that’s good news. I’ll be in my last year of graduate school … does that help at all?
Your son may be able to convey some of this on the Common App or in response to Yale’s writing prompts. I assume that these will update for the coming application cycle, but here are the current prompts. The first four are super short answer, so do not allow space to elaborate, but the 400 word prompt may be useful.
Please respond in no more than 200 characters (approximately 35 words or fewer), to each of the following questions:
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What inspires you?*
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You are teaching a new Yale course. What’s it called?*
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Yale’s residential colleges regularly host conversations with guests representing a wide range of experiences and accomplishments. What person, past or present, would you invite to speak and what would you ask them to discuss?*
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What is something about you that is not included anywhere else in your application?*
Yale Essays: Please respond to one of the following prompts in 400 words or fewer. Please indicate the number of the prompt you choose.
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Yale carries out its mission “through the free exchange of ideas in an ethical, interdependent, and diverse community.” Reflect on a time when you exchanged ideas about an important issue with someone holding an opposing view. How did the experience lead you either to change your opinion or to sharpen your reasons for holding onto it?
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Reflect on a time when you have worked to enhance a community to which you feel connected. Why have these efforts been meaningful to you? You may define community however you like.*
Only in that perhaps your income is lower because you are in grad school? A lower income brings in more financial aid. But colleges use a 2-year lookback for income, so financial aid for academic year 24-25 will use 1040/income information for tax year 2022.
I agree that having the grandparent continue to own the 520 makes sense with one caveat. As an asset, it will not be reported because the grandparent owns it. However, if money is taken from the 529 to pay tuition, then it USED to count against the student as student-income in the year the distribution was made. And that can hurt a lot, because 50% of a student’s income is assessed as being available for college costs. People got around that by waiting until the January of the student’s sophomore year to take those distributions (due to that 2-year lookback rule).
The good news is that FAFSA schools will no longer count this distribution against the student, so no worries for a FAFSA-only school. You could take those distributions as early as first semester freshman year. The bad news is that CSS Profile schools (most of the highly-selective private colleges) might still count it against the family, per the old rules. Paging @kelsmom and @belknappoint to see if they know details about this.
I have yet to hear anything regarding how Profile schools plan to handle the change. They may continue to count any non-parent resources given to the student (including 529 payments) in the formula, but they might not. And it might vary by school, the way counting home equity does. It’s best to contact schools to ask them directly what they plan to do.
Thanks!
Based on your son’s interests, these may be some schools of interest. I’ve sorted them by my very fallible sense of what your son’s chances for admission might be. I included the schools he’s expressed an interest in as well as the other 2 schools I mentioned earlier, but the others are all in close proximity to their state houses. I would anticipate your son receiving generous merit aid at the schools I grouped as Extremely Likely admits (outside of VCU, as Virginia publics tend to be pretty stingy with merit aid, especially for out-of-state (OOS) students).
Extremely Likely (80-99+%)
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Emmanuel (MA): About 1900 undergrads and 3 miles from the Massachusetts State House. It’s part of the Colleges of the Fenway that offers cross-registration, clubs, and similar between some of the Boston area schools.
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Siena (NY): About 3500 undergrads. All those Siena/NY Times polls? Coming from here, and it’s 5.5 miles from the NY State Capitol building.
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Suffolk (MA): This school of about 4200 undergrads is 0.2 miles from the Massachusetts State House.
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U. of Hartford (CT): About 4k undergrads about 3.6 miles from the CT State Capitol…also make sure to check on the school’s financials
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Virginia Commonwealth : About 21k undergrads and located 1.2 miles from the VA State Capitol.
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Wheaton (MA): About 1700 undergrads…a couple people have visited it recently and had very positive things to say about it.
Likely (60-79%)
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Providence (RI): About 4200 undergrads, 1.3 miles from the RI State House
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St. Olaf (MN): About 3k undergrads
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The College of New Jersey : About 7k undergrads and 4.1 miles from the NJ State Senate
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U. of Connecticut
Toss-Up (40-59%)
- Trinity (CT): About 2200 undergrads located 1.2 miles from the CT State Capitol.
Lower Probability (20-39%)
- U. of Richmond (VA): About 3200 undergrads located 6.6 miles from the VA State Capitol.
Low Probability (less than 20%)
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Brown
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Swarthmore
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Wesleyan
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Williams
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Yale
If you remain active on this board, there are many very knowledgeable posters who will help teach you and provide great guidance.
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Is there someone from the program he is in at Yale who can speak to him about the admission situation? Even if it is not an admissions person from Yale, it might help him to hear how the program helps or doesn’t help student with admissions, how to use the program to help the application, what else would be helpful (outside activities, awards, travel).
It may hurt to hear, but the person may say “Sorry, but very few if any students from this program get in to Yale” if that’s the case, and it may have more punch if that comes from someone other than his parents. Hopefully the person doesn’t say that and says “Oh, you are just the type of person Yale is looking for and make sure you talk about XY and Z on your application and submitted LOR from X prof in the program.”
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They are going to continue to meet throughout the year and part of the program is help with applications. There is also the possibility of a supplementary recommendation based on performance. I assume that since they are offering it, then the AO will accept it. It’s a 2 weeks residential program and he was home for the weekend. I did encourage him to speak with his teachers. He did get a lot of encouragement about applying from students while taking courses and at least one professor was very encouraging. I think that this is really based on his writing and the quality of his participation in class. He also had a correspondence with a professor that he approached after seeing him speak after a model United Nations ceremony. He was extremely complimentary. So, in my son’s mind, it’s not coming from nowhere. I still have hope. He didn’t study a while lot for the 1420 … how high would he have to go to have a good shot?
From Yale’s own website: There are no score cutoffs for standardized tests, and successful candidates present a wide range of test results. During the most recent year, test score ranges (25th to 75th percentiles) for enrolled first-years were:
- SAT-Evidence-Based Reading and Writing: 720-770
- SAT-Math: 740-790
- ACT Composite: 33-35
When he studies, make sure he tailors his studying to the SAT. That is, download actual, released practice tests (not third-party tests). Take them under timed conditions. (If he can’t manage the entire time for a test, at the very least take each section timed). After the timer goes off, he should mark how far he got and continue the test. That will help him evaluate if any missed points are due to content or not being quick enough. If the former, he should focus on learning what he doesn’t know (and not spend time on things he already does). If the latter, he needs to work on better mastery of what he does know, so it becomes second-nature and he can do the test faster.
Save at least one or two of the 8 available tests for a full, timed run-through.
He can also try the ACT. Some students do better on that.
Or, if Yale allows, he can apply test optional (TO).
Here are links for official practice tests. (Probably also available on Amazon).
Downloadable Full-Length SAT Practice Tests – SAT Suite (collegeboard.org)
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Not for your kids.
@kelsmom is this still true for grandparent owned 529 accounts? With the new FAFSA guidelines?
She actually already answered that above in Post 24. 
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Correct. For FAFSA, no money paid to or for the dependent student is counted in the EFC formula. That question (41i on 2023-24 FAFSA) has been eliminated due to the FAFSA simplification act.
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A couple others to look at that are easier admits but might fit the bill are Bard, Earlham, Oberlin, and Macalester. All align with a vibe your son likes and are more “social justice-y”. Pretty sure all but Bard have merit (as well as FA, of course.)
Getting this part of the list built out is really important. Your son would also probably like Tufts, but the goal here is to find schools that are less of a reach.
If he likes Bard - which is a very cool, life of the mind place, – I believe they still have some early ways to apply. The beauty of this is that an early acceptance there can reduce the number of other back up applications needed. And while UConn is different from most on your list, as a CT resident, it defines makes sense to apply there.
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Yes, if he can get a fantastic letter from a yale prof, that might help. Yes, yale is a very long shot for him. He needs to have something they want, in addition to academic achievement. You have 3 kids. To send them all to uconn would be about 450k. To send them all to private college could be 1.2 million. Are grandpas 529s on track for that? And yes, they should stay in grandpas name.
If there is only 150k or less for him, it is either uconn or chasing merit at a 3rd tier liberal arts college or the few state U s that offer huge merit for high stats students.
Depends on which private colleges. OP is just getting out of grad school, so unless the spouse is making decent bucks, some of the well resourced privates may be the most economical. Depends by what OP means when they say "solidly middle class. If middle class means $100-150k in annual income, the net cost at Yale would only be about $15.5k. As mentioned throughout, OP needs to run NPC’s to see which schools are affordable as a baseline question.
I don’t feel comfortable sharing so many details about our money situation. But, I will say that our finances will change when I’m out of school. Based on your numbers, we are just above middle class at the moment. For my two boys, there is enough in their 529s for private without a worry. We used the calculators and we are in good shape for any school. That said, it would be nice for him to have some left for graduate school. That will ultimately be his decision. I think some of our reaches are good choices for aide.
Swarthmore would be my top choice for him. He liked it a lot, but was put off because they wouldn’t accept any of the credit from his Yale courses. He’ll graduate from high school with 12 credits.
I actually went to Oberlin and think it would be fantastic for him. But, not only is it 12 hours away from us, there is no public transportation there. He wants to stay closer to home.
Bard is a great choice for a safety. My sister suggested that our safeties not just be lower ranked, but alternative types of schools. Maybe Sarah Lawrence? Hampshire? I will look into Earldom and Macalister.
I agree that Tufts might be a good fit, but yes, another reach.
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Unless he intends to graduate early, receiving college credits for work in HS should be a non-issue. I don’t know about Swat specifically, but most colleges even if they don’t accept college credits earned in HS, will place students based on dual credit, AP scores or college administered placement exams. The question really is if the major(s) have the depth and breadth of courses he is looking for, especially for smaller LACs.
Professional schools, like law schools, will be big bucks. Graduate programs tend to be funded, depending on the program and institution.
Best of luck. I think you are approaching this the right way.
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I agree with BK here, on all points above, especially the sentence about the possible lack of breadth or depth of courses.
While Yale does offer acceleration credit, I do not think many students take advantage of it to graduate early. I don’t have any stats to back that up.
Your son will be allowed to enroll in higher level and graduate courses as an undergrad. While pre-reqs were listed, my son found that by chatting with a prof, he could enroll in a class even though he had not completed the pre-reqs.
One thing I found surprising was how few students study abroad during the school year. I remember reading that 75 students were away per term, so 150 per year out of an undergrad population of maybe 5500. Enrollment is still slightly inflated because of COVID gap years and deferrals.