<p>My parents earn about 75~80k in Korea (middle class), and I have two siblings…
My first two choices are Columbia and Duke… (Considered Williams at some time… But I wanna do engineering from undergraduate)
I’m leaning toward writing early to Columbia, but the school’s really expensive…
I know Columbia is need-blind, but I’m sure our family contribution will be about 7500 even if I get in…
Also, I heard the New York’s really expensive to live in…
Will these reasons stop me from writing early decision…? I don’t think I can get in through RD, but I wanna give a shot through early…
What do you guys think?
(BTW I live in CA)</p>
<p>If you REALLY can’t afford the college after ED, (at least the admissions person from Duke said) you can get some special exempt from the binding part… Err, and you can negotiate financial aid somewhat. But you seem should be able to get a good sum of financial aid from your situation…</p>
<p>Other than that, i have a few thrifty friends in CU that spend almost no money outside of tuition… </p>
<p>Bleh, i’d say go for it.</p>
<p>haha, I should then :)</p>
<p>You’ll definitely have a family contribution under $10,000 with such a low family income. If that’s still too much, then it’s probably a good idea to wait for RD just to be safe. You’re lucky you live in the States so that admissions is need-blind. If you didn’t have US citizenship, you’d be screwed. Columbia isn’t need-blind for international students!</p>
<p>Yeah ! I’m a lucky guy :)</p>
<p>Make sure you also have a financial safety or two, or just something else that can be very affordable. University of California schools?</p>