I am wondering if people could help me narrow down my college list and possibly add schools to it.
I have a 35 ACT (Suprescore, 34 without it) and a 1510 SAT. Weighted GPA is a 4.74 and unweighted GPA is a 3.92.
Will finish high school with 14 AP classes with 4’s and 5’s on the ones that I have taken so far.
EC’s are: volunteering (over 265 hours so have an award from the state), Math Honor Society Vice president, CAD Club President, intern for a political campaign this summer, have a public health internship during the school year, HOSA, Sources of Strength
I am planning on majoring in Finance/Econ and possibly in mathematics and would prefer to be on the east coast.
My college list so far is:
UMD - College Park
George Washington
Georgetown
Johns Hopkins
Emory
Duke
Vanderbilt
UNC
UChicago
NYU
Northeastern
Boston College
Boston University
Harvard
UPenn
Cornell
I was also thinking about Washington and Lee because I want to get as many scholarships as possible.
How much can your parents pay annually? Will you qualify for need based aid?
Georgetown, Harvard, UPenn and Cornell give zero $ in merit aid. Their aid is all need based.
Hopkins too…I believe.
BC might have a couple of very highly competitive scholarships. Same with University of Chicago.
NONE of the colleges on your list give guaranteed merit aid based on your stats….and any merit that very top heavy (except UMD…and maybe BU) list might give will be very very highly competitive.
The amount of merit aid isn’t as important as what your net costs will be to attend.
Are your parents divorced? Are they self employed or do they own a business? Do they own real estate other than your primary residence? If NO to all those questions…run the Net Price Calculators on each college website to see your net cost…and find out what net cost is affordable for your parents.
How much can your family afford without loans? What schools with merit have you researched? How much can your guidance counselor help? Do you want to stay in a particular area?
Your parents CAN pay $20,000 a year…but that wasn’t my question. Some people with high incomes can only pay that amount…but that doesn’t mean they will qualify for more in aid. The colleges will calculate your need based aid based on your parent income and assets.
I would suggest you run the net price calculators for the colleges that interest you…unless you answered YES to any of my questions above. Look at the net costs the NPCs give you. Are they $20,000 or less?
Based on the college calculator, my expected family contribution is generally between 20 to 30K and the school would give the difference in need-based scholarships.
Not George Washington or NYU. They don’t guarantee to meet full need for all accepted students.
And some of the schools on your list will package the Direct Loan into your financial aid package as well. Some might also include work study as a portion of your need based aid. It won’t necessarily be all scholarships.
You are a very well qualified student…but so are most who are applying to the colleges on your list. I think you have an excellent chance of acceptance someplaces on that list. Will you get enough need based aid to attend? At some, probably. Some of those schools have deeper pockets than others.
If you are happy with UMD if the others don’t work out financially or whatever, then apply to the schools on your list. For those competitive scholarships…just be prepared to do a great job on the scholarship applications and essays.
As an FYI, I don’t believe BU gives any full free ride merit awards. I believe their highest merit award is the Trustee which is full tuition.
If BU is affordable per the NPC that’s one match — you will need 2-3 more. Researching affordable targets should be your priority right now. The reaches should be pared way, way down. Any that are not affordable should be cut.
You need to revisit your list - as others have said.
If you want to meet need (and every school sees need differently), you need to apply to schools on this list.
Now, if you want a full tuition scholarship - yes, there’s W&L.
So while you have a fantastic portfolio (congrats), you are applying to schools where everyone attending is fantastic and for that reason, your odds are slim. What you need to do - to get more money - is to apply to schools where you exceed the student body. For example, Alabama, Arizona, Florida State, Ms. State, UAH etc. will all be dirt cheap for you - well maybe $20K-ish. This is the gift you bring your parents - your grades get them paid. Someone mentioned U of SC (great Honors), College of Charleston (Fellows), and Miami of Ohio could also become affordable.
Frankly, UMD is the no brainer - and I’d remove schools that don’t meet 100% of need - NYU and GW as well as UNC - because it’s impossible out of state.
I wish you luck - but you are way overreaching- not because you’re not worthy (you are) but because you don’t stand out. Schools like Florida State, that are on the way up, will spend to get someone like you. Their tuition for you will be $7K, etc. with room and board another $12-14K.
For the schools you say meet need, you want to make sure they are blind (not aware) - so they don’t factor your aid into their admission decision. And you want to hit some of the lesser schools - the Franklin & Marshall, Dennison, Trinity - that you know you’ll get into.