On behalf of a friend:
3.07 in freshman year but 3.9 in both soph. & jun. years, while taking mostly AP classes w/ a few honors where AP’s weren’t available.
34 ACT w/ comparable SAT scores (idk what they are exactly)
VP of one club, treasurer of another, involved in one other
He’s a biracial male, oldest of 6, relatively poor family, neither parent graduated college, etc
He’s wanting to apply to places in the 25-65 or so. Lives in Missouri but isn’t too concerned about location.
What universities are in their range or would you recommend?
Thank you.
(Note: this was sent from my phone so sorry for any spelling & formatting erroes)
He wants to major in Applied Math or something along those lines and needs basically a full ride as well.
I’m not sure I understand what you mean by “a 25-65 or so.” Are you referring to the colleges’ acceptance rates?
Oh lol I meant general college rankings.He doesn’t want to spend time applying to Ivies.
He has a good shot at a full ride at ivies. Why not apply?
He feels like going through the whole application process isn’t worth his time considering such low acceptance rates I believe. Doesn’t want to go all the way up on a tour, ask questions, talk to people, etc, and get really invested somewhere he has tiny chance of attending. Which is understandable to a degree.
Is he eligible for the Questbridge Scholarship?
You can apply to Ivies/hyper elites without ever visiting them/talking to them, etc. That said, not everyone wants an Ivy–I certainly knew they weren’t a fit for my personality–so that’s OK. Butttt he should look at Stanford, which doesn’t count freshman year grades, so his GPA + ACT would be super competitive, and they are good with financial aid. (honestly if he applies as an URM and writes stellar essays, he’d have a real shot at Harvard, Yale, etc… which would meet full need. Worth thinking about IMO).
He should apply to Alabama b/c he qualifies for several of their automatic merit aid awards. He should look at WUSTL which has some very competitive, full ride merit scholarships. They require an extra essay, etc. but I think it’s worth a shot. Mizzou is a no-brainer as he’s in-state & I’ve seen them give full scholarships to people. Coming from MO will make him attractive to schools in other geographic locations who are looking for regional diversity, as well (ie: apply to some Northeast and some West Coast schools). He should try some of the large privates known for having competitive merit scholarships, like BU, Miami, etc.
I would assume so, but his GPA is a low 3.6 so idk if that’s a problem.
He may not want an Ivy; I understand wanting to help on behalf of a friend but there draws a line between being helpful and being too involved. Your friend’s stats are good though the GPA does need to go up. 3.6 approx (from my calculations) is a little low for Ivy standards.
Does he have a shot? Maybe. He’s got as good a shot as anyone else, which is like what 1%? But if your friend has certain preferences (schools ranked between 25-65) and isn’t too involved in the process right now, it’s not your place to push him. The college process is a delicate one and it will define the rest of his life. Your help and support as a friend is surely appreciated but don’t be an additional stress during this time.
I highly recommend your friend apply to the in-state flagship and some other places (whether well known, not well known, instate, OOS) where he can get GOOD merit scholarships and financial aid. Finances are the most important thing and while Ivies and other top prestigious places can offer good FA packages, it’s not always a guarantee if he DOES get accepted. Everything for those spiffy places are lying on the foundation of a coin toss and a prayer.
3.6 may not be an issue at holistic admissions colleges, because he has two solid years of high performance so freshman year will count for less. He has many tip factors/hooks, first gen, if the biracial includes one URM, and first in family to attend college.
Here is the deal, there are about 60 colleges that claim to ‘meet 100% need’. So he can look at those. (google, there is a good list on wikipedia.) The thing is, only a few of the very top ones, including Ivies will give him a no loan package. So while I admire a kid who has great stats and isn’t chasing Ivies, it may be short sighted not to put in one or two. I hope he is not looking for full rides but can’t be bothered to chase them. (plug for Brown, they may be very interested in such a student and they have a superb applied math, one of the best in the country, but yes, the admit rate is crazy.)
Now I would suggest he do the Questbridge College Match, but if he is trying to put out less effort he may not be up for it. It is a long application you do in August. It is more personal that the Common App and if you are named a finalist then it goes along with your application. Some colleges, like Tufts, won’t ask for the Common App in addition. If you get named a finalist you can choose to do the Match or you can just apply regularly and you have a nice award on your application plus you get the QB application sent to colleges to flesh out a bit more of your background. If you try college match, (and it is hard to match) you will get a full ride. You can pick up to 8 colleges to match and it is like binding ED but you get to pick 8–the first one that takes you you go. The participating colleges include MIT, UVA, Brown, and a lot of good LACs. A lot of kids who don’t get matched will get picked in the RD round.
Next he should look at the automatic full tuition/full ride thread in the financial aid forum. University of Alabama would give him full tuition. He would have to come up with room and board though. He can come up with half from student loan.
He could try for meets needs school that also give big merit like Duke, Rice, Vanderbilt.
I spent the night at his house last night and we had a brief conversation about SLU, where I’ll be going, and we strayed onto the topic of where he wants to go next year. He asked me to put this up and send him screenshots of responses. My involvement in the process is minimal.
He should apply to Stanford. I don’t think S calculates frosh year GPA. I think it kind of copies the UCs in that regard.
Since he needs so much aid, he needs to apply where aid is hugely awarded. He’s a male URM, so he does have a better chance than what the “bare acceptance rates” indicate.
Depending on his major, WashU, Duke, Vandy, UChi, Stanford, USC, the ivies, Rice, and a few instate publics that give huge merit.
Is he a likely National Achievement Finalist?