hey! haven’t quite gotten to the point where I’ll let myself do a chances thread, but here’s the next best thing. I feel like the people on CC have a ton of knowledge on many universities so I’m hoping some of y’all can help me out with my list.
Stats:
UW GPA: 3.9
W GPA: 4.51 (for reference, highest in the grade is somewhere between 4.6-4.7 according to my guidance counselor.)
ACT Score: 33 (E-36, R-36, S-30, M-29)
AP scores: AP Calc AB (5), APUSH (5), AP Lang (5)
About me: I’m a senior at a private all-girls school in SoCal. I’m white, Jewish, and have no “hooks,” but I will be applying for financial aid. I don’t feel like listing all my specific ECs right now, but I’m heavily involved in theater and MUN and am an editor at my school newspaper. I also work at my Jewish center on weekends and I’m in a political club outside of school and I volunteer at my old (Title I) elementary school. I’ve taken the hardest course load my school has to offer (we don’t have a lot of APs cuz its mostly an honors program) and I’m a strong writer, but there’s a ton of super smart people at my school and everyone’s competing for spots at top schools. Also, I want to study some combo of poli-sci/American culture and media studies.
My list, as of now:
Northwestern (ED- want to go here more than anything)
Brown
Yale (not expecting this one lol)
WUSTL
Emory
William and Mary
USC
U Mich (EA)
Tulane (EA)
American University
UC Berkeley
UC Santa Barbara
UC Irvine
San Diego State
Any suggestions? Additions? Words of advice? Words of encouragement? thanks
generous in terms of financial aid, you mean? ya you’re probably right but my parents have assured me we’ll find a way to make it work with whatever ends up happening @citymama9
Have they seen the costs of attendance and/or net price calculator results of the colleges on your list?
“We’ll find a way to make it work” make it seem like they are uncomfortable with what college may cost, but do not want to tell you now. But it is better for both you and them to have a clear idea of what their price limit is before you make your application list, so that you can tailor it to avoid wasting applications on colleges that will not be affordable.
Also, anything that is a safety must be clearly affordable.
Do you know your FAFSA EFC? Right now we have no idea if your family makes lots of money but little cash flow for school or are genuinely needy and don’t understand how much college costs.
Run the net price calculators for each school. “We’ll make it work” is a recipe for a very unpleasant spring when the financial reality sets in. You list seems okay, but finances are the biggest drivers for most students these days.
Please don’t use the “we’ll make it work” method. My family had the same idea, only to discover private loans have minimum interest rates of 8%. My dad fortunately has a state job, so he borrowed from his savings.
Most people in this situation aren’t so lucky, and end up without an affordable option. We’ve seen it far too often on CC.
Northwestern is not known for generous FA. Make sure you can afford it before applying ED. Unfortunately for most families colleges have a different definition of ‘need’ than your parents may think is reasonable.
Run the NPC on each one of these schools and bring the results to your parents. Ask them if, with their current income and savings, they can afford the school or not.
‘we’ll make it work’ typically ends in disaster in the Spring.
You could apply to Dickinson and Muhlenberg, both excellent for Jewish students and offering merit scholarships. Run the NPC.
OP: Ok I feel like I may have been misleading by saying “I’m applying for financial aid.” I am going to apply for it, but the truth is that while my parents don’t make a lot of independent money, they both come from wealthy families and have assured me that they will be able to pay no matter what. I appreciate the concern for my family’s financial well-being, but I was sort of looking for more help finding schools that would fit what I want and are similar to the schools already on my list (but are a bit easier to get into) rather than financial advice. Thanks!
OP, the issue is the finances and school fit go hand in hand. Take it from us Parents in the trenches. Few schools are need blind. This means your chances ARE directly impacted by GPA, SAT/ACT AND finances.
My oldest graduated in 2013. He was not accepted to one of his top choices because he needed aid.
Is SDSU your local CSU? If it is, you may be eligible for one of their merit scholarships. The only concern I have is that I don’t see a lot of safeties on your list especially in CA. I wouldn’t count on SDSU being your safety if it isn’t your local CSU. Even with very high scores, for out of area applicants, it is hard to tell when it is a safety and when it is a match. Every year, on the SDSU board, we see non-local students who are accepted to places like Cal but are denied at SDSU.
I think with a 33 and 3.9 OP will be mostly applying to need blind schools.
As far as affordablity OP attends a private school already so either OP can demonstrate substantial need or there will be funds available. In either case, I think we should accept OPs premise that she wants mid size safeties that have the same vibe as her reach and high match schools without regard to whether she would be eligible for FA. OP can and should run the NPCs at each school. One question OP should ask her parents is if she wants to go to a safety school out of state, how much are they willing to pay?
OP should get into Tulane with some merit, I would express interest so they do not think it is just a safety for you. You may also want to look at University of Miami and Syracuse if you don’t mind cold. UVA and UNC-Ch both will do nice need based OOS aid. UMichigan does not and neither does UWisconsin but they are both nice schools for OP. Lowish Targets. You really need to look at your school’s naviance, School X may have an overall 12% admit rate but from your school they took 6 kids last year including 3 with lower stats. Do the supermatch tool and then run the results through your school’s naviance
Most schools are need-blind, but among those not many meet need. There are very few need blind/meet need schools - a lot of the meet-need schools are need-aware, too.
Run the NPC on W&M, Northwestern, Emory, UMich, and see what numbers appear - they could be very different due to the way they look at assets (ie., if your parents come from wealthy families, they likely have a lot of assets, and while they may not consider them liquidity, some NPCs do. Assets explain some huge variations between college NPC results.)
All in all, UCSB is a low match and SDSU is a safety (do apply to the honors college). American will likely offer merit money. So, no matter what happens, your list means you won’t be shut out.
