Colleges/universities for my stats?

College Search & Selection
1

Freshman year I received a 3.3 gpa
Sophomore year is looking like a 2.8…or around there. Yeah, it’s shameful really but my mom passed away last year and I took a big hit in lack of motivation and then this year I tried so hard but I just kept slacking. It’s not like I’m stupid, in fact I’m extremely smart. I just have some family problems.

Anyways, I want to be a veterinarian and run my own horse farm. So I want to go to college for pre-vet and animal science.
Next year I plan on taking 3-4 APs and all honors classes to get my gpa up (not sure if it’s mathematically possible?)

I have a bunch of continuous extra curriculars as well as being in a Regional Agriscience program at my school.
I hope to retake my C average classes over online this summer so maybe that will raise my gpa.
I took the PSAT without studying last fall and got a 1100, so with studying I aim for much higher next fall.

My top school choices right now are ASU, Auburn, Syracuse, NC State, UNC, Cornell and Colorado state. I live in Connecticut so all of those would be out-of-state for me. Are any of these plausible, if not what would I need to do to compensate for my less than stellar grades? (Again, I’m not an idiot. I’m really just going through a rough time and it reflects on my grades unfortunately.) also, are there any other schools you’d recommend? I want to get as close to a top, or at a top, university as I possible can.

2

What can your parents afford to pay/year towards college since OOS will be expensive? Make sure these schools are affordable by running the Net Price calculators. No point in applying if you cannot afford to attend.

ASU’s Freshman profile:

Average GPA: 3.49
SAT Math: 580 average 520-640 range of middle 50%
SAT Critical Reading: 565 average 510-630 range of middle 50%
ACT Composite: 25 average 23-28 range of middle 50%

Your GPA and PSAT score are below average for ASU. You really need to step it up Junior year for a solid chance.

I cannot comment on the other schools.

3

Auburn, Cornell, and Syracuse have fairly high GPAs compared to yours- those schools look like reaches. If you can indeed take classes online to improve your GPA, that would make a big difference.

Colorado State looks like a good bet, especially if you’re able to improve your SAT!

I would focus on your state schools first to make sure that you have some options that are both affordable and a good match for your stats, then expand your search outward. That agriscience program that you mentioned sounds really neat! Keep doing EC’s like that. They add a lot of character to an application.

4

Unless you’re wealthy, I’d stay in state and save your money for vet school. Vets make very little money to start out and typically have more than $125,000 in student debt. (And that’s a 2011 number.)

5

If you want to be a vet, you should consider Texas A&M. It has an outstanding veterinarian program.

6

So sorry to hear that your mom died.

How much will your dad pay for college?
Right now, your stats don’t bode well as a prevet student. Successful prevet students that I know were outstanding high school students. If you turn things around, then great. But you’ll also have to be a better test taker.

Does Conn have a vet school?

None of those OOS publics would be affordable unless your dad will pay.

Cornell is private and gives great aid, but right now it doesn’t look like you’d get accepted.

First ask you dad how much he’ll pay each year for college.

7

The only vet schools in the northeast are Cornell, Tufts, and Penn. U Conn has an animal science program with an equine science track and strong pre-vet advising, which I think makes it far and away the best and most affordable option.

http://animalscience.uconn.edu/undergrad/areas-of-interest.php

Working for a year or two after graduation in a state with a vet school might be a wise move…getting into an out-of-state vet school is VERY difficult, and attending college in another state won’t grant you in-state status.

8

My mom went to Syracuse and get so many scholarships that she just paid a few grand in her own. So that’s why I know I can do it too lol. I’ll apply for tons of aid and scholarships (yes, I know it will still be expensive) but my dad is willing to do whatever it takes to get me into a good university. Cornells average gpa is a 3.1, one of my teammates was just accepted to there, so that’s why I still have it as a goal. It just sucks that a few tests messed up my gpa so bad and now that will be the measure of my intelligence :confused:

9

http://www.vetmed.vt.edu/

10

Consider Kansas State too. They take a more holistic approach to looking at applicants. It is overlooked but has a very good Vet school, good merit OOS aid, a good equine program, animal science and pre-vet. My son is going there for their pre-vet program and is planning on being an equine vet. He was accepted and given merit aid at Auburn and Colorado State but chose Kansas State over them.

11

First, I am so sorry for your loss. It is normal to grieve rather than focus on school work when your life is disrupted in such a devastating way. Try to retake every class that you got a C or D in, through summer school for instance. Make sure your guidance counselor knows about the tragedy that befell you and how it affected you. Give precise examples of hardships and pain whether at school or at home. Be honest about it - you want your guidance counselor to provide context for your grades and colleges also want that context.
Being an orphan should also make you eligible for fee waivers (ask your counselor) - it’ll make applying to university easier on your family and yourself, financially speaking.
I’m sure your father will do his utmost for you but you must know how much exactly he can afford from

However: None of these universities you list is a good idea.
You need to target the colleges that’ll be the cheapest for your family since vet school is expensive.

Back when your mom went to college, Cornell tuition was about 13K a year for OOS students. It is now 35K for NYS residents and 52K for non residents. Then add room&board, books, miscellaneous expenses, and you reach 70K easily.
RUN THE NPC to see how much it’d cost.
Same thing for each and every college - you’ll quickly see results are very different depending on colleges.

Not sure where you saw that Cornell’s Ag school has a 3.1 average. CALS minimum SAT would be 1350 although the average would be in the 1400-1500 range. While GPA is not public, it’s closer to 3.75 than 3.1 on average.

Scholarships come primarily from the colleges themselves. There are two sorts: financial aid (the college looks at your family’s income and assets, then decides what they should pay - the NPC tells you what result they’re likely to give you, but since each college has a different formula you need to do it for each college) and merit aid (basically, if your score is top 20-10% for the college and the college offers it, you’re a good candidate for merit aid.) You’re also allowed 5.5K in loans. Finally, applying to a public university in the state you’re a resident of (=your parents pay taxes there, you graduated from HS there) means you get an automatic discount (for instance, that’s why NYS residents get a discount on CALS, which is a SUNY contract college, whereas people from outside NYS pay way more). So, applying OOS means very high costs and no financial aid, although you do get the 5.5K and if you’re top 20-10% you may get merit aid.

https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/pay-for-college/paying-your-share/expected-family-contribution-calculator

So, you need to calculate your EFC, talk with your father whether it’s affordable (often it’s not), whether you need merit aid, what he and grand parents have saved for your college if anything… Run the NPC on every college, starting with your safeties. You need two safeties that are affordable and offer Equine Studies, Animal Science, or have a college of agriculture.

Look into:
Uconn ← probably the best school for your goals but a big reach at this point
SUNY Morrisville, SUNY Cobbleskill, UWisconsin River Falls, UMaine Orono ← academic safeties, likely merit, run the NPC to see if they’re affordable
CPP, Cal State Chico, NCSU ← good academic matches, no scholarships, about 40K a year
UWyoming, Iowa State, Centenary NJ, Sweet Briar, SIU Carbondale, WVU, Mizzou, UNebraska Lincoln ← good academic matches, possible scholarships bringing cost to 30-35K
UMass Amherst, Penn State, UDel ← unlikely to be affordable but may be accessible academically

Some examples:
http://sbc.edu/riding/
https://www.cpp.edu/~agri/animal-science/
http://catalog.iastate.edu/collegeofagricultureandlifesciences/animalscience/
http://catalog.missouri.edu/undergraduategraduate/collegeofagriculturefoodandnaturalresources/animalsciences/bs-animal-sciences/
https://www.uwrf.edu/Catalog/DegreeRequirements/ANSC.cfm
http://animalscience.psu.edu/majors/animal-science
https://bulletin.unl.edu/undergraduate/major/Animal+Science
http://animalsciences.rutgers.edu/undergraduate/ug-major.html
https://www.cfans.umn.edu/academics/majors-minors/animal-science

12

<<< Cornells average gpa is a 3.1, >>>

This cannot possibly true for high school seniors that they accept.

13

But as far as academics go, is ASU in grasp for me? Tha is where I truly would like to attend. As far as financially, there is so much I can do to assist myself and my dad in paying. Also, my grandparents have put away a good chunk of cash. I really don’t want finance to be a reason why I don’t go to a good school, even though I know that’s how it goes sometimes. I was actually looking at just the average freshman gpa for Cornell U in general, not their admission requirements. I’m going to talk to my counselor about making up any classes over summer, however I will be away for most of it so hopefully I can take some online courses to get my weighted gpa up instead. Again, I’m not an idiot. I try sooooo so hard in school, it just so happens that this occurrence really negatively warped me this year. I really want to go to as top tier school as I can get. I’m not 100% on my major right now but I know it will be related somehow to animals. So I’ll look into a bunch more schools. But, do you think I could pull my gpa up to a good one and get into a great (academic) school? I know I’ll have to work miracles but I’m prepared to do so.

14

No, I was talking about the average freshman gpa there. Not seniors that applied and we’re accepted. Sorry, should have been more clear.

15

You don’t want to attend ASU if you’re not in Barrett (honors college). The state has drastically cut support to the university, except for Barrett.

16

Centenary would be a safety, not a match.

17

To be quite honest, I really don’t want to attend school in New Jersey

18

how come?

19

Nothing personal against it, I just don’t think that’s where I would want to spend my 4 years for school, from my own opinionated standpoint yknow

20

Just apply to a couple nj colleges just in case. Most NJ students want to leave. However a NJ college is better than no college.

Would your father have enough money to afford paying you a PG year so you can 'make up ’ your GPA and thus apply to better schools?