Help Me With My College List!

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hello, I need to finalize my college list soon and I wanted some help both with double-checking my chances of getting in and possibly adjusting the list for better fits. </p>

<p>Reach:
Stanford
Pomona
Duke
WUSTL
CMU</p>

<p>Target:
JHU
Rice
USC
UIUC
Cal Poly SLO</p>

<p>Safety:
University of Washington
BU
Loyola-Marymount
SCU
SD State</p>

<ul>
<li>all UCs except for Merced</li>
</ul>

<p>Stats:
CA Resident
Unweighted GPA 3.94 (2 Bs freshman year in non-core classes, straight As since)
6 APs, 3 honors, 5s on all AP tests taken so far (3)
SAT I 2350 (750 m, 800 cr, 800 wr)
SAT II Math 2 800, Biology 790</p>

<p>200-300 community service hours
member of various clubs, including NHS
NMSF, currently applying for Finalist </p>

<p>Considerations:
Ideally, the type of college I would want to go to would be a medium to large sized university, close to or within a big city with access to culture and entertainment, and preferably near the coast (but not important). I'm from California so I'm very used to mild, warm weather, not sure how I would fare elsewhere. I like being around lots of people but one of the worries I have with UCs is a lack of guidance/counseling and personal interactions with the faculty, which I would see more of at a private university.
As for majors/areas of study, I'm vacillating between going on a pre-med track and doing some sort of engineering (chemE or CS/CE), so ideally the school would be strong in both and have enough flexibility for me to explore and switch majors if necessary.
My family is relatively well off and can probably support me up to 40ishk per year, including room and board, but I am definitely interested in any scholarships or grants and would consider passing up on a more selective or prestigious college if the price difference is significant. (ps for USC, do they give out half tuition for NMSF or NMF only?)</p>

<p>So does anyone have any suggestions for me? Have I categorized them appropriately? Which ones should I cut out/add? Should I consider applying EA to any schools?
Thank you!</p>

2

<p>I think narrowing down of schools is necessary. In particular, OOS publics aren’t likely to give out a huge amount of FA and some you mentioned UIUC aren’t exactly on the coast. The way I narrowed it down when I did my college search is figure out what exactly interested you about each college. Then, if two colleges offered the same thing, pick the one that is better suited and take off the one that fits less. (For instance, NEU and BU were both in Boston. For me, I wanted more of a campus and I enjoyed NEU’s Co-op, so I took of BU. Similarily, when comparing small LACs with strong academics, I took off the ones that were farther away, were not well regarded in my major, or didn’t visit)</p>

<p>Start that way, visit if possible. And if advising/counseling/flexibility is something you are worried about, definitely inquire more when you are on campus or can contact a student/representative.</p>

3

<p>You have a lot of safeties on that list. Are you hoping for significant merit aid at some of them?
Is SLO really a match (not a safety?) your stats put you well above the 75%ile.
UIUC is an outlier. Its not near a city, or a coast. The winters are tough in central IL. And unless you are dead set on one of the engineering majors that U of I excels at, there is not reason to pay the OOS tuition and spend 4 years in a cornfield. </p>

4

<p>You have to run the net price calculators. Your parents might make so much money that schools will expect them to pay all costs. You need to know that now if your parents won’t pay $65K/yr, the price of many of these schools. There’s no sense getting into schools that cost more than 40K if your parents won’t pay that. You can only borrow $5500 your first year. </p>

5

<p>I would cut SD State. Although I’m a fan of the school, your stats are good enough that you don’t need it for a back up. I agree with last poster that you need to examine the financial costs of each school more closely. </p>

<p>You seem to be an excellent fit for a UC, both academically and financially. Visit campuses and gather info quickly so you can decide whether to apply School of Engineering or College of Letters and Sciences. The general rule is it is easier to switch OUT of Engineering than IN.</p>

<p>Visit all the schools you can. For instance, if you get accepted to JHU and UCLA, how will you make an informed decision of where to spend at least four years? </p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

6

<p>If your family can only pay around &40K per year, you shouldn’t use BU or the University of Washington as a safety.</p>

7

<p>I agree, work out the money first. Many of the schools on your list are private colleges that only offer need based aid. Therefore, you need to know how much need based aid you might be eligible to receive. Ask your parents to use the net price calculator for each school to determine your estimated family contribution. If it’s close enough to $40K you can proceed with a wide list. If it’s not, you’ll have to ramp up the merit aid list (or think seriously about how much debt your family is able/willing to absorb).</p>

<p>For most selective schools like Pomona and Stanford you’re going to need to expand and enhance your EC involvement. Is there something special that you like to do while you’re not studying that would help round out your academic achievements?</p>

<p>I would suggest you add Swarthmore which is in a suburb of Philadelphia and offers an engineering option. If you are female, look at Barnard and Wellesley.</p>

8

<p>thank you all for the help! I’ve asked my parents to go check out one of the net price calculators, though they say it’s unlikely that I’ll get very much, if any at all bc we’re around that upper middle class income bracket that tends to not get much aid but also has a hard time paying full tuition. I’m mostly hoping for some sort of merit scholarship to help with the cost.</p>

<p>Yeah, I’m really not that sure of my safety schools, I’ll have to do more research. I know that I have a good shot at getting a merit scholarship at a couple of my target schools though. </p>

<p>I think I might cut out Loyola Marymount bc it isn’t strong enough in the physical sciences/engineering, and same with WUSTL and Pomona in my reaches (though I do like the schools in many other factors) bc I need the school to be strong in both my possible areas of study. And definitely UIUC, I mostly just included it on my list for consideration because many of my friends are applying there. </p>

<p>CassidyBoulder, I’ve visited all the higher-ranked and they looked great! I’m definitely going to apply to the school of engineering for the vast majority of them, because like you said it’s easier to transfer out, but for UCB I’m not sure bc a) I’ve heard about how notoriously hard their engineering programs are and b) they offer a CS major in their college of letters and science. I don’t think it’ll be possible for me to visit many of the other schools on my list before applying though, if I haven’t already. </p>

<p>AnnieBeats, thank you, I’ll look more into the costs of those schools.</p>

<p>momrath, thank you! I’ll have a better reply once my parents go through the net price calculators. If that doesn’t work out, do you have any suggestions for schools that give out more merit aid (maybe case western? but that’s in ohio :neutral_face: )?
I think it’s probably a little too late to try for any significant boost in ECs, but I do volunteer regularly with AYSO VIP Soccer and other programs for children with physical/mental disabilities bc my brother has autism and he’s a part of many of these programs.
Thank you, I’ll look into those schools, though I should probably be more focused on cutting down my reaches (and yes, I am a girl!)</p>

9

<p>OP, I’ve been in that bracket of which you speak, and usually the only merit that matters in that salary class is full tuition. The merit awards less than full tuition usually go to pay off student loans and grant aid before paying down on the Expected Family Contribution. I don’t see the match schools on your list that give many full tuition scholarships. Perhaps USC is your best bet. You’ve got the scores, but these things are a crapshoot.</p>

<p>You might want to include some schools that offer more full tuition scholarships, like Vandy, Arizona, Alabama, and WashU; and/or lower costs of attendance and many full and lesser tuition scholarships like Pitt; and/or schools with fewer applicants for many full tuition scholarships like Richmond and Washington and Lee. You might also consider Lehigh, which has fewer full tuition awards but less competition for someone with your scores. </p>

10

<p>@jkeil911‌
WashU’s already on my list! But Arizona and Alabama aren’t really in places that I want to live in. I was considering Vanderbilt for a while but my school’s only had 2 people go in recent years and both transferred out because of they felt ostracized on campus so it’s probably not the place for me. I’ll look at the other schools though, thank you.</p>

<p>My mom ran the Duke net price calculator with our current financial standing and it turns out I would get no money at all. The main problem is that for me to go to the school I’m in right now, my parents have had to live in an area they can’t afford to buy a house in. They have a pretty large sum of money saved up that still isn’t enough for the down payment without taking out massive loans. They’re looking right now though, and if they do buy one I can get around an 18k financial aid package (that’s including loans and student work), so I suppose I could get similar amounts of aid at the other schools, which would help bring many of them into the more affordable range for my family.</p>

11

<p>yeah, OP, don’t count on getting “similar amounts.” Each school is different. I still think your best bet is scoring a full tuition scholarship. I think the chances are good at Southern Cal, for instance.</p>

<p>Are you URM, OP? </p>

12

<p>University of Washington is not a safety for computer science, even if you can afford it. Getting directly admitted to the major is very difficult, and entering the major later requires getting a very high college GPA.</p>

<p>Use the net price calculator for each school; do not assume that one school’s result will be similar to that of other schools.</p>

<p>If you make NMF, you may want to look at this list: <a href=“http://nmfscholarships.yolasite.com/”>http://nmfscholarships.yolasite.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

13

<p>@jkeil911 I’m Chinese American, so I guess you could say I’m an overrepresented minority… </p>

<p>@ucbalumnus Thanks, I’ll look do some more research on that school. And thanks for the link!</p>

14

<p>If you stick with your plans for pre-med, consider an easier major than ChemE or any engineering. What you need for med school is a high GPA. Just sayin’. </p>

15

<p>I think you should give the University of Alabama a second look. You may have some preconceptions of the south, as many people who have not been there seem to be worried about things that haven’t been that way for decades. The UA campus is large, with 35,000 students. Over 50% of the students are OOS, so it is much more diverse than most state flagship schools. The weather is warm (putting it mildly), and you’re a couple hours drive to the Gulf of Mexico. </p>

<p>You mentioned you want to have more personal attention form faculty and staff, and this is where UA really shines. Most everyone who have been in contact with the school remark on how much attention they received in their communications they had with school personnel on any questions they had. With your scores and your NMSF status, you are guaranteed at least for the full four year tuition. If and when you get NMF status, you will get the five year tuition plus the housing for a year deal. If you enroll in the engineering school, you will get an additional $2500/year stipend on top of the other scholarships. The engineering school is ABET accredited and the Chem E department is very strong. </p>

<p>If you’re worried that there are not many other Asians Americans at UA, I find that’s not really a problem. The current AA population at UA is 2%, which is much smaller than you will find at the UCs or other top schools. But my Chinese American son (also NMF) has had no problem fitting in so far.</p>

<p>If you are set on going to Med School, it’s always a good idea to save up for that as opposed to spending it all on your undergrad education. Going to UA will allow you to do that and still get a quality education at a top 100 university. </p>