Feel like my list is too large, chance me so i can trim it down please

Chance Me / Match Me!
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<p>hey everyone! I really would like it if you could help me out and read my entire situation. </p>

<p>so heres my story:
i am a NY resident from a highly regarded public school(rising senior). My parents claim to have saved up little to nothing for college and we are going through economic hardships(parents are deep in debt, unstable income, etc.). My mother insists on applying to certain schools and is not giving me much of a say considering she's the one with the money. Now she is not preventing me from applying to schools i want to, it's just she is also forcing me to apply to schools i have no interest in going to and as a result, my list of schools has grown rather large and i'm having a hard time trimming it down/gaging realistic expectations because of the money situation, i don't know if it is worth applying to certain schools(either because i may not get in or because they may not give me enough aid). I'm having this uncertain feeling because my mother says that even though we are having a tough time and will have trouble paying for college (she claims she can only afford 12k a year, i dont know how much of this is true) we will not get much financial aid because even though our income is unstable, we still live in a well off neighborhood(although we had to sell our house and are now renting). So because of that, i am left stressed out and have no clue what to do. I am looking to go into business, maybe marketing/HR/Management. I will post my Stats and List Below. Please help out! i need advice :( </p>

<p>STATS
GPA: 91.2/100 (UW) my school does not have a 4.0 scale
SAT I Breakdown: 2200: 760(math) 710 (critical reading) 730(writing)
SAT IIs: 700(Biology), 710(US History), (going to take Math IIC expecting 700 min, hoping 750+)</p>

<p>Taken 5 APs(Euro - 4 sophomore year, the other 4 are jr year and yet to come back but expecting 4-5 on all), several honors, and only 2 regular classes through 3 years in high school and 8th grade advanced courses. Taking 4 APs senior year. Low GP UW but with a very rigorous schedule and an upward trend (did not work very hard until I realized I needed to get serious around middle of 10th grade)</p>

<p>ECs
3 years cross-country
3 years winter track
3 years spring track
(Started sports 10th grade and fell in love, was not very active prior)
Global Awareness Club (3 years)
Peer Drug Educator
Single Student Member (chosen) on local library board of trustees election committee(reviewed resumes of applicants for the board)
120+ hours of community service at local library as part of organization that organized rec events for school kids and members of the community
80+ hours at a nursing home
Camp Business Summer Program at Drexel University </p>

<p>Leadership:
Former Vice President and current President of community service club @ local library</p>

<p>I know, stats are not amazing...now onto my list</p>

<p>My preference are big schools, close to home (but not too close) with great business programs, campus life, and sports (mainly basketball). but i am also open to the big city (hence the many schools on my list in NYC, i live on Long Island. The problem is i am also applying to a bunch of schools purely because of financial reasons and i'm not sure i would be happy there. </p>

<p>Schools i am definitely applying to and would love to go to:
Georgetown U
UNC - Chapel Hill
Syracuse
SUNY BING
Fordham
NYU</p>

<p>Schools I am being forced to apply to:
Drexel
SUNY Stony Brook
Macauly Honors College- Baruch</p>

<p>Schools I would like to apply to but feel like they are reaches or i would not get enough aid:
BC
UMich
U Washington(seattle)
UCLA (for this and UWASH i feel like my parents would not let me go this far anyways...)</p>

<p>Schools I am thinking about applying to:
UCONN
Ohio State University
University of Pitt.
Boston U
Northeastern
U of Maryland
Penn State - UPark</p>

<p>As you can see this list is unreasonably large and i don't know what to do or where to go from here...i just want to be put in the best position to go to a great school while at the same time get a good financial aid package(preferably lots of merit aid/grants). i'm just at a loss right now...i'm very worried and stressed out. I know my grades aren't perfect and it's my own fault, if it comes up during an interview as to why there is a discrepancy between my Standardized Scores and my gpa i will just be honest, i did not try very hard the beginning of my high school years, i was bored, lazy and felt it was pointless. but i matured...i just fear i am paying for my immaturity now...now i know this is a long post so i'm going to stop rambling...chances...advice..anything would help. thanks so much for your time :)</p>

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<p>Well you can definitely get into a lot of these schools, you didn’t mention your intended major though.</p>

<p>I think NYU might be a little difficult to get financial aid out of, but it’s worth a shot. Boston College might not offer a lot either if they don’t deem you need-worthy. I think BU will offer more so consider applying there.</p>

<p>UCLA - High Match / Low Reach</p>

<p>BC - Low Match
BU -Low Match
Northeastern - Low Match
Georgetown - Match
NYU - Match </p>

<p>Fordham - Safety
Ohio State - Safety
U Washington Seattle - Safety
UNC Chapel Hill - Safety
Syracuse - Safety
Drexel - Safety
SUNY BING - Safety</p>

<p>You’re applying to a lot of safeties from what I see and should narrow those down to the few you like best. I’m almost certain you’ll get aid at those schools for your scores. Also I think you can do better than the schools you mentioned, consider applying to ivys since their financial aid is very generous. You might get in.</p>

<p>Can you chance me here?<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1523762-chance-cmu-mit-cornell-caltech-uiuc.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1523762-chance-cmu-mit-cornell-caltech-uiuc.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>thanks for the advice! i know NYU doesn’t give much aid but its close to home where if i get a good enough package commuting could become an option…still deciding on whether or not i would want that. </p>

<p>and i appreciate the sentiment but UNC chapel hill a safety for me…? i know i have good standardized scores but i feel like my gpa is a bit low and i know they dont have very high OOS acceptance rates…but its one of my top choices so i’m applying regardless!</p>

<p>and i will def chance you :slight_smile: thanks</p>

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<p>How could a 3.62/2200 ever consider UNC-CH Kenan-Flagler as a safety when OOS for that? I think Truust is an unproven chancer at best.</p>

<p>Georgetown McDonough: Reach
UNC-CH Kenan-Flagler: Reach (it’s about as high a reach as Georgetown)
Syracuse: Low match
NYU Stern: High match (poor financial aid)
UCLA Anderson: High match (best to cut that school from your list, little to no aid)
PSU Smeal: Low match (little to no aid)
Fordham Gabelli: Low match
Binghamton: Safety
Stony Brook: Safety
UWA Foster: Match (little to no aid)
UMI Ross: High match (little to no aid)
OSU Fisher: Safety
NEU: Match (co-op helps somewhat)
BU: Low match/Match (poor aid)
BC: Match (not sure about aid)
Drexel: Safety
UConn: Safety
UPitt: Safety (poor aid)
UMD Smith: Low match
Macaulay Baruch: Low match/Match (the only reason why Macaulay Baruch should stay is because you get a guaranteed full-ride if you get in)</p>

<p>You might want to change one of the “poor-to-no-aid” schools for Alabama or Tulane Freeman; might even get half-tuition in merit aid at Tulane Freeman or even a half-ride (if you’re lucky; many of the half-riders at Tulane with 2200+ on the SAT have higher GPAs) on top of whatever need-based aid you may get…</p>

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<p>i want to ideally get my schools down to 10. maybe 3 safetys, 4 matches, 3 reaches? i’m not sure what to do in this case… i think 10-12 would be a good number</p>

<p>and yes i know thats why i was confused when he said UNC was a safety for me…i knew going into the process it was a reach because of my mediocre GPA. </p>

<p>i’m just hoping i can land interviews with at least on of my top choices so i can hopefully impress the admissions people…i know i am capable of so much more than my numbers say, i just fear i realized this a little too late by 2nd semester 10th grade when more than half my high school career was over.</p>

<p>among the OOS schools (as i am in NY), which do you know of that gives the largest amount of aid? i know OSU gives a hefty OOS scholarship so i am definitely keeping it on my list. I will look into Tulane! It’s in NOLA correct? it may be a little far for my comfort zone but i’ve heard its a great school so i will definitley look into it if the aid is as good as you make it out to be</p>

6

<p>if anyone has an informed opinion on this,
i want to eliminate one of these two: either Stonybrook or Macauly-Baruch. Since i am going into business what would be better? Stonybrook is in the USNEWS top 100 but it is not very reknown for business and tbh it did not blow me away when i visited…now Macaulay is getting lots of praise as an upcoming prestigious college but it is not ranked, nor well known outside of the immediate tristate area (which in all honest is where i would like to end up working, ideally in/around NYC</p>

7

<p>bump</p>

<p>thoughts?</p>

8

<p>My apologies. UNC-CH can’t be a safety, but it certainly isn’t a reach. Yeah, i’m not that great at chancing, I just didn’t want his post to go unanswered since it’s pretty long and a lot of people wouldn’t take the time to read it.</p>

<p>He’s a rising senior right? Doesn’t that give him time to get his gpa up to a 3.7-3.8? He already has a 2200 SAT score, which I think is far better than the average at that school.</p>

<p>I’d rather say its a high match than a reach.</p>

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<p>yes i have a rigorous senior year schedule 4 aps hopefully i do well in them. UNC is probably my 1st or 2nd choice so i would love to have an opportunity to go there</p>

10

<p>BUMP, Update:
AP scores are in!
received a 5 on US History, 5 on Psychology, 3 on Biology, 3 on Statistics</p>

<p>how will these scores affect me ?</p>

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<p>I think you should really look into Alabama. You have a good chance at a full-ride but I’m not sure if you consider that too far or not. You could probably get into their honors program as well.</p>

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<p>yeah i looked into alabama, but nothing about their programs really caught my eye.</p>

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<p>bump…anymore opinons/chances? i’ll chance back</p>

14

<p>bump </p>

<p>need opinons</p>

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<p>Penn State does have your criteria minus great basketball. However it gives really bad financial aid, especially to OOS students, even with great stats like yours. If you don’t think you can afford it, I’d cross it off.</p>

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<p>@Etuck24 yes Penn State is a solid school, but a major turn off(besides the lack of basketball) for me was the type of students who were admitted this year from my high school. Many of them are not very academically focused and quite frankly, party animals. These are not the types of people i wanted to surround myself with little to distract myself with in the middle of pennsylvania. </p>

<p>Well, any other thoughts?
schools i am defintely applying to are Georgetown, UNC-CH, Fordham, Binghamton, Syracuse, and UCONN. still looking for about 4 more schools…lots of decisions to make </p>

<p>any schools i may not be aware of with good aid?</p>

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<p>You’re going to find many of those same types of students at just about any D1 state school you might apply to, just so you’re aware.</p>

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<p>BUMP
looking to add one more “reach school”</p>

<p>any thoughts on Boston College Vs. U of Michigan</p>

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<p>@Etuck24. Yes i’m aware, but the difference between a school like Penn State and say…Georgetown or Syracuse is that i have distractions and ways around that…they are closer to home…and i can more easily avoid feeling surrounded by such “peers” as opposed to in penn state where its an extremely self contained university. On top of that the financial aid being poor basically eliminates it anyway :p</p>