<p>Hey guys. So I'm a rising senior and as I've narrowed down my college list I'm concerned I don't have enough matches or safeties. Could anyone help me out? Btw, I think I want to major in International Relations or Economics, or both.
Stats:
Male
Half Filipino (is this considered Asian?) Half White
GPA: 4.4 W 3.84 UW-Top 5% of class
SAT:2190 (800M 730CR 660W)
Just took SAT II for US and MATH II (I'm guessing 700+ for US but I felt bad about Math II)
Activities: FBLA (Public Relations Manager, national business honor society), Boy Scouts (Eagle Scout, Junior Assistant Scoutmaster), Mock Trial, Track & Cross Country, Rugby Club, Altar Server at my Church, Special Olympics Swim Team Volunteer, Three time National History Day State Competitor (3rd place this year), National Honors Society, I'm a busser at restaurant, and I am just starting to volunteer at my local hospital.
This summer I'm doing Economics for Leaders at Duke, and the Leadership Seminar at Notre Dame. By the end of high school I'll have taken 10 APs (6 senior year).</p>
<p>*Am I considered first generation American if my mother was born in the Philippines but my dad was born in America?</p>
<p>Reaches:
Harvard
Georgetown
JHU
tufts
Columbia
UPenn
Notre Dame</p>
<p>Matches:
GW
Boston college</p>
<p>Safeties:
American university
Boston university</p>
<p>Or do I have too many reaches? Anything is welcome. Thanks a bunch!</p>
<p>@Fredjan I live in PA so that would be penn state for me, but the thing is that I would rather go to a school with a small population that is in, or near a major city. So penn state doesn’t really appeal to me that much. Granted, I’ll still visit and see what I think before I pass judgement. Do you know of any other schools I might have a good chance of getting into. Also, I’d like to stay on the east coast.</p>
<p>You do have a lot of reaches, but the list is fine as long as you have a financial safety. If you need aid, I’d definitely add in a state school (maybe Pitt or Temple if you prefer a city to a more rural environment).</p>
<p><<<
American university
Boston university
<<<<</p>
<p>How much will your parents pay? YOU have to be SURE that you have all costs covered for a school to be a safety. If you cant afford to go, then it is NOT a safety. neither AU nor BU give great aid. Your parents may be expected to pay most/all costs (about $55k per year).</p>
<p>ask your parents how much they’ll pay. Have them run the NPC on AU’s and BU’s website.</p>
<p>I dont think you are first gen since you have one parent who born here.</p>
<p>If cost is an issue, then apply to a couple of schools that FOR SURE will give you large merit for your stats. </p>
<p>for instance, if your parents say that they can only contribute $15k per year, then that will ONLY cover room, board, books, fees…so you would need a FULL tuition scholarship to know that a safety is affordable.</p>
<p>Many on your list wont give you scholarships, because they dont give them. </p>
<p>Some on your list only give a few extremely competitive scholarships…likely targeted for students who help with regional and ethnic (URM) diversity. Dont expect one.</p>
<p>ASK your parents how much they can actually pay. </p>
<p>How much do you need in scholarships for each year?</p>
<p>Relying on scholarships to supplement what your parents will pay is highly risky considering your list.</p>
<p>My parents are able to pay for college, it’s just that they want me to apply for a bunch of outside scholarships just to help lower the price. I’m going to do some essay contests and whatnot to get some money. I know it won’t be much but my parents said they’d appreciate it (because my twin brother is going to college and my sister is following us a year later). So that’s what I meant when I said scholarships would help. Also, since my parents have said they are able to pay for our education, the safeties I listed are what I considered academic safeties. </p>
<p>Your list looks pretty good, though I would apply early in the season to a state school and get that wrapped up. Make sure you show American some love if you want it to be an option for you. </p>
<p>As a full pay, you’ll likely be good for GW too. Your list is good, just get an early safety like Pitt, Penn State, with early feedback so you have an in early in the process. I think you’ll get into a number of the the schools.</p>
<p>OP- what is your yearly income? Your parents are able to pay 55,000 a year with no problem? If not, then that isn’t a financial safety. I would consider AU or BU a safety either. They are more of a low match.</p>
<p>You have a superb, intriguingly versatile, resume. The College Board plans to revert to the old two-test system, and so your CR/Math combined score will look very strong next year. Your list might be a little top-heavy, but you definitely are a competitive candidate almost everywhere. You might add Fordham or Villanova as low-matches, and Temple as a safety.</p>
<p>Notre Dame and Georgetown are high matches. You’re a good candidate for both. The rest of the reaches are what they are for everyone–don’t count on any of them. The bottom four I think you’ll be admitted to. I’d increase the number of matches by one or two.</p>
<p>When parents tell you that they’re able to pay for college, don’t worry about it, and then turn around and say apply for some outside money, warning bells go off in my head Make them sit down with you soon and do the net price calculators. They’ll have all kinds of reasons not to do this, but you insist that they do and they will thank you at the end of the evening. College costs are such an abstraction to parents that there’s a lot of magical thinking that goes on with them. Show them the numbers.</p>
<p>The reason I insist is that they said get outside scholarships–those are usually for a pittance and only for one year. Parents who know what they’re doing about college finances know this already. It is not outside money that matters but college/uni money–money that the institutions offer in financial aid and/or merit. </p>
<p>You need to know how much financial aid each college is likely to give you AND if you have any chance for merit aid. You also need to know that if you get merit aid from any source, it will go first to reduce the financial aid the institution has offered you. So if you’re counting on, say, 20K of FA, and you earn 10K in merit, that merit does NOTHING to reduce the costs of the college to you (other than perhaps your loans). There other things about FA you need to learn, and the FA forum is one place to look. </p>
<p>@woogzmama thanks for that! I’ll definitely look into Fordham and Villanova. I’ve only been to nyc once so I’ll have to visit again to see what i really think of the city. </p>
<p>@AnnieBeats I’m not 100% but I think my mom makes close to 200k, and my dad recently quit his job and started a business that seems to be doing okay, butbefore he started the business he told me that they made 500k combined. </p>
<p>@jkeil911 you’re probably right, I’ll have to approach them done rather than later. My dad is really pushing this whole “outside scholarship” thing, and from what I’ve seen, they don’t provide that much money–I’m not sure if he knows this. I’ve briefly looked at the FA forum but I’ll check it out</p>
<p>Thank you to everyone, the responses are better than i imagined.</p>
<p>Aside from merit scholarships, I definitely recommend you apply to a couple of schools that are “for sure” financial safeties, worse comes to worst, you will have a college to go to that you will 100% able to afford. This means schools that offer significant merit scholarships or your state flagship. I might recommend Alabama or Tulane if you haven’t looked into some already. (There’s a forum on here with more ones that you may find compatible with your interests) But yeah merit scholarships can be a biggie and at schools that you qualify, you may also be eligible for fantastic honors programs as well so don’t count those out.</p>
<p>You are not likely first gen. that has to do with being the first person in the family to go to college. sounds like at least one of your parents is a college grad.</p>
<p>OP, after reading many of these posts, yours is one of the most well-thought out and most well balanced lists that I have seen. I wouldn’t change a thing except maybe I’d add University of Pittsburgh because it is very similar to BU, it’s a trivial application, they have great scholarships and a good honors program, but most importantly, they are rolling admissions and you will get admitted in October or November so you will “have one in the bag”. The other safeties won’t let you know until March, so you will may have some unnecessary stress that could easlily be avoided. </p>
<p>Apply to BC and Georgetown Early Action so that if you get in, you can save some work by eliminating some schools.</p>
<p>For the OP’s family income, need-based aid is not happening.
So, the best financial safeties would include public institutions (preferably in-state) or colleges that give merit aid for students with his qualifications.</p>
<p>Consider schools that both show up in the Ivory Tower IR rankings and either (a) award more than token amounts of merit aid, or else (b) have relatively low full-sticker rates. GW and American are examples that already are on the OP’s list. Check out Pittsburgh and the University of Denver. Maybe Syracuse or Minnesota, too. </p>
<p>Might look at Holy Cross-top 25 lac with very nice campus 1 hour from Boston. Holy Cross also meets 100% of demonstrated financial aid. HC is like Notre Dame but easier to get into.</p>
Make them sit down with you soon and do the net price calculators. They’ll have all kinds of reasons not to do this, but you insist that they do and they will thank you at the end of the evening. College costs are such an abstraction to parents that there’s a lot of magical thinking that goes on with them. Show them the numbers.</p>