OP, your Cornell friends are not adcoms, and frankly when I was that age I wouldn’t want to hurt a friend’s feelings by telling them their likely hood of getting in were slim. I’m not saying there is no chance of you getting admitted, but if you want to ED, it may be better to use it at a school you love but have a more realistic chance of admittance.
Your ACT of 31 is below the 25%ile of matriculants of Cornell’s class of 2022 (mid-50% 32-34), CDS section C9. http://irp.dpb.cornell.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/CDS_2018-2019_v5.pdf Most of the students with ACTs below 32 are hooked—athletic recruits, URMs, legacy, development cases. So, I would not characterize that as having a ‘solid chance’, even though your achievements are impressive. I haven’t seen test score data for class of 2023 yet.
Can you take the ACT again? That would be the best way to strengthen your app.
Also make sure to get good grades your first quarter/semester senior year.
Are these results affordable? Don’t forget that expenses will include travel, other personal type expenses and possibly health insurance.
Except that SAT scores are one of many selectivity measures, and not necessarily the most important one at many colleges.
Remember that applying to medical schools can be expensive as well. https://career.berkeley.edu/Medical/AppCost mentions $7,520 in 2014. Also, the expected pre-med extracurriculars will consume time that may limit the amount of paid work you can do to help pay for college.
Often college aspirants refer to the “top,” say, 20 colleges (where 20 can be any, usually round, number, and which I represented by x). However, they may in actuality be referring to only a single category of schools, such as U.S. News National Universities (NUs). In your case your search has included NUs as well as National Liberal Arts Colleges, so you are more likely to have landed on a relatively consistent group of colleges with respect to admission difficulty for your reach choices. Even if you reconsider your options, your broad-based approach should redound to your benefit.
How do you know you will get financial aid for medical school? The costs of medical school are HIGH and there is precious little aid offered to the vast majority of students. Most pay for their medical school costs with loans, loans and more loans…sometimes $300,000 or more for the four years of Med school. You can apply for medical school aid, but there is no guarantee you will receive anything except…loans.
Re: ED. Your family has $400,000 in savings? Right there, you can count on your family contribution being in the $20,000 a year range. Your income might make you eligible for a low FAFSA EFC…but your parent assets are going to count at the schools you mention…which also use the CSS Profile.
Can your parents fund that amount?
You are also counting on getting accepted to some very highly competitive colleges where 90% or more of applicants are not accepted. In those not accepted, many are very well qualified applicants.
In terms of ED…you get one shot at this. If you get accepted, you will get your financial aid package with your ED acceptance or very shortly after. You would need to look at your net costs at the ED school. You will have a short time in which to decide whether to accept…or not.
Here is the rub. You will have ONLY ONE admission offer, and only one financial aid package. This ED offer could be the best you will receive…but it could be the worst. If you accept, you will never know if another offer was better. If you decline…your RD offers could be worse.
You have financial considerations for undergrad (don’t even think about medical school costs…those are guaranteed to go UP before you even apply). You want to maximize your aid.
And I doubt that you want your parents spending every dime of their savings on YOUR college and medical school costs…especially with your number of siblings who also deserve a shot.
@CottonTales the student can only borrow $42,000 a year on Direct Loans for medical school…but they can borrow up to the cost of attendance using Grad Plus loans.
Thats what I was thinking…
Ugh I will need to re think my college list. Could you help find potential matches for me? And low reach schools as well?
The price I will have to pay after financial aid is def doable. I am first gen low income, which I heard can over look my 31… is that true? I have 2 publications, and have many national awards…
You need to do this research. What criteria are important to you when selecting a school? Note: do not answer prestige/ranking. Use sites like Naviance (if your school has it), CollegeBoard, and Princeton Review to help you search colleges based on factors you desire that also fit your GPA/test scores. The most important thing is to have 4-6 matches and 1-2 affordable safeties that you would be delighted to attend (one of your state public schools? I think you are in CA?)…you can have your reaches too (2-3ish?) but it is most likely you will be attending a match or safety school…so spend relatively more time looking there.
Edited to add: I am sure if you give us your home state and important factors you are looking for in a school that posters will have many good suggestions.
With 400k in savings, you will most likely not be paying 3k to 12k per year in UG with schools that use the profile. I guess it depends on where that 400k is. I’m sure somebody here knows more about that and can advise you.
You are trying to wed two different things…admissions and aid.
My opinion…you need to raise your ACT score…or try the SAT. There are plenty of first generation Asian applicants who will have better scores. Your scores will matter for admission purposes. An ACT over 33 will open up more options.
Your financial aid at the schools you mentioned for undergrad only…will be based on your parent income AND assets…these schools use the CSS Profile. You are anticipating getting need based aid that ignores your parent assets…and maybe that will happen…but maybe it won’t.
What other colleges are you considering? University of New Mexico? That might fit your budget.
You seem very set on these top whatever schools…I’m not clear why. The costs might end up being favorable and they might not.
I would be applying to cas (psychology)… what would my chances be for ed?
And thank you so much for clarifying!!! It makes so much more since now lol.
Hmmm… thanks for the input. Know you really got me mixed up, and I appreciate that alot.
I am the only child, tho my grandma from my moms side and my grandma from my dads side also live with us.
The schools you have listed here are highly competitive regardless of the major…and that includes Cal and UCLA
Also, what is a CSS profile?
Most private schools use the CSS Profile when determining an applicant’s financial need. It looks more in depth at a family’s finances than the FAFSA. https://cssprofile.collegeboard.org/
Applicants still need to file the FAFSA to qualify for Pell Grant and/or access federal student loans. https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/fafsa
Both of these open Oct 1, 2019 and you should complete them as soon as possible after then.
Meanwhile you can get a FAFSA EFC estimate here, but you should consider the EFC as the minimum you will be expected to pay. https://fafsa.ed.gov/spa/fafsa4c/?locale=en_US&_ga=2.209851093.1195733659.1564171919-1154418975.1547220591#/landing
When you did the net price calculators, did you indicate a family of 5? Are your grandparents dependents on your parent tax returns?
And still I ask…are you anticipating that your parents will use ALL of their savings to fund your college costs? It’s fine if that is the case…but they clearly have worked hard to save.
By any chance, do your parents own a business (like a restaurant or nail salon or something)? If so, this will likely have some impact on your undergrad need based financial aid. Please clarify.
First of all, your top choices are all lottery ticket schools even for those who are well within every parameter set by the schools to be in the top echelons. If you had a 36 ACT, ED to one of them would be a very good tip, enhancing your chances greatly. It still would not make those schools matches.
Unless one of your awards is akin to a Siemens/Intel finalist status or a top debater; I cannot tell how your awards are assessed by the Adcoms of the most selective schools, you have zero hooks. On top of that you are lacking in the basic test score. Those who are accepted with a 30 ACT score are going to have something truly outstanding that has the schools overlooking the low number. You don’t have that.
ED doesn’t give those who aren’t already strong contenders for acceptance an edge in admissions to the most selective schools . Those who are strong contenders without hooks still are long shots in acceptance to these schools, and ED gives them an edge over those with similar stats who are not willing to commit. You aren’t even in the running here, so ED is not going to give you a boost at these schools. You will get a boost at schools where stats already make you a good match, a slight reach, and as others have said, top 80 ranked schools do fall into that range. But not the very top schools. I would be surprised if you were accepted at those schools, especially as a premed.
My opinion, as well as anyone else’s are just that. If you really believe that applying ED to any of those schools will be the tipping point to get you accepted, with Tufts a viable ED2 choice, give it a go. And apply to any of the schools you can get your school counselor to give you support in your applications. Have you run your plans by your GC?
If your school has Naviance, look at the data and see who is getting into theses schools in terms of test scores and grades. Be aware that aberrations on those numbers tend to be hooked applicants, like recruited athletes, development connected applicants, legacy, URM, and truly spectacular applicants. You don’t fall into any of those categories from what you have shared here. If you do, that can shift the picture.
If your GC is skilled, savvy , experienced, connected in highly selective school admissions, an excellent rec from her could help though I doubt even there, it would tip the scales. New is not good.
As with all applicants, you should really be most focused on the schools or school you KNOW will accept you.
I guess affording is not a big issue with you since your parents have saved for your education, and also your state system has great financial aid as well as good prices. However, applying for aid at schools that are not need blind in admissions, but do give great aid to those they accept, might hurt. I’ve seen a lot of kids with your stats and higher, wait listed and declined at those schools while full pay kids who are not quite as strong get the thumbs up. The main test score appears to me to be a driving force in that decision by such schools I would probably stick a school in there that you like that is need aware without applying for aid as a litmus test for that. I’ve told folks over the years to do this, and inevitably, that is the school that comes up with the accept while peer, and even slightly less selective schools waitlist. Need awareness is real.
I know I sound harsh here. I feel you need to go over your strategy with your GC and someone at your school who is experienced in selective school applications. You might also want to post on our California schools’ threads as we have an amazing resource in the way of @Gumbymom
My parents are all for supporting my education. They dont own any stores though.
Wdym by are my grandparents dependents on my parents tax returns?
I’m not sure you can count your grandparents on your financial aid forms unless your parents are supporting them.