A bit lost, I guess chance me?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I’m a concurrent enrollment student (currently both full time at my local college and online homeschool). In freshmen year I got a 3.75 GPA and then for the last two years I’ve been taking full-load at the local community college. I have a 3.8 GPA (without weighting, if that’s applicable) at the college, and a 4.0 GPA in my online home school (again, no weighting). I’m not entirely sure how all these mesh together. Is there any way to check how he classes I take at the college are in comparison with AP classes? I’m a tutor for the college and some high school students come in taking Calculus AB/BC and it’s just stuff I did in my first two calculus classes…

Anyway, that’s a bit off topic. Like I said I’m a tutor for the college (paid), but other than that I don’t have many ECs (which I’m imagining is jargon for extracurricular). I’m currently writing a book that, if all goes well, will be published before I apply to schools at end of this year. Though, given how sporadic that has been of late, is it possible I can allude to it in my applications? Writing is a major aspect of my life.

When I graduate high school I’ll be two classes away from my AS in Biology, which is the major I intend on following into graduate school. I’m premed.

The schools that I plan on applying for include: Stanford, Yale, Caltech and MIT. I guess I’m still looking for a few that acceptance is certain. I understand my chances are low, especially because my GPA isn’t perfect and I’m missing a crippling amount of ECs, but if it had to be ballparked, I’d be curious to see where I stand. Also wondering what are good options many students do to bolster my EC standing.

Anyway, I went off topic several places here so I’ll just use this to bring it all back together. The schools that I know I will apply to include: Stanford, Yale, Caltech and MIT as a concurrent enrollment student transferring with close to an AS.

2

Oh, I forgot to add I’m taking my first SAT in June.

3

“Stanford, Yale, Caltech and MIT”

All are extremely unlikely. You can apply, but spend no more than a couple of hours total thinking about all four, because you want to concentrate on somewhere that you have a realistic chance to get into. Also, note that getting “premed grades” will be very difficult at these schools. Be aware that essentially every incoming student at these schools was in the top 1% of their high school and expects to be in the top 25% of their university class. 3 out of every 4 are wrong about this last point. When I was at MIT the median score on the Math SAT for incoming students was 800. I am pretty sure that this is still the case. Thus if you get 800 on the math SAT you might think that this is a good score, but it is only average at MIT. Given that MIT is a STEM school, you might expect the English SAT scores to be lower. In fact, at MIT the 75th percentile for English on the SAT is only 770.

Where are you located? How much can you afford for university?

4

California, Monterey Bay Area. I’ll be taking on quite a bit of student loans, as I’m receiving no support from parents. I also forgot to mention that I planned on applying to UCLA, which I guess would be marginally easier than the aforementioned four, albeit slightly?

5

“California, Monterey Bay Area. I’ll be taking on quite a bit of student loans,”

This is a very beautiful location.

There are of course many very good state universities in California. Unfortunately the University of California system is no longer inexpensive for in-state residents. Hopefully other folks can comment on the possibility of financial aid for in-state California residents.

Yes, I think that UCLA and UCB are a bit more realistic, in addition to being VERY strong universities (Berkeley is one of the best in the world, single digit, for what I majored in).

In you shoes I would be tempted to apply to quite a few University of California schools, maybe even all of them. I am wondering if you also should check out the premed acceptance rates (into medical schools) at the various state universities, such as San Jose State. I am aware that your grades are beyond what you need to get into San Jose State, but you are going to need to minimize debt for undergrad if you want to go to medical school. We live in New England so that I am mostly only familiar with the really big name California schools (Stanford, UCLA, UCB), but I am under the impression that several of the other UC’s are also very good for premed.

Given how strong the in-state system is in California, your strong grades, your desire to got to medical school, and your financial constraints, I would think that the in-state California system is the first place to look. You also will want to check with a few of the universities regarding whether the courses that you have already taken at community college will allow you to shorten your undergrad, for example to three years.

6

As a student, the maximum amount of loans that you are eligible for is $27K over 4 years so anything beyond that amount would require a qualified co-signer such as your parents. What is your parents income? even though they will or cannot pay? Their income will be required to fill out the FASFA so you would be eligible for financial aid. Since you live in Monterey Bay, your safety should be CSUMB. With a student loan of $5500 plus any work earnings, it should be affordable if you commute.

Without any test scores, no one can chance you. If your parents are not paying for college or if you are low income, you will need to look for large merit scholarships along with good need based aid. For merit, you need high test scores. You need to have the money talk with your parents before making up a college list. Finances are going to determine where you will need to apply along with your stats.

7

Together? $150,000 would be my estimate.

So test scores are currently holding me back? Would it then be wise to come back once I have taken my SAT? Of course, there’s no way to know for certain how one will do but I do anticipate (and hope) for a score of at least 1450. I’ve been studying it extensively for the past few months.

8

I also have a question, what’s the limiting factor in terms of why I most likely won’t be accepted into the four initially listed? Assuming my test scores put me at least average (yes, even if that requires a perfect math score, I do expect that given the level the SAT operates at).

9

So your parents estimated income is $150K and they are not willing to help? Are they willing to co-sign Parent Plus loans if needed?

If Medical school is in your future, you want to keep you undergrad costs at a minimum so you do not want to take out any student loans if possible.

Their income will not make you eligible for any need-based financial aid at the majority of schools on your list so you need to find schools that give good merit aid to be able to afford attending a college. For the California UC’s, you will receive little to no FA due to your parents income.

I would run the Net Price Calculators on the your top school choices first, to see if you will receive any FA before applying. No point in wasting application fees on schools that are not affordable.

In regards to your question about why you would most likely not be accepted at your top schools. Any school with low acceptance rates <10% are lottery schools. They have more qualified applicants than spots. Even perfect GPA/Test score applicants are rejected every year.

It is fine to have a few Reach schools on your list, but do not focus on these type of schools. What you need are good Match and Safety schools that are affordable. Until you can figure out what kind of budget you have to spend on a college and until you take the SAT, you really cannot formulate a good college list.

Aim for a 1500+ for the top schools. Just remember, the majority of applicants to Yale, Stanford, MIT and Cal Tech have competitive stats, it is the EC’s that usually set these applicants apart from the rest of the pack. Other than tutoring, you really do not have anything that stands out.

Take a look at some of the decision threads for these schools to see what it takes to get an acceptance.

I would focus on schools such as USC, University of San Diego, Occidental, University of San Francisco, Santa Clara where you might get good merit aid.

10

I should have included the Claremont colleges: Pomona, Pitzer, and Claremont McKenna as possible schools to consider.

11

I’ll look into all the aforementioned. Thank you.

12

CalTech, Stanford, MIT are reach schools for pretty much everyone. You have to have a steller GPA, top ACT scores AND most kids who get into these schools have internships in the areas they are interested in. At my son’s school a kid who won the Intel Science competition and invented a new blood test got into MIT, another kid with an exceptional resume including research and creating an AP application that was picked up by a national AP study company was rejected. It’s a crap shoot at those schools and even UCLA/Berkeley are now considered reaches. It’s great to apply to them, but make sure you have some safeties – look at Pitzer, Pomona is considered a reach school as well for most kids. Look at USC, Oxy, and some other UCs like Santa Barbara, Irvine, Davis. Your interest in writing is great and if you play that up in your apps it will be helpful. A balanced list is key and good safeties that you could actually see yourself at, just in case you don’t get into those reach schools. Good luck!

13

Top private schools costing $60+ a year do offer fin aid for total income of $150k before taxes. It also depends on family size and other kids in school. Should use one of the cost estimators on the schools financial aid page.

14

“I also have a question, what’s the limiting factor in terms of why I most likely won’t be accepted into the four initially listed?”

The primary factor is the very large number of exceptionally qualified applicants to these four schools (and to a few other top ranked schools also).

I am not suggesting that your chances are any lower than the average applicant. However, as one example, Stanford had a 4.8% acceptance rate in 2016. They said in information sent to alumni that they feel that 80% of their applicants are fully qualified to attend. That puts the acceptance rate among well qualified applicants as — (I will let you fill in the number, this has to be easy for you to want to go there). This is a very small number.

15

Thank you for all the help, you’ve given me a lot to think about. I have seen the acceptance rates but always assumed it was because of students that didn’t have the requisite grades applied, but given the information above it’s safe to say that’s not the case. I opened another thread regarding if medical schools care as much about the college as test scores on the MCAT for instance, and it seems that’s not the case. That was my biggest worry. Now I just look to get into the best qualified school that I can afford.

Once again, thank you very much for the help.

16

If you are looking forward to attending medical school, look at schools that have a high medical school acceptance rate. I know Occidental definitely does, but be sure to check on each school. All the UCs are wonderful and if you do well in school and do well on the MCAT you will be on your way.