Decent but imperfect applicant. Schools for me?

College Search & Selection
1

I’m only a junior right now, but if everything goes according to plan, I’ll be applying to colleges with a 34 ACT, a great load of AP Exams, but only about a 3.5 GPA. My school does weight a lot less heavily than most, and my GPA would probably convert to a 3.7-3.9 elsewhere, but I’m not sure if colleges will count that. I’m very politically involved and looking to study international relations, but I don’t know where.

I know where I want to go, but I also have to be realistic. My dream school is Georgetown, followed by (in no particular order) USC, NYU, and Claremont Mckenna. Realistically, my chances at getting into these schools aren’t the greatest (except for a somewhat decent shot at NYU) and I doubt I’ll be able to get great financial aid. Despite coming from a fairly wealthy family (~160k annual income), I know my parents won’t be able to contribute much toward college. My dad is the main breadwinner in our house and he’s 64 and looking at retirement soon, so his earning potential isn’t going to be the highest. My parents have already put 4 kids through college before me (some for much longer than 4 years), so that depleted a lot of their income. I go to an expensive private school that costs about 11k a year, but my dad is having to take out of his 401k just to pay tuition. But I’m not sure how much of those factors (age, earning potential, siblings previously in college) will really be considered by colleges. I’m also pretty certain I want to go to law school in the future, but I don’t want to go to a school I hate with no debt. However, I do have to be financially realistic.

One school I have a decent shot at getting into which claims to meet 100% need is Occidental College, but they’re by no means a safety. I’m also interested in GWU and Fordham but they are quite expensive and don’t promise to meet 100% need. I can get a full tuition scholarship to LSU (in state TOPS) + $800 a year, but I’ve always been vehemently opposed to going there. I need other plans.

So here’s what I’m looking for:
A range of reaches, targets, and safeties that give quality educations and would be likely to give me good financial aid if accepted. Ideally in a big city, but not a requirement. Must have an International Relations (or similar) major, and I would like if they were relatively politically active. I’m a bit on the liberal side and would like to get out of the South Louisiana conservative bubble I’m in.

I’m sure this is a lot to ask for. Thanks to anyone who read this post all the way through and thanks for any help you try to provide. Good luck to everyone in their college search.

2

Others will chime in, I’m sure, but the first step is figuring out what kind of financial aid you are eligible for by asking your parents to sit down with the Net Price Calculator (and last year’s taxes) to see what your Expected Family Contribution (EFC) is from a few schools. Schools which “meet full need” first determine, using their formula, what your need is. The challenge for many families is they cannot afford what the schools say they can. So, the first step is to determine if you are eligible for financial aid and, if so, if you can afford your EFC. If you are not eligible for aid, or cannot meet your EFC, then you start looking for schools which give merit, rather than need-based aid. There are other schools beyond LSU where you may be eligible for substantial merit awards, and a 34 ACT seems to be the magic score which opens the doors to those awards, so if you have not already gotten a 34, then prepping to maximize your shot at a 34 is a good goal.

NYU is notorious for its poor financial aid so that is probably not a realistic choice.

If a family is eligible for some financial aid, the merit plus financial aid question can get trickier, as many schools do not “stack” merit on top of financial aid but may use the merit to reduce your “self help” share, such as work study.

3

Tulane would seem good for you, as they give money and is a reputable school. Your best bet would to be to apply for outside scholarships since most schools give out money during EA, which is over. Make sure you apply for financial aid too! I would apply to a few reaches that are known to give good aid (Penn, Brown, etc.), as well as your listed schools. LSU would be fine too.

4

Also throw in smu with tulane, usc, gwu, and fordham all coming up. SMU offers some good merit scholarship.

5

Unweighted GPA?

“Won’t be able to contribute much” means how much? If he retires, would his income go down and result in more favorable financial aid? You may want to run net price calculators based on both his current income and his pension/investment income after retirement. (But the use of prior-prior-year finance may mean asking for special treatment from college financial aid offices in the first year after he retires.)

If the net price estimates are too high even at the colleges with good need based financial aid, then you need to build a list where you are seeking sufficiently large merit scholarships.

6

I am with @Midwestmomofboys you need to work on finances. I did a rough NPC on GTown with $160k income and no other non retirement assets. It calculated a net price of $40k/year. If your parents are borrowing from their 401 (k) to pay your $11k HS tuition, 40k is a problem.

7

The great news is that you found College Confidential as a junior so you have a lot of time to create a great list of affordable options.

Go ahead and ask your parents exactly how much they will be able to contribute to you per year, both from savings and current income. The fact that your dad is having to raid is 401K to pay for HS tuition does not sound like a good sign so I would assume they won’t be able to provide very much.

You personally can take out only $27K worth of loans for all 4 years. So keep that in mind.

Good luck -

8

OP,

Since you mentioned two LACs (Claremont McKenna and Occidental), I strongly recommend checking out the book “Colleges that Change Lives.” This book profiles forty well-regarded LACs (sometimes really well regarded schools like Reed and Whitman), nearly all of which provide merit aid (scholarships not based strictly on financial need). Higher achieving students typically receive higher merit awards, but there are plenty of schools that may offer you a scholarship that covers half tuition. As an earlier poster noted, however, need and merit don’t stack, so depending on your family’s finances, half tuition might lower the overall sticker price but not lower your family’s EFC (as determined by the FAFSA and, at private schools, their own institutional financial aid forms). Tippy-top students (those who could realistically aim for an elite college) might be in line for the very few (sometimes just one!) full-tuition scholarships. So yeah, you need to run net price calculator estimates and get a firm sense of what you and your family can afford. Some schools, like Hiram C. in OH (see list below), have lower thresholds for substantial awards, but the tradeoff is that the student body, though bright, will not be as high-achieving as at Claremont or Occidental. There will be plenty of B and C students in the mix, lots of average test score takers. That doesn’t mean that it’s bad school, however. (BTW, I am not urging you to consider Hiram; I’m just using it as an example).

Another book I’ll recommend, however obvious, is the Fiske Guide to Colleges, which is by far the guidebook that counselors and those in academia praise most often. Early in the book, before the college write-ups appear, there are lists of “top” schools organized by area of interest. For international studies, the list is long, but here goes: American U., Austin C., Brandeis, Brown, Bucknell, U of Chicago, Claremont McKenna, Clark U., Colby, Connecticut C., Dartmouth, Davidson, Denison, U. of Denver, Dickinson, Earlham, Eckerd, George Washington, Georgetown, Goucher, Hiram, Johns Hopkins, Kalamazoo, Lewis & Clark, U. of Mary Washington, U of MA-Amherst, Middlebury, Mount Holyoke, Occidental, U. of the Pacific, U. of Pitt., Pomona, Princeton, U. of Puget Sound, Randolph C., Reed, Rhodes, U. of Richmond, St. Olaf, Scripps, U. of South Carolina, Tufts, Wesleyan, and the College of William and Mary.

9

are you not guaranteed admission to tulane? if you are, that seems like a great choice, though it is expensive.

look into these schools: connecticut college, rhodes (meets 93% of demonstrated need, but i think you’ll receive a great merit scholarship), williams, vanderbilt, & colby (no loan policies), kenyon, oberlin, union, wesleyan, and middlebury.

the most generous schools will typically be wealthy liberal arts colleges or extremely selective universities such as the ivies, stanford, mit, etc., unfortunately. who knows? you might find yourself to be someone who prefers an intimate setting a liberal arts college offers in a few months from now. i thought i wanted to attend a university as big as berkeley this time last year, but now my ED2 choice is a school with ~1,700 kids, lol.

10

If your parents can’t pay for your college, most of these schools will probably be out of reach. Debt is a big problem with college students. If you’re graduating with 150k in student loans, even if you find a job out of college, your student loans will sabotage your ability to be independent for years! LSU is a top school, and if you’re being offered a scholarship, I would jump on it. Plus there are a ton of other schools that offer scholarships. Check out Alabama, Auburn, Ole Miss and Mississippi State. They offer generous out of state scholarships. Check schools in your state too.