mom2collegekids

That's one problem that I'm having I don't know how to determine whether I will be fully covered at a school or not (financially). Also, yes I'm 95% certain that I qualify for fee waivers. I already know that my dad will be able to pay for all the other fees. I am only low income because of my mom's salary. Since I live in her household and she has sole custody I only use her income. (My dad only pays child support and gives me money if I ask for it).



Are you an Illinois resident? Well, use some NPCs on some IL state school websites and see what aid you'd get. Also look at their scholarship pages to see if your stats would get merit scholarships.

An IL public that you can commute to may also be affordable. You need to be careful since you could end up with some acceptances, but no affordable schools.

jhlphs

Oh I understand. However, I'm also confused because I have no idea how to find schools that suit me financially. All of the ones that I do find to be financially efficent seem to not be great schools. I am very greatful for all of the help. I was wondering if anyone can give me further help by telling me if my other choices are good financially. My list includes: Ohio state, Loyola University Chicago, Vanderbilt and Emory as reaches (my counselor told me these are good reaches), Depaul, Marquette, UIC, UIUC (I am an Illinois resident).

jhlphs

Oops, didn't see that post until after I already posted my previous post. Thank you, I'll be sure to do that.

tk21769

Column 6 of the following list indicates schools that do or do not require PROFILE for the non-custodial parent:

https://profileonline.collegeboard.c...ionServlet.srv

USC does not require non-custodial profile. However, their financial aid page does note,
You will be advised if tax information from your non-custodial parent is required. ...
USC will determine an expected contribution for the custodial parent, the non-custodial parent, and the stepparent, as appropriate.

The full cost to attend Ohio State for an out-of-state student is over $35K. On average, they meet less than 60% of demonstrated need. That's the average for ALL students with need. The average percentage may be lower for OOS students. In general, you probably cannot count on generous aid from OOS public universities (not at the ones where you have a realistic shot at admission, anyway).

Bottom line: go ahead and apply to a couple of reaches like USC. However, I agree with advice above that you should start from the "bottom up". Focus on in-state public schools, including schools close enough to commute from home.

mom2collegekids

Counselors often do NOT take into account "paying" for college when they advise on lists.

Emory and UChicago will likely require your dad's info, so you may not get much/any aid at those schools.

Frankly, with an ACT 28, I think you have too many HIGH reaches. Vandy, Emory, UChicago, and USC are not likely going to accept you. Your test scores are either in the lower quartile or very close to it for all these schools. Maybe pick 2 of these.

DePaul and Marquette are good schools, but they don't meet need and you'd need a commitment from your dad that he would pay...otherwise these will NOT be affordable.

The app process takes a LOT of time. You'll regret spending all that time on a bunch of schools that will not likely work out for you either acceptance-wise or financially.

Ask your dad how much he'll contribute each year towards college.

Find 2-3 schools that will be affordable (state schools that you can commute to and state schools that will give enough aid/merit)

Then find 2-3 schools that will likely accept you and will possibly give you enough aid.

Then find 2-3 schools that are reaches (not all high reaches!).

Consider Truman State as well. Some southern schools might give you good merit. UAB would give you a good award...and it has a top med school.

parent56

that's true m2ck.. that 28 may be a problem for vandy...33 act got a waitlisted for my S2 2 years ago. merit at uab would leave op with about 10k per year out of pocket (15 k m merit against 20-25K total cost.. have to factor in any additional credits needed but ap credit might help that)

M's Mom

And check the Common Data Set for each school you consider so you can see for yourself how someone with your profile fared in the admissions process (Section C). If your test scores, GPA or class rank put you in the lowest quartile, your chances of admission are slim. If you need significant scholarships or merit aid, you need to be in a given school's top quartile academically.

jhlphs

University of Chicago isn't one of my options, the University of Illinois at Chicago is. Also after this I have decided not to apply to USC

jhlphs

Oh and also, my conselor was telling me Marquette might be a good option because they would potentially offer me a minority scholarship.

lookingforward

You need a big comprehensive guide to colleges- Fiske or Princeton review. At the very least, that will put in front of you a large list of colleges, typical stats, usually something about finaid. They also make comparable references; ie, kids who applied to A also looked at B.

At a score of 28, even if you got admitted to a better name oos college, you face being weeded out of pre-med, so the school is left with only a small pool of super qualified kids. This is not about your confidence or how well you did in math-sci in hs. As you narrow your list, you can learn more about this, but for now, you don't even have an afffordable list. See how it goes in circles?

Illinois is one of the states that requires the non-custodial parent to contribute to college costs. That's good news. The bad is that I don't believe it states what Dad has to pay. He may not be expected to pay for an expensive out of state school. He may not even be expected to do more than split costs with Mom. Or it could be split, up to the max charged by an in-state. You can certainly talk about this with him, but if this is only being worked out in court now, it is extremely late in the game.

When a GC suggests a school, your job is to go look up that school and read as much as you can about its programs and finaid. Figure out if your stats make Marquette a reasonable shot and what finaid you would qualify for. Some GCs will tell you abut a particular scholarship- then it turns out to be only a few thousand or offered in partciular majors, whatever. You can't go on "advice lite."

dodgersmom

Then it's time to change your definition of what a "great school" is!

If you're serious about attending med school, a "great school" for you would be one that fits the following two criteria:

(1) You would graduate with ZERO debt.

(2) You would graduate at the top of your class with a great GPA.

Forget about the school that's highly ranked. Forget about the school that's killer hard to get into. Forget the school that all your friends have heard of that will only cost you a small (borrowed) fortune to attend. Focus on: zero debt and a stellar undergraduate GPA.

parent56

jhl.. there are about 3000-4000 colleges/universities...anything in the top 200 is going to be top 5% nothing wrong with that. it doesnt have to be top 50