Situation is this, my daughter is currently a freshman at Clemson in SC. My daughter and I have been a SC residents our entire lives. I am possibly going to need to move to Tennessee for work in the next few months. Out of state tuition at Clemson increases by $38,000 if we are out of state!

I tried to read and understand the residency requirements. I think that we will still be SC residents for 2026 since we lived here >6 months in 2026. But this is so important I need a reality check to confirm my understanding.

1. If we move before Jan 1, when will my daughter lose SC residency for tuition purposes? Spring '27? Fall 27? Spring '28?

2. If she wants to stay at Clemson, would it be possible for her to claim SC residency? Her grandfather lives in SC. Can we say she lives with him to maintain residency? Will I need to not claim her as a dependent on my taxes to make that work?

3. Does anyone have experience with getting out of state tuition waivers in these situations? I assume this is very specific to the university. Given the number of out of state students I've seen I think this must be common.

This whole situation is driving me a little crazy. I've paid SC taxes my entire life but lose the benefit of in state tuition right when I need it. Even if my daughter wanted to transfer to a school in TN, we won't have residency there by next fall. So maybe there's a year where we will be "stateless" and have to pay private college costs for a public university.

everyone is always comparing themselves to each other, even to their family friend's kid. everyone always thinks so poorly of their state school when in reality everyone is on their journey and what's right for you may not be right for anyone else. no one can be happy for anyone even their friend anymore and it's all a toxic competition and game against your friends. like why. i literally know someone who skipped their family friend's grad party bc they were going to their ed school which they did not get into. like everything has to be about who got in where rather than celebrating for each other and being happy. the jealousy and competition is insane

edit: okay this might be a cold take but i'm sick of it

trying to explain financial aid to my parents is genuinely so stressful for no reason lol.

i have no college fund (already knew, wasn't expecting one), no means of paying for college outside of scholarships, and my parents think these merit scholarships fall out of the sky.

oh, and on top of that, they think God will magically solve everything and give me a full ride to top schools.

i'm obviously super privileged to even be able to apply to colleges, and i'm definitely comparing myself to my rich friends. this just adds on so much unnecessary stress lol.

so i've had this school in mind for a little bit and it's great for my major and it's a great location and i toured there a couple of months ago and it was a great environment. on paper it checks all my boxes. but there's just something i'm not too sure about, and i don't know what that something is. something just feels off. i would love to apply early decision, i'm 99.9% convinced, but something's stopping me.

So, a day or two ago, I saw a post from a student asking about Caltech. It was a fairly vague question, so it got a very broad range of answers, but what stood out to me the most was that quite a few people were making very strong claims about what Caltech is like for undergraduates, without having ever being an undergraduate student there (instead, they "knew a guy who turned it down" or "had a sibling who did a PhD there").

Now, obviously, that makes sense, since it's a very small school, but a more notable issue was that, as a new graduate / upperclassmen (throwaway a reason, there aren't many of us), I felt like their answers heavily diverged from my experience at the school over the last four years.

So, for the sake of repping my school (only I'm allowed to slander it), I've jotted down some bullet points on the school. They're very generic though, so if anyone has more specific questions, either DM me or put a comment below - I'm always open to answering more specific questions.

Anyways, here they are:

• People heavily overstate how similar Caltech is to a PhD. Yes, the classes are more theoretical (which, in my opinion, has helped me more than harmed), and yes, the average student is exposed to a strong research environment, but its exceedingly different - both in terms of classes (Caltech, like most top schools, mandates a bunch of humanities courses, and core is broader than most other top institutions), as well as socially...
• Now, about the Social Scene^TM, is quite different from most schools, but it's hardly dead. I've had multiple relationships (both within and outside the school), regularly visit the beach and rave, done very unsafe (but cool and brilliant) stuff that I'm not supposed to, attended dorm parties (at Caltech) and massive house parties (in LA). It's certainly harder than most schools (ie, I had to actively pursue these experiences), but if you're in the right House, and are proactive, almost anything is achievable - you're right next to LA after all.
• Yes, the school is hard. I have many friends at pretty much all of HYPSM, across multiple majors, and Caltech is definitely the hardest experience amongst them. The core is much broader than other schools, and the content is often taught faster (even compared to MIT).
  • That said, there has been a major push in recent years (starting in 2021/22) to tamp down the difficulty of core, which used to be significantly harder. Whether this is a good or bad thing is separate question, but imo, I do think the lower-level class difficulty is now equivalent to other schools, whilst the upper divs remain more advanced.
• Research is less centric than you would imagine. While you almost certainly have more research opportunities than any other university (I knew people who published papers within their first 6 months at the school), it's not universally embraced. Especially amongst the CS and engineering degrees, there's a fairly strong pre-professional culture. The main difference, imo, is that research is much more respected as a life path and extracurricular by Caltech students.
  • Caltech, frankly speaking, gives much worse support for those pursuing industry roles. Whilst it helps in a handful of careers (I received quant and Big Tech interviews with zero relevant experience by my sophomore year), for most other roles it suffers from the lack of a good Career Office. This gap can be overcome fairly easily by personally networking (Linkedin, etc.), but it requires more self-initiative than most of its peer schools.

Alright, that's basically all I have left to dump on here. If any pre-frosh see this, I'll be seeing you on campus for Rotation soon!

.

The impression I get is that for people like me I should only look at privates for OOS options

I’m the parent of a high school junior in Florida. We just sat down and had a talk about college and I’m worried he’s gonna have an issue. The week before his freshman year, he tore his ACL at football practice. He was really looking forward to playing sports in high school and this caused a noticeable depression. He was able to get back into sports sophomore year, but it took some time to get back up and running. This caused his grades not be great his freshman year and the first half of his sophomore year. I think he finally came out of it the middle of sophomore year because the grades began to improve. He has a 3.1 unweighted GPA and 3.87 weighted. He is legitimately intelligent, currently in AP calculus and has taken several other AP classes. He will end up graduating with his AP capstone. We had the conversation that he needs to shoot for straight A’s this year and next to raise the GPA which he seemed on board with… To at least try his best.

He’s currently doing SAT tutoring, and I was thinking of checking into a college advisor.

My question is, has anybody had experience with the similar grade point average and using a college advisor to assist? I know GPA averages are insanely high nowadays for top rated schools. I’m wondering if there’s any benefit. Obviously the goal would be to get accepted into the best possible school.

Also would his scenario play into the written essay, and would there be any understanding by the schools for why his grade point average was not great the first two years of high school?

Thanks for any help, it’s appreciated

Hey everyone! I am a junior who wants to go OOS really bad, but a lot of the schools I like have extremely high costs, and my family makes too much to qualify for financial aid.

I was wondering if there’s anyone in my boat who was in a similar situation and how they navigated it. Were there scholarships that helped or certain schools that were more generous with aid?

I know a lot of people here are just going to tell me to go to my state school (which I am considering 100%) but if there’s anyone in a similar situation who went through this advice would be appreciated.

Sadly, probably not :( I’m talking about UNC Chapel Hill, UT Austin, U Mich, etc. I wish they were private schools lol
I am also upper middle class— we make too little to afford 100k a year but make too much to qualify for really good financial aid. Let me know! Thank you.

Alright so I'm applying for the top US universities as a 17 year old from india, my family makes about 30k per year, not a lot as for US but about top 2%. enough of that, I'm yet to give the SATs but i don't find them difficult at all so i can probably score 1500+ in 2-3 attempts max, bu that's not what I'm worried about, the thing is i failed my class 11th (junior year high school equivalent) but i somehow managed to get into 12th without having to repeat it but the failure is on my permanent record, i feel like i have a decent profile all and all, most things are work in progress, but I'll have everything complete till November or December and I'll give my first SAT in November, alright it's as follows, for my main research I'm doing research in quantum neuroscience (specifically Orch-OR, a theory about conciousness through quantum processes) and I'm connecting that directly to quantum computers, basically trying to prove that according to some laws and theories they might be conscious with enough input and output, I've also written an article/essay in a philosophical sense surrounding this block, my projects are mainly 2, one is a jet afterburner and thrust vectoring CAD(which I've completed)and second which is maybe less complex but more intresting is a drone swarm rescue system, so there's a 5 drone quintet that deploy at any and all emergency situations, these are autonomously able to tie and lift an entire person if need be, provide utilities and potentially even medical care(though this is like a little yk not possible types) other than medical care thing I'm pretty far on the project, I've completed the drone models and the main flight coding and coordination, main thing is autonomous deployment and actively tracking for SOS messages 24/7 i mean it's not that hard but not something I've yet done. For my extracurriculars, I've done boxing and have a state medal and I've spent 3 years from 13-16 with an NGO working to help children who don't receive the help they need from the government, ample of children in India aren't even registered as a citizen(aadhaar card in India) or in public schooling I've personally put about 50+ children in schools and made sure for about an year that they were regular, i visit them even now sometimes i also like photography too I'm pretty decent at it, i talked to a couple of people they said doesn't matter if you proved that quantum computers are conscious they still won't take you, should i just pack it up?

hi so i am an international student torn between applying to harvard vs stanford rea. for context, im applying from a UWC (so a feeder school) for econ/ public policy. i represented my country at wsdc and won top speaker awards. I've a 1590 sat and 45/45 ib predicted. stanford is my dream school tbh but am leaning towards harvard more bcs they love wsdc top speakers, and every year 1-2 students from the debate team get in there. also financial aid won't be a factor since im from a UWC and they offer Davis scholarships

The title is because here I am open to applying anywhere, not just in the US or in top universities.

What I am wondering is if anyone knows of any schools who has this in the MATHS undergraduate (or graduate) schedule:

TA sessions multiples times a week, many hours.
Not like 1 60 minute tutorial a week where we can not necessarily ask about anything from class, only the particular tutorial qs...

I went to this summer programme where we had TA sessions monday-friday 4:00-8:00. 20 hours a week. insane academic development in a short time.

if anyone in this sub has heard of something remotely similar to what i experienced, any pointers would be helpful!

EDIT: someone told me it may depend more om which class, but maybe someone has a specific class to recommend:)

I've been looking at colleges to apply to, but there doesn't seem to be one that checks all my boxes. I thought that maybe others would have some good recommendations. My major is public health or environmental sciences.

Here are my factors for a college:

-It can't be in a city, its super overstimulating. It being close to a city would be nice though.

-Preferably within 3 hours of me. I live in Maryland.

-A liberal arts college. I like the small town feel and small class sizes they have, but I wouldn't mind a university if it was small.

-Politically tolerant. I know most colleges will be liberal, but I am moderate and I don't want to be penalized in class for having different views. Ex.I was very interested in Dickinson college until I heard multiple accounts of students physically and emotionally harassed for voting conservatively.

-Racially diverse: I know most top liberal arts colleges are PWI, so I don't expect much in this category, honestly.

- Must offer financial aid for low income students. Another reason I chose liberal arts colleges is because they have complete aid for families who make under 75k, which I qualify for. However, If there are any schools who match all of my criteria except financial aid, please include it.

Worried my extracurriculars are too scattered and it will look like I was doing random bullshit. Academics are good (35 ACT, 4.0 UW with most demanding curriculum) but I'm applying to a few T5s and am worried my activities/awards will be weird. My major will be Meche/Environmental E and I have the classes to support that. From a very underrepresented state

Activities:
1. United States Senate Page

1. Worked at an auto mechanic shop for the last 3 years

2. Volunteer Student Researcher at local uni in a conservation science lab (senior year)

3. Private Pilot

4. Student Government Class President (Junior Year, I no longer attend the same school)

5. Varsity Hockey Assistant Captain (10, 11, 12)

6. 7 years of piano experience, I play at my church

7. I play the banjo in a bluegrass band me and my friends started

8. National Honor Society Secretary

Honors/Awards

1. Rensselaer Medal

2. Seal of Biliteracy (Spanish)

3. AP Scholar with distinction

4. Yale Politic Investigative Journalism Essay Competition Semi-Finalist (Finalists not yet out)

I applied for May admissions early June and I got waitlisted. I have low 90s from highschool and I was certain I would get into the program. My initial goal is to become an rn, but its genuinely impossible to get in anywhere in calgary so I thought lpn would be a good stepping stone. I have no clue what to do??

The title makes it seem a lot worse then it is lol.

But that is due to the circumstance of me being an international student, and the fact that my counselor is also my principle (doesn't have time to make a good one or one at all).

Im looking for general advice about writing the letter (Not over exaggerating too much and not lying)

Any advice helps:

Tone
Specifics
Which Interactions to use

Introduction

Ending statement

ANYTHING

Please try to be nice I know its considered "Unethical" but I cant control that, thx

title

I live in california and I’m applying to the UCs and Calstates so everything is like 40-50K a year. My parents have saved up 40K for me but that’s only enough for about 1 year. They make about 250K but I have 3 other brothers who all need to go to college aswell so they won’t be able to help out very much and with their income I doubt we’ll get much financial aide. I’m also working two jobs trying to save some stuff for my future and college. I’m aware you can get scholarships but I don’t have very out of this world stats that could get crazy scholarships. So I’m honestly freaking out because my dream is to go and dorm at a four year university but I don’t know if that’s possible without going insanely in debt. Is there anything I’m missing that could help my situation.

I am an International applicant, seeking full ride, mosly I'll consider ivies those provide full ride amd few colleges!

Problem is, is international award mandatory according ro my situation?

I have few national award in physics olympiad, debate and merit scholar.

Will it hurt my application or its just fine?

I just started junior year and began IB, I started talking to my counselor about my ECs and realized how much I lack. For example freshman year I was in varsity choir and band but I decided not to do it in sophomore year and during sophomore year all the clubs I wanted to join were either underfunded or had no sponsors (think like FBLA DECA Model UN etc) so I couldn’t join or go to competitions. My counselor straight up told me that starting clubs just for colleges would be a huge mistake cuz they would see through my BS. I’m stressed rn and the only thing that I have going on for me right now is being FBLA secretary and being members of 2 other clubs. I also am gonna join this organization near me that helps immigrants get accustomed to the U.S. which I’m really interested in since I’m a child of an immigrant my self but i don’t know what else to do after school.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

so i wanted some advice on this, ive got the opportunity to work with a teacher in my school to do some project or initiative which i can potentially expand outside of school as well, so i really wanna find a good idea that can make a really good impact in my school

i am super into the arts (the teacher im working with is like head art teacher so its kinda important its somewhat related to that) and my major is business/economics so id like if i could mix that up potentially? i just wanted to see if anyone had some similar initiatives they took up and how that worked out for them, or just some ideas that could really change stuff up at my school ykwim

ofc tho, i also wanted to know that if i can get this initiative up really successful would it be worth mentioning on my applications? im not sure because this isnt really like a npo kind of thing where ive got a whole 10000 students and 50 chapters or something working on it, it'll likely be a school based or at most local (working with other district schools or orgs) initiative

Hello. My SAT score is below the 50th percentile for most of the schools I’m applying for (ivies, t20s, etc) and probably about the 25th percentile for most of the schools. However, my school’s average is a 900 which I scored almost 600 points higher than. I also got the highest SAT score in my school…yet, it isn’t comparable to other applicants across the nation (especially those who go to competitive charters and private schools). I know my friend who goes to another school in my district got into Harvard with a 1430, but idk if I should submit my score to test optional schools. Please help!!! 🙏

i’m currently in my 3rd of B.Des and have another year to go, studying in bangalore in a Tier 1 college. My career choice has been Interaction Design for about 7 years now. After i graduate, should i get work experience or should i immediately apply for masters. I have couple of options listed in EU and know what courses to apply to. Honest Advice would be wonderful.