Hi, I am making my college list right now and I am really struggling to find safety schools that I know I could afford.
Here’s the low down
Male
Half Mexican, Half Russian, All American 
Born into a church compound ran away when I was 18 so I am self sufficient
Questbridge College prep Scholar
4.0 GPA
29 ACT ( as of 3 years ago, I am retaking this fall and my practice tests have me sitting at a 32 right now)
SAT Bio E 750, my calculator broke in Math 2 so i’m cutting it close on the retake in the fall for the Questbridge College match.
Competition winning Cellist, I have played at Carnegie Hall in NY and started a non profit to provide music education to inner city kids
I have been offered fly ins by Yale and Dartmouth and will be applying to a bunch of fly ins.
Despite my best hopes I have no illusions about the difficulty of getting into a top school and right now my list consists of mostly schools I can’t guarantee admission at. The thing is that I literally have 0 dollars to pay for school and no line of credit with which to get loans.
Any ideas on schools that I could get into and not have to pay for? My income is less than 15k a year so…yeah college is way out of my league in that respect.
Currently applying to Dartmouth Yale Stanford Harvard Pomona Brown Oberlin Colorado College and Princeton
Thanks!
If Yale and Dartmouth have offered to fly you in then you are a strong candidate. If a school is going to go through the trouble and expense of flying you in it’s very likely they will accept you. Flying you in is usually a marketing thing to convince you that you want to go there instead of elsewhere,
Given that, your list looks reasonable to me.
What’s your current state of residence?
From: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/18493428#Comment_18493428
05-15-2015 at 9:51 pm
Decision: ACCEPTED
Objective:
SAT I N/A
ACT: 29 composite
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): School does not rank
Award(s) Granted:
State and National awards for Cello, music scholarship recipient
Ross Math scholar award
Subjective:
Extracurricular Activities (place leadership roles in parenthesis):
Cello: Associate principal and principal of a couple prominent youth symphony’s
Piano: Concerto competition winner
Chinese language outreach Face2Face, it helps immigrants learn to live life in America.
Job/Work Experience:
I have worked a full time job continuously since I left home at 16.
Summer Activities:
Working, started a non-profit to teach cello to underprivileged children in inner city schools.
Essays:
Pretty confident about them, I really put a lot into them.
Main essay discussed my struggle to live freely from my parents and how I came to terms with my fathers suicide.
Side essay discussed a situation where I had to report the abuse of a student even though I knew that the state would only make things worse.
Teacher Recommendation:
Couldn’t expect a better letter .
Other:
State (if domestic applicant):
PA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Private, international online
Ethnicity:
Hispanic/Caucasian
Gender:
Male
Income Bracket(mention if FA candidate):
12,000 ish
Hooks (First Generation College, Minority,Learning Disability, etc.):
First Generation, Minority, I was raised in a church compound and escaped, Foster care for a little bit, Gay
Reflection:
Strengths:
I’m like a quadruple minority or something ;p, My parents are essentially Amish so I had no contact with the outside world really, I have a great school with a renowned reputation and a great curriculum.
I am very involved in my community and trying to make education more accessible to low income students, I live in one of those lovely districts that discriminates against low income students when they do their budget.
Urban student.
Weaknesses:
Age, because I did not start school until I was 16 I am now 20 years old. I was really afraid this would disqualify me, also I don’t have a birth certificate or any legal documentation that I exist so there’s that…
Also lack of standardized tests. I have taken one ACT about 10 years ago.
Why you think you were accepted/rejected:
I think I was accepted because I showed on my application that my education is really everything to me, I risked everything and left home to pursue it, also it helps to have reasonably good academics especially considering I work a full time job
I live in PA. Also the accepted thing above is for Dartmouth Bound, which is their summer fly in program. Thanks!
Anyone know anything about Soka university or schools like it? Which meet full need without loans without being impossible to get into?
Look at the list of Automatic safety awards in the financial aid forum. You could get full ride/full tuition. Might not be your first choice but a safety. Most people try to find instate affordable for safeties. Temple in PA has some automatic awards.
Temple University
Application Deadline: March 1st
Award: Full Tuition + $8,000 exp
Requirement: 3.8 GPA, 32 ACT or 1420 SAT (CR+M)
http://admissions.temple.edu/sites/admissions/files/uploads/010-1415_Scholarship-Info_FINAL-ADA_508%20%281%29.pdf
There are even more scholarships for instate applicants