okay, wow, you're dumb. I get your side, but seriously? CARNEGIE MELLON. it's called financial aid. grants. loans. scholarships.

OP: I feel really sorry for you and really envious at the same time. Please take what I'm saying to heart. It may seem like a steep climb, but you seem more than up to it. Your determination is admirable. I'm kind of surprised to hear you say you threw those letters away, though, given how strong your spirit seems. You must reach beyond your own limits and what you think your limits are to find the brilliance of your life -- the shining part that sparkles with distinction when you look back on your youth and middle age many years from now. Please, take it as a what-could-I-lose challenge, and contact the schools you gave up on and beg them to take you. Tell them what you did and why. Tell them that you have to reach for the very best for yourself no matter the cost. There is room for you in a top school, OP, so what could you possibly lose by scratching and scraping for every shred of financial aid you can grab, and then getting loans, etc.? You have so little to lose and so much to gain. Even if they turn you away and slam the door at your back, you will have set a precedent for yourself that says: I can do this. I can chase my dreams. I won't let my poverty/situation/difficulties keep me from getting my best life. I let my troubles stop me as a young girl, and it's a regret I'm still trying to overcome and correct. Don't be like me. Go get your life while you're young and the world is standing before you, just waiting. And don't ever settle. Don't ever let the fact that you don't have cause you to continue to not have. I really wish you the very, very best. :)

You moron! You get into 2 very prestigious schools and throw their acceptances away because of that? There's something called financial aid genius. If they didn't give you enough initially, you could have tried politely asking for more.

God people are ridiculous...private universities that charge the moon in tuition also have some of the best financial aid packages in the business, and there's thousands of private scholarships you can apply to. There really is no shortage of aid to be had, so YDI for shooting your future in the foot

Honestly, you all freak out on this person for throwing out the acceptance letters, but that was really considerate. My school, which is a state school, has not given me like any financial aid and my GPA is a 3.81. So you guys can just shut up because financial aid is sometimes really hard to get and you pretty much get the same education at a regular university without the freakin' patron and political stuff. So before you yell at this person, take into consideration we aren't all as special as some of you who get financial aid and most of you don't know how hard it is to get it. And good job on attempting to be considerate.

they why did you apply? and the reason those schools are so expensive is because you can get a good education, and pay back your mother later on in life...

I go to Cornell. Agreed, it is hella expensive, and I'm one of the people who have good financial aid. The vast majority of the kids there either have rich mommies and daddies who can pay every cent of their tuition, take out the 50 grand a year in loans, or like me, are poor (and fortunate) enough to get good financial aid. I won't call you an idiot for throwing out the letters, because you thought you were being considerate of your mother. I think you should have talked it over with her first, though. But what's done is done.

Shame on so many of you. And kudos to OP for being one of a select few who are considerate of their parents when examining their options for college. There is this misnomer among teens over the past few decades that there is a 'college fund' waiting for them, along with a new car on their 16th birthday. Most will find themselves disappointed. I hear a great deal of talk about student loans and financial aid. Federal student loan programs are not structured, nor do they provide sufficient dollar amounts, to fund a full time student at a university such as Cornell or Carnegie Mellon. And unless you are representative of a minority, or add some value to the school based on past academic or extra-curricular (e.g. sports) performance - scholarships and grants are not forthcoming.

****. I understand being considerate but throwing away your future??? cmon. ur mom would have been proud if u accepted to go to cornell, not overburdened.

#172, my mom told me she was proud I got accepted to Vanderbilt. Then she told me that if I can't get more financial aid, she forbids me to go, even on my own coin. I went through all of this a year ago. I received acceptance letters to fairly good public and private schools, Vanderbilt standing out among them, yet my financial aid responses fell short of expectation. I tried appealing for more, and they rejected me (especially that even at wealthy colleges, money gets tight as soon as the talk moves towards education non-citizens... even those that are in the midst of applying) My parents gave me a 10K per year max. I do not plan on starting my independent life on extravagant loans and chose an in-state school that god forbid anything happened, I would be able to support myself in. You go, for considering the finances available to you. I talked to many of the children of my parents' friends, all from varying schools, and they all replied that the undergrad school is not as important as public media and expectation makes it out to be. Ivy Leagues are just far too romanticized. Ultimately, it comes down to what you made of what you had. Worry about grad school, not undergrad was the response of them all. My cousins had different outlooks on college. One felt that she needed the Ivys, like many of the people here. The other was more practical and chose my state school. They were both accepted to Harvard. The Harvard grad is now supported by her multi-millionaire UTK sister. Tell me now that you can only be successful by going to top schools. The difference often is not in the quality of the education, but the ease of making the grade. Lower rung schools tend to be easier to make the grade in without trying, but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't try and master what you need. At Cornell, your classes would cover all the same materials, but good grades would require much more work. As long as you don't plan on doing the bare minimum for your GPA, your education will be good no matter where you get it. What you need to decide is whether you're in this for a diploma or for an education. I hope things work out for you in the end. Good luck with your plans :D.