APUSH (4), AP Calc AB (2…), AP Human Geo (5), AP Psych (5), AP Lang (4), APES, AP Spanish, AP Statistics
All honors/AP when offered (except 12th grade English)
Extracurriculars
Government club: Statewide club that’s like a mock government. 2 smaller statewide leadership positions, passed 4 bills, and running for a big statewide position that I’ll put on my RD apps if I win
MUN: VP (11th) and President (12th), grew club by 30 and taught all new members debate, created guides used at other local schools
National government club: Same program as my first EC, but nationwide. Top 25 from the state program are chosen at the end of the year, and I’ve gone every year. Placed top 25% out of 400
Social justice advocacy group: Meet with local officials to try and advocate for better conditions in local prisons
Academic Decathlon: Founder and President. Led recruitment, club formation, and found study resources
Club mentor: Mentor in a local camp/club that teaches relational skills to younger girls and help with interpersonal skills
Work: Foods and retail and local business
Spanish Club
Basketball team manager in 9th grade
Volunteer poll worker (RD apps only)
Awards
Government club: Best-written bill (statewide)
4x mun awards (regional conference)
National government club: Distinguished delegation
Academic achievement award for having the best grade in my school in my law elective
AP Scholar with honor
Essays/LORs/Other
Essays: 7/10? Not amazing but everyone who’s read them liked them
LOR 1: Psych teacher, known him my entire life outside of school and did really good in his class
LOR 2: English teacher and government club advisor: either really good or really bad… she submitted 2 days before the deadline and she’s busy so they might be a bit rushed
Cost Constraints / Budget
Upper middle class, applying for aid but in the range where I’d get 20k/yr TOPS (I can afford everywhere on my list even w/o aid, but it would be helpful if I got some ofc!)
Schools
Safety: Pitt (already accepted), Penn State (submitted a 1380 SAT)
Match: Syracuse, Fordham (EA), George Washington
Reach: Boston College (ED), Michigan, NYU
If you have any more suggestions based on where I apply let me know!!! I feel like I’m not applying to as many as I should be
For example, and I’m just throwing out a name, you could follow many from the NE and go to U of Alabama at $28K off of $32K tuition - so you’d be all in at $20K per year…so there are affordable opportunities. That’s one of many.
Pitt is great for poli sci.
Penn State - why not resubmit or is 1440 a superscore? If 1380 is a single entry, Bama is $24K off - so you’d be low $20s all in.
Agree with your matches. Don’t think BC or Michigan are realistic.
So you have have schools in civilization for the most part - so I’ll suggest some there.
The problem is I don’t know your budget. But if you can afford BC, Michigan, SU, NYU without aid - you’re approaching $100K a year - so we’ll say you can afford anywhere.
So with your #s - and in civilization - College of Charleston, U Minnesota, U Denver might be some to look at. Indiana - but not urban but either is Penn State. U of South Carolina is another. UVM too.
Brandeis might be a good reach but a bit smaller. Furman and Clark are other smaller to look at. Kalamazoo, an urban LAC with some merit.
Why are you interested in NYU ? (Is your interest in NYC or in NYU ?)
William & Mary in Virginia might be of interest to you.
Any public flagship university honors college should be considered due to possibility of merit scholarship money,small intro classes, and special advising.
So you listed Poli sci as a major. My question is what do you want to do with that degree? If its law school that involves potentially another 150,000 to 225,000 for tuition alone for law school depending on the school. There are scholarship opportunities for law school but you need to have close to a 4.0 and high LSAT scores.
By way of example my PA public school daughter had UW 4.0 with 10 or so AP courses and a 35ACT. She went to Clemson with a 15K merit scholarship and was able to graduate in 3 years due to the college credits Clemson gave for AP classes. She got a full tuition scholarship to UF law School based on her 4.0 GPA at Clemson as an Economics major and her LSAT score. She will graduate at the end of the year with big law job debt free and in fact I was able to give her money from her 529 that she saved me.
I throw that example out there to show that you need to consider more than just the cost of undergraduate degree if law school is your ultimate goal. Will the school you are going to give you college credits for all your 4 and 5’s in the AP classes? WIll the school give you merit money? What school gives you the best opportunity to get the best grades possible? Can you and your family afford both the 80K per year for undergraduate and the 50-70K per year for law school tuition only.
Apply to some schools that will give you some good merit money. In PA schools like Allegheny College (probably too small based on your current list) Temple, Duquesne, St, Joes etc. Out of state, Bama, Miami of Ohio, Ohio U, UDel, and plenty of others.
There’s no “minimum” number of schools that you need to apply to. So long as you have at least one (and preferably two) schools that you’d be happy to attend that are extremely likely admits (or have already admitted you, ahem, Pitt), then you’re golden.
That said, if you are looking for some more schools, have you thought about Seton Hall? It’d be a likely admit and it has some interesting programming for international relations/diplomacy and links with the UN. It also runs its own program in D.C. If you’re interested in being in the NYC metro, it’s definitely a school to check out.
If you’re interested in government/policy jobs (rather than law school), I’d also take a look at schools in/around state capitals. These are some that might fit your preferred sizes.
SUNY Albany (which would probably match your Penn State in-state tuition)
Clemson only gave my daughter $10,000, 33 act, 3.98, 7 AP’s, but she loved it. She’s a junior with a 4.0, they gave her an extra $10,000 this year in scholarships (there are a few listed). She could’ve graduated a year early (just got her ting), but she’s taking extra classes instead.
My daughters a poli sci major. Her stats and list are very similar to yours. She is also looking at UMD (Target) and American, Denver, UDel, and Elon (likelies).
Actually, this is probably the most solid list I’ve seen. My advice, stay out of debt if you can help it. $20k can go a lot further with Pitt and Penn State. If you get a decent enough financial aid package, the private schools can cost as much as an in-state school, sometimes less. If you get a lousy financial aid package at a private school, scratch them off the list. It’s not worth paying out the $^@#%^ for a bachelors degree when there’s such good in-state options readily available.
