<p>Muhlenberg, Gettysburg (might be too far but offers to meet 100% of need) and Ursinus… Congratulations on getting involved. Best of luck!</p>
<p>I agree that for a very low income family, many private colleges that meet 100% need would be cheaper than the directional - as in, some of these would offer a full ride with NO loans and would package money for her to buy books, a computer, and travelling (train/plane) home.
Tell her that. That it’d cost her mother less if she got into those schools. Then ask her if she’s willing to work all evening and all night to get those applications sent in. Recycle heavily from essays.
Apply to the 7sisters colleges. I believe that those who require them accept the Jan 25 SATSubject results (other colleges do, too, BTW, so as long as the app is in on Jan 1 she can take the Jan 25 tests, of course she’d have to indicate she will on the commonapp and perhaps email the colleges; she is eligible for fee waivers for those as well as for sending the results.)
Some schools don’t require essays, I think (Wash U? Northeastern? I think even Harvard pretty much only asks for one or two short essays?)
BTW each job counts as an EC if there was serious time commitment, as is “helping at home” (doing things an adult would do in most middle class families but which many working class girls are expected to do, including taking care of siblings/cousins, preparing meals while mother is on night shift, etc.)
It’s okay if SAT scores and recommendations arrive later - the KEY thing is for the application to be submitted (commonapp AND supplement) today before the college adcoms pick them up (…download them), so, before 5 or 6 am Eastern Time or perhaps even 7am.
If she’s willing to go further away, she could include Pomona, Scripps, St Olaf, Pitzer - all meet 100% need, the last 2 would probably be easier to get into for her.
Also Gettysburg and Muhlenberg and they have later deadlines. The “linguistics” schools have already been listed but for languages it’s hard to top Middlebury. </p>
<p>Are YOU ready for an allnighter? Because the Jan 1 is soon over…
Fortunately there are Jan 15 and Feb 1 deadlines, but most 100% need, especially those without loan in the package, tend to be Jan 1 schools.
<a href=“Colleges with Need-Blind Admission for U.S. Students”>Colleges with Need-Blind Admission for U.S. Students;
<p>The profile you describe is EXACTLY what the top universities and colleges in the country (think Top 20 LACs/universities) are looking for and have trouble attracting: super bright, low income kids.
And those schools tend to offer the best financial aid packages - actually costing less than Directional U or community college.
Please keep us updated.</p>
<p>This student sounds like my niece, in a similar situation last year. She had a high GPA at a very good public HS in the midwest, 34 ACT (perfect English score), worked two jobs, decent ECs in a particular area. Low income - oldest child of a single mom. Despite my prodding (1000 miles away), she did not do any testing until November of her senior year. No prep other than with my S who worked with her for about a week on Skype to improve her math. I’m not sure why the head in the sand attitude - my questions were usually met with obfuscation or inconsistent excuses. The mom blamed her school’s GC, but that was a complete crock…I have been helping her for years and she knew perfectly well about all of the deadlines. Looking back, I think they were afraid to deal with the future…So, in mid-November, she applied to eight colleges, mostly in the midwest, including her well regarded state flagship. She was accepted to ONE small private with no merit aid. Waitlisted and eventually declined at the state flagship (would not consider applying to directional state schools). I’m not sure what happened - I read through her essays and they were well written - her common app essay was quite good. From what I can glean, however, her high GPA meant little - her class rank was only at about the 50th percentile because she stopped taking math after Algebra II and never took advanced science classes, while the top students in the school did. Her honors and AP English, language, and arts classes were not enough to improve her rank. I think she may have looked like smart, but someone who did not want to be challenged academically. Truth be told, she should have had more rigor - no question she could have handled it and that success would have built up her confidence, which is flagging. She’s now taking a gap year that may turn into two or three years before she decides what to do.</p>
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<p>Each SUNY has a special strength that they emphasize. At Binghamton, it’s languages and linguistics. </p>
<p>I mentored a neighbor’s child who ended up choosing SUNY-Binghamton because her key interest was linguistics, and secondarily Chinese and Japanese languages. She took a bit of all these, then settled into Japanese language (not her native tongue) as her major, something else as a minor (Asian Studies, I think). </p>
<p>If I recall correctly, she needed to satisfy one prerequisite first term freshman year before she could eroll in her first Linguistics department course, but that was fine. She said she liked all those courses, but after studying Linguistics as well as specific foreign languages at the university level, she decided she’d be happier with the specific language as her major. Very personal choices that she didn’t know in High School, when she thought it would always and only be Linguistics for her. She also applied to two private LAC’s but their absence of Linguistics department was a problem to her, since she wanted the chance to explore it sooner, not later. </p>
<p>Even out-of-state tuition fees are reasonable at SUNY’s. She should also apply private, of course, but among the SUNY’s she’d be smart to pick out Binghamton.</p>
<p>Megabus just expanded service from NYC to Binghamton last March, so in 3 hours 35 minutes she can go for $15 or $17 one-way, from Port Authority in midtown Manhattan. </p>
<p>Among the SUNY’s I think that’s her best SUNY given her current interest in Linguistics and specific languages. Also apply private, of course.</p>
<p>Graduated from a competitive HS.
Applied public and private.
Public schools have far more aid than the small private schools I looked at, and that’s where I went. Like her, I did not want a whole bunch of debt & come from a struggling family.</p>
<p>Sent from my iPhone using [URL=<a href=“Tapatalk”>Tapatalk]Tapatalk[/URL</a>]</p>
<p>If you go to the Common App website and use the Search feature under Member Colleges you can find colleges within a geographic area with deadline later than a given date.</p>
<p>Cornell has a deadline of January 9. Feb 15 for getting in fin aid info. <a href=“http://admissions.cornell.edu/sites/default/files/2014%20First-Year%20Instructions.pdf[/url]”>http://admissions.cornell.edu/sites/default/files/2014%20First-Year%20Instructions.pdf</a></p>
<p>It has a strong linguistics department. [Department</a> of Linguistics, Cornell University](<a href=“http://linguistics.cornell.edu/]Department”>http://linguistics.cornell.edu/)</p>
<p>Worth a shot, I think. Can she email some of her teachers for LORs?</p>
<p>Additionally, what state does her dad live in? Many states consider children of resident taxpayers as state residents for tuition purposes, even if the parent resident is the NCP. It’s certainly worth checking.</p>
<p>^I agree with Jonri.</p>
<p>Lots of good “100%need” colleges have 1/15 deadlines. Someone will come here soon to let us know it’s the case for Holy Cross, but it’s also the case at the women’s colleges, etc.</p>
<p>OP: do keep us updated.</p>
<p>Is there an update since SAT scores are out?</p>
<p>What about the following schools with 1/15/14 deadlines: Carleton, Grinnell, Haverford, Wellesley, Emory, Bryn Mawr, USC ( I think is 1/10)</p>
<p>2/1/14 or later: Agnes Scott, Earlham, Hendrix, Muhlenberg, plus a majority of the other CTCL colleges</p>
<p>You can sort colleges by application deadlines at <a href=“https://www.collegedata.com/cs/content/common_app_colleges.jhtml?method=pagination[/url]”>https://www.collegedata.com/cs/content/common_app_colleges.jhtml?method=pagination</a></p>
<p>Jonri, while Cornell is a great choice, Cornell requires subject tests which the girl hasn’t taken. Therefore it isn’t viable.</p>
<p>I don’t remember her major but not all colleges at Cornell require subject tests.
<a href=“http://admissions.cornell.edu/sites/default/files/2014%20Freshman%20Admission%20Requirements.pdf[/url]”>http://admissions.cornell.edu/sites/default/files/2014%20Freshman%20Admission%20Requirements.pdf</a></p>
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<p>Hard to see how this is anything but Arts and Sciences</p>
<p>SUNY Oswego has a linguistics major and says that it is the only SUNY which does. Deadline for app seems to be 1/15 and no SAT IIs are required. [SUNY</a> Oswego - Apply Now](<a href=“http://www.oswego.edu/admissions/apply.html]SUNY”>How to Apply | SUNY Oswego) </p>
<p>UMass -Amherst reportedly has one of the best UG linguistics programs in the US. Deadline is 1/15 with “credentials” deadline of 2/1. OOS is expensive, but no reason not to try. She would have the opportunity to take classes at the other colleges in the consortium.</p>
<p>URochester, a school I heartily recommend, has passed its admissions deadline but will accommodate some delayed apps in early January. Info here <a href=“http://enrollment.rochester.edu/admissions/apply/freshmen/[/url]”>http://enrollment.rochester.edu/admissions/apply/freshmen/</a></p>
<p>Sorry I blew it about Cornell’s required SAT II tests.</p>
<p>I suspect the girl that the OP was from CT since it’s the only state in the tri state area with “directional” colleges, e.g. Southern Connecticut State University. </p>
<p>Oswego’s linguistics major is kind of weak. </p>
<p>UMASS won’t give the student a full ride, but Smith and Mt Holyoke would. She can go the other way in the consortium. Matriculate at one of those two and take linguistics classes at UMASS. </p>
<p>Rochester is ideal.</p>
<p>^ITA with the Mount Holyoke/Smith idea re: Linguistics at Umass; great idea and 100% need school + generous financial aid packages.</p>
<p>I have no updates. While she seemed happy about having some assistance with getting started, and her mom was thrilled, she is spinning her wheels. Or stalled. Or just stuck in the mud. </p>
<p>I suspect that it’s way too overwhelming for her. I want to thank everyone for their help and ideas. </p>
<p>(I particularly liked the Holyoke/Smith with the possiblity of linquistics at UMass. One of those colleges says that they tend to have at least one linguistics major each year.)</p>
<p>Just speculating:
Maybe she had been holding off, because at some level, going to college is so foreign, strange, and unlike what her family does, which is go into the armed services (if I remember correctly?) and what her friends do. I’ve seen other kids who try to break out of the family traditions, even at the strong urging of non-college mom telling kid why college is important and to go college. The kid gives it a try for 1 semester; but their family didn’t go to college, their friends don’t go to college, and the kid sometimes feels like some sort of outsider or fraud with the people that they meet in college. </p>
<p>So I would say that it’s more important to make sure that this kid stays in college rather than to go to a place that might feel REALLY foreign to her. She already seems to feel strange about attending college rather than going into the armed services. Maybe she feels that she’s abandoning her mother and not helping to contribute to the household’s income.</p>
<p>Maybe pick the one college that you liked best and take her to see the campus and connect her to a student of a club that is in a similar socioeconomic background as her?</p>
<p>Even if it seems strange to her, wouldn’t the possibility of helping her mom financially (ie, better financial aid package + fewer loans + better support to graduate from college + better networking to get good internships and build her resume => nice-paying job that will help her entire family).
A student once told me “I’m like a soldier here” - at college, to explain how difficult it was personally, and he trained even physically to make it, running every morning even in the snow or frozen mist. He spent his first year like that, in the mindset of “I’m a marine among the marines and I’ll make it”. And he made it, he actually had a very good time afterwards. I don’t know whether this might help this young woman. She’d make a sacrifice but she’d have to show fortitude and strength, and in the end she’d help her entire family.</p>
<p>“I have no updates.”</p>
<p>Would be very hard to apply without SAT scores.</p>
<p>We have this problem a lot in the community in which I live. Very bright kids end up staying " home" because they have no safety net out in the “real world.” It takes a lot of hard work to let student and family see that it is possible to attend college. A lot of the kids will “say” they want to go but then drag their feet as you saw with this young lasy. Most of these kids do better if they stay closer to home and are able to visit often. </p>
<p>Although she may qualify for much more than a directional U, that may be a place she feels safe. I’m she she could use a lot of help just navigating that system.</p>