Hi! I am going to be a junior in the fall of 2015, and I am starting to compile a college list.
My stats are as following:
31 ACT (going to retake for 32+) 1800 SAT (1150 CR and M combined, I don’t know why my SAT is so low compared to ACT but I won’t be submitting SAT for sure)
3.7 GPA (4.1 W) only taken Honors and AP Courses throughout HS. I am in the top 11% of my class, I don’t know if i will be in top 10 or not, but I am taking a rigorous courseload (5 APs) so it should help my GPA a bit. I am also taking Psych 101 and hopefully sociology 101 during the school year, one per semester.
Good commitment to EC’s (only 1 leadership position at the moment)
I am hoping to major in neuroscience or a neuroscience related field such as behavior, cognitive science etc. (future target is med school so cost is a big thing for me)
my list right now is
UCLA (top top top school for me, but I know my rank sucks)
UC Davis
UCSD
UC Santa Cruz (safety?)
Case Western Reserve Uni
Fordham Uni
Tulane Uni
NYU (really expensive, not sure if I want to apply)
UNC Chapel Hill
University of Alabama (in Tuscaloosa)- i qualify for a 2/3 scholarship and honors college at that school, if i get a 32+ on ACT I will be getting a full ride.
Are there any colleges I should look at that would be considered safeties for me? I am a california resident, but I am not interested CSU’s or UC Merced. I also like suburban/urban neighborhoods. I feel like most of these colleges would be reaches or high matches and I need to start looking at safeties that I would be interested in. If any of you guys know of merit scholarships I would qualify for (similar to UA) I’d love to hear! Thank you
The 3.5 GPA / 32 ACT scholarship at Alabama is the value of full tuition, not full ride. You will still have to pay room, board, books, and misc expenses.
UC’s do not consider rank except for ELC eligiblity. Your test scores are competitive but too early to tell about your UC GPA until after Junior year. http://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/
You are on the right track so keep working hard and repost at the end of Junior year for a better chancing. UCSC at this point is a Match but I would not consider it a safety.
Rogerhub says my UC GPA currently is 4.3. Wow. I’m not sure if that is 100% accurate. On the collegereport for UCSD, it says 100% of the students are in the top ten percent…so what does that mean? @Gumbymom
Willamette and Lewis&Clark would be close to safety for those scores, as long as you start demonstrating interest now and the NPC shows it’s affordable for your family -
(Do have the moneym talk with your parents.
The UC’s will calculate your UC Score based on GPA and test scores. If you are in the top 9%, you are guaranteed (if room is available) that if you are not accepted into a UC of your choice, you will offerred a spot at another UC, which in the past few years has been UC Merced. I am not sure which school report you are looking at, but based on the competitiveness of the UC’s, you need to be in the top 10% of applicants for a chance at an acceptance. You should use the common dataset for UCSD to get a more accurate picture. Please note the GPA listed in the common dataset is unweighted not UC GPA.
Rank as listed by the high school is not used at all, but they probably estimate it from knowing ELC information – meaning that just about every admitted student to UCSD happens to be ELC qualified.
UCLA - Reach
NYU - Reach
UNC Chapel Hill - Reach
UC Davis - Match
UCSD - Match
Case Western Reserve Uni - Match
Fordham Uni - Match
Tulane Uni - Match
UC Santa Cruz - Safety
University of Alabama (in Tuscaloosa)- Safety
Not a bad list. The link in #1 is very good for merit scholarships. Get the ACT up to a 32+. Have you looked at UC Irvine or The University of Arizona?
@Overtheedge@MYOS1634 Thanks! @Gumbymom@ucbalumnus I just checked my ELC Eligibility on the UC Website, I am (or would be) in the top 9% of graduates in the state of California. However, if I’m not in the top 10% in my school would it be something that they’d throw my app out for? I go to a very competitive public magnet, so its harder to be on top compared to a more non-competitive school…would they understand that?
@TheDidactic Thanks! This is my list so far. Depending on junior year scores and if i get my ACT higher up, I might look at more reach schools, but I don’t know. I have looked at Irvine, I will probably apply to all UC’s except for Berkeley, Merced, and Riverside. No, I have not considered Arizona, but I haven’t heard many good things about it so I probably won’t check it out.
No, neither my son’s were in the top 9% in their HS but were top 9% in the state (similar to you). They will not throw out your application based on not being in the top 9%. If your application is incomplete such as not meeting the a-g course requirements, not sending in test scores etc… then your application will not be reviewed. If you go to a competitive HS, this will be taken into consideration and you will not be penalized. Basically all these stats are telling applicants is that the UC’s are very competitive and you need to be a high performaning student for a good chance at an acceptance. All you can do is your best, apply to a range of schools which includes some reaches, matches and safeties and you should have some good choices in the end.
@an6rew I heard the party scene (at both ASU and UA) is too much sometimes. I’m not a partier but I also don’t want a school that has a dead party scene. Not sure.
I am also considering U Minnesota Twin Cities because of the OOS affordability. My parents would be paying at most 25k per year, the rest I would have to get loans/Grants etc.