Guidance, Suggestions, and Chances!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

So I am a senior in high school, and I have started serious thinking and deciding my college. I wanted to know how I am doing academically relative to what colleges I have a chance at.

I attend a competitive high school, and I intend to major (and have a genuine interest) in Biotechnology/Engineering (not purely engineering).

Some information about me:
GPA: 3.441 (UW) & 3.735 (W)
SAT I: 2290 - 720 W, 770 CR, 800M
SAT II: Math 2 - 800; I am taking Bio in October and Lit in November
Took General Psych at local community college (got a B), US History at a different community college (got an A), and took Marine Science A at an online course NUVHS (got an A)

I have taken 2 AP classes & tests (from junior year):
AP Biology: 4
AP Calculus: 5

Extracurriculars:
Volunteer at the a technology museum ~120 Hours
Inreach/Outreach Youth leader at a large Church since 8th grade, leading 9th graders on Sunday services this year (12th grade).
Badminton (Sophomore/Junior year, played in JV Sophomore year and High Varsity Junior year)
President of Cooking Club

Currently (senior year), I am taking 4 AP classes (AP US Gov/Econ, AP Stats, AP Eng Lit, and AP Chem), and 3D Design 1.

ANYWAYS, some comments about myself:
Realistically speaking, I do not have a strongest academic record, any note-worthy awards, nor any life-saving extracurricular activities to mention. However, I have definitely shown improvement and growth throughout my high school career. My freshman and sophomore years were carelessly passed over (I had a 3.167 GPA both semesters sophomore year), but after my father took his own life end of sophomore year, I honestly realized that I needed to do something with my life. Balancing school and home was tough for me, but I think that I had shown significant improvement (3.400 GPA both semesters junior year with significantly harder classes: Amlit. Honors, AP Bio, and AP Calc BC).

Honestly speaking, I would call myself an intelligent person. Throughout my childhood, I incessantly read books and had a naturally curious disposition, but in the second half of middle school, I became almost addicted to games. Since merely getting away with an A was easy for me in middle school, I would put the bare minimum effort in, and play games the rest of the time. This mindset carried was fostered further during freshman year, but when sophomore year hit, school became more about discipline and time management, both of which I was severely lacking in. All this leads me to believe that my GPA is not an accurate representation of my intelligence (maybe somewhat evidenced by my SAT scores), but I do know that my low GPA will still drag me down a lot.

With all of that being said, what level of colleges do you think is pragmatic for me to pursue? I was thinking about these colleges (in no particular order):

New York University
Boston University
Occidental College
Northeastern University
Loyola Marymount University
University of San Diego
Most of the mid (probably not top) UC’s

Furthermore, are there any colleges that you guys would recommend to me to consider? I live in California, but I am open to going to (almost) anywhere in the US.

Also, one concern that I have is my financial situation. After my father passed away, my mother (a housewife), works at a restaurant getting paid practically minimum wage. I’d estimate that she makes roughly $1,400 a month, coupled with the social security benefits that I receive (until I turn 18) every month of roughly $1,000 a month. While we are not struggling for money (we sold the house that we had owned and moved into a studio apartment), I was wondering how (or if) that change in income would affect my application chances. The cost is a much less concern to me.

2

For you personal statement, you should definitely explain the change you went though at the end of sophomore year. However, remember to keep your statement about yourself and how you have changed and become a different person.

I’m not too familiar with some of the schools on your list, but I’d say the schools you are applying to are pretty reasonable. On the other hand, your EC’s are lacking (for your major) so that may hurt your chances to the private schools.

It’s hard to say overall, because your GPA and you EC’s are on the low side, but your SAT score is quite good.

3

Definitely address your family situation in one your essays which may help give you a boost in admissions. Your SAT is very competitive but your GPA will be an issue for the California UC’s. Your best chances would be UCR/UCSC. UCI/UCD and UCSB could be possible with a compelling essay. You would get the best FA from the in-state schools, so you should run the Net Price calculators to see what is affordable. NYU is notorious for terrible FA, so I would drop that school from your list. I would include some competitive Cal states such as SDSU/CSULB and Cal Poly SLO in your list especially if money is tight. If would like to go OOS, consider some the WUE schools where you pay reduced tuition costs:
http://wue.wiche.edu/search_results.jsp?searchType=all

Good Luck.

4

First of all, you do need to check the cost of these schools for you. You should be eligible to need based aid, however, most schools do not meet needs, particularly from OOS. I have heard NYU is really suck on that. Your GPA also hurt your chance. What is your UC GPA?

5

To check what kind of aid you might get from each school, you will find a net price calculator on each college website, usually on the financial aid webpage. Run it with the social security income, and without. When you apply for financial aid, include the information that the payments stop(ped) when you turn 18, and what that date is.

Agree you need to drop NYU, it will not be affordable. Also, while I like Occidental, I doubt they offer your planned major. They might be part of a 3-2 program, but for various reasons you probably want to avoid those.

6

First of all, thank you guys for your replies.

From what you guys have told me, I am seriously considering dropping NYU from my list of colleges because of the bad rumors about its FA programs. Although right now I am not pressed for money, I would definitely see myself burdened NYU’s expensive and uncompensated funds.

@Gumbymom, you said that I should include competitive Cal states like SDSU/CSULB and Cal Poly SLO, but what do you think my chances of acceptance would be? Since the CSU’s are primarily focused on numbers, I would speculate that I would have a hard time getting into there with my lackluster GPA; however, if my chances are not disastrously low, and it would even be within consideration for a reach school, I would be willing to apply there.

@billcsho, the reason I am considering a lot of these private schools is that I would imagine that I would receive a larger amount of financial aid than the average person. Calculating my UC GPA (on roger hub) gave me 3.63. So would you say that the schools that I chose (even excluding NYU) might not give me the best financial aid?

@intparent, I was thinking about the 3-2 program in regard to getting a Liberal Arts Degree in biology and a engineering bachelor’s degree (the other degree from the 3-2 program). When you mentioned “you probably want to avoid those”, are you referring to the 3-2 program in general, or trying to pursue my planned major in the 3-2 program? In regard to the 3-2 program, what would you say are the cons of pursing the 3-2 program? So far, the only con that I have heard of is that you are leaving the LAC after 3 years, leaving any friends made. However, aside from that aspect, is there any concern that comes to mind about the 3-2 programs?

In general, I would first want to see what colleges I would have a feasible chance of getting accepted into before thinking of the financial expenses (to an extent) . After my admissions (or rejections) and seeing what kind of financial aid package is offered to me, I would want to decide what colleges is the best fit for me in terms of quality and price. Even for NYU, I have heard of people getting a large financial package in financial situations similar to mine, although it is disproportionately smaller than other universities. Unless my chances are non-existent, I would not want to rule out a college before the verdict.

On this note, is there any more colleges you guys think I should consider (aside from the couple that were mentioned)?

7

Don’t be dumb about the financial aid aspect. These net price calculators are fairly accurate. There is no reason to “imagine” what your FA package would be. Private schools do NOT all provide good FA packages. There is no point in pursuing a school and wasting your application time on a school that is unaffordable. Run them for all of your schools – ask your mom to help.

Regarding NYU, they know they have many star-struck teenagers dying to come to the Big Apple, and that a lot of them will pay a premium for it. Hence terrible FA packages for what isn’t even a very good school. But run their NPC along with the others.

The number of students who actually follow through with 3-2 programs is very tiny (I recall meeting one on my years on CC). It would be a question to ask a college regarding how many students actually do the 3-2 move a year. Plus, then you have a fifth year to pay for your portion and take loans out for. Also, you need to take a lot of math & phsics at the LAC, and maintain a minimum GPA for the transfer – those GPAs look like a piece of cake to a high school student, but are tough with those types of classes. You aren’t the strongest in the GPA department, so this mark may be difficult to achieve.

8

@RedOctopus: You have an excellent chance at CSULB and SDSU, these schools are definite matches if not safeties. Cal Poly SLO is always a tough admit, but your SAT is very competitive and I think you have a decent chance. I believe it is worth an application to these schools, far more than the OOS schools on your list. Like stated above in the other posts, run the NPC to see your estimated costs. You are competitive applicant overall and I would still apply to the UC’s, just be realistic in your chances and hopefully prove me wrong. Good Luck.

9

Here we go again.

@intparent, you are one of my favorite posters, and I mean that very sincerely. You have such great advice and insight into so many issues.

But to say NYU “isn’t even a very good school” is really off the mark, and frankly insulting to all the students, parents of students, highly respected faculty, and alumni of this university – which amounts to insulting hundreds of thousands of people.

By virtually any metric you could look at, an NYU education is coveted worldwide for many of its undergraduate programs. Tisch opportunities in the arts are unmatched; the Stern undergraduate business school is one of the oldest and finest in the world. It’s not all about “star-struck teenagers dying to come to the Big Apple.” That said, the Big Apple definitely provides unique opportunities to students, all within walking/subway distance within a single world-class city, that cannot be found almost anywhere else I can think of.

It is 100% true that NYU does not promise to meet anybody’s full financial need. It’s also 100% true that many colleges that DO promise to meet “full need” employ definitions of “need” that are very disappointing to many families. A student who needs assured financial aid needs to include in his/her list of colleges some certain financial safeties, and NYU would not be on that list; on that we can all agree.

But please stop saying that NYU “isn’t a very good school.”

10

Compared to what a student would pay for a similar education elsewhere, perhaps it is best to just say that it isn’t a good value. And you must admit that many, many students are drawn by the location. The same academic programs in a different location would not draw their attention. But agree that location is critical to Tisch in particular – but there is a lot of irony in the fact that the Tisch student is going to be hard pressed to pay back big loans needed to attend to get that amazing arts degree.

11

We can’t say what a student would pay for a similar education elsewhere. There are too many moving parts. It is an excellent value for some, and a terrible value for others … Just like MOST other colleges, barring a very, very few (HYPS for example). Even those are unaffordable full pay for some students caught in financial pickles.

Many Tisch students do quite, quite well. Not every arts major ends up performing in a theater. The arts are represented in virtually every sector/industry.

There’s nothing wrong with being drawn by the location when the location provides such unique, prominent and available opportunities. For NYU, the location is prime for virtually any major, considering that virtually every industry is heavily represented in NYC (yes, not things like agriculture, but I’m speaking broadly).

12

Your UC GPA may be too low for mid UCs too. You may need to aim lower.

13

Don’t drop NYU - they’ve been making incredible strides in providing financial for students like yourself

I was in a similar position and almost decided against applying because of everything that I heard about stringent FA - but applied anyway and ended up being very surprised by a full-tuition 4-year scholarship and I have also heard

I knew another kid with a similar a finance profile and got a full ride

Make sure to center your essay on how you overcame your obstacle of father passing away - write a killer essay on this and you actually have the potential to get some great scholarship money from schools

14

Thank you guys for your responses!

How much do you guys think it a reasonable amount of tuition to be paying (or taking out in a loan)? I ran the NPC for a couple of the schools like Northeastern and NYU. I didn’t have my comprehensive information on my tax info, etc. so I did a rough estimate from what I know. I plan to do it again when I get all the necessary paperwork, but I just wanted a rough estimate.

Also, if the 3-2 program at Occidental College is supposedly too hard, do you think I should consider St. Mary College of California’s 3-2 program? It requires a minimum of 3.25 GPA in order to transfer from St. Mary to Washington St. Louis.

15

OP, for you, I would highly recommend applying widely and choosing the college that gives you the very best financial package.

Therefore, please include colleges that you know will give you excellent financial aid (in CA, the UC’s will be the best for someone in your financial circumstances; please do not forget to timely apply for your Cal Grant). Aim for colleges representing all tiers of UC and CSU just to be sure of an acceptance…it’s all one application so this is made very, very easy for all applicants.

I abhor students taking any student loans, although I do understand it is a reality in today’s world. Once your acceptances come in, choose the best college for what you want to study, that costs the least amount of money, thereby increasing your chances of landing a job that will allow you to repay the loans.

Good luck to you.