Chance me for English Major [3.67GPA, $1k budget, 1120 SAT] @ Northeastern, Stanford, UMich, etc

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Demographics

  • US Citizen
  • State/Location of residency: Florida
  • Type of high school*: Public
  • Gender/Race/Ethnicity Female/Black/Caribbean
  • Other special factors: Somewhat first gen? Dad has 4-year degree, Mom has associates, both have never done the traditional college process.

Intended Major(s)
1st Choice English, 2nd Choice product management

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.667 (8th grade gades put in)
  • Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): (4.0 scale, 4.037)
  • College GPA (for transfers): 3.667 (one A-)
  • Class Rank: not available
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1120 (M:480, E:640) took this for prep school admissions, will obvi retake

Coursework
3 AP’s in school currently (AP Seminar, AP Art History (online), and AP Environmental Science), 1 Dual Enrollment (College Success and Colege Planning, getting ready for life and stuff like that), 3 Honors (Geometry, Meteorology (online), and English), in JROTC. Taken 5 honors in total though, 2 in freshman year (Alegbra 2 and English)

Awards

  1. 2023 Scholastic Art and Writing Silver Key (x1) Personal memoir
  2. Academic Excellence Award (My school, 4.0 or higher)

Extracurriculars

  1. Writer for an international non-profit that publishes current events and social justice articles, working with high school and college students to formulate ideas and graphics.
  2. HR Intern for First Gen Support, wrote interview notes and marketed campaigns for College Prep-a-thons (300 attendees with speakers from Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc). Read applications and grew staff from 12 to around 25.
  3. Sophomore Class Vice President, raised funds for school events and gave favors to staff members (not impressive ik)
  4. Encore Theater - performed in front of over 100 people for broadway showcase (2-3-minute dances back to back, hell)
  5. Accepted to girls who code!

Essays/LORs/Other
None available

Cost Constraints / Budget
most say 7k-20k, however the most is $1000. Will try to earn scholarships.

Schools
(List of colleges by your initial chance estimate; designate if applying ED/EA/RD; if a scholarship is necessary for affordability, indicate that you are aiming for a scholarship and use the scholarship chance to estimate it into the appropriate group below)

  • Safety - University of South Florida, my school is partnered for guaranteed admission. Arizona State
  • Likely - University of Central Florida
  • Match - UF, University of Iowa, Howard
  • Reach - Stanford, Rice, Swarthmore, Columbia, UCLA, UMich, Barnard, UNC Chapel-Hill, Northeastern, Northwestern, Colby
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What an exciting time for you! It’s great that you’re starting to think about where you might want to go to college next year.

Did your dad’s 4-year degree come from the U.S. or outside the U.S.? If from within the U.S., then I don’t think any college will consider you a first gen. If it’s from outside the U.S., then some colleges may. It will really vary from college to college, so you’d have to look up the specific ones you’d be interested in applying to.

Although you have a fine GPA and SAT score, they are unlikely to be competitive for admission to any of the schools you’ve listed as reaches. UF would also be a reach, as it’s become very competitive in recent years.

Your $1k budget is going to be the biggest challenge in your search for schools. You’re fortunate that you live in Florida, because the Bright Futures program can work to your advantage. If you are able to get your SAT up to a 1210 then you would eligible for a scholarship worth 75% of the Florida public’s tuition and fees, and if you get it up 1340, then it would cover 100% of your in-state tuition and fees. Although I’m not the biggest advocate of studying and prepping for standardized tests, in this case, I really think you should. Khan Academy also has a number of free SAT prep lessons that I’ve heard recommended.

In looking at schools, a lot of times it is helpful to look at schools in terms of how likely they are to 1) grant you admission, and 2) be affordable if you are granted admission. Although you may be likely to get into several of your schools, getting them for $1k is going to make them really hard.

Is there a college where you would be able to live at home and commute? Perhaps USF or a community college? USF’s tuition & fees are $6410 for SY22-23. It you were able to get the Medallion scholar (75% scholarship) then that would leave $1602.50, which is over your budget by about $600, but still within reach if you have a part-time job or are saving any funds from working over the summer. Also, if you qualify for the Pell grant, then that would also cover the difference for your tuition.

If you’re interested in Howard, then you may also want to consider FAMU, a spirited HBCU that is just a little smaller than Howard. Florida State is another school you might want to consider. It’s not as competitive as UF to get into, but probably won’t be a cake walk, either.

Hopefully some others will chime in with some advice.

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For a safety, it needs to come in with a net price of under $1k as well. In practice, that means a school with an automatic full ride for your stats. Unfortunately, that can be hard to find. The least difficult one that I know of is Prairie View A&M, which needs a 3.50 HS GPA and 1260 SAT or 26 ACT.

However, check if the in-state financial aid and scholarships can make an in-state public university affordable.

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As @ucbalumnus alluded to, you are likely going to need a full ride in order to be able to go to college and live on-campus.

Grambling State (LA): If you get your SAT up to a 1300 while maintaining at least a 3.5 GPA, you can get a full-ride to this HBCU. (Source)

Prairie View (TX): This HBCU, already mentioned, needs a 3.5 GPA and a 1260 SAT (source)

Tuskegee (AL): A 3.7 GPA and a 1300+ SAT is needed for a full-ride at this HBCU (source)

Alabama State: If you can get your GPA to a 3.75 and your SAT to a 1240, then you can get a full ride to this HBCU (source).

You may also want to look into Jackson State (MS), Tennessee State, and Claflin (SC) for your interests. They didn’t list any scholarship charts, but if you reach out to their admissions’ offices, they might be able to give you a ballpark figure (also, check their Net Price Calculators to see if it asks for your academic stats…if so, then it will estimate the minimum amount of merit aid you would receive as well).

But frankly, you have an amazing option in USF. It does really well in social mobility, in supporting all of its students (and not just the wealthiest) to optimize their chances of making it to graduation. It should not be looked down upon just because it’s a local option. I’d be thrilled if we had USF in-state for us.

Note that Alabama State, Tuskegee, FAMU, Florida International, & Prairie View A&M are members of the National Student Exchange where you can spend up to a year at a different university in the exchange for the same cost as your regular school (usually with all your regular aid applied). So if you want to study at the U. of Hawaii or Montana State or experience an intellectual liberal arts school like St. Olaf or study in Canada or Guam or the U.S. Virgin Islands or Puerto Rico, or, or, or, there are definitely options.

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He earned his degree here, from one of those online programs? Its accredited.

About GPA, if I get all As by the time I’m a Senior, there’s a chance it might go up to a 3.8 by the time of applying? I’m not sure.

All of us Floridians know about the Bright Futures, so I’m glad others do too!! I’ll start prep later in the year since I’m focusing on applications for programs and scholarships rn

I actually visited FAMU! It’s a nice campus but there weren’t any students there (came during spring break) so I don’t know much.

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Sorry if I missed it - I see mention of 8th grade and Sophomore class president…

You’re currently a… ? Junior?

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Sophomore

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Great question, @DigitalDad as I totally missed the year of the student.

@Christiania, you’re in a good spot right now, but chancing at this stage in your high school career is way too early (I thought you were a junior). Just continue to do your best in school and be an active contributor in activities (on-campus or off). As you’re familiar with Bright Futures, you probably also know about the hours requirements for community service and/or a job. That would be a great thing for you to work on this summer, so you already have the time you need done and there won’t necessarily be any added stress next year to make sure you’ve hit the minimums.

Best of luck to you!

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