Chance Me For some Dream Reaches!:) Applying for PoliSci or Global Affairs!

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Demographics

Gender: Male

Race/Ethnicity: White (Hispanic)

Residence: FL

Income Bracket: Upper Middle Class

Type of School: Small Competitive Public

Hooks: URM + Bilingual

Intended Major(s): International Relations or Political Science

Academics

GPA (UW/W): 3.97 UW, 4.4 W

Rank: 12/130

Course load/AP Scores:

AP Human Geo (5); APUSH (5); AP Spanish (5); AP Macro (4); AP Micro (4).

Took This Year:

AP Calculus AB; AP Capstone Seminar; AP World; AP Lang; AP Gov;

Taking Next Year:

AP Euro, AP Lit, AP Capstone Research, AP Psych, AP Calculus BC

Standardized testing:

ACT: 34

28 Math, 35 English; 35 Grammar; 36 Science;

SAT: 1420 (Prob not submitting)

Reading 730, Math 690

SAT Subject Tests:

710 US History, 750 Spanish;

ECs:

I won the Student Body President Election, so I’ll be that next year;

Vice-President of my class (9th-11th);

Spanish Honor Society President (10th-present);

Academic Team officer (10th-present, it’s basically a statewide trivia contest);

Speech/Debate team co-captain (10th-present);

County-wide Model Senate winner 2 years in a row (10th-11th);

I’ve played piano since I was 5;

Volunteered at an elementary school science camp over the summer (11th);

NHS member (9th-present);

Honors:

ISEF Finalist this year;

AP Scholar W/ Distinction;

Perfect Score, State U.S. History Assessment (10th);

County-wide Model Senate winner 2 years in a row (10th-11th)

Applying to???

Reaches

Yale

Georgetown

Harvard

Duke

UPenn

Johns Hopkins

Emory

NYU

Targets

Georgia Tech (Legacy)

UVA

UF

Northeastern

Safeties

Some more state schools (3)!!

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I think you have a great shot at your reaches!

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UVA and Georgia Tech will be reaches for you because you are out of state. Northeastern will be a low reach/high target as admissions there are super competitive. You are a strong student and should be in the mix at almost every school. Your ECs look good and they are pretty well aligned with what you are interested in. You should add more matches that aren’t quite so “reachy”.

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I don’t know if he needs more matches if he likes his instate safeties, it’s probably a matter of personal preference

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What’s up man. We have a similar academic profile. I am valedictorian of my high school, have a 34 ACT, and have similar leadership to you. My suggestion with your ACT is to pump up that math score and you will easily get a 35-36 superscore which is certainly doable and would be beneficial. I would also be wary of calling UVA a target given the out-of-state designation (I got waitlisted). Lastly, I would strive to continue getting targeted extracurricular achievements in the history area to create a “spike” of sorts. For reference, I’m attending Duke next year unless I get off of the UPenn (Wharton) waitlist which would make things interesting. Some state schools safeties could be Clemson, FSU, and Georgia (though based on this year it’s probably more of a strong target). Feel free to PM me if you would like.

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Are these schools affordable? Did your parents tell you what they can pay?

Don’t count on merit scholarships. The pandemic year affected income for all of the universities so it will be a struggle to get merit scholarship dollars.

Because you’re upper middle class, you won’t qualify for need-based dollars and, a lot of the schools provide funding for need-based only.

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One caveat here - it depends on what is meant by “upper middle class.” At some selective private schools, students with annual family incomes up to $200k may qualify for at least some need-based aid, and even a bit higher if other children in the family are also in college. This is obviously dependent upon other factors as well - families with large trust funds or extensive investments likely won’t be eligible. But OP should check with parents and find out more about their income and resources. When I started researching colleges, I anticipated that my family would be out of luck on financial aid - but NPCs tell me that my kid could expect need-based awards ranging from $20k to as much as $60k if admitted at Ivies.

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I would also consider William & Mary specifically for your interests. Also a reach because of OOS but similar to UVA in admissions (maybe a bit easier). Not only do they provide a great education in your area of interest, they place VERY WELL in Wash. DC. All kinds of government and government consulting jobs.

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For the competitive colleges this child is applying to, financial aid may be an issue, if Pandemic dollars adversely impacted funding.

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oooOoOoo I AM A WIZARD!!! YOU WILL GET INTO YALE!!!

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Yes and no; I’ll qualify for aid as per the price calculators at some schools, but I’ll need loans.

If I get in to an Ivy for example, and the price is still too high, I’d either have to saddle myself with loans or go to a state school or one that offers merit aid. My parents would never prevent me from going to a school outright, but some financial discussion is definitely necessary.

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The above reply was meant for you lol

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You can only borrow $27K, on your own, over 4 years. Your parents are on the hook for the rest.

Please start looking at safeties (affordable and somewhere you would like attending).

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Your first and biggest metric has to be $$. Debt and PoliSci/Global affairs do not go together. First you will have to do a lot of unpaid/barely stipended internships during college in order to get the very poorly paid entry level jobs after you graduate. Then you will need (expensive) grad school within 2-5 years of finishing undergrad, during which you will also be doing barely stipended/poorly paid internships, before graduating and being eligible for decently paid jobs.

It is hard to overstate just how brutal the system is. Having college debt will cripple your ability to take on the internships & early career jobs that will be critical. You have a decent shot at some fancy names- just be sure that you won’t have to take on debt to attend them.

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Agree that you need to consider finances. If you haven’t done so already talk to your parents about a budget. Then run the net price calculators.

In terms of your list your reach colleges will definitely be reaches with the possible exception of NYU being more of a high match. Hopefully you have sufficient science coursework (bio, chem, and physics with lab) although none appears to be at the AP level. I do think GATech and UVA are reaches as well if you are out of state. Unless you would be happy about attending your state schools I’d consider adding a couple of more matches (perhaps George Washington given your area of interest) and taking out a could of reaches.

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