Hi everyone. ive been making my college list for quite some time now… I have a bunch of schools that I keep taking off my list, but I find a way to add them back because of something that I realize I like in the school. I have more than 20+ schools and I need help narrowing them down, as in schools I could never possible get into. I know I have many OOS public schools but these are what I am drawn too. My instate school is sadly the worst in the country, but I have it on for financial reasons. ( University of Nevada ) I know I qualify for WUE but I dont like any of those schools I also hope to get my ACT around a 33.
I have legacy at LMU & USC.
My GPA is around a 4.3 Weighted and 3.75 unweighted.
ACT: 31
List:
UNR
Loyola Marymount
CU Boulder
University of Oregon
UCSB/UCLA
University of Washington
USC
Fordham
UNC-CH
University of San Diego
Vanderbilt
Umich
ASU Barrett ( Don’t want to go, but will be cheap & is good program, many kids from my school go to asu)
And possibilities that I might take off are:
Cornell
Brown
SDSU- dont know if I can graduate on time
University of Denver
If anyone has any inight please help me!!!`
Also, my major is undecided…
Have you run the Net Price Calculator? What is your budget? A good way to pair down your list would be what can you afford. UCLA and UCSB would be full pay for OOS. Are these affordable options?
@123Mom456@twogirls I have but we also don’t have all the information because my family situation/ income is changing. If I could get any merit/ FAFSA ( which I would qualify for ) that would be good but I dont want to rack up loans, especially if Im thinking of going to grad school. My mom says we can “make it work” if I really fall in love but I dont want to put me or her in that situation.
Perhaps you should tell us what your grades are like, since for most of us neither 4.3 nor 4.75 is possible on an unweighted scale. Do you have A’s and only A’s? If so, do the A+'s outnumber the A-'s?
Have you run the NPC on each of these schools and if so can you afford them (and are your parents okay with the result)? There is no point in applying to 18 schools that you can’t afford. Many students in April or May will be complaining about not being able to afford the top choices that they were accepted to.
What year are you going into? Have you visited any of these schools?
Looking at your list, I can see what you mean about different schools having different most desirable qualities, but you have a bunch that are quite good schools and probably a match. Unfortunately at some point you are going to need to decide which of these desirable qualities are most important. If you are willing to fill out 18 applications then you won’t need to decide until after you find out where you got in and what the financial offers look like.
@DadTwoGirls My bad! I have a 3.75** unweighted. We don’t have plus or minus at my school, only the letter grade. I have A’s and a few B’s. I’m going into 12th grade. I’ve visited UW, LMU, USC, UNR, UCLA. I havent done net price calculators just because my situation is changing so it wont be accurate.
Filling out the FAFSA will qualify you for the Stafford loan of $5500. It will also determine whether you are eligible for a Pell grant ( about $5000 +/- ? not sure). I agree that you need to remove the California public schools- you will not get money from these schools.
Fill out the NPC using your taxes from 2016 and see if the number looks reasonable. You will be using your 2016 information this coming October when you fill out the FAFSA and CSS profile ( for profile schools). How will your finances/family situation be different for 2017?
A lot of OOS publics are not generous with need aid or merit so your situation changing would not matter. I would suggest making a spreadsheet and do a true comparison.
What is your income? UMich is going in the direction of full need for out of state students up to a certain income ( I believe). Michigan is a reach for you.
UNC is also a reach for you as there is an 18% cap for out of state students. If you get in, the odds of getting merit are very slim. You are more likely to get FA as the school meets full need.
No need to do the NPC on UCLA/UCSB, since you will be full pay as an OOS student so $60K/year to attend.
SDSU is very generous with AP credit so if you have several AP classes under your belt, if you plan your schedule right meaning not picky on professors and class times, you can easily graduate in 4 years. You will also be Full pay at $38K/year with no FA.
In your other thread you said your parents are divorced. Is that recent? I don’t think the NPC’s will be accurate for you, but I can see why your financial situation might be difficult to pin down. You’ll have to use both your parents’ incomes for CSS profile schools (a separate financial aid form usually used by private schools), so you need to get that sorted out.
Ask your parents how much they can pay per year. You can only borrow $5500/year, and if you work summers you can probably earn ~$3k. That’s your budget. You can’t borrow $50k like you mentioned doing in your other thread, and you can’t raise the money to go OOS for 4 years by entering competitions for $1,000 outside scholarships. The student who told you they won $24k that way is a new poster whose first post was to promote their financial aid blog. Only one grant of $1,000 was renewable for 4 years, so it’s not a helpful strategy for covering tuition. Books and gas money, maybe, but it won’t cover OOS tuition.
Your best option is to pursue merit. Get your scores up if you can. Build your list by starting with your safeties. If your state participates in an exchange, find something to love about a couple of those schools. Then focus on where you can get merit.
Even if you get the 33 ACT you are hoping for, Brown, Vanderbilt, & UNC-CH seem unlikely. Schools of similar quality you’d have a better shot at include Wake Forest, Boston College, & Northwestern (Northwestern is very generous with need aid, & is significantly easier to get into if you apply Early Decision).