Hi, I need some help forming a college list (reach, target, safety). I’m not exactly sure where my interests lie, but I’m thinking of majoring in something business-related (accounting, econ, finance, etc). I’m a junior right now in Southern NJ and here are my stats from freshman & sophomore year as reference:
-Unweighted GPA = 3.87
-Weighted GPA = around 4.3
-2 AP Classes completed so far (Chemistry = 4, Calc AB = 5) but I’m taking 3 this year
-SAT = 1520 in one sitting
-PSAT = 1350 in my sophomore year, not sure about my junior year score yet
-my school does not rank, but I’m probably in the top 15%
-extracurriculars: club officer for 2 years, multiple music awards with a diploma, internship with a magazine for HS girls
-Asian female
-US citizen
I’m looking for schools that have good business programs but are affordable. My family’s income is too high for need-based aid, so I’m hoping for merit (our EFC is around 35k). My family can contribute around 20k-25k per year, depending on the school’s ranking. I’m also open to any honors colleges if that would be more affordable. Thanks!!
@dazzlingberry08 Your stats may qualify for Rutgers New Brunswick Honors College. My oldest is a RU Business School graduate, although he wasn’t Honors. I’m not sure but Univ of South Carolina may give instate tuition (I know they did 6 years ago) for OOS students in their Honors. And yes, TCNJ also. This year is good for campus visits
(this includes not just academic but financial reach/match/safety)
Potential matches: SUNY Albany Honors, Rutgers Honors, TCNJ Honors, Indiana Kelley Honors, UVermont, UMD-CP Honors, Bentley?
Potential safeties: CNU Honors, GMU Honors, Ohio University Honors, UCincinnati Honors + Co-op, Fordham Lincoln Center/Honors, UAlabama Honors
Reaches: Northeastern, American Honors, Babson, USC Columbia Honors? Not sure you can bring cost down to 25K - most universities, even instate, are going to be above that. Rutgers and TCNJ aregoing to be 32-36k before scholarship; with scholarship they will likely be below that but you can’t know by how much, so if your parents expect you to go elsewhere than Rutgers and TCNJ you really need to run NPCs together and figure out where it’s even worth applying.
PACE NYC Campus (my friend had similar stats and got 30k per year)
Delaware Honors college
Boston University
Syracuse University (you could probably get merit money)
Northeastern
etc.
Overall, your best bet is applying to private schools because they give out the most merit scholarships. Also, some schools (such as University of Alabama) give out automatic merit scholarships if you meet a certain SAT/ACT score, so I would look into those!
