| Lots of the college anxiety for rural and other poor areas nation wide is not getting into HYPSM, but getting into the State Uni with a full or near full scholarship. Most people in America cannot pay full tuition for college (go figure) so academically motivated kids will aim at their state colleges and other public and private colleges that do merit aid based on test scores and GPA and less on amazing ECs that they cannot afford to do. If you work every day in high school to pay the bills, that cuts into time you have to go to a third world country and build houses probono. However, if a kid can get a 4.0 and 1500+ (old SAT) then s/he is in a great position to earn a bunch of merit aid at his/her state school. There are only so many of these scholarships too, so it starts to get competitive at every level. |