may be getting there.
My college fund was not full it was only enough to cover his freshman year expenses. They aren’t able to contribute due to a large amount of medical debt and my blip in high school was my freshman year due to extreme depression after my mother’s hospitalization (caused a 2.8 GPA). He didn’t know until a month ago but there’s nothing he can do about it and he knows that for now.
Okay. Calculate your uw gpa for 10-11 and a reasonable projection for this semester. That gives a better example of more recent strengths. Adcoms at holistics look at grades on the transcript, see the letter grades/rigor.
If you have 0 to spend on college, run every NPC. Even a generous college (not a tippy top) can leave you with more cost than you can afford.
It’s true FA is usually better for entering fresmen than transfers. But there are colleges that will offer it to transfers. You need the right plan for now.
The danger in applying to 10 schools you really have little chance of to ‘show’ your parents is that you’ll get 10 rejections, many on the same day. That’s hard. If you don’t want to go to Dartmouth, don’t apply. Don’t apply to NYU. Your mother isn’t going to college, and she isn’t paying for NYU. It is a waste of time to apply.
About paying. Your parents aren’t paying. Period. They think they will ‘figure it out’ for a top school, but the money just isn’t there. If your brother isn’t getting full COA at Harvard then your parents make enough money that you are unlikely to get any aid at any other school (esp NYU) since Harvard is more generous than most. Should you get into any of the dream schools or top schools, you’ll find yourself begging your parents for money that they don’t have and can’t give you. BTDT.
If there are schools on your list that you really don’t want to go to , take them off. Don’t add more schools like UVM as even with merit aid they cost more than you can afford.
UW 10-11 is 3.95
This is not necessarily true. We can only go by what OP has told us. She said that her parents would consider paying for a top school, possibly including schools in the top 50. Even if they have no savings, they may feel that it is “worth” it to take on debt. Many parents do. With a 6 figure income, they may be able to take loans for college. This is not what I would do in their situation, but they are giving OP very little choice. If they really will fund their contribution at a top 50 school, then OP should make every effort to get into one. Personally, I still think Brandeis is a good shot, if OP applies ED.
This only makes sense if she can get a firm commitment from her parents that they WILL pay, if she gets into the ED school.
I’m very confused. On a $100,000 income, how will your parents pay for you to attend these colleges in the top 50? Do they have the resources to even contribute their family contribution?
What is so magic about top 50. Syracuse is 53…are you saying they will pay for Brandeis at number 50 but not Syracuse (where you likely would be accepted) at 53?
You know…if money is an issue…go to ECSU for the first two years. It’s a great CT state university with a smaller college feel. And it’s a real bargain for instate residents. Then transfer to UConn for your last two years.
How much longer will your brother be at Harvard? If the college money is all gone…what’s HE doing?
Will your parents complete the financial aid forms for you?
What’s your EFC?
When you run the NPC, what number do you see?
Because your brother should have received financial aid from Harvard if your family makes about 100K, they’re the most generous college in the nation - so I’m wondering what your family contribution really is.
Talk with your parents: would Brandeis (which in many ways is better than NYU, if less hyped) be one of the top schools they’d fund? What about one of the Seven Sisters (if they’ve not heard of them, explain - elite women’s colleges creates as equivalent to Amherst, Princeton, etc)?
Right now, when researching the colleges we listed here and on your other thread, check the deadline, and apply by priority order. It’s good you posted when you did because one more month and it’d have been too late.
I really like ECSU I’m aiming for their honors college.
Can you tell us what the Net Price Calculator shows for ECSU ? Would you live at home or on campus?
Just want to say I am following this thread. My daughter has a 3.6, takes honors and AP classes, and scored a 1300 on the SAT (not quite as high as yours!). But we bought our house in 2006 at the market peak, and so cost of living here in Fairfield County with a house that was underwater for years, some debt from home repairs, we don’t exactly have a lot of cashflow for college either.
If I were in my daughter’s shoes, I would absolutely look to travel across the country to some of these excellent schools with cheap tuition (schools in North Dakota, California, Alabama), but as she ALSO suffered with depression in her freshman year (and it caused a blip on her GPA), and neither myself or my wife, or her for that matter, think her being on the other side of the country is the smart play.
We visited UVM, UDel, Umass, all of which she liked. We visited ECSU, and she found it terribly depressing, not to mention her numbers put her in the top 9 percent of attendees. That would help with merit, but she would likely feel bored there. We’re hoping she gets into Uconn. The numbers say she is likely to - at least from our high school - but she’s far from a lock.
Hank I completely understand where you are coming from right now and if there’s anything I can do to help lmk. Because of my straight IB classes and likely diploma UCONN is pretty much a safety but financially not really.
Ok, I’ve been thinking about your situation some more.
Since you’re from Connecticut and apparently relatively well off, you’re part of a disadvantageous demographic that knows about cool New England schools like NESCAC and UVermont.
You should play the “geographic diversity” card and apply to areas where your classmates are NOT applying where your 1460 will provide you with plenty of merit money yet provide you with sufficient challenge. Basically, Midwest and South (ASU Barrett is another option but they don’t offer full scholarships). But also, you can try for the highest ranked Midwestern Colleges + Davidson, Emory… (Run the NPC) Check your parents would be okay with schools such as Grinnell, Davidson, Emory.
Some merit scholarships have been listed on your other thread (specifically financial) already.
Look at Colleges that Change Lives, too (website).
What about UMaine Orono? Ohio University (Honors Tutorial College?) University of Cincinnati?
What do you want to major in?