Chance me for Complete college list!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Senior here. Woo.

Here’s where I’m applying (in order of importance):
USC
NYU
UF
Tulane
UGA
Chapman
Syracuse
U Miami
Pepperdine
FSU

Intended Major: Communications/Journalism/Media Studies (minor in business)

Sex: Female
Race: White
State: FL
GPA: 3.96/4.66
Rank: 5/328
ACT: (superscore) C: 31 E: 35 R: 31 M: 30 S: 28 (I’m awful at science) (not taking again because I hate the ACT)

SAT: 1420 (700 Critical Reading/Writing, 720 Math, 7/7/7 essay) (taking again in October for 1500+)

SAT II: USH 750 (taking two more in November)

High School: Public, Magnet

APs (my school only offers eight): World History (5), English Lang (5), APUSH (5), APES (4)

Junior Courses: APUSH, AP Lang, APES, Honors Chem, Honors Pre-Cal, Journalism 2, Web Design

Senior Courses:
-AP Cal AB
-AP US Gov (first semester)
-AP Macro (second semester)
-AP Lit
-AP Psych (online via FLVS)
-Marine Science honors
-Journalism 3 (yearbook)
-Television Production (my school forces you to be a part of a career program, so TV production is the multimedia program)

Extra-Curriculars:
-yearbook staff writer (10)
-yearbook copy editor (11)
-yearbook editor-in-chief (11, 12)
-NHS member (10, 11)
-NHS President (12)
-Spanish Honors Society member (10) (my school does not let you be in SHS if you are not in Spanish III honors or higher, but my school doesn’t offer any foreign past Spanish III, so I couldn’t do it after 10th grade)
-community-based youth leadership program (12)
-council member on local teen outreach/volunteer program (12)
-co-founder/VP of my school’s Environmental Club (11, 12)
-founder of my school’s Creative Writing Club (10) got busy with yearbook)
-church youth group (9, 10, 11, 12)

Summer Programs:
-attended the Washington Journalism and Media Conference at George Mason University (summer 2015)
-attended the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Summer Institute (summer 2016)

Community Service: 150+ hours

Awards (nothing major, just school stuff):
-Academic Achievement (highest grade) in multimedia (9)/English II Honors (10)/Spanish III Honors (10),
-Top 10 (10, 11)
-2015-2016 yearbook (which I was editor-in-chief of) won a silver from the Florida Scholastic Press Association

Work Experience:
-worked part time during school breaks at PacSun
-summer internship as the editor-in-chief for my local Odyssey community (online publication)
-currently a four-month intern for the college admissions blog “You Got Into Where” and I write monthly blog posts about high school advice for success

2

The only one on your list I actually know about is Syracuse. Are you planning on applying to the Newhouse School?

You seem especially passionate about journalism, writing and media; your scores are quite good so I think you have a very decent chance. Good Luck! :-bd

3

Hiiii. I’m attending USC as the class of 2020, traveling abroad this fall and starting in January.

But anyways, your stats are way, way beyond better than what I had and you clearly have at least one hook summer programs that relate to your major. On paper, your stats are impressive and a staple candidate.

My advice is to have an incredible recommendation letter and the supplemental essays about USC should be flawless. If USC is your top choice and most important, make sure that it’s known. In my opinion, Trojan pride is for real and if it shows, it’s more likely to have a fighting chance in the admissions room. And I highly recommend doing an interview on or off-campus in a major city and signing up for it before spots fill up. Personally, my interview for USC and essays are what I believe got me a spot in LA. Message me if you have any questions about interviewing or stats or something and good luck xx

4

Wqt’s your budget?
Have you run the NPC on all these schools?

5

If your only talking about getting accepted, I’d say you have a very good shot at all those schools. However, I don’t know how much aid in merit or need based you’ll get.

6

For USC, the cost runs just over $70K per year.

You have a good chance of getting in, but getting funded would be a challenge.

The same would go for Chapman and Pepperdine. Both are very expensive but you may get some merit there. I’ve never heard of full rides there so you will be expected to pay a good amount.

You are aware of Pepperdine’s religion requirements?
As @MYOS1634 has recommended: run the net price calculators on each of the school’s sites. They should give you a general idea of what to expect to pay.

7

@“aunt bea” yes, I am aware of Pepperdine’s religion requirements. I’m actually applying there because I’m a part of the Church of Christ denomination, just so that I have one religious school on my list!

@MYOS1634 I can’t give you an exact budget, but I can tell you that I can’t afford any of these schools (except for UF or FSU) without merit scholarships. My main problem is that my FAFSA and whatnot is for the 2015 tax returns, and 2015 was the only year my family has had a two parent income (my dad was laid off in 2011 and has only had one full year of employment since) :frowning: So on paper it says my family is making 110k, but in reality we’re making more like 70k.

@JulietteMutale thank you! I will be in touch!

@dnstudent26 thank you, and that’s what I figured. That’s why I’m trying to get my SAT up!!

8

Contact the colleges to explain the situation now, and ask whether they’ll take the 2016 tax forms for a fafsa at the same time as last year. On fafsa, indicate your father is a dislocated worker (? I think that’s the term they use).
However, because most of these colleges don’t meet need, the answer is likely to be ‘no’. Worth it to try though - it probably means a $20,000 difference. In addition, it means almost all these colleges will be unaffordable (your stats aren’t high enough for you to get merit at usc, NYU is lousy with aid).
Try to find at least one college that is affordable without merit. Add one Florida public for instance.
Pepperdine: excellent. Too many students think of it as a highly ranked school on the beach in California… and forget that it’s primary mission is both knowledge and faith based, for students to whom faith matters.

You should apply to George Mason, American, Mizzou.

9

I think you have a decent chance at all of them. USC might be a bit more of a reach but you can for sure get in