I’m currently a junior in high school who’s really struggling to put together a list of match, safety, and reach schools for next year. I’d really appreciate it if someone could suggest some good schools for me.
GPA: 3.8 UW, 4.3 W
Rank: currently 18 out of 450 at a public HS in Florida
APs: Human Geo (5), World History (3), Chem, Psych, English Language, Spanish Language
Senior year course load: Signed up for 6 APs next year, since I did well in four this year
SAT: 2060 first time taking it but practice SATs I’ve done in preparation for taking it a second time say that I should score in the high 2200s-low 2300s next time I take it (I’ve been trying to study a lot!!)
ACT: taking it in June
SAT IIs: Taking World History, Literature, and Spanish in June
Ethnicity: Mexican American female
Financial aid: Going to need a lot! My family income is less than 30K
ECs and volunteering: Cross country, track and field, I worked as a theatre tech for my towns theater, I tutor kids through NHS, Spanish Club leader, I mentor elementary school kids, and I took part in a youth leadership club at the YMCA. My volunteering is a little lacking compared to most people, I have trouble getting transportation and paying for a lot of things.
Hooks: URM, daughter of undocumented immigrants, really really poor, first generation, I was a 2015 Questbridge Prep Scholar if that means anything
I feel really overwhelmed with looking for colleges. I’ve looked into Boston U, Emory U, and UC Berkeley and those are my ideal schools but I don’t want to set my hopes too high. An Ivy would be great because I really need financial aid but I’m sure those would be high reaches for me. I plan on studying either psychology, or going into medicine to become a neurosurgeon. I’d like to go to a mid sized to large school in a suburban or urban setting. State or city doesn’t really matter. Thanks in advance!!!
You are OOS for Berkeley. Your family would have to AT LEAST pay the OOS surcharge of $23K/year. Drop that one from your list now. You can use Bright Futures for FL schools. Make sure you have some of those on your list. What kind of school are you envisioning? I can’t tell from your small list there. Definitely try to get the test scores up so you can qualify for some full tuition schools. Look at the pinned threads in the Financial Aid forum for the list.
Thanks LordSwag, and Erin’s Dad: I would like a school with a large campus that’s not too far from a major city. I like the feel of Emory a lot, I don’t like New York U or Chicago if that gives you a better idea- I like the typical large southern school, Duke and Vandy are really nice. I don’t want to be surrounded by only concrete buildings and trains. I’m looking for something with that type of campus, lots of clubs and student groups, preferrably near the coast, selective to highly selective in admissions, and with a great psych program. Sorry if I’m not being clear.
Why do you like Boston U but not NYU? I think they’re very similar to each other. Boston College fits your criteria and they meet full demonstrated need. It’s not very diverse though, if you care about that. SCU fits your criteria too (I know 2 psychologists who graduated from there); it’s very expensive but they offer a few full tuition and full ride scholarships and generous aid to some students. I think you would have a chance at getting a lot of aid since you bring ethnic and regional diversity. You could apply to claremont mckenna, pomona, pitzer or scripps. They meet demonstrated need and although the schools are small, they are part of the claremont consortium (6 schools). They are near LA. UNC Chapel Hill and University of Virginia are mid sized state schools with good psychology programs and they also meet full demonstrated need. You might not like their locations. Reed college is a selective LAC with psychology, its in porand it meets full demonstrated need, but it’s a lot smaller than you want.
Dunboyne: The only reason I’ve been looking at the larger schools is because those tend to be the most popular and I have no idea where to start in looking for smaller ones, but I would love suggestions! I don’t mind a small school, but I’m not sure about an all girls school.
Irreplaceable: I think I just prefer Boston as a city over New York. Those are gorgeous schools that you mentioned!! Will definitely look into them. Reed is awesome, but I’m afraid that it’s too selective and I might not have a chance
You’ll want U Florida on the list. Check out U Richmond. The women’s colleges Bryn Mawr and Scripps are in consortia with coed schools, so they might be acceptable to you. Occidental is possible. Scripps and Oxy are in CA, though, if that’s ok.
If you think you can improve your SAT as much as you say, that will change your list quite a bit. With URM and high need, you might opt to get a bit more reachy than a student normally would, at least toward the upper end of your list. But have some solid low matches/likelies too, and a good safety.
Assuming you get your scores up, Vandy, Duke and Emory as reaches. Also second U of Richmond. I would look at a few smaller schools too before making a decision. It’s small and not on the coast, but Rhodes might be a good match/safety to consider. Because you have limited funds, you may want to take distance from home and travel costs into consideration.
If you have a chance at Vanderbilt, you’ve got a chance at Reed.
Look into Macalester (urban but nice campus in one of the nicest historical neighborhoods in the Twin Cities). Pomona will consider you like an American applicant even if you’re undocumented (if you’re a citizen, you’re fine everywhere). Look into all the fly-ins, especially for the NESCAC schools - even if they’re not urban, they would offer excellent financial aid. Registration for selection often is in August. In addition, being Questbridge Summer Scholar will help you in finding the LACs that may be interested in you.
For psychology, Clark and its LEAP scholarship.
Barnard and Bryn Mawr are women’s colleges right accross from their partner (formerly men’s, now co-ed) colleges - respectively Columbia and Haverford. Both are urban with really nice campuses. Scripps is in the Claremont Consortium, so the University has about 5,000 students, all in different “colleges”, but the students study together (kind of like the Oxford or Cambridge system with the colleges.)
Both are urban with really nice campuses. Scripps is in the Claremont Consortium, so the University has about 5,000 students, all in different “colleges”, but the students study together (kind of like the Oxford or Cambridge system with the colleges.)