<p>To OP – BC is more like $220,000 for four years.</p>
<p>^ I was going on tuition alone, but either way, it’s a lot of money.</p>
<p>mom2collegekids: It’s great to hear about a first-hard Alabama experience - coming from a New England prep school, you don’t find many people who have gone or are going there. I should be accepted into the Honors College, and where my SAT scores are right now, I’d be at the level of a 2/3 scholarship, but I’m very close to the full tuition level. I think it’s a great option and have only heard positive things about the school, but my parents are less supportive. Either way, I’m planning to apply there as soon as I can when the app goes up on July 1st so that I can have an early answer. Thanks so much for all the information.</p>
<p>Endicott: That’s exactly how I feel. I love the idea of a huge school with so many different people to meet and things to discover, and I feel like by being in an Honors College or Sorority it would be easy to find my own small community within the large one. Thank you for confirming that I’m not crazy in what I’m looking for in colleges.</p>
<p>regina,
If you look around at highly selective colleges, you’ll find plenty of wealth at virtually all of them. That’s just the nature of the beast as families will do all they can to get their children admitted and families with means have more bullets to shoot in accomplishing this. This is certainly true at the top privates.</p>
<p>As for the publics, think more about the trade-offs you’re making in attending these vs one of the privates. Excellent educations can be had at both, but there are substantive differences in how that is acquired. My sense is that you are underestimating those differences in your zeal to escape a certain demographic that may ultimately exist anyway no matter where you end up. Good luck!</p>
<p>*My PSATs went from 1820 to 2120 in a year with no studying or prep - and it was not just luck, because I got a 2120 on the SATs a couple months later. So, it’s definitely possible for your score to jump. *</p>
<p>What is the breakdown of your SAT of 2120? </p>
<p>Have you taken the ACT? You should. You may do better on that.</p>
<p>You may need to take the SAT again and take the ACT if you’d like a bigger scholarship.</p>
<p>Regina–I went to prep school and a public university, too. I found that the prep school education gave me the savvy to access more layers of the educational experience than I might have otherwise. So I don’t think that would be a disadvantage.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>Both of my kids went to a private prep school before going to a public flagship. So, I agree with the above.</p>
<p>My SAT is 700CR/670M/750W. That was my first try - I took them again this month and will take them again next fall. The info I have from Alabama says that 1330-1390 SAT is 2/3 tuition and 1400-1600 is full tuition. (Mine is 1370 right now and will hopefully rise.) I’m not counting on any scholarships - even full OOS tuition at most of these publics is considerably cheaper than tuition at privates - it’s just a consideration.</p>