Chance Me: US Citizen, lives out of US, IBDP 29-30 points out of 45; High level Business, Econ, English NO SAT

Demographics

  • US domestic (US citizen or permanent resident) or international student
    US Citizen
  • State/Location of residency: (state is important if you apply to any state universities)
    Outside of US
  • Type of high school (current college for transfers):
    International Private School, IB Diploma
  • Gender/Race/Ethnicity (optional):
    Asian, South Asian
  • Other special factors (first generation to college, legacy, athlete, etc.):

Intended Major(s)
Business
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
29-31 points out of 45 points in IB Diploma.

  • Unweighted HS GPA:
    Exact conversion from IB Dp to GPA is not clear; should be comparable to 3.3-3.6
  • Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system):
    NA
  • College GPA (for transfers):
    NA
  • Class Rank:
    NA
  • ACT/SAT Scores:
    I have not taken SAT or ACT

Coursework
(AP/IB/Dual Enrollment classes, AP/IB scores for high school; also include level of math and foreign language reached and any unusual academic electives; for transfers, describe your college courses and preparation for your intended major(s))
HL Classes- Econ, Business, English (4, 6, 4 predicted grades out of 7)
SL Classes - Maths, Bio, French (6,5,5 predicted grades out of 7)

Awards
Entrepreneurship Competition Awards

Extracurriculars
(Include leadership, summer activities, competitions, volunteering, and work experience)
MUN since grade 6
Internship at Economic Policy Society
Chess
Climbing club
Essays/LORs/Other
(Optionally, guess how strong these are and include any other relevant information or circumstances.)

Cost Constraints / Budget
(High school students: please get a budget from your parents and use the Net Price Calculators on the web sites of colleges of interest.)
<40K USD per annum cost
Family income is ~120K per annum

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 (certain admission and affordability)
    Oregon State, University of Arizona, Michigan State, Iowa State
  • Likely (would be possible, but very unlikely or surprising, for it not to admit or be affordable)
    Indiana, UIUC, Texas A & M, Rutgers-New Brunswick,
  • Match
    Wisconsin, Uni of Minnesota, Lehigh (ED)
  • Reach+
    Wash U (ED-II), Boston, UT Austin

Of these, only Iowa State is anywhere close to your price limit (out-of-state list price is about $41k, according to Undergraduate Students: Fall & Spring – Office of Student Financial Aid ). The others are $55k to $61k out-of-state list price, so they need to be moved out of the safety category.

Iowa State has a Regents Admission Index described at First-year Students - Iowa State University . You need to determine what your GPA will be converted to for this purpose, and take the ACT or SAT. It does say that there is some method of admission without the ACT or SAT, but there is no additional information on how this is determined. So Iowa State can only be a safety if you can afford the $41k and you take the ACT or SAT and that score plus your converted GPA results in a high enough Regents Admission Index.

I meant 41K USD post-financial aid cost, not the overall ticket price.

Have you checked if you qualify for need based financial aid?

You will be considered out of state at all the public schools and won’t get any need based aid. Some will offer merit scholarships, but you may not get enough to bring your cost under $41k. University of Arizona is probably your best bet for merit money.

Can you also clarify if you’re the student or the parent?

Most public universities do not give need based financial aid to OOS students. You can’t count on getting any money. The price is the price. Some schools do give merit aid but your stats are not high enough for that at most of these schools and you don’t have an SAT which could help. As a US citizen, you will be able to get federal loans of $5.5 k your freshman year and slightly increasing after that.

You need to find schools that come in at your price point which appears to be $46k if you count the federal loan.

I am a parent.

Okay, thank you for your comments, from your feedback from others it is clear that we will have to plan for more than 45K. The schools we chose are test-optional, so seems like the SAT will be still required for aid.

Can you and others comment on the choice of schools we selected in various categories?

It’s hard for me to chance you at your schools as I don’t really understand the IBDP system well. At a 3.5 gpa and test optional, I think you are being overly optimistic. I think your reaches are out of reach and your likelies aren’t very likely. UIUC is probably a reach. Maybe the others are too. Can your son take the SAT?

We avoided taking SATs due to his IBDP workload during the last two semesters and since most schools are test-optional.

Appreciate guidance on additional target schools to include.

Problem is, many universities in the US or their scholarships are test-preferred.

Also, if his IBDP workload means that a 3 hour SAT plus 1 hour of test prep (test familiarization) cannot be fit in, is he being overcommitted overall?

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