Help me narrow down my college list!

Stats:

11th grade Cumulative unweighted GPA: 3.9
By senior year I’ll have taken 6 APs, 4 Honors, and 2 community college courses
Ranked ~12% in my class, a little less than 500 kids
I hold 4 leadership positions
Residence: Michigan
Income: 100k+
April new SAT: 1170
ACT: 25 without studying, but my practice tests have been around 28 so I’m shooting for a 28 for my June ACT, and hopefully a 30+ for September ACT

I’m planning on majoring in Neuroscience, psychology, or international studies.

I’m currently looking at:
University of Michigan (dream school)
Michigan State (runner-up dream school)
Central Michigan (safety)
UM Dearborn (safety)
Grand Valley State (safety)
UIUC
Purdue
University of Maryland (maybe)
Boston university (maybe)
American university (maybe)

Not sure if this is a good list. I don’t necessarily want a “top ranked” school, but I want a school that people have heard of (in other words, no small liberal arts colleges), and preferably one with 20k+ students. I’d also like a school with a liberal atmosphere, somewhere in the northeast or eastern edge of the Midwest.

I’d also love a school that gives merit aid and is good about giving scholarships because my parents won’t pay for me to go out of state, so if I choose an OOS school, I want to have some way to pay for it.

It’s hard to tell which ones I can get into because I don’t officially know if I can get into most of the schools on my list without my June ACT, which is why I’m trying to find more match schools that accept ACTs in the 25-30 range. If you know of any schools, please tell me a little bit about them! (i.e. The overall atmosphere of the school, level of difficulty, things to do off campus, etc)

Any information is greatly appreciated!

Bump

Are you saying that your parents won’t pay anything at all if you go to school OOS? Your GPA is good but your test scores aren’t what they’d need to be for a full ride and you can only borrow a limited amount on your own. You have some great in-state choices, so I think you’d be smart to devote your energy to studying for the upcoming ACT and not channel energy toward pursuing OOS options.

Bump

  1. Repost after you get updated standardized test scores. Right now your standardized test scores make many schools on your list a reach.
  2. Answer the question posed to you (see post #2) if you want better responses.