Chance Me- Vandy, Tulane, UVA, UNC Chapel-Hill, Wake, UMich, UMiami, etc

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Demographics

US domestic student
White male
Arkansas public school
legacy to tulane (father), uarkansas (multiple grandparents)

Intended Major(s)
political science, history, international relations (if offered)

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

UW gpa: 3.85, W: 4.23 (AP’s have a 1 point boost, no boost offered for honors or pre-AP), rank: 25/approx. 500
ACT 31 composite, 32 super (32 E, 32 M, 32 S, 30 R)
SAT 1380 (680 ela, 700 math)

Coursework
15 AP’s total (5 for senior year)
currently in AP Cal BC
Finished AP French
IB not offered at school*

Awards
AP Capstone Diploma
AP Scholars w/ Distinction
Runner-up at Youth National Championships for Y-Flyer Sailing
Honor Roll all 4 years

Extracurriculars

*Sailing- Mainly a summer/early school year activity, race Y-Flyer sailboats against national champion sailors biweekly, also participated in sailing camp each summer up until I was 16
*School Chess Team- joined in 11th grade and I’m continuing to participate, our team won regionals and state championships, I was the first alternate for the state chess championships
*Ambassador for Non-profit- was apart of a group of young men that acted as ambassadors for the first non-profit that was established in arkansas, raised over $18k as a group for the foundation, completed diff. volunteering opportunities on behalf of the non-profit
*Arkansas Governor’s School- was accepted into my first choice subject (social sciences)
*Congressional Youth Cabinet for US Senator- was accepted as the only member of my school within the whole cabinet, worked and researched a presentation to give to the senator for a couple months, got to collaborate with people all over the state
*NHS and Beta Club- maintaining a 3.5+ w/ 40+ volunteer hours each year
*2 Paid work opportunities- aftercare worker at my middle school and scanning tickets at soccer games in my local town

Essays/LORs/Other
(Optionally, guess how strong these are and include any other relevant information or circumstances.)
My essays I would consider strong and I have 2 teacher recs one from my APUSH teacher (11th) and one from my French teacher who taught me 9-11th grade.

Cost Constraints / Budget
Cost is a big issue for my family. I’m relying on either very generous financial aid considering my families income or merit based scholarships

Schools
EA:
UNC Chapel Hill
Clemson
Tulane
UT Austin
UIUC
UMich
UWisc-Madison
UMiami
UArkansas (before Nov. 1st)

RD:
Vanderbilt
William+Mary
U Washington-Seattle
Wake Forest
American

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If cost is an issue, most of these schools won’t be affordable for you. Vanderbilt and Wake Forest are notable exceptions, but they’re hard to get into. Any public university will charge triple the price for tuition for OOS, and give no financial aid. As far as scholarships, you might want to consider Univ of Alabama or Univ of AZ. There’s also Univ of WY and Univ of KY that tend to offer decent scholarships. You can also get in-state tuition waivers from Oklahoma State Univ and Univ of OK.

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Agree with @coolguy40: except for UNC-CH, none of the OOS public universities will meet financial need or give you merit aid (so it is unlikely that any of them are affordable) and UNC-CH is a very high reach. Tulane only meets need for LA residents.

Have you run the NPC for Tulane to see if it is affordable?

Vandy famously loves test scores, and while a 31/32 is a very commendable score, it won’t impress Vandy.

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Honestly, the only safe school on your list is Arkansas. Every other school on your list will be expensive, and you would be a marginal candidate at best with your current profile. That is not to say that if you applied to a large number you would not be accepted at one or two, it is just unlikely given the schools that you would have many acceptances. For example, UNC is statutorily capped at taking OOS students at 15%. Texas is generally protected by its legislature. Clemson is starting to reject students with 31’s on the ACT. Tulane is becoming increasingly popular. My advice is to consider your budget and think through what sort of college environment and experience you want. Your list here is all over the map (literally and figuratively).

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University of New Mexico might be affordable also…

But we don’t really know what affordable is for your family. How much can they pay annually for you to attend college.

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Have you toured the schools listed, listened to their Admissions officers?
Texas and Vanderbilt are out-test scores/gpa/rank just aren’t there, the others will be hard reaches. Arkansas is your best bet. Mississippi State needs to be thrown into the mix-great campus, they throw $ at OOS.

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Have you run any net price calculators - while you have need, does each school say you have need?

You should fill your list with schools you can afford or have merit.

So Clemson, UT Austin, UIUC, U Michigan, Wisconsin, William & Mary and Washington should come off. Is there merit - yes - but if you need significant merit - getting $3K or $10K isn’t going to help. Now Vandy and you might add Rice and WUSTL - have both solid need based and merit programs - but merit for top kids - and these are huge reaches.

American - you need to demonstrate a ton of interest.

To me- your list is far off - you need to be focused on schools - in addition to Arkansas and if you’re happy there - then you don’t need to heed this advice - but lose the publics you have and add the Ole Miss, Miss State, Mizzou, Texas Tech, Alabama, LSU, Arizona type schools. These are the schools that pay you to attend - and why so many from OOS do attend. If you seek prestige, Hendrix is very solid - and may match the U of Arkansas tuition - obviously it’s much smaller than most on your list.

No point in applying to a school you can’t afford - and while we don’t know your budget, based on your comment - you can’t afford $50K+ - and that’s exactly the schools you are applying to - note not the $50K but the $50K +.

PS - your list is HUGE to the reach side - but you may get one or two in addition to Arkansas…

Good luck to you.

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When you say your EFC is $35k, is that an amount that your family is willing and able to pay for four years? If not, what is the number that your family will pay? Run the net price calculators at the private schools to see if your family can meet the college’s expectations (many families cannot).

Your list, with my comments about likelihood of price being met.

EA:
UNC Chapel Hill
Clemson – Highly unlikely to meet your price
Tulane
UT Austin – Highly unlikely to meet your price
UIUC– Highly unlikely to meet your price
UMich– Highly unlikely to meet your price
UWisc-Madison– Highly unlikely to meet your price
UMiami
UArkansas (before Nov. 1st)

RD:
Vanderbilt
William+Mary– Highly unlikely to meet your price
U Washington-Seattle– Highly unlikely to meet your price
Wake Forest
American

This is how I would classify your chances for admission to the schools that I think have a chance of meeting your budget:

Extremely Likely (80-99+%)

  • U. of Arkansas

Likely (60-79%)

  • American (if you show lots of interest)

Toss-Up (40-59%)

Low Probability (20-39%)

  • Wake Forest
  • U. of Miami

Lower Probability (less than 20%)

  • Vanderbilt
  • UNC-Chapel Hill
  • Tulane
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This is what I was going to say, most schools picked give very little merit or FA. W&M is super expensive, especially for OOS. I am assuming you are in Arkansas? If your parent’s income is high and they do not have the ability to pay, you need to find schools with good merit scholarships, Alabama and Arizona are great options. If your family income is low, then you need to find a meet-need school. Case Western may be a good option for you.

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Yes to what most others have said, if you have financial need, the OOS publics you listed are not your friend. Instead go for Ole Miss, LSU, MIss State, U Kentucky. Especially Ole Miss is good for your majors with the Croft school (has additional scholarships as well)

I think you have a fighting chance of acceptance at UMiami, Tulane and American (known to be stingy with FA though). All of those will need to be shown a lot of love!!! UMiami and Tulane have competitive scholarships that would make it affordable. Tulane loves community service and has special (competitive) scholarships for that as well.

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I agree with these admission estimates, but as someone whose recent graduate also needed “very generous financial aid” and looked at many of these same schools, I would say that Vandy and possibly UNC are the only schools on the list likely to be affordable for OP. And they are very high reaches. If OP is looking for alternatives beyond public universities in Arkansas (likely to be the most affordable options), I second other posters who suggest OOS publics like Kansas, Mizzou, Okla St, Miss St, New Mexico, and Arizona with strong merit awards that might bring the cost down to a manageable level.

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I’m not 100% there isn’t a set number per say but I would probably say no more than 35k.

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Then, University of New Mexico would fit your price point.

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In the end, you have to pick your budget price b4 you pick your schools.

If $35K is it, there’s a lot of great schools - but most of them were not the schools you chose.

So Arkansas is great and you can try the Vandys, Tulanes of the world.

But if you don’t want to be at Arkansas - then you have to sub out the Illinois and Wisconsin with the schools that could get you there - and many were listed in various messages. Some are can - i.e. you’ll qualify for variable merit. Others will - i.e. they have a table and you can see right now how much you’ll get so you’ll know your full price!! If you prefer to not be at Arkansas, you need one of the “will” get you there, not can get you there - because you need assurance (that’s your Bama, Mizzou, Miss. State, etc) and so many others mentioned.

Good luck.

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When talking about American needing strong show of interest, what does that fully entail? Is like signing up for mailing lists, following on social media, and opening emails enough or is there more?

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So - first thing - go on the American Net Price Calculator with your folks - and see how much it will cost.

So many private schools want “demonstrated interest”…meaning, they want to know that if they admit you, they have a chance of getting you vs. you’re someone who just put in apps for the sake of putting in apps.

So they want you to demonstrate interest.

So first off, you should, for all schools, get on an email list. I suggest you set up a generic gmail that’s college only - and get on the lists of any schools that interests you. They’ll send you info - and maybe an application fee waiver.

So how can you demonstrate interest? Many ways.

Nothing demonstrates interest like applying ED - but you cannot do that if it’s unlikely you can afford to go there.

So to your point - getting on the email list, attending a virtual session or two, visiting, if they send out emails with videos - playing them. Some schools - like Tulane - send out games - play them. Some say you can communicate with the AO.

In my daughter’s case, we visited on their big full day session - at great expense. She did online sessions. We played videos. We went overboard at it was initially her #1 school. Her stats were higher than yours - and we got $15K. I was thinking we’d get $25K - the most I’d read about.

But it’s basically showing them that you are interested - that you are invested. They’d rather admit someone they know spent time interacting with them than someone who applied but made zero effort to learn about them.

You have to remember too - many schools don’t stack need and merit - so if you got $20K merit and $15K need, you’re just getting the $20K. Not sure about American.

For you, American is a reach - a target academically but unless you can show huge need (hence the NPC), it’s highly unlikely.

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This about American:

an 83% ED acceptance rate for the Class of 2024. In total, 962 applicants applied through ED and 803 were accepted. There are two rounds of Early Decision at AU. The ED I deadline is November 15 and the ED II deadline is January 15

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wow!!!

Per CDS, their admit rate is a tinge under 39% - so it’s really a bit lower based on that high ED rate.

So there you go OP - like I said, you can’t demonstrate better than ED - because you’re a guaranteed butt in seat.

But as strong as American is in your areas of interest - it IS NOT worth taking on substantial debt - many a successful person comes from many a college in poli sci and does great. My daughter is at College of Charleston in this area and thriving - so it’s up to you to thrive, to get involved on campus and you can do great.

Have you looked at UALR (state capital) or OU (Norman is close to the capital) or LSU in Baton Rouge, etc? You might find internship opportunities, etc. And of course there’s local ones most anywhere.

Good luck.

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That is very unlikely to happen at American, unless the OP’s family is assessed as having significant need.

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Really my only instate college I like is UArk in Fayetteville. I go to high school in little rock so I am familiar with UALR. Simply put I’m just not interested in it. I have looked at other state schools in the south but I only am applying to schools that I would prefer going to over Arkansas if it was affordable. I don’t see much difference between LSU, Bama, Miss St., and Arkansas so I’d rather just stick with my home state in that case.

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