I’m female, African-American, with a 31 on the ACT, a 1420 on the SAT, a 3.8 unweighted GPA, Mississippi resident, with a budget of <15k per year. I don’t qualify for any significant need based aid. My list is~
Reach: Vanderbilt. It was Tulane, but they require subject tests for homeschooled students and I realized that a bit late…
Matches: University of Houston
Florida State University
Safety: Mississippi State University
So, any I should add?? Are my chances okay (including scholarship chances?)? Thanks.
I don’t think costs will be under $15k at any of the schools unless you are a resident of that state. We don’t know which scholarships you are eligible for.
I don’t see you getting merit aid at Vandy as your standardized test scores seem to be at or below the 25% percentile. Perhaps reconsider that application and find a school that has a better chance of being affordable. You may want to look at some schools on this list as well (but be sure to check current websites to update any information as well as to check to see if there are any additional requirements for home-schooled applicants http://competitivefulltuition.yolasite.com/
As others have indicated, if your family income is too high for n-b aid but you can only cover a fraction of the EFC, then you either need a lot of merit money to close the gap, or else you need to focus on low-cost local public schools.
If your budget is < $15K, that means you’d need a full tuition scholarship to be able to afford most private schools. Vanderbilt does grant merit awards to about 20% of undergrads (according to Kiplinger’s) but the average award is only about $22K (~= half tuition). To get a full tuition award, presumably your stats would need to be up in the top 10%.
If you want a selective private school in the South, consider Rhodes College in Memphis. Other possibilities: Hendrix, Agnes Scott (women only), Birmingham-Southern, Howard U, Rollins.
I’m curious why Univ. of Mississippi isn’t on your list–wouldn’t you potentially qualify for merit-based scholarships with your scores? And perhaps admission to the Honors College?
From what I’ve heard, Unv. Of MS has a lot of problems. From the general white frat boy vibe, to the cheating allegations in their atheltic program, to the fact that the academics aren’t exceptional… just, nah. If I’m going to school in state, It’d have to be MSU.
I agree with happy1, if you can only afford <15k then i dont see the point in applying to Vandy. I dont know much about the other schools but you would probably need significan merit based aid at almost any private University
You’d probably be able to attend Florida State for under $15k per year…you’d likely get a waiver of all out of state tuition, & a merit scholarship on top of that. Texas Tech would likely offer similar aid.
Definitely add Rhodes and Hendrix.
Mississippi State has some problems too - and Ole Miss remains the reference instate (and nationally) especially if you can get into the Sally Barksdale honors college, which would alleviate some of your concerns. You could decide it’s honors college or no ole miss, certainly! But don’t avoid that excellent program just because of surrounding programs.
What about ASU Barrett?