<p>I'm a junior, what colleges do you think I should apply to next year?
Intended Major: Political Science/Int. Relations
Considering: UMich (probably won't get in), UPitt, UCSB, Pepperdine, UMCP,
I know these are all high reaches, that's why I'm asking for suggestions.
Stats:
GPA: 3.9
Act: 29. Probably won't be able to get it up, I'll try.
Upward Grade Trend.
APs: 5's in French and Spanish. Will take 5 more by the end of high school.<br>
ECs:
SHF, NHS
Consumer Science State Champion, National Runner Up. President
300 Volunteer Hours by the end of high school (Volunteer work abroad)
Swimming-Lettered
Lacrosse- Lettered
Track-JV</p>
<p>School is #1 in the state. Very competitive and demanding, too much if that's possible.
Minority.</p>
<p>Weak freshman year. Due to my family, I moved a lot (lived in London, NY, and South America) It's a privilege, don't get me wrong, but took a toll on my studies because of difficulty keeping up with a consistent curriculum, and language barrier. My first language isn't english and i'm tri-lingual. I hope to include this into my application. First one to go to college in the US.
Anything I can work on?</p>
<p>The schools you listed are <not> high reaches. Decent ECs, URM, trilingual, travels, upward trend, 3.9, competitive school, 29 act (which you have a year to get up, and likely will).</not></p>
<p>What about their backgrounds prevented them from receiving admission? You have strong extracurriculars, a unique background, and decent grades. I’d say that makes you competitive for all the schools you’ve listed. In fact, I wouldn’t be particularly surprised if you got into all of those schools.</p>
<p>I assume your family can afford all these schools, but what in particular made you choose them?
UMich definitely is reachable.
Pepperdine: are you a conservative evangelical Christian who’s fine with mandatory chapel and/or Bible study every week?
If not, look into Occidental, the Claremonts (Scripps in particular), UCSB and UCSD.
here are some more suggestions for you to look into:
If you like Maryland, what about St Mary’s of Maryland (the state’s honors college?)
If what you like at UMD-CP is the campus and the football culture, why not look at Penn State?
If you like how conservative Pepperdine is, why not look into Wheaton (IL), Calvin, Hillsdale, Hope?
If you like the beachfront college, why not UNC-Wilmington?</p>
<p>They can but I’m applying to financial aid regardless. How good are these schools in that department? I was aware that Pepperdine was conservative but not to what extent, I’m thinking of crossing it off that list. Which ones of these would be safeties?
Thanks</p>
<p>Public universities don’t have institutional aid for out of state students, meaning that all you can get is the federal $5,500 loan. So depending what’s in-state for you, you may not get any financial aid at the public universities on your list.
None of the schools above are safeties, they’re mostly matches and reaches.
A safety would be a school where you’re sure you can get in, that you like, and can afford. If you have $40,000, you have a private-college education at a public price at St Mary’s of Maryland. That’s the closest to a safety for you.
Occidental and the Claremonts are private so they would all provide financial aid if your EFC indicates financial need (you’re not the one who decides whether you get to have financial aid… Run the Net Price Calculators on each website).
If you want a conservative/religious school, Hope would be a safety, too.</p>
<p>Take UCSB off if you are looking for financial aid, you won’t get any. Pepperdine is a very particular school and you should be very familiar with the religious and non diverse culture before you apply. There was a recent thread about a girl who was very unhappy there.</p>
<p>Also, this forum is called What are My Chances, so people are asking for chancing. You will get more input if your correctly classify your post and put it on the College Search & Selection forum. Tell them what you are looking for in a college. It helps to add your home state, if you have one and how much your parents are willing to pay.</p>
<p>@SergioK: Freshman year was low. First semester was something like a 2.9W. Ended the year with a 3.4.
Sophomore: 3.8W
I’m in junior year right now and haven’t taken any finals. @MYOS1634: Thanks for the info. I’ll look into those schools, I’m probably more likely to get $ from private schools. @BrownParent: Thanks. I’m new to this so I’m sorry I didn’t add it on the right forum.
My home state is IL and they said about 45k. However, they put a lot of weight on ranking, something I don’t particularly agree with so if it’s a lower ranked school they might not be happy with the price tag. I’ll repost on that forum.</p>