First gen student, desperately need to know if my expectations are too high

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey. I’m a rising senior with a low GPA and want to know if my expectations are reasonable. I’m pretty obsessive over college applications, but I know that most who frequent college forums/subreddits have much higher stats than me so it’s hard to find where I stand. If this helps, I’m a low income (<10,000 a year) white female Texan. Sorry this is long, I just want to give a view of what kind of person I am (and what my application will hopefully reflect).

Stats:
GPA: 3.56 weighted (my school doesn’t do unweighted but I think it’s 3.4ish) I think I can bump it up to 3.6 by the end of the fall semester.

ACT: 26, though I plan on retaking it. I actually feel okay about it since I was just using my school’s free test as a practice run and did minimal studying. I think I can potentially get a 30 with a lot of prep.

SAT: Haven’t taken it yet, I got an 1170 on my PSAT without studying so again hoping my real test goes better with studying.

Class rank: 150 out of 444

I’m also going to take 5 AP’s by the end of senior year (World History, English 1&2, Microeconomics, US History, and US Government).

ECs:
Editor of my school’s newspaper
Environmental Science club member for 3 years
Political Activism Club secretary for 4 years
Key Club member for 1 year (was not active at all though)
Have had a part time job for 8 months.
MAY (I have an interview) get an internship at a local newspaper soon.

Awards:
Regional Champion in UIL News Writing sophomore year. Also placed 1st. 3rd. and 4th in my district competition junior year for journalism.

Schools I’m applying to:
University of Texas at Austin
A&M University
University of Central Florida
Syracuse University (feels like a reach for me, I’d be applying Newhouse if that helps)
University of Florida

I’m planning on applying to 10+ schools out of paranoia but these are really my top 5. If anyone has any suggestions about more I should check out, it’d be appreciated. My college essays will be about taking care of my 4 y/o deaf cousin with Goldenhar Syndrome and learning sign language to help teach her, since it’s been a big part of my life since she was born. I also want to write about how drug addiction affected my childhood but I don’t know if it’d be a good idea. I think/been told I’m a pretty strong writer, hence the writing awards, so I think they should be decent essays.
Sorry if this is long.

2

What is your class rank? If you’re not in the top 7%, UT will be a long shot.

3

@MaineLonghorn It’s in my post, I’m 150 out of 444 so that’s 33% last time I checked. But yeah, I know :frowning: it’s a long shot.

4

OK, sorry I missed it. I just didn’t want you to get your hopes up. My nephew was top 15% and had amazing ECs and still didn’t get in. He was very upset. :frowning:

5

@MaineLonghorn yeah, I’ve known for a while that it’s a reach so I don’t really expect to get in, but if I did, it’d be my first choice. Part of me thinks if I don’t get into my top 5, I might go to a cc and try to transfer to UT.

6

I honestly wouldn’t waste the money on the UT application.

7

Run the NPC (Net Price Calculator) and see what it comes up with in terms of what each school is likely to cost (you can find it by googling “net price calculator university of …”). I think that you will find a good match but keeping the debt under control will be important long term. Good luck!

8

These schools don’t look affordable. And all but UCF look like very unlikely admits. OP, I think the CC route may be your best bet with your stats and financial need.

9

Your stats would be fine for many schools if you didn’t have the large financial need. Unfortunately the most generous schools are the hardest to get in to and are really not in reach for you. I’m not familiar with Texas public colleges but it seems there must be something in between UT and A&M and community college. Is there anything decent within commuting distance so you can live at home and commute?

10

http://financialaid.tamu.edu/Aggie-Assurance

Texas A&M has the Aggie Assurance program, so if you get accepted, since your family income is low, you should have tuition covered. Then Pell grant and maybe state grant, and your student loan and summer work earnings could cover the rest.

11

You probably shouldn’t waste money on UT Austin, and I would say the same for Texas A&M. Since you are 33% ranked, you don’t even qualify for academic admit (and even if you were top quarter, your 26 ACT doesn’t exactly bode well for a review admit).

12

https://www.tamus.edu/about/universities/

There are other campuses in the Texas A&M university system. There might also be transfer pathways from community college to A&M campuses.

Staying in TX would provide the best aid for OP, being low income, because Pell, TX state grants and school aid programs can be combined.

13

http://news.tamus.edu/texas-am-university-system-to-help-families-cut-college-costs/

this is an older article but I would contact the Texas A&M campuses and find out which ones are still offering this program for low income students.