About me:
Hispanic/Native American
79k Income Family of 5 in Chicago; however, we live off every paycheck and my parents have no savings. My dad is the only one working. He works overtime (a job requiring physical labor), or he’ll only be making 55k. He has no degree, just a HS diploma. My mom has a bachelors, but they’re still trying to pay her loans from 20 years ago. She hasn’t worked since my birth.
My school is a public high school. There’s about 789 kids in my class, and I’m in the top 1%.
My commute to school is from a hour to a hour and a half. It depends on the seasons, rush hour, delays, etc. I wake up at 5, and come back between 6:30-8pm on most days. I’m surprised I haven’t transferred. Haha
Cross Country (4 years) junior varsity member
Track (4 years) junior varsity member
Animal Anti-Cruelty Club (2 years) It was barely created last year. I was the events coordinator, and now, I’m the president.
Key Club (2 years) Member
Stars Mentor Program (2 years) Since our school has very large classes (800-1000 are the average per class), we have a program where juniors and seniors help the freshman get used to our big school. We exchange numbers, we tutor them, etc. It’s considered volunteering.
National Honors Society (2 years) member
Volunteered at this senior home since 6th grade.
Over 125 service hours.
AP Scholar
Oh god I’m not done. Wait don’t reply yet!
I took 6 AP so far. I’m taking 5 this year. I will also self study for one. All my classes since freshman year have been honors. The only regulars were PE I and PE II… I also have 8 additional high school credits from 7-8th grade. I was in an academic center at this other selective enrollment high school (you test to get in).
I play electric guitar.
I’m also in the new AP classes: AP Seminar and Research. I passed Seminar and 4 other AP classes. If I pass research, I’ll get a diploma. Something like that.
I got a 27 on the ACT, but I’m retaking it soon.
I also got nominated for Posse.
Weighted GPA : 4.94
Unweighted: 3.8
I plan to apply to:
University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
St Olaf’s College
Elon University
University of Michigan
University of California at Davis
University of California at San Diego
Northeastern University
Brandeis University
Bates College
Dartmouth
Cornell (through Posse)
University of Chicago (I visited here)
Northwestern University (I also visited here; aren’t my chances a little higher for these two schools because I’m a resident?)
Stanford (Probably not. But no one knows)
Do you think I can at least get into those schools with 30% something acceptance rates? (U of Mich, U of C @ SD, etc)
Much appreciated.
What is your intended major?
Ummm, Chances is just a guessing game for where you might get in. But you really have to think about what you can pay for. Your income is not that low so you may have some family contribution that could be difficult. Have your run the Net Price calculator? That would tell you. Do you know your federal EFC?
I would remove the UCs from your list. UCs cost $55 per year. Even if you get some aid for low income, you don’t get aid for the $23k OOS tuition. And you will have a loan and student contribution so your minimum would be 33k per yr. I think that Michigan tries to meet need for lower EFC students even OOS.
Chicago and NU don’t really have state preferences like an instate public would, but top privates do try to admit some lower SES students from the state they are in.
What is U of C @ SD?
You already know your ACT is a touch low for some of these. Way to low for Stanford. How did you do on the PSAT?
p.s. please put a space between paragraphs for reading ease.
You can remove half of the schools (including NU and UChi) from your list that are high reaches for you. Even for UMich, your GPA is below admission average and your ACT is far below the 25th percentile of 30.
Yah, don’t apply to the UCs unless they are your top choices fit-wise. they don’t give good financial aid for out of state. Also, I don’t believe UChicago and Northwestern give in-state a better edge…I checked stats and they are very slight; there are more midwest acceptances, but probably because the school is closer and no planes for visiting etc…people in Massachusetts don’t really get an edge for Harvard or MIT…just want to put that out there!
Agree with ^^ above poster, remove the California UC’s since OOS students get little to no FA. You can expect to pay up to $55K/year to attend these universities. ACT is also low for both UCD/UCSD which would make them in the Low Reach to Reach category. California publics banned affirmative action so your URM status will not give you an edge.
@QuiteAverage90
Linguistics… If the school doesn’t offer linguistics, then biology or international relations. I want to do pre-med. I know it’s not a major. It’s just the career path I want to go on.
@BrownParent
Sorry. University of California at San Diego. If I applied for many scholarships, I could cover that though, right? … I tried to create spaces, but my phone was giving me a difficult time… And I haven’t used the calculator before. Once I use it, I’ll post the EFC here. It should be no later than today…
I all know is that even though it’s 79k, my family still doesn’t have any assets, savings, or any additional money. We don’t vacation or anything that involves that type of leisure. We just do the little stuff lke watching movies. The paycheck is barely enough for my sister’s annual visits and check ups to the nephrologist, my mom’s student loans, the house, our 2 cats, and etc. Our house was almost foreclosed, and we went bankrupt a few years ago. So I think we should get some aid?
How did I do on the PSAT? It wasn’t exceptional. Slightly above average if I remember. I didn’t know what it was until I did the pre-gridding. And by the time I took it, it was too late. As for the ACT, I’m just doing practice tests. Taking online classes or going to classes aren’t really options.
If I never apply, I would never know though. … I will be applying through Questbridge for 3 of these schools, but through regular decision. Posse is binding, so I can’t do the college match for Questbridge. University of Chicago, Northwestern, and Stanford (in that order) are my only three choices for QB.
Like I said, I’m retaking the ACT, so it’s not the end of the world yet. Oh and I’m not sure if it was clear or not, but at the end of senior year, I would have taken 12 AP. (I know that there isn’t a magic number.)
UCD is a good fit for me. If I have enough scholarships and if I get accepted, I’m pretty sure I’ll be fine.
Thanks. @Gumbymom @LushLillies
Take the UCs off of your list. You don’t seem to be listening to the other posters.
**The UCs don’t give scholarships to OOS students. ** Financial aid OOS average is about $2000, if anything is given. California schools will be $55k per year. How will you pay the rest of the $53k? Your SAT and GPA would not be competitive for the UCs but may be at some Midwestern and southern schools.
California taxpayers pay for the UCs, that includes Davis and San Diego. So, the priority goes to California kids. OOS students are billed at full fees because the state needs the money and admits OOS kids to get full fees. Your parent cannot afford these schools.
From personal experience as a URM, there aren’t many URM outside scholarships. My children have tried. Most URM money comes from those university programs that need URMs; and those schools are not on the west coast. You can try HSF, but those scholarships are extremely competitive (they had 135k applicants this year).
I appreciate your comment, but I did read and fully understood the other comments though. I’m not going to apply to San Diego anymore. I still want to apply to Davis bc it was a better and greater fit. If I apply to multiple scholarships and get them, I’ll be able to afford Davis? @“aunt bea”
Davis is part of the UC system. You will be billed $55k per year.
My Mexican/Native American daughter is a senior there. She received **$300 total ** in scholarships and we’re California residents. Her SAT and GPA were higher than yours, so that’s what got her in.
We’re lucky that we are residents and can barely afford her tuition and fees. If I had to pay $55k per year, she wouldn’t be going there.
If Davis is a good fit, then you will really have to talk to your parents about it. You have a pretty decent amount of financial need, so that may have to take priority over fit. If you can’t afford the school, then you will have to think about if you really want to end up with tons of loans to pay off and force yourself and your parents into that kind of debt…
There are plenty of schools that will give you aid and UCD is not the only school…what do you like about UCD? Then search for schools that are similar but give better aid.
You have a pretty big mix of schools, from techie based schools like Brandeis to LACs like St. Olafs (which I believe is free?). Definitely look up EFCs for schools.
You have nice ECs and scores (except for ACT which you are retaking so that’s okay), but not enough to get super special scholarships and treatment in my opinion. And like another poster said, even URM scholarships are super hard to get…not sure how certain those “multiple scholarships” you mention are. Most easier scholarships I know give you like $1000 for one year, which is not enough for a school that gives little to no aid!
But it doesn’t hurt to apply…especially if it is your top schools…just please look out for your parents and yourself in terms of debt and stuff
Do you know how much $55k is?
My dd worked for 3 months in the summer and earned $3000. It finally hit her how much $50k was in comparison to how many hours she’d have to work to earn that money.
The only ones who have that kind of money to distribute are the universities and the State grants. The best sources of the big money comes from the universities themselves and Davis will not give that kind of money to OOS students.
Get your ACT up to a minimum of 30. Given the boost you will have from being a URM applicant, you could take a shot at your true reach schools: Stanford, Chicago, Dartmouth, Cornell, Northwestern.
But – only if you get that ACT up to at least 30. Those five would still be reaches, but a 5-10% chance is much better than a 1-3% chance.
Stanford actually is not the most test-conscious school on your list. That would be UChicago probably. (UChicago’s admissions classes recently have consistently had higher test scores than Stanford’s).
And, as others have said, drop the UCs – OOS they are just too expensive and they do not give much aid to OOS students.
That leaves you with:
Stanford - Reach w/ strong fin aid
Chicago - Reach w/ strong fin aid
Dartmouth - Reach w/ strong fin aid
Cornell - Reach w/ strong fin aid
Northwestern - Reach w/ strong fin aid
Northeastern - High match w/ decent fin aid
Bates - High match w/ strong fin aid
Brandeis - High match w/ strong fin aid
U Michigan - High match w/ decent fin aid (probably…)
St. Olaf - Match w/ strong fin aid
University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign - Match/low match, in-state, low fin aid
Elon - Match/low match, no idea about fin aid
The key, aside from writing great essays and getting some nice teacher recs, is to get your ACT up to a minimum of 30. That, plus URM status, should be enough to get you at least on the radar of your five true reaches.
Don’t dream on getting scholarship. Even you apply to 100 of them, you may not be able to get anything signifcant with your current GPA and test score. Moreover, most external scholarships are not renewable.
Sorry! I got confused. I wasn’t sure if you were talking about Davis’s scholarships or just scholarships in general. I didn’t mean to get anyone upset. 
I know how much 55k. I was talking about those scholarships that you can do for fun. I can also get scholarships from my high school’s alumni. I’m planning to apply to a couple dozen scholarships. @auntbea
Thanks… I’m aware that reality is brutal. I don’t have access to many sources, and I might not be naturally talented in sports or display any amazing talent. I’m just trying to take advantage of these things. Like I said, I’m retaking the ACTs, so the 27 won’t be the limit. My unweighted GPA is on a 4.0 scale. I’m using Posse and Questbridge. I will also most likely apply to Gates Millenium. @billcsho
I also think you should go to fairtest.org and select a few outstanding test-optional private liberal arts colleges. They are often very generous with scholarships for URMs because they seek more diversity. Your test score is adequate to prove that you can succeed academically, but it is much weaker than your other outstanding accomplishments.