OCD or Perfection?

Yes! I was in exactly the same position as you in my (unfinished) undergrad. I made $44,000/year at the time I enrolled for my BSc. And then I was overseas so I wasn't gonna be making any money etc etc. Those forms need to be filled out at the office of fin-aid at your college. They might need you to meet with a fin-aid counselor who will ask you some FBI-style questions for veracity of the information you put down. That's what happened with me.

That's a good question that I remember seeing someone on FAFSA FAQs...I don't remember the answer sorry. Fifteen schools though? DAMN! I only applied to three :'(

Well...you can say that you are not filing taxes. They don't ask you why!

Thank you guys. Tie, merino wool sweater and a suit...still I was shivering. AND..I GOT INNNN!!

I'm sure they've at least started. Decisions are expected within two weeks. They get around 4,000 applicants and select around 670 so they're not gonna have toooo much time.

Yes! You are eligible to file a FAFSA. Anyone with a SSN is. If you will not be filing taxes, just indicate that on your FAFSA.

Now that it's come this far, I need help. I am interviewing at Rice University tomorrow for their Master of Arts in Teaching for Experienced Educators program. Specifically, I have two questions: 1. Why do universities interview candidates? I've said everything I could think of in my SOP, Resume and other information I've shared. I have submitted four LORs. I even had a one-hour, one-on-one meeting with the entire team that's meeting me again tomorrow, back in October. So, what are they looking for tomorrow? The other two programs I've applied to, Harvard and Columbia, are not interviewing for Masters. 2. What is the appropriate attire? I'm a boy and the interviewers are four ladies I am perfectly comfortable wearing a business suit (wore it daily for four years) but I don't want to be overdressed because I AM interviewing with educationists. However, I would hate to be under-dressed and give them the impression that I didn't care enough. I actually really love Rice and it's a dream school. So Khakis, dress shoes, tie and a formal sweater? Suit? Khaki and Polo? Whaaa???

The purpose of the income adjustment form is to state how your income will be considerably different THIS year compared to the year BEFORE. You can file it at any time as it contains information based on future expectations.

You should absolutely. Loans are a choice you have. But the FAFSA opens the door for free money also.

Congratulations so excited for you!

The scores are actually quite grade. Even the top schools are looking at students coming in over the 80th percentiles and then deferring it to everything else on the application. Another point, giving GRE three times doesn't look very sexy---especially seeing as how you've got a great score already.

Magoosh Gre App (free app with flashcards... to be used in the bathroom) Learn at least the first 300 most commonly used words. Any other free resources that teach you active reading/how to attempt questions. Focusing on isolating it to 2 wrong and 3 possible answers.

Loric, a LOT of people are just very anxious about paperwork. I remember the first few times I grabbed the FAFSA form from my community college fin-aid office. The many green pages with boxes and initials etc etc were so intimidating, I'd throw it into the trash and just go swipe my credit card and throw away my extremely hard-earned cash. Then, one day my elder brother told me how easy it was to do it online and I could just link it to the IRS system and woaalla! I get the same anxiety every time I have to take my car for inspection or go to the DMV or go to the social security office. And I go camping into mountains, travel into deserts where you have to take your own water supply for up to a week. However, I have actually put off registering my car in my name for more than two years after I purchased because I don't want to go to the DMV office and this can't be done online. We are all different and have different strengths...and weaknesses.

Fill out FAFSA, send information and nothing else matters. Your aid is disbursed through your office of Fin-aid. If you don't enroll at an institution, no hard done.

M. Ed. Applicant. 2 pages, 11 TNR font, in between narrow and normal margins. I had a special projects section which was weird. I had an objectives section that in hindsight (after look at Gcafe) I know I shouldn't've had. I also feel I shouldnt've included things like email address, phone number and physical address on an application CV. Any thoughts?

This is an interesting point. I'm not a religious zealot, probably an agnostic at best! Would you consider your mother's POV from this perspective: There are people born in the slums of India. They work hard their entire lives, but the vicious cycle of poverty is arguably inescapable for them. No matter how "hard we work", we can never compare to their physical exhaustion or mental/emotional tribulations. I guess it was divine intervention that they were born into the homes they were and we were born into the ones we were. There are perhaps things we don't have control over. You can be the best driver in the world, never touched a sip of alcohol. But you can be killed as a result of the divine intervention that causes a drunk driver to cross paths with you. I guess mum is just trying to send some good vibes your way and not discounting the value of your efforts.

It's actually who provides more than half your support. I have been independent since I was 17 and have been filing as such. My parents are not deceased, just busy with their own lives in different parts of the world

I dropped out of college in my undergrad because I never had the money to pay for it and to support myself. I was 18, had just moved into the US, had no parents and big hopes for myself. I never filed the FAFSA because I was scared of documentation-some people have that phobia. It seemed insurmountable at the time. This cost me considerably (as dropping out of college does anyone). I was so scared in fact that I was happier working seven nights a week at front desks of hotels that catered to strippers, drug-dealers and those "hourly" clients, for $7/hour while going to college than filling out a few simple forms that would've got me thousands of dollars in completely free money.. Working seven nights a week, especially when you have full-time college during the day is unhealthy for anyone and I got burnt out. Despite a 4.0 gpa, I was forced to drop out of college. Since then, I have filled out my FAFSA twice, got a completely free ride through an associates degree and undergrad, both of which I was able to finish with a 4.0 GPA and still have change left over. Now I have zero undergrad debt (I still worked throughout, only better paying jobs) and am eligible for $20,500 in loans for graduate school just from the government. I also expect my graduate schools to place significant importance on my FAFSA in making award decisions for aid/scholarships. The FAFSA is scary-but it is so goddamn worth it! There are some things to consider as you start the 2014 academic/fiscal year: How you file your taxes plays a big role. I'm sure most people on this forum are filing independently, but in case you aren't, only ask your parents to claim you if they plan on contributing significantly for your graduate school. If they claim you as a dependent, the government views their income as a source of moneys available for your college funds. If you were working last year but not the coming year (while in college) fill out an income adjustment form available at your college's fin-aid office. File taxes and FAFSA early. Unknown to most people, you can file your FAFSA before filing taxes. If you're not filing taxes, you can still file FAFSA and use the "not filing" option under taxes. If you need to file a FAFSA against a deadline where you don't expect your W2s to be in by, use FAFSA's income estimator and then go and correct values later. Alternatively, you can also use the last pay stub to file your taxes. It has all the information you need that will be available on the W2. I might be able to help with some questions and will tell you if there are some I can't answer.

This is not good advice. If your parents file you as dependent, their income will be reported as part of the amount available for you to pay for college. Only do this if your parents are willing/able to pay for your college. As noted earlier, FAFSA allows you to use the "income estimator" tool. You can file your FAFSA based on that and go fill it in later. W2 If your employer has not given you your W2 (statement of income and taxes you paid to uncle Sam) yet (this is not surprising, they have until Jan 31 to do so), you can use your last paystub and it will have all the information reported on the W2 anyway (federal taxes paid, medicaid, SS and your total earnings). You can use that to file your taxes. Filing your taxes TurboTax is excellent and free. After you're done filing your taxes, they even give you a FAFSA worksheet for all the information you need to put in the FAFSA on a separate page (I think that might be true only for the paid version). Additional help (lol) Since you are 22 and I was 22 and mortified of IRS at that age, I'm happy to use my extensive (lol) experience in tax filing/FAFSA to help you out personally and for free (trying to build up all the good karma I can) so PM me and I think it should be fairly easy to walk you through most of the steps of the FAFSA over a short phone call. Best of luck. P.S. I dropped out of college in my undergrad because I never had the money to pay for it. I never filed the FAFSA because I was scared of documentation-some people have that phobia. It seemed insurmountable at the time. This cost me considerably (as dropping out of college does anyone). I was so scared in fact that I was happier working seven nights a week for $7/hour while going to college than filling out a few simple forms that would've got me thousands of dollars in completely free money.. Since then, I have filled out my FAFSA twice, got a completely free ride through an associates degree and undergrad, both of which I was able to finish with a 4.0 GPA and still have money left over. Now I have zero undergrad debt (I still worked throughout, only better paying jobs) and am eligible for $20,500 in aid just from the government. The FAFSA is scary-but it is so goddamn worth it!

What financial aid app? Do you mean the FAFSA? Or is there something I'm missing? In my eagerness to find something to kill time with, I filed both my taxes as well as my FAFSA and made slight errors in both...and now I can't do anything about it.

I quit one year ago from smoking a pack a day for 12 years. It was excruciating but I started smoking e-cigarettes. Before that, I had quit once for 6 months. That was cold turkey and I exercised like mad-40 minutes elliptical come rain or shine. I don't advise you to go the e-cig route cus they're not great for you either and I haven't been able to quit them thus far-I'm scared I'll go back to smoking. However, chewing a very strong mint gum every time there's an urge can help. P.s. I've tried nicorette, patches, e-cigarettes, exercise and everything else I can think of. Exercise was the best-there was no craving.

I haven't seen (m)any people on this site applying for school leadership programs. Anyone applied to HGSE? What is your background, academic as well as professional. Thanks for sharing and best of luck.

Anyone applied here this year? For those who don't know it, its the department that specializes in Private School Leadership. Essentially, it prepares graduates for leadership positions in commercial, non-profit, charter, and international schools. Even if you haven't applied to Klingenstein, do you any other good programs focusing on leadership in private/international schools? Best of luck to all applicants. May the odds be ever in your favor!

You're good!

What is your AWA score?