CHANCE ME: HS Senior looking for reality check [IL resident, 4.0/1520, Econ/Finance + Russian]

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Demographics: white female, US, IL, urban area, public school (1200 students, 300/class), no legacy (not first gen college though)

Intended Major(s): Def econ or finance, want to double major or minor in Russian

GPA: 4.0 uw, 5.2 w
Rank: my hs does not rank
SAT: 1520 superscore (790 english, 730 math), 1510 one sitting (790 english, 720 math)

Coursework
9th: 5 honors, 1 AP
10th: 4 honors, 2 AP
11th: 4 honors, 3 AP
12th: 2 honors, 5 AP
Highest math: AP Calc AB
Highest language: French 4
List of APs (13 total):
APHG (5)
APUSH (5)
CSP (4)
Seminar (4)
Lang (5)
Gov (4)
Macro (self studied, 4)
Psych
Lit
Research
Calc AB
Micro

Awards
not many:
NHS
French Honor Society
Competitive dance awards/scholarships (selective)
AP Scholar w Distinction

Extracurriculars
Competitive dance (35 hr/week)
1st many times in elite division at dance comps, top 12 + top 3 at YAGP
Lots of scholarships to summer intensives and other programs, lots of out of state audition based summer dance programs
President of human rights club
lead programs, create and promote initiatives and fundraising events
Co founded advocacy club
talked to a congress member
Volunteering: tutoring, initiated drives etc (150+ hr total)
Work: Internship at venture capital firm, work at software company doing social media marketing + data
Summer program at Northwestern

Essays/LORs/Other
LOR prob pretty good, issue is I asked two humanities teachers instead of one humanities one stem
I am a strong writer, essay’s will prob turn out good…
I am including a video of dancing to schools that accept that to supplement my app as I plan on dancing in college too *NOT applying to dance programs as I do not want to major/minor in it

Cost Constraints / Budget
Budget not hard and fast, but would like to stay under 60/70k/year after merit/other scholarships

Schools
Safety
UIUC (in state)
Bama

Likely
UC San Diego
Penn State

Match
UC Santa Barbara
Fordham
NYU
Northeastern

Reach
UC Berkeley
UCLA
Georgetown
Boston College
Boston University
Brown
Cornell
Dartmouth
Duke
UMIch
USC
UVA
Vanderbilt

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For the UCs, estimated cost of attendance for 2024-25 is over $74K

https://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/tuition-financial-aid/tuition-cost-of-attendance/

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Interestingly, you hit all three of my almae matres (Fordham, Georgetown, and UC Berkeley). I too was a Russian Studies (and related) major at all three of these universities, although Fordham was my undergrad degree. Sadly, I don’t believe Fordham offers a Russian major anymore - definitely check on that, if that is important to you.

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Are you predicted to be National Merit? If so, you would be in the running for a full tuition scholarship to Fordham and half tuition at USC.

The UCs won’t meet budget (give only rare small scholarships for OOS students.)

Fordham I would call a safety for your stats.

NYU and Northeastern are getting harder and harder to get into, so I would not call them a match. NYU Stern (business school) has ~6% admit rate.

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Only offers a Russian minor now.

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OP, will you qualify for any need-based aid, or will you need to rely solely on merit to get costs down to $60-70k? Relatedly, if you won’t qualify for need based aid, can you pay $85-$90k/year for schools that don’t offer merit. If those answers are no (won’t qualify for need-based aid) and no( can’t afford $90k), then you’ll need to leave off most of your reaches, as you won’t be able to get the cost down to below $70,000 for nearly all of them. Most of those schools don’t offer merit, or only offer very very limited merit.

Also, for your matches, I think only Fordham is truly a match (possibly a safety actually), NYU, Northeastern, and probably UCSB are reaches for all applicants given their low acceptance rates.

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And, even if it were affordable, UCSD is not a likely.

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I won’t be national merit, but I can afford to pay more than 70k (I would just lean more towards a school I got more scholarship money towards). I won’t be applying to business schools because I think the econ/finance majors are typically in the Letters and Sciences school. Thank you for the Fordham comment!

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Congratulations on your great record!

Do you know how many kids out of the 300 graduates each year get in to top-30 type schools(ie most of your reaches)?
How many each year are in BC calc(or higher), or is AB Calc the highest offered? I ask mostly because of your interest in finance.
You should ask your counselor to give you an estimate (decile) of your class rank: with a 4.0 uw and all the honors and APs listed you may be in the top10% which will help at the reaches.
Your rigor appears great overall, though I don’t see any AP science. Is AP chem or PhysC or Bio offered? Also, what science are you taking senior year?

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Thank you! That is important to me so good to know.

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$60 and $70k are different amounts.

Do you have demonstrated need? Have you run NPCs. If you haven’t, you need to.

The UCs and Michigan won’t make either budget.

Neither will NYU nor Northeastern and neuther is match.

None if your reaches will make budget. Only BU, USC and Vandy offer merit aid and it’s unlikely. So first find out if you even qualify by filling out NPCs.

Other than UIUC and Bama, which has more than 1k from Illinois, unless you have demonstrated need, your list was built incorrectly. Budget first.

Also make sure your schools have a Russian major. Bama has a minor - unless that’s enough.

If you want to study finance and Russian, I’d attend a Russian language flagship program.

They are Bryn Mawr College, Indiana University, Portland State University, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), University of Georgia, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and Virginia Tech.

BM has merit. IU will make budget and is awesome for languages, the B School is top notch and it makes budget. UGA, UNC, Wisconsin and Va Tech will all make budget and are great in business. UNC and UGA are not direct admit for business. Not sure if the others nor do I know about Portland State. At BM, it’s be Econ.

Best of luck.

Ps just read your other response. If you are going for cost then a Bama is going to win. You might look at Arizona and Miami of Ohio, two others with majors in Russian and big merit and strong b schools. There’s more.

Finally, finance is a business discipline and typically housed in the business school. While Econ has elements of finance and most b school students ( or all ) take Econ classes, Econ is a liberal art - like history or anthropology whereas finance is pre professional, training you for specific employment. Many Econ students do end up in business but I disagree with what you wrote above about finance in the liberal arts schools - which is not the norm.

Good luck.

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I go to an extremely competitive selective enrollment school so I would say at least 25% go to top 50 top 30 schools. BC calc is offered, but I stopped taking BC math junior year because honestly my A was more important to me than rigor (and AB calc is the 2nd hardest class I could take - a lot of people just take stats). AP science is offered but I hate science so I refuse to take that. This year I am in honors biotechnology (mostly labs).

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Thank you for the info on the flagship programs! As for budget, it is not hard and fast. I can afford to pay more than 70k (I would just lean more towards a school I got more scholarship money towards).

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I hate to be blunt, but the choice not to take AP science and not to stay in the harder math(when your interest is finance) will hurt you at the reachiest reaches on your list. These schools say it at their info sessions: they want applicants to challenge themselves in all areas and push themselves out of their comfort zones, even in areas they don’t particularly enjoy.
However since 25% go to Top30s then I think two on that list are within grasp: BC and BU: consider ED to one of them for your best chance. I think you have the best odds with that plan, if you really want one of your reaches.

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I added to my last response b4 you responded. Sorry - I talked about business vs. econ.

You don’t make sense.

If you say, I would lean toward a school with more scholarship money - let me ask you this.

At Bama, your out for $22K all in. At Arizona, you’re out for $25K and they have a Russian major. Miami of Ohio, likely $30K.

Georgetown is over $80K. Cornell near $90K. UVA over $70K.

If you get into - I’ll choose Arizona because they have the major at $25K and a beautiful Honors dorm with cafeteria and adjacent gym - and Cornell at $88K and there’s a price increase each year - so $250K less than Cornell - which are you choosing?

Or IU and the language flagship at Indiana but you’ll get merit - it’s high 50s but let’s say $50K - and on top of it, it’s one of the top b schools in the nation and strong in econ if you go that route - so let’s say $150K less than Cornell - which are you choosing?

I ask because you can’t say you can afford anything but I would just lean more towards a school I got more scholarship money towards).

You already know what you’re getting from schools like Arizona and Alabama - they have charts that ensure minimums (which I used) and you know at the Ivys and Gtown, etc. you’re getting nothing - because they only do need aid.

So you’re sort of contradicting yourself in some ways…just saying.

You should have that discussion with your folks - if I can go for $22K and minor in Russian or $25K and major or go Ivy for $90K + by the time you are in, what are they going to support?

Hope that helps.

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I would choose Ivy over Alabama! Safety’s are for when you don’t get into your reaches. If I got into two of my reaches (say, Vandy and Cornell) but one was cheaper, I would go to the cheaper one! Factoring in the networking, alumni network, and the connections these reach schools have to investment banking and PE firms, it’s worth it to pay more.

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Agreed! However no one at my school does AP science and AP social science because of the course load, and also AP science is double block so it would have been not possible for me to fit in all of the other classes I wanted to take that align more w my major (like psych). BU and BC are def smart for me to ED to.

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Can you explain this? Did you attend these programs or are you sharing that you auditioned and/or were offered scholarships to them?

Can you explain a little more about this?

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UC San Diego, UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC Santa Barbara will all come in at over $72,000 a year…and the UCs give precious little competitive merit aid to OOS students and NO need based aid. I can’t see how these will come in at your price point at all.

Are you even eligible for need based aid? A number of the colleges on your list do not give merit aid…only need based. If you aren’t eligible, you likely won’t meet your price point at those schools either.

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First question: both! I auditioned for, attended, and was offered scholarships at many prestigious summer dance programs. I attend these each summer.
Second: as part of the program I co-founded, we had the opportunity to speak to a member of the state legislature, who gave us feedback on our proposals.