Reply to Do you really need to do all this to get into a good college?

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Reply to "Do you really need to do all this to get into a good college?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote]It is relatively easy to graduate from a top-20 private with little if any student loan debt. HYP all offer zero-debt, need-blind financial aid. The other Ivies are close, as are Amherst, Williams, JH, U Chicago, Stanford, and a few others. [/quote]

The issue I see with people's expectations is that even if a school is "need blind" this means that it will meet the expected family contribution according to the FAFSA.  So the choice is not paying full sticker price of 50K or whatever, but if you have a household income over 150K and are expecting a full ride, good luck with that.  Depending on a variety of factors (not just income, but also net worth, number of kids in college, whether or not you are divorced, etc.) you might get SOME aid, though.  Most good private schools, including liberal arts schools offer at least some need-based aid if there is demonstrated financial need.  This doesn't mean "I live in an expensive area and have high property taxes and have a 4,000 a month mortgage" need, this means need according to a formula based on your tax returns.

As far as the original question goes: YES YOU ARE OVER THINKING IT, ALL OF YOU!  Life is not all about gaming the system to get into a good college, but I would say your kids benefit from getting a stellar education all the way through.  There are literally thousands of colleges in the US, and your kid is not set up for failure if they don't go to, say, the 20 colleges deemed acceptable on this forum.  I think the benefit to living in an urban area is that you realize very early in life how small of a fish you really are--and what is important is how you react to it.  If you come to the realization in high school that "hey I'm not the smartest person around, but the smartest people are not always the most successful, and I just need to do the best I can do" that is a good lesson for life.  I have seen people in graduate school who were the smartest around all the way through college, and they learn that lesson at 23 instead of 14, and sometimes it's harder that way.[/quote]

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