@happymomof1
One moment. I see FAMU is a bit different in how they admit students. November 1 isn’t the deadline for some sort of early decision, as I thought.
That’s not accurate for Michigan. I wouldn’t trust those numbers. I think your best bet will be a private school. Since your parents are low income, you have a higher chance of getting a good financial aid package that can cover most everything.
Instead of trying to find ways to reject anything that could possibly be an affordable safety before applying, why not just apply to Tuskegee, PVAMU, UAH, and FAMU as soon as they open, so that you can then spend time on your 17 reaches?
The most likely outcome of applying to 17 reaches is 17 rejections, especially since each reach is a double reach (once for admission, once for the waiver of the CSS Noncustodial Profile).
Next April, would you rather be posting a thread about choosing between Tuskegee, PVAMU, UAH, and FAMU, or posting a thread about what to do after being shut out of your all-reach list?
Also keep in mind as a US citizen living abroad, the only advantage you have is that your ability to pay will not be a factor in admissions because most schools are need blind to US citizens and permanent residents. However your application will be read by the regional admission persons from Nigeria, where there will probably be stronger students than you in the pool.
@sybbie719
Kenya, not Nigeria.
Ok, the process is still the same. You will be in the pool with everyone applying from Kenya. And possibly other regions in Africa
@ucbalumnus
UAH’s merit scholarship isn’t enough; it only covers tuition. FAMU’s scholarships require something called the ALEKS math placement test. I have no idea what that is or if I can even take it here in Kenya. I also noticed that FAMU’s application doesn’t have an on-campus option, which makes housing less than ideal. So I think Tuskegee and PVAMU are my only real options.
I do not believe that all-round rejection is the most likely outcome. It is possible, but far from certain. As I said before, we’ve had plenty of QB finalists go to elite schools with stats similar to mine. My overall unusual circumstances (lived internationally in three very different countries, has no geographic home, lives with foster family his senior year, URM, low-income, dedicated ECs of janitor work and helping brothers with homework due to mother’s cancer), 8 APs with 5s on 4 so far, and an 800 on the physics subject test all contribute to a greater probability of me being accepted to at least one non-safety on my list. Of course, I should still have at least one safety, and that’s why I’m here.
As for CSS Noncustodial waiver, I do not believe that should be too much of a reach. I have third party support from my guidance counselor that I have never had contact with my father during high school. I have not seen him since 2003. What else can they possibly ask for?
Since granting of such waivers is not a transparent process or one which is like college admissions that has lots of data published on it, and colleges require non-custodial parent information in the first place to screen out some percentage of financially-needy students to keep their financial aid budgets in check, you should not assume that you will get waivers.
@ucbalumnus
That implies that the colleges aren’t need blind. All the colleges on my list are need blind.
They are need-blind for individual applicants. But when they formulate general policies, they can certainly be need-aware on an aggregate level (e.g. “would this admissions or financial aid policy change increase or decrease the next incoming class’ aggregate financial need?”).
Additionally, even if the admissions office admits you, if the financial aid office denies your CSS Noncustodial Profile waiver, that is basically equivalent to a rejection, since you would not be able to afford it.
@ucbalumnus
I’m certain they’d need a reason to deny the request. There’d have to be some specific piece of evidence they want, which I can then try to provide.
They do not need a reason to deny the NCP request, they need a reason to grant the waiver. You are asking them for an exception to the standard rule that the NCP’s information and income is considered.
Since your mother is not a citizen, you must have had contact with your father at some point to get your citizenship through him. They won’t really care as much that you don’t have contact with him as if you COULD have contact with him. It is possible to contact him? Would you be in danger? If I were an administrator reviewing your request for a waiver, I’d want to know why you couldn’t contact your father – and if you’d even tried.
Out of the 17 schools, you might very well be admitted to a few, but not all of the schools meet 100% of need as YOU define it. Transportation from Africa. Clothing for a cold climate. Health insurance. You posted this thread to ask if Umich was really only going to charge you $8500, and now you realize if that’s true, you still wouldn’t have enough money. You need some real safeties. You state you are an URM, but not which one (we know your aren’t black) and URM are different at different schools. Hispanic may be URM at one school but not another. Being male helps at some schools but not others. Being female helps in some engineering programs but not others.
Alum scholarships at Wyoming are not for alumni/children but given by alums. My daughter, not a child of alum, has received them several times from different named alums. They are scholarships that alums fund, sometimes for specific programs like teaching or nursing, but often just a generous alum wanting to pay it forward. The student writes a thank you note to the alum/family. It’s really very nice as the students realize some person has actually paid for them to attend school and the alum gets a direct thank you note and knows his money is going to fund a student’s education.
Why can’t you apply until after Nov 1? For the application, you do not have to have all the test scores in or have the FA completed.
Need blind is an admissions process. Yes, the school may still admit you, they will just not give you financial aid if they feel your application is incomplete ( this includes denying your waiver)
The ALEKS math placement test is an online test common in a lot of universities that you would access through their admission portals. Shouldn’t be a barrier.
@twoinanddone
I am a citizen because I was born in the US. No, it is not possible to contact him. We do not know where he lives, or what his contact details are. Even his own family aren’t in contact with him. Transportation from Africa is a one-time fee. I can’t afford to go to the US and return to Moldova where my family is repeatedly.
Clothing I have. Health insurance we can afford.
I am a Hispanic URM.
Oh, you said you’d never been to the US so I assumed you were born overseas. You don’t have to convince me you can’t contact him, you need to convince the admissions officers or the financial aid officials.
We get that you don’t want to go to a non-prestigious school, that you must have 100% paid, that your SAT will go up. Of course, all of our kids wanted that too and it just didn’t happen. We’re just telling you what the experience of most kids has been. For my own kids, we went a lot less prestigious as we were looking for merit aid to combine with financial aid, state aid, and anything else to bring the costs down. My daughter who is in engineering did not target MIT or Caltech or CMU because there just wasn’t enough aid even if she was accepted. She went to a school that really wanted her and I found sources of aid I didn’t even know existed when we started looking. Florida resident grant. Wyoming alum grants (other daughter). We just dug and dug, and when people made suggestions, we looked into them. Some worked out, some didn’t. That’s what we’re trying to help you do with recommendations like Tuskegee and PV.
I think you have it all figured out. Good luck.
@twoinanddone
Well, thank you for believing I have it figured out.
You’re right, I don’t want to go to a non-prestigious school. It is unfair that I, who have worked hard in school, may be forced to attend a low-ranked school because I am poor, while my less-accomplished classmates can go to schools like Purdue, Illinois Urbana, Georgia Tech, and Penn State because they have the money for it.
Of the ones you mentioned, only MIT is on my list.
What university did your daughter go to?
I’ve also looked into FAMU’s ALEKS requirement, and it must be taken during New Student Orientation — after I’ve enrolled. I can’t do that, because I can’t commit to the university before I know I got the scholarship I want.
On that note, Tuskegee and PVAMU it is.
It probably would not surprise you that the US has relatively low levels of intergenerational income mobility compared to other rich countries ( https://www.epi.org/publication/usa-lags-peer-countries-mobility/ ). Being born into a rich or poor family has a very large effect on your educational opportunities and therefore career opportunities.
But at least your high academic achievement will let you attend some affordable college to study engineering. A student with average college-bound academic achievement from a poor family may have no affordable college choices at all.
It might also surprise you that there are kids from families with HIGHER incomes choose to go to less costly colleges because they see the value in a less costly education.
And really…the “lower ranked” schools issue is not one you need to even think about because engineering courses of study at any ABET accredited university will get you an engineering job when you graduate. And you won’t get paid more in a entry level position based on your college name.
Your hard work has put you possibly in the position of going to a “lower ranked” college for very little cost. But I guess you only care about prestige.