Last Minute Freaking Out

Parent Cafe
1

<p>Okay, so I’m a senior. And this is really cutting the line, as apps are due in like 3 weeks, but for some reason I just keep on freaking out and being terrified that I won’t get accepted into a school I really want to go to/afford. I prob should have gotten started earlier, but I’ve been having a really tough senior year with problems and apps got delayed…</p>

<p>I know this is unreasonable, and illogical, but with the economy tanking and class of 09 being the largest class applying, I’m terrified. So I’m wondering if my list of colleges so far is reasonable, and should I apply to more safeties. As I’m from a low income family that can’t afford to send me to college, I feel SO incredibly guilty whenever I throw away any scholarship letters, though they’re to colleges that I REALLY don’t want to go to.
Any suggestions?</p>

<p>I’ve asked this here before, and gotten great advice. Now my focus has shifted from business driven to humanities/poli sci/ law school oriented, I was hoping that you guys could help me out again!</p>

<p>here are my stats:
BACKGROUND:
*“Basically, my parents are of no help whatsoever. They believe that I can get into ANY school, no matter what I say to try and persuade them. So basically they REFUSE to look for matches/safeties because they think that they are “beneath” me. Plus, English is their second language so they don’t really understand the info thrown at them, and all they look at is the USNews Rankings.” <---- This is what i wrote in my previous posts asking for help. Now they’ve done a COMPLETE 180 and don’t think I’m going to get into ANY college because of my math SATII score. :/</p>

<ul>
<li>nomad female asian girl whose family keeps on moving to different continents - -" I’m a Permanent Resident though.</li>
</ul>

<p>*I’m a moderate liberal. And I’ll like a school with diversity. :P</p>

<p>*Finance: huge factor. My family just immigrated to America, and makes so little money that if we don’t even meet the cutoff for tuition and stuff at the colleges that fulfill 100% demonstrated need.
I really do not want to take out student loans, and I wouldn’t dream of asking my parents for money either as they could not possibly afford it and I would feel incredibly guilty.</p>

<p>STATS:</p>

<p>SAT: 2290. Math: 730, CR: 800 WR: 760
SATIIs: Chinese 800, US history: 780 , Math2C 620</p>

<p>UWGPA: 3.9+
GPA: 4.2
courses: hardest possible
Junior year: all A’s 1st semester in APEL, APUSH, APBio, Honors Pre-Calc, Honors Spanish 6 journalism (GPA 4.5)
2nd semester: All A’s except for a B in Honors Pre-Calc, journalism (GPA4.3)</p>

<p>13/670 students at my school.</p>

<p>Senior year:
APLit
APPsych
APGov
APCalc
physics
journalism
I took a CC course on Music over the summer.
I’m prob going to get a B in Calc though I worked my butt off. oh well.</p>

<p>ECs:
-National Merit Semifinalist
-Ap Scholar with Distinction (all 5’s)
-Questbridge Prep Scholar
-awarded a Harvard Book Prize for a writing contest, nominated by school
-editor-in-chief of national award winning newspaper
-president/secretary of NHS, organizing tutoring for 400+ kids
-won numerous local speech and debate competitions, state qualifier
-represented city in national/ regional competitions, placed 3rd
-vice president/ publicity chair of speech and debate
-won an international bilingual competition in summer of 8th grade(I’m probably just going to mention this in my essay or something like that)
-over three years of volunteering teaching Chinese to kids at local Chinese school
-member of peer counseling since freshmen year / in leadership
-writing a book</p>

<p>RECS: great, I have really good relationships with both teachers outside of school, my counselor i just met last year, but we get along really well. He’s new to the whole process, and knows nothing about admissions though.</p>

<p>I’ll really like a more liberal arts focused school and professor accessibility, but right now I’m still undecided as to what I want to do with my life. Though for a project I’m job shadowing a judge, interning at law offices, so right now I’m leaning towards law school and poli sci/econ major. Warm weather is preferable, but not the most important thing (I have bad nasal allergies, though they’ve been getting better as I’ve gotten older), though I’m kind of iffy about the South (humidity is NOT my friend, this comes from living in a sub-tropical island for half of my life), and so are good study-abroad programs.Schools with good aid are really important.</p>

<p>So far I’m for sure applying to/have applied to:
Claremont McKenna
Pomona
USC
UCLA
UCSD
UCBerkeley
UCDavis
UCIrvine
UCSB
Stanford
Yale
Prob Columbia</p>

<p>Some other schools I’ve been thinking about are
Northwestern (too big though?)
Washington University in St. Louis
or UChicago
Georgetown</p>

<p>Comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated for safeties, etc :stuck_out_tongue: Thanks!!!</p>

2

<p>If you haven’t visited WUSL, save the time and money and don’t bother applying.</p>

<p>The mid tier UC’s are safeties for you, financially safe and they have some great programs.
Please relax and take a deep breath. You will be fine.</p>

<p>Check the parent’s forum thread on schools known for their merit aid.</p>

3

<p>Many kids get accepted to WUSTL without visiting.
You can ask for an alumni interview in your area.</p>

4

<p>If you can get into one of your reaches and get $$$ in aid, then you are set. If you don’t, then you can go to a nearby UC. If you are lucky enough to live near one, you can save gobs of $$ by living at home. That is not the optimal way to get “the college experience,” but if money is a factor, you can’t ignore it.</p>

<p>We live in SoCal and our D went to school in Boston. There are a lot of extra expenses involved–flights to and from home and school and a winter wardrobe.</p>

5

<p>You could always add UC Merced to your list. Guaranteed place and probably a scholarship. And from what I hear, Merced could be worse ;)</p>

<p>Since you’re heavy on southern CA schools, I’m assuming you’re from that area. Wouldn’t one of the State U schools be a decent safety for you? </p>

<p>Does Scripps offer merit scholarships?</p>

6

<p>I second (or third) the advice to relax. You will get into UC. You will get financial aid and be able to go to college.</p>

<p>That being said, here are a couple of suggestions:</p>

<p>Take a look at the College of Creative Studies at UCSB and see if any of the programs there look interesting. They offer very small classes and lots of interaction with the professors. You have to do a separate app, but the deadline is sometime in Jan., so you have lots of time.</p>

<p>Someone mentioned Scripps, which I think is a good idea, esp. since you’re applying to other Claremont Colleges. Some girls hate the idea of a women’s college, but at Scripps you can take classes, do sports, drama, etc., even eat at any of the other Claremont Colleges. Also, if you apply to Columbia you should think about also applying to Barnard. It’s right across the street, you can take classes at Columbia, and your diploma says Barnard College, Columbia University. Finally, take a look at some of the other women’s colleges. I’ll bet you could get a great financial aid package from one of them, and the ones I know a little about (Wellesley and Smith, because my d has friends there) have cross-registration programs with other co-ed institutions. My d’s friend at Wellesley is taking a class at MIT this semester.</p>

7

<p>You are also likely to become a NMF, in which case I think you will get an automatic 50% tuition scholarship from USC.</p>

<p>I agree that going far away will add to the cost (flights, warm cloths, etc.)</p>

8

<p>relax
You will get into USC with lots of financial aid as well as the NM scholarship[ I would consider it your safety], and a lot of UC’s, and probably some of private colleges[ S/ Y are a crapshoot for anyone these days]. You would probably make the cut at Chicago, but they are notorious for being stingy with FA, so for that reason I don’t know if is worth it for you to apply there.</p>

9

<p>I also think you should get into some of the UCs and you shouldn’t worry so much about the math SAT II since you don’t plan to go into engineering. </p>

<p>At a UC the cost of housing is higher than the cost of tuition so if you’re strapped for funds you can maybe do as ellemenope says and commute if you live close enough to one. Alternatively, if you can afford some housing but not as high as the U charges, you can try to share an off-campus apartment with some other students. This is usually cheaper than on-campus housing and gets you out of the house and closer to campus. Living on-campus at first is more ideal though if you can.</p>

<p>Some of the privates might end up to be less expensive for you if they give better deals than the UCs.</p>

10

<p>One thing I can guarantee: You won’t get in if you don’t apply! </p>

<p>So make sure you have not only your part of the application done, but also your recs, transcript, school profile all done and ready to go. And remember that there’s a holiday coming.</p>

11

<p>

At the University of Chicago, if your family makes less than $60,000 / year, all of your loans will be replaced by scholarship grants.</p>

12

<p>thanks for all the responses. I’m less worried now! </p>

<p>I think my panic probably stems from my parents’ constantly telling me that I’m not going to get in anywhere, which is kind of hard to block out. </p>

<p>My family makes less than $60,000 so maybe I will still apply to UChicago. I’ll look into the other colleges suggested as well. </p>

<p>Thanks guys!</p>