Am I on track? UMich, UC Berkeley, Georgia Tech, UVA, William and Mary, Carnegie Mellon

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi everyone,

I’m a current junior who lives in a relatively competitive school system in virginia.

Not sure what my weighted GPA/Unweighted GPA according to my school are, but I put in my grades (Sophomore year only b/c I heard freshmen year doesn’t count for UC schools) and this is what I got:
Unweighted GPA: 4.00
Weighted GPA: 4.86
Weighted and Capped GPA: 4.57

class rank: 7 out of 438

The 4.86/4.57 doesn’t seem realistic, not sure if I put in the numbers right. I took 7 classes last year and got All As/A-s every semester in each class: took 2 APs, 4 Honors and 1 regular (PE) class, so I put in 12 in the “grades for honors courses” and 14 in the “A grades”. Not sure if I did it right, if someone could help me out, that’d be great!

SAT: 1450 (going to retake)

AP’s taken: AP Compsci (5), AP WH (5)
AP’s taking right now: AP Calc BC, AP psych, AP econ, AP lang, AP Physics c: m, also taking DE US history
Planned APs for senior year: ap stats, ap gov, ap lit, ap bio, ap chem

ECs:
debate team - policy captain. a few awards - 3x top speaker awards, 1x third place speaker award, 3rd place regionals, quarterfinalist/2nd place prelims at a national tournament, 1st place at a local tournament, 3rd place at another local tournament
robotics team - officer
competition programming team member
science national honor society/mu alpha theta/nhs
won an award at an innovation challenge, leadership award at an engineering summer program

only job I’ve had was being a lego ev3 robotics instructor for kids. Haven’t had much research experience/professional job experience. I’m applying to multiple internships this summer so fingers crossed

2

Forgot to add that I’m an Asian male and also a first gen college student (parents didn’t go to college, but sister did so does that count?)

3

Well for the public schools, you may need to shell out some money. Are your parents okay with that?

The UC’s do not provide any funding for non-residents. Expect Berkeley to cost $65K per year, without any financial aid. So would your parents pay over a quarter of a million dollars for a public school education?

4

If you can get that SAT score up I’m sure you’ll be on track

5

@“aunt bea” Hmm… didn’t think about that. No financial aid at all for berkeley? What about Umich/CMU/GA tech? I’m also in state for UVA/William and mary and I know the costs associated with those. Thanks for pointing that out for me, very unfortunate :confused:

6

@kolobok92 Thanks!

7

CMU scholarships are highly competitive and typically state flagships are not generous with OOS applicants. In state options are usually the most generous and cost effectives. You are lucky to live in VA as you have great options there if you need merit aid.

8

@momofsenior1 Thank you for the advice. I guess UVA/William and Mary/V-Tech are my best options!

9

@frgiven, the State of California funds the public universities, partially, with resident taxes. The UC’s and the CSU’s (like the Cal Polys and state uni’s) are public universities, which rely upon the woefully limited State budget. To recoup some monies, they charge full fees to all of those OOS students who want the Berkeley label…

Resident students get instate tuition fees and if needed, they receive aid from the California Student Aid Commission. Since OOS students cannot access that funding, they must pay full fees.

If you qualify for Federal funding, like a Pell Grant, it won’t make a dent in the fees. ($6K per year is chump change when you are looking at $65K per year.)

The state cannot afford to fund non-resident students whose parents have not paid resident taxes.

https://registrar.berkeley.edu/tuition-fees-residency/tuition-fees/fee-schedule

Nonresidents
Tuition and fees PER SEMESTER:
Student Services Fee 564.00

Berkeley Campus Fee 727.00
Class Pass Fee - Transit 80.00
Nonresident Supplemental Tuition 14,496.00
Health Insurance Fee 1,497.00
Student Total $ 23,085.00
Document Management Fee 193.00
New Student Total $ 23,278.00

YEARLY fees are $46556 without room and board fees yet

10

Getting out of state FA at UCB means getting the high reach Regents scholarship or the even reachier full ride Drake scholarship (for mechanical engineering majors).

11

Talk finances with your parents so you know what is in reach and whether you’re likely to get need-based financial aid from colleges (other than OOS publics which don’t give much if any to OOS students). You’re on track for W&M and UVA, though not a given just because they’re competitive as you know, but you’re a good candidate for both, and for V Tech.
To increase your list, you could take a look at OOS colleges that give merit aid (not based on need) for stats like yours: Case Western, Pitt, U. of Rochester, Tulane. Apply early in the cycle for Pitt (by mid-October or earlier), which has rolling admissions, to get the best merit offer. Case Western has the ThinkBox center for innovation and entrepreneurship, which sounds right up your alley, given your innovation challenge award. http://thinkbox.case.edu/

12

First, try to get that SAT up to open up some options and solidify your admission probabilities.

While Berkeley is an great school, I think W&M and UVA are going to be much better value for money given the in-state/out-of-state cost differential, and I also think they are more undergraduate focused (particularly W&M) than Berkeley. Tech is a good option for engineering.

I think @Genevieve18 above has a good recommendation to expand your list with some schools (including private) that may be more likely to kick in some merit aid. Even Richmond and W&L in Virginia may be good options.

13

@“aunt bea” Do you know anything about umich? That’s probably my top choice as I want to study compsci/engineering and attended a selective engineering academy for minority students there during the summer before sophomore year. Thanks for the info on costs.

14

@ucbalumnus After consulting the website, I’m confident I won’t be able to get the scholarship lol. I’m confused, so Berkeley doesn’t even give financial aid to people in the lower income brackets? Thanks!

15

@Genevieve18 Thank you for the school recommendations; I’ve been looking mostly at Tulane and will see the other schools! Do you think I have any chance at schools like purdue or UT austin? I’m targeting good engineering schools (at least, according to us news).

16

@IzzoOne Yep! I’m taking it in October and hoping to get a 1500 =/. Thank you for the advice!

17

Are you eligible for financial aid? If so, why not have a few reach schools that may give financial aid. Those can include CMU (they are getting a bit better on aid), Cornell, Penn and UM https://finaid.umich.edu/new-undergraduates/non-resident-students-and-financial-aid/

Note those are all reaches for everyone and you should not count on getting in, let alone getting the aid you need.

Coop based schools like Drexel may be of interest as they provide a chance to work/earn money during your time in college.

I like that you are an aspiring engineer who also strong in speaking skills (debate). Keep that up!

18

@frgiven, I don’t know much about Michigan, other than it is a State school, as is Austin.

I am familiar with my instate schools in California. As for Berkeley, being low income from OOS makes you a non-resident and does not qualify you for California state funding.

If you are low income, you can apply for Federal funds, through the FAFSA application which will be sent to the schools that you apply to (Free Application for FEDERAL Student Aid). Remember that these funding sources probably won’t come close to covering your tuition and fees at a majority of the schools.

If the schools you are targeting are OOS public, and funded by their states, you need to check out the financial aid pages for each.

The following are the need-based federal student aid programs:
Federal Pell Grant
Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG)
Direct Subsidized Loan
Federal Perkins Loan
Federal Work-Study

The following are the non-need-based federal student aid programs:
Direct Unsubsidized Loan
Federal PLUS Loan
Teacher Education Access for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant

Your instate options will probably be the most reasonably priced, but check out some of the suggestions previously mentioned.

19

@psycholing Yep! My sister actually went to penn and received lots of financial aid. I’m also first gen college (if you don’t count my sister). Thank you for the advice and comments!!

20

@“aunt bea” What qualifies as “need-based”? I believe my family’s income bracket is around the 40k range.