<p>I am a California resident and have read a ton about our UC’s. UCLA will not give merit aid to you especially this year with our budget hurting even more. As others have said OOS were accepted at proportionally higher rate then in-state because those schools need the extra money paid by OOS. Since you do not fall into that category and will need some money for school I would not put the UC’s on your list. </p>
<p>USC is not a match or safety. I talked to the USC rep back in April and here is USC’s situation which has bearing on my statement. USC went to the common app this past year. They received 20K more applicants and saw their acceptance rate got from around 26/25% to 17/18%. The rep hated that this happened to students and attributed it to the school’s switch to the common app. Whenever you have a rate under 20% even if you are over with a 4.0 gpa and SAT’s over 2000 the school really is a reach. Remember there are about 40K high schools in the US so you have many students with great stats. </p>
<p>Instead of “guessing” about merit money do the research to find actual data. Some of my suggestions such as research on [CollegeData:</a> College Search, Financial Aid, College Application, College Scholarship, Student Loan, FAFSA Info, Common Application](<a href=“http://www.collegedata.com%5DCollegeData:”>http://www.collegedata.com) (see money matters section and look for non-need aid" and the common data set section on merit will help you in that research. The big futures function on collegeboard.org is another search/research option. See this article for more info in regard to that point. [Checking</a> the Generosity of Your Child’s College Picks | The College Solution](<a href=“http://www.thecollegesolution.com/checking-the-generosity-of-your-childs-college-picks]Checking”>http://www.thecollegesolution.com/checking-the-generosity-of-your-childs-college-picks)
Read the book “The College Solution” since a money issues discussion takes much more time than can be discussed in posting here on CC. </p>
<p>Using collegedata.com info Miami is very generous with merit money and 24% of freshmen receive merit money averaging around $24K. This still leaves a bill of around $30K so you need to ask your family if they can afford that amount assuming you get the average merit aid. Also Miami’s average acceptance GPA is 4.2 with a less than 50% acceptance rate so those stats would move it to the reach category. </p>
<p>If you are looking for generous schools that provide a good education I would look at the schools that are part of the “colleges that change lives” group. [Colleges</a> That Change Lives | Changing Lives. One Student at a Time.](<a href=“http://www.ctcl.org%5DColleges”>http://www.ctcl.org)</p>
<p>If you want to make a good list focus on about 14 colleges (no more since apps are tough) have about 5-6 reaches since your stats are good and then equally divide the rest between matches and safeties. A safety is where you are above the average acceptance stats for the student freshmen accepted population-basically at those schools you need to be in the top 25% to 33% of students who apply to those schools. </p>
<p>SBDJorlo’s impressive acceptance this past year was due to several factors. He was an incredible applicant in addition to being an URM. He had national awards-impressive EC’s and community service-high test scores and he was home schooled with great college stats. I have the scoring sheets from a few ivies-and sbdjorloro’s son falls into all the high score categories (and I will not post the scoring sheets since they were given to me in confidence). Combined those factors with the fact he is adopted and from an income needing lots financial aid-I bet he fits the bill of being “unique contributor to the college community”. His success is because there are probably no other students like him in the schools applicant pool. His success in his college classes as a high school student really made it a “no-brainer” for accepting his. His situation is not the norm and ryry you should not assume you are going to have the same results. I am sorry I am not being more positive because I really do like encouraging high school students. Rather I am trying to make you more realistic. One problem I typically face in the students I help is the high-achieving student who doesn’t want to put match/safety schools other than 1 on their list. These students have worked very hard and have had success in high school and it is hard for them to even consider that a top school may not accept them. Putting more match/safeties on your list is not a reflection of your value as a student but rather an acceptance of the numbers reality of college admission. Trust me having been there with my own DS-nothing takes the sting off of a reach rejection then a full-ride at an accepted safety. With my DS on track to graduate with no loans at his safety that he loves-he tells me all the time that he is thankful his reach schools did not work for him. He loves his school and is a very happy college student. We followed the methodology discussed in this posting and my DS ended up with close to $750K in merit money and 2 full-rides. We make $1 too much for financial aid but do not have a pot of gold for a full-pay school. If I remember your original posting you have NHRP status so look at those schools that are generous to NHRP (such as Alabama or Ohio State) and put some of those schools on your list. </p>
<p>Now while you are working on refining your college list be sure to also be working on your applications. Merit money in most cases always requires an early deadline for applying to colleges-some as early as October 15-do not get tripped up by not meeting the merit aid deadlines. Good Luck.</p>