<p>looking for a fallback school in case my top choices don’t work out. Here’s my info:</p>
<p>GPA (weighted) 3.6
GPA (uw): 3.29</p>
<p>EC’s: lots of investing and money handling/planning (created a living trust, wrote business plans, invest for myself and my mom, etc.), a little community service, and water quality monitoring </p>
<p>ACT: 29</p>
<p>SAT: get the scores on the 25th but should be 1800-2000</p>
<p>I would prefer a school that is on the east coast and fairly cheap for out of state students or in Colorado</p>
<p>Have you run the financial aid calculators at [College</a> Calculators - savings calculators - college costs, loans](<a href=“College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools”>http://www.collegeboard.com/student/pay/add-it-up/401.html) to find out what the colleges and universities will expect you to be able to pay? Can you come up with that kind of money, or do you need a place that will give you merit-based aid that will bring your out-of-pocket-cost down to where you can afford the school?</p>
<p>You should be looking for a school that right now would guarantee you admission based on your grades and ACT/SAT exam scores. Read the websites of your home-state public universities and community colleges to find out what is necessary for “guaranteed” or “automatic” admissions. Chances are, at least one of them offers this.</p>
<p>Then, find out what your financial aid package might look like at that place (or whether you can afford it without aid), and whether a major that you are interested in is offered there. If it is also a place you can imagine yourself attending, then you have your “fallback” or “true safety”. </p>
<p>Apply as early as possible to put yourself in line for any goodies such as special merit scholarships, better housing, etc. With your “fallback” in the bag, you can then concentrate your emotional energy on your applications to the schools you really would prefer to attend.</p>
<p>thanks all for the thoughts everyone. sorry I couldn’t reply yesterday. </p>
<p>happymomof1,
I guess I missed the calculator when I was browsing the collegeboard site. thanks for the link. completed it and got a very low number for FM and a high one for IM.
the issue with cost is that while my family is fairly well off most of our assets are not liquid (IRA’s, real estate, etc.) and we obviously don’t want to invade them if we don’t have to. </p>
<p>I looked at the guaranteed admission requirements for CU and meet everything at Arts & Sciences except “maintain consistent or improving grades and high quality of
courses (students who fail to do so jeopardize their chances
of admission)” I had a 4.0 freshman year (transferred after that year because the school closed and I had a stable, but lower, GPA after that) and only took one AP class last (Junior) year. Other than the above I also meet the minimum requirements for the Leeds school of business if they use weighted GPAs. </p>
<p>tk21769,
top choices right now are CU Leeds, SUNY Binghamton, U of Oregon (in that order). I’m interested in business and live on a small farm so Colorado state is also a possibility. If I can find another school with a good business program that I have a reasonable chance at then I will probably add that school to the above list.</p>
<p>If you have a significantly lower EFC using the FM, then concentrate your efforts on finding colleges/universities that are “FAFSA Only” for financial aid. Relatively few institutions require the CSS Profile (I believe there even is a list somewhere at the College Board website) so it shouldn’t be hard to steer clear of them.</p>
<p>Most public universities do not offer good financial aid for out of state students. You may find a better aid package at a private college/university that follows the FM.</p>
<p>Falls backs ( that would hopefully work out to be my fall backs also): Arizona State University, University of Arizona, University of Colorado- Boulder</p>