<p>Hey guys!</p>
<p>I'm currently a rising sophomore at Boston U, and I have a cum 2.9 GPA (rough first year, but made it out somewhat alright). Anyway, I'm an independent student, and aside from the technicalities of getting into W&M (which I'm not too worried about, not to sound full of myself but I don't need chancing or anything) does anyone have any experience with independent OOS status and their aid packages? For any semester, that is. I called yesterday but of course they give the generic, "We do the best we can blah blah" and I just want to know how much they can cover. The guy DID say they can't cover it all being that I'm an OOS student. I'm really only looking, I might not even transfer. But it also depends on how sweet the deal is, so that will help. If it's like they can only cover 98% just to say they can't cover it ALL, then I'm golden but if it's like 70%, then it's not worth sacrificing the 100% I have at BU.</p>
<p>Kerissa!!! Hi!</p>
<p>What the heck happened that you want to leave BU?</p>
<p>Sweetie, I’m very concerned that as a transfer student you’re not going to get the aid you need. I know that BU tripped you up a bit FA wise (a surprise or two), but I can’t imagine that W&M will give you more than BU gave you as an incoming frosh.</p>
<p>Are you still a FL resident or what?</p>
<p>Hey m2ck!</p>
<p>Nothing happened in itself other than my boyfriend leaving. The chances of me transferring are like 5%, I wouldn’t follow a boy but if the school was comparable in both stature and aid, then it wouldn’t be something I completely ruled out. But you’re right, I do believe I’d be hard pressed to find another school that can offer what BU can offer me, plus I wouldn’t want to move twice, and add on the fact that BU was prob only able to afford me so much because it’s a private school and that’s a recipe that says it won’t work. Yes, the loans did send me for a ride for a little while but I’ve rationalized my alternatives, and unless I go to FL to go to school (which I don’t want to), it won’t make much of a difference elsewhere. </p>
<p>I still am a FL resident by technicality, but I may declare residency in MA while in school because I live there 9 months out of the year and haven’t been back to FL to live in about a year. Plus, I want to get my license finally and it’s easier to get it pretty much ANYWHERE other than FL, so I definitely want to look into that.</p>
<p>Never follow a boy unless you have a ring. 
I seriously doubt you’ll get what BU was nice enough to provide from W&M since you are OOS. W&M is a public U so they will be less willing to bargain.</p>
<p>How much are you actually paying at BU? I did see the thread about having to come up with your health care cost.</p>
<p>William and Mary is a LOT harder to get into than BU, so even though you are pretty confident, I don’t think a 2.9 is really going to do it. Obviously, they would offer better aid to students they really want to attract. They try to get to 80% for OOS freshman, but transfers might get less in general. If you have it good at BU, I’d stay, and maybe try for W&M (lovingly referred to a “Billy and the B**ch”!) for grad school.</p>
<p>Hahaha that’s a really funny nickname, and I know 2.9 isn’t stellar, but up until Junior year most colleges also use your high school transcript as some sort of leverage. Not to mention, I have a pretty good package deal circumstantially; a good story that a lot of colleges wanted from me for the diversity factor. My boyfriend’s grades were worse than mine both GPA wise (or the same) and high school wise (but he was from a private hs so that leveled it out) and he got in fine. He’s also in state so I’m sure that helps, but I was also told I wouldn’t get into BC and I did that also. Who knows. It’s just tossing around an idea.</p>
<p>In-state kids DO have it easier to get into W&M, because there are so many more in-state seats available. It’s the competition from OOS that gets crazy, since they only have 35% of seats available. And, if you will be trying for an OOS seat in an already established class as a transfer, that will be even more competition.</p>
<p>I don’t doubt it but like I said, if I didn’t do the things everyone said I shouldn’t do I wouldn’t have known I could have gotten into the schools I got into. I won’t know until I try.</p>
<p>Then you really need to improve your GPA, because right now, I would be W&M wondering why you are not exactly doing so hot in college if you were so great a student in high school. Your college performance will be even more scrutinized than your high school performance, and you should at least be capable of a 3.7 or better in college if you were such a stellar high school student. With only 2 years left to prove it at W&M, they may really doubt your ability to be successful in a much more demanding school (as they consider themselves a “public ivy”) Can you bring your GPA from a 2.9 to a 3.7 or so by the time you need to submit a transcript for the transfer application process?</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure that I can, and they use your first semester grades to determine that. Thanks for your input, but it seems pretty negative and that isn’t what I came on here for. That’s why I don’t use this site much because so many people are quick to tell you what you can’t do. No offense, but I know what I’m capable of and I do know the requirements of getting into a college like W&M. I had a rough year, as I said, and I’m not using that as an excuse but more as a fact in my statements. My boyfriend had nowhere NEAR a 3.7 and even failed a course and one of the admission reps said that it was fine. It had nothing to do with him being in state but rather a grade policy they had that he fit the criteria for.</p>