Chance me, please!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi everyone. Before I start, I’m not an airhead or anything and my GPA is low, I know. I am the worst at math and test taking and that is unfortunately reflected in my grades. I also had a family death during high school which made my high school life a lot harder.
I’m a senior in HS
Anyways, I’m super excited for college and I’m not going to let a lower gpa undermine all of the hard work I have put in to my studies.

I have a 3.0 UW GPA & a 3.6 W GPA (this is from 3 APs, I’m taking 2 more this year)

I have gotten 4s on all APs thus far and am taking two more this year.

I have held leadership positions in the FFA for the past 2 years, have many volunteer hours, worked multiple jobs, started my own business, built a garden at my school, competed in CDEs (part of the FFA), horseback ride, won awards from the FFA, played on my school’s lacrosse team for the past 2 years, and have done a lot more extracurriculars.

I’m not exactly sure what I want to major in, but my top choices right now are equine science, horse management/husbandry, and psychology.
I also want to go to school for horseback riding (well, to ride on a competitive team).

My dad is a single parent, and he makes less that $30,000 a year if that helps at all.

Here are the schools I’m currently looking at:
Syracuse University (my mom went there), Notre Dame, Arizona State University (my top choice), Alabama State U, Auburn, Clemson, Alfred University, University of Vermont, Florida State, U of Central Florida, University of Louisville, Cornell, Baylor University, Texas A&M, Tulane

Sorry there are so many! I’m very indecisive.
If you could chance me for a least some of those schools, it would be so helpful or at least give me some insight.

2

Sorry for the lengthy post!!!

(Also I’m aware some of those colleges ARE reaches, but I still want to try)

3

First, you need to look at your costs and cut some of those schools that don’t make sense. Many OOS schools are expensive because they don’t provide any Financial aid for non-residents. If your Dad’s income is only $30K, you can’t assume his whole paycheck is going to pay for your schools.

Realistically, you don’t have the GPA to get merit funding at a number of your school choices.

Look at the websites of the schools you hope to attend and look at the GPAs of accepted students. You can check the CDS-common data sets to see what GPAs the entering students received.
So Google: “Common Data Sets for ‘xyz’ university”

4

What are your test scores? If decent, you have a great shot at getting into Alfred and UVM (they’re the only ones I’m familiar with on your list) Any interest in an LAC? St. Lawrence U, Clark, Hobart & Wm Smith have teams (not sure about equine major but yes on psychology) and you’d be competitive for those. Also, have you looked at UNH?

5

@taverngirl whoops! I forgot include my SAT scores.
I scored an 1100 on my first SAT, but I retook it just yesterday to see if I could receive a higher score. I have applied to both Alfred and UVM. Also, I have looked at UNH, but there’s just something about it that doesn’t seem like itd be the best fit for me…

6

Cornell, Tulane, and Notre Dame especially stand out here. These schools, particularly Cornell, are reaches for even the most qualified students. For Cornell in particular, you are well under 300 points of their average SAT and nearly an entire point GPA-wise under their average GPA UW. Not to mention that you haven’t taken any SAT Subject Tests, which are required for some schools in Cornell and are “recommended” for all schools. It’s not really a recommendation, though, you probably have to take them unless you have some serious inability to do so. To my knowledge, it seems like you’re unhooked as well. For those three schools, I’d say you have a very small chance of getting in. Those are all elite schools and some of the best in the entire nation, so even some of the smartest and most qualified students in the country will get denied. If you really love those schools, then still apply, however, your chances are not that great. But hey, like I said, if you love those universities then don’t let me stop you from applying. I’m not an Admissions Officer - just another Senior like you.

7

Cornell and Notre Dame are way out of the ballpark with both GPA and SAT scores. Unless you are being recruited for riding, I would strike them for the list.

Run the NPC for the schools on your list and make sure they are affordable. Look at your instate options, usually they are the most cost effective.

8

Hi everyone, thank you for the info. I know the top schools are reaches by far, but I do get a lot of the fees waived, which is why I want to apply. I’m not being recruited for riding, it’s way too late to start the process for the upcoming year, maybe I will retry for D1 in in the 2020 year.

9

@Jleto18 I’m sorry, I’m unaware of what “unhooked” means…

10

“I’m sorry, I’m unaware of what “unhooked” means…”

It means that you are not part of a preference class of applicants such as an under represented minority (e.g. Native American), recruited athlete, legacy, first generation to attend college, etc. who might get an admissions boost over the general population of college applicants.

11

Private schools may be more generous because of the family income. The problem is going to be getting into the school in the first place. All the mentioned private schools are going to be unrealistic. Meaning, that the application will be automatically tossed in the waste basket. I recommend going to community college for your first 2 years. This will save you debt for your first 2 years. Then transfer to an in-state school.

Even if you managed to get into an out of state school, you would have no way to pay for it. The tuition is triple the cost of in-state, and financial aid favors in-state students.

12

Monte, even if you do get a lot of your fees waived, that doesn’t mean you should apply to all of them. If you want a really good application, you can’t spread yourself too thin - particularly with these high reaches. Cornell is a school that is a reach for even kids who have 1500 SATs and 3.9 GPAs UW. The problem I see is that when Admissions Officers there see your scores and lack of a hook, they won’t even consider you. For Ivy Leagues, such as Cornell, the absolute minimum a recruited athlete can have on the Academic Index (http://www.collegeconfidential.com/resources/academic-index/) is a score of 176 or 1140 SAT + 3.0 GPA. Even then, this is the bare minimum, and you’d have to be the best athlete in the entire United States to get admitted with those stats. I honestly don’t think you have any chance at Cornell unless you are an Olympic level horseback rider. If you really love it, then don’t let me stop you, but if you can focus on another school with the time you save from not doing Cornell, then don’t apply.

13

Ok…I get it, Cornell is out of reach. I was only applying there because I get the fee waived since I’m in the FFA. I know college is expensive, but I don’t want to go to community college. I will be doing work study, apply for as many scholarships as I can, and etc. to pay.

Can anyone chance me for a college that I can get into?

14

Here’s a link of schools that have low out of state tuition costs. Also, there are a few private schools in Texas that might let you in with your stats and offer low-income financial aid. You can try St. Mary’s-San Antonio, Trinity-San Antonio, and University of Incarnate Word. None of these are guarantees, and I can’t guarantee you’ll get the financial aid. Keep Community college as a back-up. Here’s the link below.

https://www.bestcolleges.com/features/lowest-out-of-state-tuition/

15

I would also try to stay somewhat closer to home to avoid expensive airfare back and forth multiple times per year. At least within a several hour drive of your hometown. At the end of the day, you probably aren’t eligible for merit aid so you will be relying exclusively on financial aid. You will need to research schools that are more likely to meet at least 90% of demonstrated need. Many of the schools on your list don’t meet full need. Clemson only meets about 54% of demonstrated need. If your Dad’s EFC is 0 and the school costs $60k, The school will expect you to come up with about $28k per year. I would never advocate you going into heavy, six figure debt for an ag based degree.

16

@Sophley how did you determine what percentage of need Clemson meets?

17

This site will show you the average percent met based on published common data set: https://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg03_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=1463