Schools:
University of Michigan- Ann Arbor
Miami University
University of Illinois- Urbana-Champaign
Ohio State University
Boston University
University of Kansas
Resume:
Extracurricular-
JV Tennis (2 years)- Freshman year I was fourth doubles, but at the end of sophomore I was first.
Scholastic Bowl (1 year)
Freshman & JV Softball
Basketball manager (1 year)
Student Council (3 years)-
Vice President of Junior Class
NHS- (2 years)
The Chairman of Service
Over +500 hours of volunteer hour-
consistently work at a local soup kitchen for 3 years
Mentor 8th grade year
Senior year became President
Big Brother/Sister (1 year)
VFW member- (1 year)
Interact Club (3 years)-
Sophomore year was director of publicity
Junior became President
Stepped down Senior year to be volunteer coordinator
ACT- composite-26 (I struggled with chronic migraines w/ clusters during my junior year, I was hospitalized during my journey of taking the act)
Rank- 28 out of 381 students.
GPA- 4.3 weighted on 4.5 scale, 3.98 unweighted
AP classes- APUSH, Ap Lang & Comp, AP Physics,Ap Psych
I am planning on taking AP Calc, AP Spanish.
Honors classes- Biology, Chem, Geometry, Advanced Algebra w/ Trig, Acce Spanish 3, Freshman English. Sophomore English, Pre Calc,
Work Experience- Old NAvy Cashier (1 year) & Intern at a software company (1 year), Law clerk (1 summer), Law intern (1 year)
I have a long line of people in military service.
I have lots of leadership experience being invited to RYLA, MLI, and National Student Leadership Conference being able to go to Yale and learn the leadership required of lawyers.
I am the only one paying for my college, so I must figure out if these schools are only a dream since the cost is extreme. My dad (the main bread winner) lost his job for 2 years during my high school career.
I don’t know about University of Kansas at all…but for the rest of these schools, your 26 ACT score would make acceptance NOT a slam dunk.
If you are talking about need based aid, it is impossible to answer your question about financial,aid…because we don’t know your family finances.
I see from another thread that you are instate for Illinois. I’ll stick my neck out and say that I don’t think you will get substantial merit or need based aid at any of the schools on your list. None meet full need for all accepted students.
In terms of need based aid, the only one on this list that meets full need is University of Michigan…and that guarantee is for instate students only.
Are you planning to retake the ACT? Can you or did you take the SAT?
Have you considered any of the other public universities in Illinois which might be less costly than UIUC?
OOS public are usually not affordable. UIUC may be a better bet as it is in state.
UIUC is, unfortunately, one of the more expensive schools for in-state students.
UIUC won’t work, but another Illinois public might. ISU, for example, has a total cost of $28,000 for instate, and your ACT score would make you eligible for a $6,000 per year scholarship:
http://admissions.illinoisstate.edu/freshman/cost/scholarships/us.php
A good program to know about is Midwest Tuition Exchange, where you’ll get a discount at other state’s publics, and a few privates. This usually does not include the flagships, but the University of Kansas is an exception:
http://admissions.ku.edu/cs#NonresidentFreshmen
so you could get $10,000 per year off an approximately $32,000 COA.
At the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, your costs would be under $20,000 per year:
http://www.uwsp.edu/admissions/Pages/Affordability/default.aspx
These are just examples; there are many more. The Midwest Tuition Exchange site is here:
http://msep.mhec.org/
Are you planning to retake the ACT? A higher score would give you more merit aid options.
Another avenue to investigate, if you’d consider liberal arts colleges, is the Colleges That Change Lives group: http://www.ctcl.org/ Some of these schools have generous need-based aid, some are test-optional, which could help if you don’t raise you ACT, since that’s a weakness compared to the rest of your profile, which is impressive. They are also places where having a compelling personal story can make a difference.
What do the net price calculators say? You realistically need a net price of about $10,000 or less to be able to self-fund using a federal direct loan and some work earnings (lower net price is better so that you are not stretched to the financial limit, of course).
3.98 HS GPA and 26 ACT will get you a full ride at Prairie View A&M and Alabama State, according to http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/ .
If you get a higher ACT or SAT score, more automatic full rides will become available:
29 ACT or 1300 SAT CR+M: Tuskegee
29 ACT or 1900 SAT CR+M+W: North Carolina Central
30 ACT: Arkansas - Monticello
32 ACT or 1400 SAT CR+M: Howard, Louisiana Tech
32 ACT or 1420 SAT CR+M: Troy
Well I have taken the ACT 6 times, and always gotten a 26. I do not think I will be able to raise it. For almost all the colleges it is under 20,000 for my net price calculator except for U-M which is 30,000. I am going hard on scholarships but it is not a guarantee. My parents said that they will try to help me with paying for college but they can’t guarantee anything thing since they don’t know what there financial situation is. I was thinking about taking the SAT but I have an intense anxiety so I normally have to take Xanax before a test of ACT importance. I’m afraid of the SAT since if you get an answer wrong it goes against you.
I just really want a good college town
There are about 3000 colleges in this country. The vast majority of the four year residential colleges have good college towns.
The new SAT doesn’t take off points for incorrect answers.
Also, with the “old” SAT, the guessing penalty means that the expected value of random guessing is the same as leaving it blank (i.e. zero), but the expected value of guessing if you eliminate even one answer as incorrect is positive.