<p>For the 8 schools you listed, no parental contribution is expected below $60,000 a year income (for some schools the threshold is even higher). You would need to come up with about $5000 a year, which breaks down to about $2200 a year for tuition, room and board (which you could pay for through 10 hours a week work-study) and about $2800 in general out-of-pocket costs – books, transport to/from school and misc. expenses, which you could earn over the summer if your parents are unable to help.</p>
<p>Your odds of getting into any of those 8 schools, all with acceptance rates at 15% or below, is not very good based on the minimal information you provided; you live in an over-represented part of the country, you’re not a URM, your family’s income isn’t low enough to qualify for a Pell Grant and I’d guess you are not the first in your family to attend college. Your achievement stats are only mid-range for these top schools. Top colleges love to show how diversified they are in the most general sense, so they compile lists of what percentage of their students are minorities; what percentage receive Pell Grants; what percentage are first generation college students; and then show their regional distribution with the ideal being having students from all 50 states. In addition to the checklist, a not-insignificant percentage of the total number of available seats is allocated to legacy admits, athletes and international students.</p>
<p>Clearly, a single student who can check off multiple boxes would be preferred even with mid-range or lower-range stats. If you don’t meet checklist qualifiers, you are stuck competing with those applicants in the top 1% in the entire country in academic qualifications. My son was Pell Grant eligible, had perfect stats (36 ACT, 1/400 class rank, dual 800 SATs, National AP Scholar), held multiple leadership roles, and had a couple of “best student in my career” letters of recommendation and still only got accepted by half the schools to which he applied – yes, the national competition today is that brutal!</p>
<p>Your best strategy is to supplement your dream school list with some choices that have 20-35% acceptance rates PLUS a safety school that you know will accept you. Then hope for the best.</p>