Have I really cost myself tens of thousands of dollars?

Paying for College
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<p><a href=“Duke University Transfer and Admissions Information”>Duke University Transfer and Admissions Information;

<p>App deadline 3/15. And they will look to your high school record, ALOT. So it will not be overlooked. You need at least a 3.8 to transfer. 5% acceptance rate BUT it might be worth applying based on your high school record and your current CC transcript and ECs. </p>

<p>Now that would be a great transfer!! Duke combines merit and need.</p>

<p>Kat
ps UNM also another option, I am the parent of an OOS UNM alum and she LOVED it!!</p>

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<p>^^ Go for it OP!!! Please keep us posted! Hey you never know!</p>

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<p>Vandy is another possibility.</p>

<p>“Vanderbilt meets 100% of demonstrated financial need for all admitted students, including transfer students. Our admissions process is need-blind for U.S. citizens and eligible non-citizens.”</p>

<p>They do not however offer merit aid for transfers.</p>

<p>“Admission of transfer students to Vanderbilt is competitive and based on academic merit. While there is not a strict priority based on the date of application submission, transfer students are encouraged to submit their application by the March 15 deadline for fall term consideration. Applications received after March 15 may be considered on a space-available basis.” So again 3/15.</p>

<p>“Collegiate academic achievement is important in admissions decisions, and we also review indicators of academic success including the high school record, standardized test scores (required for transfer admission), letters of recommendation, and extracurricular activities. We also consider the fit with the undergraduate school and the Vanderbilt major/program for which students have applied.”</p>

<p>High school record will be valuable as will be your CC, so value will be placed on your hs transcript+ ECs and not missed.</p>

<p><a href=“Application Process: Transfer | Undergraduate Admissions | Vanderbilt University”>http://admissions.vanderbilt.edu/prospective/transfer.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Again, might be worth an application.</p>

<p>Kat</p>

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<p>It’s seems easy to put all the blame on the GC, but in my kids school, they are not much more knowledgeable. As a parent, I came here to College Confidential to learn the ins and outs of scholarships and financial aid options to our great benefit(thanks everyone!). I guided my kids through the process. Our GC had no input into any of it beyond supplying needed rec. letters. I’m sorry you missed out, though and wish you the best of luck now.</p>

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<p>Duke, Vanderbilt, Rice, Emory, Cornell are all great suggestions! I’d add Columbia SEAS and Penn Engineering, McCormick at Nortwestern (less good for financial aid though).
I don’t know if Viterbi, USC’s School of Engineering, would accept a CC student from Illinois rather than CA but there’s no harm in trying since they accept a lot of CC students. Beware, USC’s deadline is Feb 18!
<a href=“Transfer Applicants | Columbia Undergraduate Admissions”>http://undergrad.admissions.columbia.edu/apply/transfer&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“Transfer Students”>Undergraduate Admissions |;
<a href=“http://viterbi.usc.edu/admission/transfer/”>http://viterbi.usc.edu/admission/transfer/&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“Undergraduate Study | Academics | Northwestern Engineering”>Undergraduate Study | Academics | Northwestern Engineering;
Each of those is a long shot, but just one admission would be exceptional :slight_smile:
Some of these colleges are looking for high-stat students from rural, underrepresented areas.</p>

<p>BTW, if you’re lower income, you may qualify for fee waivers, ask your guidance counselor.</p>

<p>Of course you have UIUC but the costs are likely to be high and financial aid lousy. Pennsylvania is worse, though, if that can make things better ;).</p>

<p>You can look into Olin, Rose Hulman, RIT, WPI, Rennselaer, but also Urochester, Bucknell, Lehigh, Gettysburg, Lafayette.</p>

<p>OP, you not only are one of the highest ACT scores in your community college, but also in the nation (you’re above 98% high school students who took the test!)</p>

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<p>cp, I suppose my lack of initiative is, yes.</p>

<p>mom2, what probably interests me the most right now are things along the lines of genetic engineering or the development of medical devices. Though my interests even extend into potentially being a math teacher one day.</p>

<p>Kat, I will look into those, especially Vandy. I have family in Nashville; I don’t know why that one didn’t occur to me earlier!</p>

<p>Twinmom, I will try to!</p>

<p>Debbie, thank you!</p>

<p>MYOS, I will look into all of those as well, thanks! Yeah, it’s sort of depressing how UIUC treats in-state students, but there’s not much I can do about that :p</p>

<p>Thank you again for the abundance of advice everybody! Keep it coming, and I appreciate it!</p>

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<p>“mom2, what probably interests me the most right now are things along the lines of genetic engineering or the development of medical devices. Though my interests even extend into potentially being a math teacher one day.”</p>

<p>Ok…well then Chemical Eng’g or MechE would probably be the most flexible with those career goals. </p>

<p>I would avoid BioMedE because it’s more limiting career wise…and school wise. Right now, you need to get into an affordable college situation…and that college may not have BioMedE or NucE. </p>

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<p>USC meets full need for transfers. 1/2 of their transfers come from California Community Colleges. Another 1/4th come from out of state colleges (no breakdown.) As you see they are supporting instate CC transfers, however it isn’t out of the question to get admitted. I’d also apply to suitable instate private colleges that meet full need for transfers. Stop accumulating excess CC credits!</p>

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<p>If you can, provide the guidance counselors’ office as well as the principal’s with the information you found - you could copy/paste the thread about automatic merit and competitive merit scholarships with a link to the threads plus give them a link to the forum. This will be a service to your classmates. You may even volunteer to go speak to juniors and sophomores at your high school, about “how to net massive scholarships even if you’re not an athlete” (because, really, the odds are better to get an academic scholarship than to get an athletic one.)</p>

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<p>

Also tell them apply to a few Safety Schools, just in case.</p>

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<p>Mom2, thanks, I will keep that in mind!</p>

<p>Brown, I will look into USC! What do you mean by excess CC credits, though?</p>

<p>MYOS, believe me, I will at least spread the word to the people I know.</p>

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<p>Right now, you should focus on your next steps for YOU. As you have learned, YOU need to advocate for yourself. You give some wishy washy answer and don’t know this or that as to what you want, you will likely just get shifted to an easy general course where the advisor can then point and say how successful you were going that route. And you have been very successful with what you did do right now. You need to make the steps and commitments to get into programs that are selective, and many of them need to hear some commitments from you. </p>

<p>Many, if not most 4 year universities, will limit how many CC credits they will accept. They also often have a 2 year residence requirement. They may also not accept credits for some courses; they require that they are taken in house with them, or require departmental examination to be waived from a retake. </p>

<p>Not a CC, but my son was not given Calc 3 credit from his college, without the Math department vetting him first. As it turned out, he would have benefitted from a retake, even though he passed their test. </p>

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<p>If it makes you feel any better, the higher value of those scholarships is to offset the higher cost of the tuition, room and board at those schools. It’s not as though you would have had all that money in your bank account at this point. You would have had a different first two years of college. It’s a shame you got poor advice and missed out on what might have been a better educational opportunity for your first two years, but you also have to take responsibility and initiative in planning your future. Hopefully you can find a good school to transfer to which will give you a nice scholarship. Good luck.</p>

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<p>I would go about it as an informational thing and not try to cast blame with the GC - I think the GCs are lame at my D’s school too. Figure out a way to get the information to the students, period (as an alumni of the school). Will they let you do a seminar at the school to share what you have learned here? Does the school ever have college fairs? I’d approach it like that (get the information to the families instead of trying to burn the GC). </p>

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<p>And yes like someone said, take care of your own business first before you worry about the kids back at the high school.</p>

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</p>

<p>I find it hard to believe that even in this small rural Il town that no one attends a 4 year college/university. I also find it hard to believe that Op’s GC did not advise him to minimally apply to the state flagship school. I read where OP said that his EFC was ~ 6k (this means that Op was not eligible for any federal aid other than loans- No Pell, No FWS, No FSEOG, Etc). While the state flagship is 29-35k in state, I do believe that it was not an affordable option for Op and his/her family.</p>

<p><a href=“Page Not Found, Illinois Undergraduate Admissions”>http://admissions.illinois.edu/cost/tuition.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>By Op’s own statement, it does not seem as if s/he was eligible for the full tuition scholarship and it sems as if he wasn’t recruited for football. The next big scholarships only cover ~ 10k, it still leaves 19-25k on the table for student and family to cover. Was this a financially feasible option for the family?</p>

<p><a href=“Page Not Found, Illinois Undergraduate Admissions”>http://admissions.illinois.edu/cost/scholarships_ALLdisciplines.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Are your parents able to pay their EFC?</p>

<p>Even if you would have gotten in the past or if your still get a full tuition scholarship, your parents will have to minimally pay their EFC. Keep in mind that of the 4k colleges in the country, very few meet 100% demonstrated need. As a transferring sophomore, the only thing that you are guaranteed is a 6500 loan. With room/board charges between 10-15k, can you & your parents cover this?</p>

<p>So before Op start waxing poetic about how someone has done him wrong (any every one else starts jumping on the band wagon), keep in mind that the college process starts with you and your family.Right now, we only know one tiny little piece of what Op chooses to tell us. We don’t know if Op applied to any other schools, of if Op had any financial safeties in place. </p>

<p>The counselors role is to provide guidance (the primary job is not to provide college advising), however it does not negate due diligence on the part of the student and their family to do some basic research. At the end is the family to sets up the financial parameters and will ave to pay the bill. We do not know if parents are even willing to pay anything, let alone an amount of $$ over their EFc. For all we know, CC, may be the only financially feasible option for the family (Op would not be the first student in this position). </p>

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<p>With a 4.0 and a 32 ACT and valedictorian of class the OP was eligible for a full ride somewhere @sybbie719. Agree that you are in charge of your own destiny but that’s harsh, just because you find it hard to believe doesn’t make it not true. Who amongst us has not come across a lame GC?</p>

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<p>With a score of 32 and a 4.0 I am quite sure that Op received his share of mail minimally giving him some schools to look into. Yes, I have met my share of lame GCs, but I have also met my share of kids who have said my parents said don’t worry about the $$ and the well meaning Greek chorus who tells them that there are tons of free rides out there for you. Even the most lame GCs know that if offered at the local/flagship public universities because most students ( yes the CC crowd is an anomaly ) attend their local school</p>

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<p>Unfortunately, many GCs just don’t know how many variables go into choosing the right school to apply to. If they would just give the kids guidelines to at least consider: student’s- stats, financial situation, efc & school’s- COA, financial aid policies,merit aid policies. Then add in the student’s “wants” in a school in terms of school size, location, major, etc. Finding the “sweet spot” is not easy for all applicants. Grades/stats, finances, schools’ policies etc. can significantly change where a student should even start their search. </p>

<p>Some GCs in our office were surprised that my girls were applying before Nov. 1st. They had no idea that many schools had early deadlines in order to be considered for the merit scholarships. Now come on, they should KNOW that. But our school doesn’t really help with search at all. They only administer what is necessary to get the applications complete on time from their end. </p>

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<p>I agree fully with Sybbie. Though if indeed, what all the OP said is true, that the GC did NOT encourage the school valedictorian to apply to the state flagship school or other universities as well as looking at local options, the GC did not do his job, should not be in his job. But when you take the ACT you get all kinds of mail from colleges. GCs get all kinds of mail. Not a brochure, a view book, letter from any colleges did this kid receive with his stats? Unbelievable to me. He’s that smart and he says, nope, not for me, CC is what the GC says. NO kids in his school, not a one going to a 4 year school, away for school? </p>

<p>My youngest brother graduated from about as back woods of a high school as one will ever find, and I am serious about this. The same with my DH, though not quite as bad. But the top kids at the school all knew who they were and they did go off to some 4 year colleges. Something not right about all of this. </p>

<p>Now I don’t think that all GCs to know that there are full ride guaranteed scholarships in ALabama, when they are located in IL, though, yes, i do think that they should know that, but they should know that there are scholarship options out there in the US of A, and would encourage the Valedictorian to check them out. I am very interested in a high school that is not doing this. </p>

<p>But none of this matters now. The OP needs to check out what options are available to him NOW. That means applying as a transfer to some school that will meet full need (check what the policy is for transfers) and his record might get him accepted, but as a transfer he has to show some direction and reason to want to go that school as that is something schools do look at carefully for transfer acceptances at these selective colleges. They may not care that a freshman doesn’t know; that’s expected , but a transfer should have a firm direction and reason to want to go there. The rules change at this point. The transfer would be wise to show he knows the school and the program he is pursuing and can accomplish this. Has to draw it all out to admissions as they decide who gets the few transfer spots at these selective schools. </p>

<p>Though OP can likely transfer to a state school, in IL, getting full need met is not likely and tuition room and board is going to be a lot of money. All he’s guaranteed to get is the Direct loan. What are his parents willing and able to pay for him? Is he still looking for a full ride? That is not going to happen. At best a school will give full need as they define it, and at the most generous school, even we are looking at a gap of at very least the family EFC IN ADDITION TO what the school is going to expect in terms of Student contribution. That’s about $10K the way I see it, at best. </p>

<p>So, yes, the OP had better get on the stick and start those transfer apps. But if parents aren’t going to pay, what are his options at this point? </p>

<p>Do add some schools like University of South Dakota to your list, as not only is the sticker price low, they may come up with some money with your stats,and the work possibilities out there are through the roof, so that if you do decide you have to borrow, paying it back faster, at this point in time looks might good there. I suggested this to a friend with two very troubled kids, and danged if they aren’t making more money than all of my kids who are out of school combined, by far. And believe me, they were no valedictorians, nor were they getting any 25s on the ACT. Parents were paying to get them out of Dodge and their hair, desperate. </p>