Hi! I’m starting my applications now that the common app is open, and I was wondering If you guys could give me an idea of my chances, and also chances for scholarships.
My stats:
UW GPA: 3.97
W GPA: 5.12 (on a 6.0 scale)
ACT: 34
Extracurriculars:
-Leadership positions in marching band and nehs
-Member of Spanish honor society, and NHS
-Multiple awards and superior ratings in band
I’m from Florida.
Schools I’m applying to:
Reaches (will need scholarships to go to most of these):
- Univ of Southern California
- Boston Univ
- Northeastern
- UMiami
- Vanderbilt
- UCLA
- UF
Matches (Need scholarships to the private ones):
- Chapman Univ
- Loyola Marymount Univ
- Univ of San Diego
- Pepperdine
- CSU Long Beach
- Cal Poly SLO
Safeties:
- UCF
- FAU
I don’t think schools like Northeastern and UMiami are reaches. To be honest, the only reaches are UCLA Vandy and maybe USC. Everything else is easily a match with your stats. Your ECs are kind of weak though, do you play a sport? Volunteer? Have a job?
@mellamousted ok, thanks. I guess in my mind I consider those reaches since I can only attend if I get merit scholarships realistically (except UF), but I see what you mean. Then again I need scholarships to all the private schools, so I guess thats a mute point.
And yea, I actually have a part time job that I’ve been working about 20 hours during the school year and 25-30 in the summer. (I’ve had it since january, and will keep working there until i graduate). Sorrey forgot to mention it since it’s not a academic extra cirricular. I don’t play any sports, but in band I have a lot of awards and honors that I am really elaborating on in my application (section leader, making all county band, 3 superiors at the state level for solos and small groups, 8+ at the district level). Also, a lot of my volunteer work has been with the middle school and community bands. I’m pretty much maxed out on my extracirriculars (between work, school, band, and my other clubs I have very little freetime), I just didnt elaborate on them well in my original post.
Thanks!
I agree that UF, Northeastern, and UMiami, and even BU are matches not reaches, but I understand money is big factor. I will say UF is rather stingy with merit scholarships. My valedictorian in my class didn’t receive a dime in merit scholarships and neither did I as well as many of my friends who all also scored similarly to you. As for UMiami I received (and I heard they give out a fair amount of ) the presidential scholarship which was for around 26k I believe but the school does cost 60k+ a year so. For BU you can apply for different scholarships just keep in mind that you have to apply around Dec 1st I believe and they are limited in quantity/ not given out as much as say UM gives out scholarships.
You’re from Florida so you would be OOS for California publics. No financial aid for non residents is available.
Plan on paying full fees at:
UCLA $60k per yr.
CSU SLO $40k per yr.
CSU LONG BEACH $40k per yr.
@“aunt bea” I got 34k for Long Beach, but yea I know I’d have to pay out of state fees. In order to go there, I would have to get a lot of outside scholarships, which I am going to try for, so we’ll see. I know these schools are a reach financially, but l want to at least try the best I can.
@“aunt bea” I got 34k for Long Beach, but yea I know I’d have to pay out of state fees. In order to go there, I would have to get a lot of outside scholarships, which I am going to try for, so we’ll see. I know these schools are a reach financially, but l want to at least try the best I can. Thanks!
Outside scholarships are generally small and often not renewable for more than one year. They are not a good option to try and pay for four years at an OOS flagship. It’s generally better to apply to other reaches which might be able to meet your need than to face the possibility of being accepted to a wonderful school like UCLA and have to turn it down because of finances.
You’re right that schools that would normally be matches can become financial reaches if you are looking for merit scholarships. Do you qualify for need-based aid? If so, you may as well add a meets-full-need school like Harvard or Amherst to your reach list. It’s a long shot, but so are competitive merit scholarships.
Also, are you a National Merit Semifinalist? There are some schools, including Northeastern, that have large scholarships for NMFs.
Good luck!
Outside scholarships are generally small and often not renewable for more than one year. They are not a good option to try and pay for four years at an OOS flagship. It’s generally better to apply to other reaches which might be able to meet your need than to face the possibility of being accepted to a wonderful school like UCLA and have to turn it down because of finances.
You’re right that schools that would normally be matches can become financial reaches if you are looking for merit scholarships. Do you qualify for need-based aid? If so, you may as well add a meets-full-need school like Harvard or Amherst to your reach list. It’s a long shot, but so are competitive merit scholarships.
Also, are you a National Merit Semifinalist? There are some schools, including Northeastern, that have large scholarships for NMFs.
Good luck!
Take the California public schools off of your list. You cannot afford them^^^^; there is no aid for non-residents.
Outside scholarships, as noted by @glittervine are small, are not renewable and are nowhere near what you would need to cover your costs.
California just does not have the funds to cover non-residents and you barely have funds to cover one year. Try the privates in California, but you need to know that instate residents apply to those as well, so your stats have to be better than theirs.
@glittervine No, I won’t qualitfy for need-based aid, so I have to go off of merit scholarships. My parents aren’t willing to pay much at all even though they’re definately able to pay at least a pretty large amount. But thanks, I’ll shoot for the private schools with merit scholarships like you said. And yea, there’s a good chance I’ll be a National Merit Semifinalist based off of last year’s cutoff (I’m 2 above last years). I know at USC they give half tuition automatically to NMF, which still isn’t quite enough (at a school with prices like that I’d need at least 3/4 tuition), but it’s still a good opportunity. And yea, all the merit scholarships are long shots, but thats why I want to apply to multiple private reaches/matches that have merit scholarships available.
But, worse comes to worse, I’ll go to the university of central florida, which I really like! It’s my top choice for an in state public (over UF and FAU), and my parents will pay that much for me in college.
You should double check (they might have changed it), but when I applied to UCF in 2015, they were giving full rides to NMFs! So that would be a great option for you.
Reaches are Vanderbilt and UCLA and the rest are high matches or low reaches. Some are match.
Chance me back!
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/2011167-chance-me-please-from-illinois-p1.html?new=1