<p>“college, that list looks good although you have four reaches, two matches and three safeties. I would like to see you subtract one reach (UNC??) and add a merit match school. What happened to Vanderbilt?”</p>
<p>I’m not picking on you cheers, but a lot of people say that UNC-CH and UVa are reaches, while Vandy is more of a match…
My S got into both UNC-CH and UVa but NOT Vandy.</p>
<p>CH:</p>
<p>I think Harvard is about 20% Asian, not 10%.
EDIT: It’s actually 21% as per website.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/counselors/stats/index.html[/url]”>http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/counselors/stats/index.html</a></p>
<p>UMD tends to gap on need-based aid…but it has a very good pre-med/sciences program, has been getting a lot of research $$ lately, is opening a new life sciences building this fall, and is very diverse. If OP can qualify for merit money, it could be a great choice.</p>
<p>Then Dartmouth ED it is? You can turn it down if you don’t like their Fin Aid package.</p>
<p>Don’ t worry about picking on me, dp. I am one of the last thick-skinned relics on CC. It’s cyber space–not my dinner table!</p>
<p>Actually you can’t turn down if the aid is bad. I am sure 100% of need will be met but $30,000 can be met in loans. Its one of the featured discussions.</p>
<p>Ahhhh…well…do you want $30K of loans if you could get a totally free ride from Pitt or Vandy?</p>
<p>Talk to us about your hopes for medicine. Where do you hope to go with that profession?</p>
<p>I hope to become a neurosurgeon as well as participate in research. Public health also seems interesting.</p>
<p>A free ride from Pitt would be ok I guess. Its not exactly my dream school. </p>
<p>However, a free ride from Vandy would be amazing. Vandy has solid academics. Its just that it seems like a white school. I don’t know. I wish I could afford to visit for a few days.</p>
<p>Whoa cheers, I never said that Columbia does/doesn’t favor NYC kids. I know very little about Columbia because S didn’t consider it…I just know that its admit rate this past cycle was VERY low. My perspective is that of a NYC elite school parent whose S is half Indian and just went through the admissions process. My S’s scores and ECs are roughly similar to the OP’s and therefore I agreed that his original list was a bit reach-heavy. However, he’s come a long way in refining that list just in a few days. </p>
<p>He’s got 3 definite acceptances (2 low-cost, 1 free) Pitt, Binghamton & CUNY Honors. Assuming he’d be happy with those, the rest of the list can be reachy, but keep in mind that schools like UVa and UNC-CH do not use the Common App. UVa’s application is LOOOONG…</p>
<p>jonri, I feel your post was harsh but very realistic. My S, with a profile very like the OP’s (except for the financial need part) garnered his share of rejections this past cycle, and the “most elite” school to which he applied was Cornell. The kids in his class who got into Ivies were the “stars”…and some of them (like the girl with perfect SAT scores featured in NY Magazine) didn’t get their first choices. I am in awe of their accomplishments. Part of the reason that S turned down his free-ride CUNY Honors offer was that he wanted an intellectual peer group similar to the one he’d found in HS, and while the Honors Seminars at Hunter College would have certainly offered that, the regular classes would not.</p>
<p>Agree with the many posters who mention it’s important to show passion, and a compelling answer to the question “Why Dartmouth?” (or wherever).</p>
<p>A free ride from Vandy would be MORE amazing than a Dartmouth ride with $30K debt? What is it about Vandy that makes it more appealing than Pitt?</p>
<p>Talk to me about the ‘too white too rich situation’. have you been in t hat situation before and found it uncomfortable? Do you think kids would be uncomfortable with you–or you with them? Is it money differences or lack of Indian food/Indian mates that worries you? </p>
<p>I’m going to PM evil Robot and see if he will kick in some info on Vandy for you but do you want to call the Vandy fin aid office and talk to them about your dad? Do you want to see if they can put you up?</p>
<p>Maybe carolyn and mini can weigh in on how low income kids get to visit schools.</p>
<p>The Greyhound Fare is $200 round trip. The school will put you up–and they might even give you a few coupons to eat. Is that still too much?</p>
<p>My bad Heli mom–I thought you said you didn’t think Columbia showed favor. But if you didn’t no biggie. No accusation from here.</p>
<p>CH,
If you are really interested in Vandy, contact them. Many schools will offer financial assistance to folks who want to come visit, are good candidates for the school, and can’t afford to do so. There are several threads about kids who did this in the last admissions cycle, some with tremendous results (including one with a full ride to UNC-CH).</p>
<p>There’s another poster who is attending Dartmouth this year who got very good FA in unusual family circumstances. You never know unless you try – but have a plan that you can afford and will be happy with should the Hail Mary apps not come through.</p>
<p>Do you know anyone from Bx Sci (or through some other activity you are involved in) who currently attends Vandy? DS1 has a bunch of friends who are heading off to colleges in the fall (one of the advantages of having older friends, I suppose), and he has floor space available, it seems, at half the colleges in the country!</p>
<p>Colleges will feed you if you visit – they know food is an effective marketing tool! They also have students who will put you up. You can probably request someone who is Indian as your host if you want to be able to ask openly about the issues that concern you.</p>
<p>I just checked airfares and American has round-trip fares from a Thurs. afternoon departure to Nashville and returning on Sunday for $158. (I ran dates in late September – fares were from JFK and LGA.) If you are interested in pursuing Vandy and want financial help to visit – do it. The worst they can say is no.</p>
<p>I am reluctant to post the user names of folks who have posted about their experiences (i.e, in my previous post) – long-time CCers, is this OK or not?</p>
<p>Should i-mail the finacial aid ofiice?</p>
<p>Columbia (unlike the other Ivies) weighs interest heavily for those students who live IN OR NEAR the NYC area. If you considering applying, I’d suggest that you meet with the admissions officer when and if he/she visits your school, log in when you go to the info session, and do an overnight if possible. The admissions officers have no interest in someone who can easily visit but does not.</p>
<p>In regard to Michigan, it is not uncommon to be accepted to the school first and then be invited to apply for the Honors program.</p>
<p>Maryland will extend an invitation to one of their Honors programs with the acceptance. They do offer nice merit scholarships to OOS students. </p>
<p>Have you considered Boston University? They also offer excellent merit aid to high stats kids.</p>
<p>Please remember to fill out your FAFSA and all Profile supplements on time!</p>
<p>You should first call the admissions office and talk to them aobut your interest in applying. Be sure to get the NAME of the person you speak to so that you can write a thank you email.</p>
<p>Ask for advice. Explain your situation and then ask them for advice about funding housing and meals for low-income students. Then, ask them how other low income students travel. By bus? If you go by plane–can someone pick you up? You don’t want to add antoehr $50 cab fare to your cost.</p>
<p>Then call Fin aid office and get a name to send a query. Email them about your mother’s current income–and her expected income–and ask them how they might consider your father’s income.</p>
<p>They will reply in writing–with aname attached. Print and SAVE that email kiddo.</p>
<p>Then do the same at Dartmouth.</p>
<p>Then do the same at Columbia–although I think you might enjoy a different city.</p>
<p>You mgiht also email the BU admissions department and ask them if you would qaulify for their University Professor’s program.</p>
<p>OOPS, sorry, it did slip my mind that Princeton is no longer ED. I apologize for that. But if it really is your dream school, I would still urge you to apply. If you apply ED to Dartmouth for strategic reasons and get in, you’ll be sitting there wondering whether you should have tried for Princeton. If you are sure that Princeton is clearly your number one choice, apply.</p>
<p>Remember, we don’t know you. If you win the Intel–I mean top 40–that would obviously make it another ballgame. Plus, unless things have changed as to that too, NYU gives a free ride to anyone who is top 40.</p>
<p>And I do realize Pitt isn’t your dream school. But I also know Pitt gave a free ride to somebody from BxS within the last couple of years who didn’t get into several of the reach schools on your list. I am fairly sure his prospective major was neuroscience too and based on what he said it has a good program. </p>
<p>Essentially…what I am trying to accomplish is to make you realize three things: (1) not every college is going to waive your father’s contribution. I know a situation in which the father has never paid a dime of support and lives in a foreign country. He once worked here and has a pension fund. Mom sued to attach it for back child support. Ultimate holding…after she spent a lot of $–was that she can NOT attach it to get back child support. Father would not fill out non-custodial parent section of PROFILE. At least one college would not waive the father’s contribution. (2) It’s competitive out there! You want to make sure you have some choices you would be satisfied with. If you don’t like UPitt, then choose another school. Don’t box yourself into a corner in which CCNY or Hunter is your only option. (3) Don’t think you can rely on scattergrams to tell you where you will get in for all the reasons I’ve already said. </p>
<p>I do wish you luck–sincerely. I just think it is REALLY bad advice for anyone to tell you you’re a match at Williams or Dartmouth and that your original list was MUCH too “reachy.”</p>
<p>OP – If your mother has attempted to collect child support but has been unsuccessful, be sure to have documentation (court orders, etc.) that she has tried and that he refuses to cooperate. I have a niece whose father has been out of the picture since she was age 2. He earns no reportable/taxable income and has paid no child support. Some folks here told me that my sister shoudl be sure to have her court orders, attempts to attach, contempt citations, etc. together so that FA offices can see that the father really IS out of the picture.</p>
<p>I am posting this because apparently my sentence structure was poor and confused someone else. I think it is bad advice that Williams and Dartmouth are matches. I also think your original list was much too reachy.</p>
<p>It was too reachy. If I am doing QB and I am slected I could apply to Stanford, Yale and Princeton using one app? So is that worth doing?</p>
<p>Yea Williams and Dartmouth are probably possiblereaches while Princeton is a SUPER reach.</p>
<p>Also he files for bankrupcy to avoid payments so how much can he contribute anyways?</p>
<p>I know Pitt isnt that bad. The location is a major plus. If the neuroscience program is half way decent I’ll check it out. Funny thing as is as soon as someone mentioned UPtt I got their viewbook and application right away (like 3 hours laster). Its so short. No rec, SAt 2’s or essay even needed or even a resume.</p>
<p>Don’t worry Collegehopeful, if you are selected to be in the running for Pitt’s Chancellor’s Scholarship, there’s lots more paperwork AND an interview!</p>
<p>If you are interested in the neurotech stuff, Pitt also has some joint affiliations with CMU, which can be a pretty powerful combination.</p>