Chance me? :)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Do you think I have a chance for any of these colleges when I apply next year?

W: 4.07
UW: 3.8
Rank: 76/503 (top 15%)

ACT: taken (got a 22(( first time)) ) but I’m planning to retake it this June… goal is 26-28
SAT: not taken yet
SAT II: not taking
AP- APUSH, (taking) AP European History, AP English Language and Composition, (going to take) AP Biology, AP Psychology, AP Literature
All Honors classes and AP

EC:
Tri-M National Music Honors Society
National Honors Society
Youth Orchestra for the county
All-County Orchestra
International Club
Key Club
7 years playing the violin (1st chair)
10 years playing the piano
Executive Board in NHS
Volunteers at the local animal shelter, veteran’s museum, and library

Colleges I’m planning to apply to:
UNC-Chapel Hill
UNC Charlotte
UNC Wilmington
NCSU
ECU
Virginia Tech
Spelman
Meredith College
NYU

I’m from North Carolina.

Hooks? (?): low-income, first-generation college student, first-generation American, LGBT, Haitian-American

2

What are you planning to major in?

Since you are from NC, I’d say you have pretty good chance of getting into many of the NC schools. If you raise your ACT to at least 28, you’ll have a much better chance of getting into UNC Chapel Hill. ACT score of 26 would also give you a much better chance at NCSU.

NYU is a reach for the vast majority of students. Since you’re out-of-state for Virginia Tech, it’ll also be more difficult to get accepted - I’d aim for at least 27.

3

im planning to major in psychology!

4

Safeties: ECU, Charlotte, Wilmington
Not sure about Meridith or Spelman but all the rest are reaches except for maybe VT

5

UNCW should not be a safety school, they were brutal this year. NYU, UNC, NCSU and VT would be very difficult. Meredith, ECU, and UNCC are target.

6

If you can get a higher ACT or SAT score, it will open a lot of doors. If you want to have options other than the NC public U’s (which are very good and not a bad option by any means), you’ll need to apply to colleges that meet full financial need, and these tend to be on the more selective side. (Salem College in NC is on the full-need-met list that i referenced, and your stats seem to be in range there, but I’m not personally familiar with it.) If you could get your ACT to a 28, you could have a shot at full-need-met schools like Holy Cross in Worcester MA, and Mt. Holyoke in the five college consortium near Amherst. At a 22 those probably aren’t realistic.

Your out of state schools, apart from your admissions chances, don’t look financially realistic. NYU is known for stingy financial aid, and VT is not going to give as much aid to an out-of-state student as you need. (I’m not familiar with the financial aid picture at Spelman or Meredith.)

Why not UNC Asheville, the liberal arts college of the UNC system? It’s private-college sized at 3600 students, undergraduate-focused (with small, faculty-taught classes), and great for liberal arts including psychology. Both the school and the town are extremely LGBT-friendly. It’s a low-match/safety for your stats.
Recent event at UNCA: https://wgss.unca.edu/queer-studies-conference
Article about the Asheville: https://livability.com/nc/asheville/real-estate/asheville-nc-may-be-the-most-lgbt-friendly-city-in-the-us
The music department looks active https://music.unca.edu/ and in addition to the UNCA Symphony, students can also audition for the Blue Ridge Orchestra http://www.blueridgeorchestra.org/auditions

UNCA would at least be on my list, if I were you, if not at the top! The big, graduate-focused state U’s like Chapel Hill will still be there when/if you’re ready to go to grad school, which is their strength. The undergraduate experience at Asheville sounds like a wonderful opportunity - a private LAC experience at an in-state public price. If you haven’t visited and considered it, I would urge you to do so.