HS Senior looking for advice

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I have questions on a few different topics including major, narrowing down my list, mix of schools, and EA selection. But I'm going to start off with stats first.
GPA: 3.67 UW(upward trend), no weighting, could be ~3.71 after this trimester(most likely)
ACT: 34 Composite(30E, 34M, 34R, 36S), retaking to try to get 36 because i can.
SAT:1850(680CR, 670M, 500W) not reporting, retaking for NA
SAT Subjects: Math 1 + 2, 730 each, 630 bio, retaking, hopefully like 800 math, 700 chem and bio.
Race: African-American, white, generally checking just AA
Rank: School does not rank.
AP: World(5), Gov(5), Bio(4)
Senior course load: AP: Physics, BC, Stat, USH, Lit, Lang, Macro, Micro. Non AP: Band, Newspaper.
Awards: AP Scholar, probably National Achievement Semi Finalist
ECs: To many to list, pretty substantial in my opinion, i can go into detail but trust me.
State: Iowa
Gender: Male
School: Large Public
Income Bracket:~150k</p>

<h2>Intended major: ChemE, Econ, Finance, more later</h2>

<p>List and why applying:
Reaches: mostly in order of prefrence
Harvard, Great FA, Prestige, Boston<br>
Dartmouth, soo pretty, ski resorts near by, undergrad focus, dream school, not as good FA
Stanford, near silicon valley, amazing campus, visited
Princeton, arguably better FA than Harvard, undergrad focus
UChicago, merit $$(even tho probably not going to get any), ECON, close to home, visited
CalTech: Cali, small tech school, visited
MIT: boston, larger tech school than caltech, undergrad research opps, nerds
Columbia: NYC, Engineering, but really idk why
Cornell: IRL, Skiing, engineering but maybe a bit large and TA's<
Matches:
USC: Other dream school, cali, engineering, Marshall, merit money, skiing, just love this school, visited
URochester: skiing, good merit and need, both my majors,
UMich: really idk, fishing for merit
Colorado school of mines: little merit, great starting salaries, skiing, visited not that impressed tho. Free app
Purdue: pretty cheap, parents like it, near family, well respected
Case Western: looking for merit really(free application)
University of Washington: love the school, expensive, skiing, no merit
Hillsdale: mom wants me to apply, free app
Whitman: LAC, Merit looking, outdoors
Safeties:
University of Utah, skiing, other outdoor things, great campus, cheap, merit money, but not so highly ranked.
Bentley: really like there business programs, but nothing else there, boston
Cal poly: cali, cheap, engineering but basically 5 years to graduate for everyone
Alabama: best package out there guaranteed with NA, could double major and get my mba in 5 years for basically free<br>
ISU: in state safety, like the school, merit, already been accepted haven't found out about money yet.
Questions:
I have a wide variety of interests and am not sure what i want to major in. I'm really good at math and science generally and engineering seems like a good focus, it has creativity, critical thinking all sorts of good skills, but it is a rigid major that is hard to combine with anything else. Finance appeals to me, math, money, business skills. Can then go into ibanking ect but that is all about prestige and i imagine it is pretty hard to make it to wall street with a finance degree from like Iowa State or Utah or Alabama. I also feel that an undergrad business degree is pretty useless. I'm heavily involved in politics: campaigning, policy, journalism, all of it(huge part of my EC's). But poli sci is definitely useless. But i do want to end up in this field at some point. Economics seems like a good mix especially at some of the top schools but it lacks the technical skills and the direct business skills.
What do you think i should major in?</p>

<p>My next question is which schools do you think i should remove?
My Parents want me to apply to only 10 schools, but i have 23 on the list. Three of them are free apps(case, mines, hillsdale) so they don't count under the 10. But my income is pretty high (~150k) and my parents only have 100k (+30K fed loans, maybe some other schoolarships) saved up so I'm looking for some need aid at the top schools and merit everywhere else. </p>

<p>Do you think this list is too reach heavy?</p>

<p>Should apply SCEA at hardvard princeton or stanford? with waiting for everyone else with my first term grades. Or should i combine EA from caltech, mit, case, Bentley, uchicago, hillsdale?</p>

<p>Not a chance thread but should i even bother with some of my reaches due to my GPA?</p>

<p>Also does anyone know if any of these schools recalculate GPA with out freshman year?</p>

<p>Thanks,</p>

2

<p>Your ACT is very good. Your GPA is good for many schools but may disqualify you from some of your reaches. Also your SAT subject tests, while good, are not Cal Tech territory.</p>

<p>I think your reach list is (slightly) reach-heavy. Also, SLO is not a safety. More like a match. </p>

<p>All CA state schools use only the sophomore and junior year grades for admission.</p>

<p>With your lack of certainty about a major, how about taking the more stem-focused schools off the list, to give you more flexibility? Remove Cal Tech, MIT, Colorado School of Mines. Also remove the ones you just put on the list to have on the list(e.g, Columbia, UMich). Keep USC, Purdue, ISU, Whitman, other ones you love.</p>

3

<p>I would clarify your financial position first. You don’t want your parents to take out $150,000 in loans, so you’ll have to nail some substantial aid either need based aid or merit aid. Have your parents used some the colleges’ financial aid calculators to determine how much need based aid you might be eligible for. With an income of $150,000 you’re really out of the guaranteed big need package range, although circumstances are variable.</p>

<p>If you decide against going directly into engineering, you should consider some academically rigorous LACs. As a high achieving African American you would be a person of interest to many LACs, especially those that actively recruit non-Whites. I would look at Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore, Pomona, Hamilton, Bowdoin, Grinnell. Swarthmore actually does have an engineering program. Williams offers good access to winter sports.</p>

<p>As for your major, I think you should step back a bit and leave your options open. A good liberal arts education – whether you major in economics, political science or something completely different – will prepare you for just about any non-professional career. The top schools – small, medium and large – have excellent entrees to excellent graduate programs. What’s important is how you build your resume during your undergraduate years with summer jobs and internships, alumni/ae connections, professor relationships.</p>

4

<p>I do think your list is reach heavy and you’ve chosen some for kind of ridiculous reasons - for example: Harvard - good FA, prestige and Boston. Sorry, not worth the application fee and such a long shot. Maybe Dartmouth, Columbia, and Cornell are more reasonable reaches. A reach should be possibly attainable not a strike by lightening possibility, and two or three are more than enough. </p>

<p>I also agree with Calla1 that the more engineering focused schools might be a bit too narrow for you right now. </p>

<p>You do have two things going for you - you’re from Iowa (geographic diversity), and you’re AA. Good luck!</p>

5

<p>I’m curious why you say Purdue is pretty cheap. As a non-resident you would pay $42K/year.</p>

6

<p>A few comments, just from my personal experience:
UChicago - good luck getting good merit aid, but you may get decent need-based. They do give it to higher incomes, but it will depend on assets, home value, etc. in addition to income</p>

<p>Case Western - There again, I am not aware of them being very generous on merit, but maybe I am wrong</p>

<p>URochester - Very good merit and need-based and seems like a pretty good fit for you, you will wait a long time to here about your financial package though, even if you apply early</p>

7

<p>Which Cal Poly? SLO does not have chemical engineering. Pomona does. Pomona also has a four year graduation pledge, where you agree to follow your major’s course plan, not change majors, and not need remedial courses, and they will facilitate registering for courses to graduate in four years: [Graduation</a> Pledge | Academic Programs | Cal Poly Pomona](<a href=“http://www.csupomona.edu/~academic/programs/grad_pledge/index.shtml]Graduation”>http://www.csupomona.edu/~academic/programs/grad_pledge/index.shtml) . However, Pomona is widely considered to be more of a commuter school and is not as well known as SLO.</p>

<p>Regarding GPA calculation, all California publics (including the Cal Polys) recalculate GPA without 9th grade course grades (although 9th grade course grades need to be C or higher for the courses to count as courses taken).</p>

8

<p>@erinsdad
$42k x 4 years is $164k a year, much closer to $127k than say Dartmouth at $63 which is 252 total in four years with out tuition increases. and if i get any scholarships…</p>

<p>@amtc At least to me I feel like they are worth it. I may not get in but if i do i might be able to afford them. But if i apply to Cornell it is more likely i will get in but i probably wont get enough aid to go.</p>

<p>@UCBalumnus SLO, i did not realize that. The GPA recalculation was why i was considering it a safety With out freshman year i have a 3.91.</p>

<p>@monrath The financial situation is just that, parents combined make about 150k per year. There is 102 thousand in my college fund. I’m sure they could contribute out of pocket but not more than a few thousand per year. But take for example i just ran the npc at princeton and it said an EFC of 31000 which is affordable.</p>

9

<p>Maybe I’m not acting rational but do I really not have a chance at some if these schools (HPSMC)?</p>

10

<p>Life is made up of odds - so to answer your question - the odds are very slim and not worth it! You asked to shorten your list and then you’re fighting us, we’re giving suggestions, what you do with those suggestions is up to you.</p>