I mean for me it was a big move, I previously lived in 7 mega cities, then I move to a town with pop of 3000
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Ohhhh, so I donât need to write to unify the app, I can write about something that is completely unrelated, thanks so much for the indepth advice
I donât think Iâll get aid at most schools, but my parents canât afford that much because of other family members
You need a budget.
Forget everything else for now. College financial aid is NOT based on what your family thinks they can afford based on expenses, other family members needs, etc. It is based on the colleges own calculation of what THEY think you can afford.
Find out (a nice sit down with your parents) what they can afford to pay for each of the four years. 10K per year? 15K per year? 30K per year? And then with their help, take a look at a college you think you are interested in and fill out the Net Price Calculator which will be on their website. Princeton is one of the most generous schools in the country (Iâm not suggesting that you apply to Princeton- just if you cannot afford what Princeton thinks you can afford, your list will be a different sort of list going forward.)
Then come back. Many kids are shocked to learn that the fantasy football game theyâve been playing in their head vis-a-vis college is totally out of their price range. Which is fine. That just means itâs time to pivot and find a new set of colleges to exploreâŠ
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This is quite common. The way that universities compute âneedâ does not always correspond to the way that families handle their budget. Quite a few students (I would guess very likely a majority) are limited to either their in-state public schools or schools that give good merit aid specifically for this reason.
I have worked in high tech for many decades (I am currently mostly retired, but still consult to the same company that I worked at for many years). We used to hire a lot of graduates from big name schools (MIT, Stanford, UCB, for example). Now we hire a lot of graduates from more affordable in-state public schools (which for a few students might include UCB) and from universities outside the US. We do this because that is where we are finding very strong applicants. I have never figured out how much of this is because the in-state public schools are what strong students can afford, as compared to other reasons.
You can get a very good education at any one of a very large number of universities. It is very common for MIT graduates and Stanford graduates to work alongside graduates from U.Mass, UNH, San Jose State, a list of universities in India (most of which I do not know much about), and a long list of other very good universities. Typically in engineering few people know and almost no one cares where you got your degree.
If you figure out what your budget is that can help people here to suggest schools that are likely to meet the budget. I will add that if $60,000/year is the limit that you and your parents agree to, then you should be able to find multiple universities that come in under this number, particularly with your excellent stats which should help you to get merit aid at some very good schools.
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That is a generous allowance per year. Might I suggest you look at SUNY at Buffalo. @aunt_bea can elaborate. I might not have the college name exactly right⊠but she will!
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Yea I canât afford most of them out of pocket for net price, thatâs why I want to do rotc also
Yea itâs unfortunate that how the assistance programs works, but it is what it is
âPlanning on doing ROTC (i think this helps?)â
Iâm going to be frank: You are all over the place and seem very impulsive. I donât know you, so I could be completely mistaken. I believe that you need to sit down with your guidance counselor and have him or her do a pre-read.
My concern is that youâve done no research on colleges, costs, and are just haphazardly applying to colleges and generating activities which you think the colleges just want to see.
Create a budget with your parents.
As for ROTC, the students that I knew, that were doing ROTC in college, started ROTC at the beginning of their high school career.
If youâre planning on becoming any kind of a pilot, have you considered how strict the guidelines are for becoming a pilot?
My neighborâs daughter joined the military to become a pilot. She attended Berkeley. She had only a few more tests to complete before being considered for pilot training.
When she went in for her vision test they were very thorough. She never wore glasses in her life.
Apparently, they found a visual issue. Because of that visual issue, she could not become a pilot. She did have a driverâs license and she did have a license to drive a motorcycle. The visual issue had something to do with her peripheral vision. It would put her and her crew in danger.
Youâre making plans based on goals that may or may not be affected by factors out of your control.
So, fill out the NPCâs for the schools with your parents. Get a budget! Be realistic about that budget. Donât have your parents cosign a loan for an insane amount of money.
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I do not think that this is the right reason to do ROTC.
I think that you do ROTC because you want to spend a good part of your career in the US armed forces.
What do ROTC and having a baby have in common? Answer: You have to be very committed to the task before you start. If you are not fully committed to this multi-year commitment, then find another path.
It looks like you have a budget of $60,000 per year. This is a good budget. This will allow you to attend a very good university. This might not be enough to pay for Harvard or MIT or Stanford. That is okay. You do not need to attend Harvard or MIT or Stanford to do very well in life.
And graduate students at Stanford and other top schools come from a very wide range of undergraduate universities, a great many of which will cost less than $60,000 per year for a student who is academically strong enough to qualify for merit based financial aid. You are a strong enough student to qualify for merit aid at many universities.
You just need to continue to do very well in high school, and focus on very good universities that will be affordable with your budget. People here can help you find very good universities that are likely to be affordable for you.
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Top graduate programs are much harder to get into than undergraduate programs. I know someone who got into UCLA for a PhD in mechanical engineering, and he was one of the last few students accepted with a 3.97 undergraduate engineering GPA.
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The medical guidelines are strict for the military in general. If you have any history of seeing therapy or mental health problems, you are disqualified
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Yea all I have is a skin condition which I will try to get a waiver for, the things I do are just cuz I like them, I do most of my activities out of enjoyment
Also for doing rotc I only need to committ 4 years active service, Iâll prob do more than that, but Iâm not tryna do 20. Or at least I donât plan on doing 20
â I think if I got into any of the top reaches I would just take out loans if I needed to, but I appreciate these suggestions. Helps me ground myself for my chancesâ
This student is looking to use ROTC to pay his college costs. He mentioned that his parents income is at $180,000 a year. Maybe they have $240,000 saved for his education but I donât believe that would be the issue if heâs looking for a way to fund his college.
He has no experience at ROTC and appears to be a little cavalier about what that might entail.
From what I remember from my neighborâs daughter, she went through a large series of multiple tests including physical, academic and lots of psychological testing.Testings were conducted over long time frames.
I think the budget is a concern if the poster is looking to have ROTC fund his college choices.
I donât know what problem heâs trying to overcome, but the military is really strict about who they get to fly in their planes.
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Or command a battalion or lead a cyber team or supervise a top secret installation of nuclear material or manage a procurement operation for new weaponry ⊠or⊠orâŠ
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And yet, the military is short on people
Like why wouldnât I want to help my parents save a quarter million? Also my dad was in military so heâs has been preparing me
So then I should be a good fit?
Wanting to save your family money is an admirable desire. Additionally, I have tremendous respect for those who choose to serve our country by joining the military.
That said, serving in the military is not a commitment to make lightly. Itâs not like saying that youâre going to work a job from 8-5 from Monday-Friday at a job of your choice in a location of your choice and that by doing this for four years or ten years you will then save your family hundreds of thousands of dollars. You will be stationed wherever it is in the best interest of the military, and you can be pulled from your friends, family, and social life on short notice and go on multiple tours of duty. You can be stationed somewhere where thereâs no running water, no electricity, and where members only drink Redbull so they can conserve water for a radiator so that there is something to heat their MREs. You can be assigned to a position or location where there is constant danger and where the traumas that you will observe can cause lasting damage on your psyche, and where the physical demands of the position can cause so much wear and tear on your body that your body is breaking down many decades earlier than it would if you had a ânormalâ job. And you may not be working 8 hours and relaxing the other 16, but might be doing 14-16 hours of work/day.
If this is something you want to do to serve your country and family, then thatâs great. But it is something that should be seriously researched and considered before making that kind of commitment.
@ChoatieMom may have additional insight to share.
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