<p>LSU is a super-safety. They have to accept all in-staters with a 3.0 GPA and 20 or higher on the ACT: I have a 3.94 unweighted GPA and a 33 on the ACT, so I should be fine haha. 
Plus its very cheap for in-staters.</p>
<p>I’m Hispanic. And legit Hispanic, not a loophole-type thing: I’m fluent in Spanish and my mom immigrated here at the age of 20 from Venezuela.</p>
<p>Thanks for the tips, again. You’ve been very helpful :)</p>
<p>Woot! You sound in great shape, stats-wise. Here’s the link to the thread about possible visit opportunities: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/hispanic-students/645766-diversity-weekend-opportunities.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/hispanic-students/645766-diversity-weekend-opportunities.html</a></p>
<p>Another really helpful place as app time gets closer is the parents forum. People there are super-knowledgable (moreso than I) and know about all kinds of schools that offer great merit aid. Once you have a good idea of your list, post a thread over there and ask for feedback.</p>
<p>Oh, and did you make sure to mark the Hispanic designation on the PSAT? Many schools will give big scholarships to National Hispanic Scholars, in some cases equal to those for NMSF. But they’re not always advertised. There’s a thread above about that, too. 
And, if you scored well enough on the PSAT to be Commended and you designate Rice as one of the two schools to which you want you scores sent, the app fee is waived (at least it was last year for my ds)!</p>
<p>I did designate Hispanic. And I’ll look into Diversity Weekend and the parents forum.</p>
<p>I did a little research. Washington University in St. Louis has only 2% Hispanic in its student body. Does that mean I’d have a good shot at merit aid there? I hear they give a ton of merit aid, I may be wrong though.</p>
<p>Thanks again for all your help.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>WUSTL gives some large merit scholarships (eg. Rodriguez for Hispanic students), but they are very competitive and include both academic and (for Rodriguez) commitment to diversity and the Hispanic community. </p>
<p>I’m not saying you shouldn’t apply, only that just because they have a relatively low Hispanic population, does not mean that these scholarships are easy to get. Also, you have to remember that WUSTL is one of the few highly selective schools that offers large merit scholarships, making them very compeititive. WUSTL does have a fly in program that you should check out.</p>
<p>entomom - Thanks so much. Always ready to help. haha</p>
<p>Okay. To be honest, WUSTL doesn’t really interest me, but I figured if I could get alot of merit aid, I could learn to love the school. It makes sense that they’re highly competitive scholarships - I don’t think I’m going to apply there. I don’t really know much about the school, only saw that about them. Plus, since my family’s annual income is ~80K per year, won’t I be eligible for a large amount of FA anyway?</p>
<p>I just reread the entire thread, I’m glad to see that you are willing to expand your list to about 10 schools. With a family income of 80k/yr, you are in that middle ground as far as need based FA, making it more important to try for merit aid at some schools. </p>
<p>I’ve related this story before, but it’s applicable in your situation. We had a slightly higher income and more than normal assets (due to diligent saving for college and retirement) and with D1, HYP offered generous FA, while schools with slightly lower endowments, Amherst, Brown, WUSTL, Dartmouth, Rice, offered no need based FA. YMMV, but this demonstrates that there CAN be quite a difference in FA between even very selective schools that provide 100% of need.</p>
<p>My D1 was very much like you in wanting to go somewhere other than her in-state public. I think that makes it more important that you apply to a wide range of schools, to ensure that you will have more choices in the spring than just your instate public and schools that you might not be able to afford.</p>
<p>WUSTL is a very good school, we have a close friend who attended as a Rodriguez scholar a few years ago and had an excellent experience. She went on to do Teach for America and is now applying to grad school. D1 was invited to their scholarship weekend but it overlapped with a scholarship weekend at another school where she was guaranteed at least half tuition and had a chance at a full ride, so she went with the bird in the hand.</p>
<p>If it were up to me, I’d only apply to the schools that I really wanted to attend. I wouldn’t apply to 10+ because if I got into all of them or even the majority (I’d only be able to pick one to go to) then I’d be taking the spot away from someone else who really wanted to attend those colleges. You can only go to one; don’t apply to 10 or 15. Other people want to go to college too, and you’re just going to take away their chance if you apply to a school, get accepted, and then don’t go. I know that they have waiting lists, but those lists aren’t ranked. Someone else who really deserved to go too may not have the chance to.</p>
<p>That’s why I’m only going to apply to 5 colleges (some of them are really selective, so I have a back-up plan if I don’t get accepted into them). Applying to 10+ schools is ludricrous.</p>
<p>entomom - Thanks again. Like I said, 10 seems like a reasonable number. So far, I’m for sure applying to Yale, Stanford, Rice, and LSU, like I said. But I’m going to expand my list.</p>
<p>koolkitty, if your parents are wealthy and can easily afford any school to which you apply, including your safety, then OK. It’s those of us who need financial aid who need to really shop around.</p>
<p>But no, OP is not taking spots away from anyone. Colleges accept many more people than can possibly attend because they know kids may make another choice. And it’s why they have long waitlists. Never forget that college admissions is a business.</p>
<p>^ Correct; this is called the “yield” in the college admissions jargon. Many schools publish the yield numbers in their Common Data Set section C1. The yield is the ratio of “enrolled” over “admitted” and schools know what to expect after years of experience. So, no, spots are not being taken from someone else by applying to many schools. And college admissions is indeed part of a non-profit business.</p>
<p>I guess I downplayed the money issue… haha.</p>
<p>So for Yale, for example, is $80K per year enough to be given FA that covers all (or most) of tuition? Because if it’s not, I doubt I could attend.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>[Yale</a> Cuts Costs for Families and Students | Financial Aid | Freshmen | Office of Undergraduate Admissions](<a href=“Home | Yale College Undergraduate Admissions”>Home | Yale College Undergraduate Admissions)</p>
<p>While the most important, income is not the only factor in determining need. Assets, number in college, etc. also affect how much need you will receive.</p>
<p>I’m not rich and no one else in my family is either. It’s just that I think you should do that type of research BEFORE you apply to colleges. See an estimation on how much FA will be available to you and the actual price of the college if you go there. Most of them have that on their websites (e.g. Princeton). Applying to 10+ colleges only makes you seem indecisive and desperate.</p>
<p>The people in my family who went to college only applied to two (at the most). That’s because they knew what they wanted in a college, and they already had enough sense to call the college office and ask the nice lady on the telephone to give them an estimate of the cost and financial aid available to them (that’s what my brother did). </p>
<p>And again, I stick with what I said before. Don’t be selfish. If you get accepted to all of those colleges (who are expecting you to matriculate), then you just took the spot away from someone else who actually really wanted to go (and dreamed of going since he/she was probably 6 years old), but can’t now because you were so indecisive and capricious to not stick to applying to a few colleges.</p>
<p>And if you already know that there’s no way that you can’t afford the college, then DON’T APPLY. You’re just waiting for FA to be your savior or salvation, and sometimes, even FA isn’t enough and you’ll end up going to a different, more affordable college anyway.</p>
<p>“If you get accepted to all of those colleges (who are expecting you to matriculate)”</p>
<p>kitty, they are NOT expecting everyone to matriculate. Really, they’re not! Most schools would be in big trouble if everyone did, not having enough dorm space, classes, teachers, etc.</p>
<p>So, you just decide to apply to as many colleges as you want to for fun? Is that the approach you’ve taken?</p>
<p>The reason why they don’t expect everyone to matriculate is because they’ve been around long enough to know that people like you are doing this…they don’t want to get their hopes up (because you just might change your mind again). But they expect MOST of the accepted kids to matriculate (why else would they have accepted you then?). They don’t expect most of the people to just never show up (Maybe 1-9 per classroom).</p>
<p>Anyway, colleges do expect a minimal variance in the number who are accepted and the number who actually matriculate. But, you guys are just widening the gap…Seriously. </p>
<p>Think of other people. You’re not the only one going to college. Other people are applying to those same schools too. If you apply without wholeheartedly wanting to go there and you get accepted (but decide to go somewhere else), then you just snatched the dream away from someone who wholeheartedly wished to go to that same college all his/her life.</p>
<p>Maybe I’m just nice and considerate…(virtues that are disappearing in a society where people barely even say “please” or “thank you” anymore, or even hold the door open for a stranger)</p>
<p>“The reason why they don’t expect everyone to matriculate is because they’ve been around long enough to know that people like you are doing this”</p>
<p>This is indeed a reason. Consider this:
</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/17/education/17admissions.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/17/education/17admissions.html</a></p>
<p>Have a look at this article; it explains what’s going on.</p>
<p>Look at it this way: if your chances of getting into a school are, say, 30%, you need to apply to 10 such schools in order to have a choice of three, when you might want to pick the one that gives you the best financial aid package.</p>
<p>The times have changed; I applied to two schools back in 1968! ;)</p>
<p>My brother applied to two schools in 2009. Things haven’t changed that much.</p>
<p>And just go to collegeboard.com (use CollegeSearch) and apply to schools that you know wouldn’t say no to you. Stop trying to get into Harvard if your SAT score is 1800 and your GPA is 3.0.</p>
<p>It gives you the median range of the SAT scores of their accepted students (as well as GPA, and important factors considered in admissions). What other guidelines do you need to know which colleges will accept you?</p>
<p>Geez. Getting into college ain’t rocket science. If most of the students have a 3.5 GPA and the SAT range is 1900-2100, and you have a 3.8 GPA and 2150 SAT score, then go for it.</p>
<p>
Even schools like Princeton/Yale have ~60-70% yield; I highly doubt they expect most kids to matriculate.
People who are prudent about their financial options and limitations like to have more options.
Or just naive. Your delusional moral high ground is quite amusing though.</p>
<p>“People who are prudent about their financial options and limitations like to have more options.”</p>
<p>That’s not “more options”…that’s grasping at falling straws and hoping that you pull out the longest one.</p>
<p>And…Okkkkkkk, I’m going to apply for financial aid too (And I’m pretty sure that I’ll be needing that more than you). I’m still not going to apply to 10 schools because that’s ridiculously excessive and extraneous.</p>
<p>^ How is that excessive or extraneous? Given the ridiculous competitiveness at the nation’s top schools, schools which generally give good need-based aid, it would be quixotic to apply to 2 or 3 of these schools expecting an acceptance. As for your last statement, please explain how it is not having “more options”. Your incorrectly used analogy doesn’t exactly support that claim.</p>