<p>USC/NYU/UCs/CMU/Cornell/Northwestern ?</p>
<p>Stats are as following:
EFC: 0
Family size: 2</p>
<p>I recently got into NYU, they’re very very stingy.</p>
<p>NYU gives merit scholarships based on merit AND need from $1,000 - $25,000
They give the most to the best applicants in each of their colleges at NYU.
With loans, it really depends on how much THEY think you can contribute.</p>
<p>On NYU’s website they say that they can’t meet need. </p>
<p>Not all the colleges within NYU give scholarships. Of those that do, only 5% of students are given small to large scholarships. I would imagine that only the top 1% from the right colleges are awarded the biggest scholarships on down to the lowly $1k scholarships at top 5%. From their website:</p>
<p>Only 5% of the 2009 entering class received merit-based scholarships (which ranged in value from $1,000 to $25,000). Also, please note that not all NYU schools/colleges award merit-based scholarships.</p>
<p>Are you in-state for UCs? If not, don’t expect anything more than Fed grants which won’t even cover tuition, much less room, board, books, etc. Almost no OOS publics meet need for OOS students.</p>
<p>With a 0 EFC, you’re best aid will come from schools that meet 100% of need WITHOUT loans. Many schools either meet “need” with loans or they don’t meet need at all.</p>
<p>What are your stats? Vandy meets need without loans.</p>
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<p>Cornell, Northwestern and USC (I think USC) meet full need if you are accepted. BUT they use the Profile in addition to the FAFSA so your family contribution might be a little more than $0 by their calculations. If your FAFSA efc is $0, you would be eligible for maximum federally funded aid such as the Pell grant…and perhaps others too. Schools meeting full need should provide you with decent financial aid if your EFC is really $0.</p>
<p>You say your family size is 2…which indicates you have one parent…and yourself. If your other parent is still living, the Profile schools may require that parent’s financial information as well. Depending on your non-custodial parents finances, that could make a significant difference in your EFC. FAFSA does not use non-custodial parent info.</p>
<p>CMU/NYU and the UC’s do not meet full need when they award financial aid. This means that you “could” have a gap between the aid they offer you and the cost of attendance (as noted in the NYU example above).</p>
<p>First of all, thank you all very much for your replies!</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids
Yeah, I’m a cal resident and my stats are so/so. 4.0UW/4.5W, 2k SAT I, 800/800/750 SAT II, reasonable to above average ECs. I’ve applied to USC by the scholarship consideration deadlines, but I’m not sure if I stand any chances.</p>
<p>That brings up another question, how does the scholarships with USC or scholarships in general factor in with the FA package? I heard the amount of financial aid is proportional with the amount of scholarships you get? Then, would getting scholarships be a bad idea or what?</p>
<p>And darn, I think NYU is out of the game now… I honestly don’t want to graduate with loans as the first thing that greets me.</p>
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<p>This has to be some sort of JOKE. These stats are not “so so”. This poster must be kidding us.</p>
<p>Ha, I know. Basically perfect.</p>
<p>*my stats are so/so. 4.0UW/4.5W, 2k SAT I, 800/800/750 SAT II, reasonable to above average ECs.<br>
*</p>
<p>What is a “2k SAT I” ??? is that a 2000 SAT? Is that right? You have such high SAT IIs, that I may be misunderstanding what your SAT I is. If your SAT I is a 2000, then I doubt you’d get a scholarship from USC. </p>
<p>Or am I confused?</p>
<p>Don’t worry about the mix of scholarships and financial aid. Scholarships are free money, they won’t hurt you. What do you care if your aid is a scholarship or a grant? And scholarships are always better than loans.</p>
<p>Yeah, SATs in the 2000 range, thus the “so-so” stats.</p>
<p>All right, thank you for helping me clear up some confusions.</p>
<p>Merry Christmas! :)</p>
<p>Merry Christmas to you, too. (and everyone else!)</p>
<p>Can I ask why your SAT IIs are so high, yet your SAT is good, but not similar to your SAT IIs? (I mean no offense; I was just wondering if you knew the reason.) Can I ask what your Math + CR score is? Scholarships are often based on M + CR, so if that is “high” then you should be ok for scholarships. </p>
<p>Did you take the ACT?</p>
<p>First of all, no I didn’t take the ACT.</p>
<p>My M and CR scores are respectively 780 and 630. Hmm… If I had to blame anyone for my below-average SAT, I’d probably blame myself for not giving enough attention to it. Spending elementary/middle school in an Asian country, I only focused on anything “school related,” as in, what I learned through classes/etc. In other words, I don’t really do much “extra” or “outside” studying, that’s why my SAT IIs (what I’ve learned through class) are much stronger than my SAT I. I guess I paid my price for being lazy, but it was well worth it IMHO because I now know what I need to do in order to push myself even further -v-;</p>
<p>I definately understand why you wouldn’t want to graduate with such large loans, especially if you plan to attend graduate school.</p>
<p>Well you will likely get good aid from Cornell and Northwestern. USC also meet full need but expect possibility of large loans. I think CMU is also well. I’ve heard that NYU isn’t great with need base aid at all, was even ranked by princetonreview as one of the worst. If accepted you could possibly be going 200k in debt at graduation, besides the debt its a really great school.</p>
<p>Since your M+CR score is over 1400, your chances are better.
Your SAT is not “below average,” but it’s dragged down by your W score, which makes it look “lowish” compared to your SAT IIs.</p>
<p>Some schools will give you a good merit scholarship for such an SAT.</p>
<p>What are your financial safeties? You should apply to 2 schools that will give you great merit for your M + CR score as financial safeties.</p>
<p>@Coolbrezze
What decision factors are there between grants and loans? I’ve tried looking into it, but got no results.</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids
My financial safeties would be the UCs I applied to. If I don’t get in, I’d go to CC and then work my way to transfer… as a last resort.</p>
<p>You should get into your UCs…which ones did you apply to? </p>
<p>You’re instate for Calif right? It also sounds like you’d get free tuition for UCs (if you’re instate).</p>
<p>Also, since merit scholarships are often based on M + CR, your SAT should get full tuition at some schools (if you want to go OOS).</p>
<p>Cal, LA, SD, Irvine are the 4 I applied to (4 fee waivers…), and yes I’m in-state Cal.</p>
<p>And I’ve got a question:
If, for example, I receive 40k out of 50k in grants, would scholarships factor in with the remaining 10k gap or does it replace part of the 40k in grants?</p>
<p>If you have a 0 EFC and the COA is 50k, and a school gives you $40k in grants, another $10k in scholarships, than extra $10k would close the gap. The school wouldn’t reduce your grants since you have a 0 EFC. You can use scholarships to close the gap.</p>
<p>But, I’m curious, at which of your listed schools would you have the above scenario?</p>
<p>Are you guaranteed admission into at least one UC? such as UCR, UCMerced, or UC Santa Cruz?</p>
<p>No, don’t think I’m eligible for ELC.</p>
<p>The scenario was just made up in my mind and served for no particular schools… Perhaps I’m thinking too much.</p>
<p>Thank you very much for answering my questions!</p>