I don't have a Counselor, need help

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Chance-Me to these schools:
UVirginia —ED
UNC-Ch —EA
UT-Austin—RD
UFlorida—EA
UIUC—EA
VirginiaTech—EA
Purdue—EA

Intended Major:
Aerospace engineering (would change mostly)

Is high school competitive or a feeder school:
Semi-Competitive

Demographics
US Citizen, currently in India.

Race:
Asian?

First Gen or URM (Y/N): N

Income (optional):
~40k (looking for financial aid and scholarship)

Stats

GPA (UW/W): UW- 3.9// Percentage- 95.7

Ranking and Course Rigor:
Class rank 3/28
Course- State syllabus which is pretty exhausting.
Subjects: Math, Physics, Chemistry, English, Sanskrit

SAT/ACT w/ Section Scores:
SAT I - 1370 M760 E610 (writing again this Oct and expecting a 1450+)

SAT Subjects: Math L2 - 790, Physics and Chemistry this November (750+ on both hopefully)

AP/IB Scores:
AP Calc BC - 5
AP Mech C - 5
Writing E&M, Stats and Micro next May

TOEFL iBT- 105/120

Extracurriculars w/ very brief description

1.) Started a project with my friend to help and assist the special and disabled children. After studying them closely and researching we created few products for them and will be posting a blog about it very soon. (60-70 hours)

2.) Co-Founder for the AstroClub Hyderabad. Affiliated with a renowned science museum and an Astrophysicist professor to guide us.

3.) Captain of the school soccer team for 2 years.

4.) Captain of the basketball school team for 1 year. (Although we not allowed to play for any tournaments, had many friendly matches with other schools)

5.) Member of the student council in high school.

6.) Volunteered at the state’s municipal corporation for a week and our team tried our best to make a difference in the living conditions around the cities.

7.) Volunteered at different orphanages (doesn’t actually matter for the application since all of us have done this in some way or the other)

Awards/Honors w/ level of recognition (Regional, State, National, International)

1.) National 2nd for the Student of The Year Award. Competed with 120,000 students and cleared 3 rounds for the final interview.

2.) Represented my school for the Science and Math Talent Examination and cleared the 2nd round.

Subjective

Essays (out of 10) and additional info about them:
Haven’t started them yet, but will give my best and hopefully a 8,9?

Letters of Recommendation (out of 10) and additional info about them: English, Physics, Math teachers.
8/10

Anything else to know about you:
Be brutally honest and let me know how I can improve my chances.
Also, I’ll be looking for residency for the particular state to get in-state tuition fees.
Thank you :slight_smile:

2

OP- you don’t get to “look for” residency to get instate rates. Instate rates are for families who live and work in the state and have been paying taxes all these years to support the public university.

3

I don’t think you can afford to attend these schools. Your chance of admission to UT is very low.

I think you need to look for schools that aren’t so highly ranked where you might receive a merit scholarship.

4

A very important part of your application is your GC recommendation. How can you not have one? How are kids from your high school getting into college?

What is your state flagship school? What scholarships does it offer? What financial aid guarantees does it make ? As @blossom said, you have your state residency where your parents live, work, pay taxes .

How much can your parents pay? Have you run NPCs for the schools on your list? Use the ones on their own website. Do your parents own a business? Are there step parents involved, a divorce? Are you a US citizen or permanent resident?

5

@cptofthehouse , the OP lives in India but is a US citizen.

OP, are you a high school senior now, getting ready to apply? AP tests taken as a senior will not help your app. You can’t list tests you plan to take after applying to college. Your SAT is too low for most of those schools. You need a new list. Yes, you’re a US citizen, but I don’t think you will get in state tuition at any public U because you aren’t a resident of that state. If that is your plan, you will need to take a gap year and live in-state for 12 months to establish residency.

Try looking at private universities or liberal arts colleges that might give good aid.

6

The schools you listed are all very competitive for engineering and don’t give a lot of money to out of state students. I agree with Linda that you need to rethink your list if you need financial aid/scholarships.

Also note, that it is very difficult to establish residency for education purposes. Sometimes it is 24 months of living in state, working, and paying taxes, and you can’t be taking courses at the same time. Each state has different criteria.

7

Do you have any family or friends who you could live with in the US? That might take the cost of attendance down a bit. If you do have someone you could live with while you get yourself settled, check the specific residency policies at the community college that serves that area and the public universities in that state. Some community colleges consider students in-district for local tuition rates after as little as three months of local residency, however they also normally will require proof that you have provided more than half of your own living expenses for the preceding 12 months.

In the past, the University of Utah at Provo and the University of Missouri at Columbia had systems in place to allow students to establish in-state residence on their own. I do not know if those policies still exist, but it would be worth investigating both of them.

You do not have to major in aerospace engineering to work in that industry. If you change your goal to mechanical engineering you will have a lot more potentially affordable options.

8

You need to check the policies at each state school you are considering because residency for in state tuition can vary widely. Even two schools in the same state can have different conditions. In my experience, state flagships tend to go by the residency of the parents if the student is an undergraduate under age 24. If your parents live overseas and are not paying state income taxes, then you are out of luck even if you come to the US and live with a family forva year. But, yes, this varies by individual school policy.

9

Your stats are below the 50% average for UF. The COA for out of state is approx. $43,000.

10

My family can pay upto 50k but I want to get it down as much as possible

11

@cptofthehouse @happymomof1 @momofsenior1 @Lindagaf @txstella
So I think I could not convey the message about my instate residency thingi. My family is ready to lay the first year tuition fees and from 2nd year onwards I’ll try to get instate residency. Apart from that, I’m a rising senior and I’m pretty sure my SAT will go up by a 100 points for sure. Also, are my EC’s sufficient?

12

OP- there are only a handful of states which would even consider you for residency after freshman year and I don’t believe that ANY of the colleges you listed are in those states. The colleges you listed- you can only get residency by moving there, supporting yourself and THEN after whatever period the state deems appropriate, becoming a resident. Moving to Virginia or Illinois to attend college does not mean you will get instate residency for sophomore or junior year. You don’t seem to be accepting this basic fact.

And if I had a dollar for every kid on CC who thinks their SAT score is going up 100 points… But that still won’t change the fact that you won’t have residency at any of these places.

13

Please take the time to do more homework. In most states, that’s not how residency works. Again, you can’t be a student to meet the residency requirements in many states so the two years of school won’t count. Your parents need to be residents and be paying taxes in many states to qualify for residency.

Your ECs are fine.

You need to get your SAT up and need affordable safety schools.

14

I don’t think YOU will able to establish instate residency in most state is a huge problem. Your parents have to do so. You may find that rare state and school that will allow you as a student to establish in state residency once here, but if that’s the plan, you have to stick to those schools and you had better start researching them.

The other issue here is what your parents can afford on $40k a year income. You say they can pay full freight for the first year? You realize what the full cost for out of state tuition is for the schools you have listed, not to mention room and board, Books and supplies, travel, health insurance ( required in many schools these days), living expenses including personal stuff)?

University of Alabama Huntsville is a directional state university that I think you’d not only gain admissions but get merit money. Their estimated Cost of Attendance for this year is about $27, 500 for instate students. Add another $10k for OOS. You can get a scholarship for about 45% of the tuition with current test scores. Full tuition awards if you get your SAT scores up to 1390 and you can get a full tuition award. That still leaves the fees, living expenses including room and board, school supplies and travel.

The schools you have listed are going to be challenging for you to gain acceptance, let alone any scholarships. UT-Austin is a lottery ticket for engineering for anyone. UVA, UNC-CH, UIUC, the same. You might gain admissions to VTech , Purdue but I doubt they’ll give you a dime.

Don’t take my word on it. Go on ahead and apply to these schools early so you get early notice of your status. Also apply to some schools like Minot State, Alabama Huntsville, look at the thread on schools that run under $15-20k http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/2154537-where-to-get-a-15k-20k-net-cost-when-students-have-1000-sat-and-3-0-gpa-besides-a-cc.html#latest.
That way you’ll have some safety schools in place as you decide how to proceed. Look at the rules very carefully for those state schools where residency matters.

If you should get into any of the schools on your list as you have above, then you can see how your parents can pay for them. You’ll also have these safeties with their price tags. You can then see what steps to take for RD season.

15

@cptofthehouse thanks for the elaborate answer. But I took many things into consideration while making my list. As we live in india, the cost of living here is very low compared to US, so even if the annual fees are 50k for 4 years, my dad told me that we can manage. And by any chance my SAT goes up, I’ll feel more confident with these schools. Nevertheless I do have safeties like Pennstate, collegePark. My main concern was with my EC’s.
Also, I’ll be getting FAFSA and I’ve read that UVA does give financial aid to most of their US students. And about the in-state residency, I see your point. All I can do now is hope.for the best.

16

Two states where you can establish residency are Missouri and Utah. Once you start to establish residency, you have to stay in the state almost all the time so no trips home to India. But look into it.

Penn State is no safety, and it is very expensive.

17

If your family’s income is $40k/year how can they pay $50k/year for college? I wouldn’t wipe out their savings or borrow $200k for undergrad.

18

OP, you want people to be honest with you, and they are. PSU isn’t a safety, and they are not going to give you a penny. It will cost you $50k a year. Your stats are not going to get you into UVA. Even if your SAT goes up 100 points, it’s a high reach and very unlikely. Your list is not realistic.

You shouldn’t hope for the best before first making a new list. Go to the College Search and Selection forum and make a new post, asking for suggestions based on your current GPA and test scores, along with financial constraints that are based on the actual amount of money your parents can pay each year.

19

You need a new list. I doubt you will get accepted to UVA ED…and if you do you need to determine if it is affordable. Have you used the NPC? It does meet full need for all US citizens.

UNC also meets full need for all US citizens. Use the NPC and see if it is affordable. This school is also a very high reach, and it does not have your intended major. UNC only has biomedical engineering…that’s it. UNC is NOT an engineering school. NC State would be the better school for you, and it does have some big merit awards for you to research (I imagine these awards are quite competitive).

You have too many reachy schools on this list, especially for engineering. You need a more realistic list, both academically and financially. Penn State is not a safety for you.

20

FAFSA doesn’t “give” you anything. It is simply an application form to determine eligibility for student financial aid. How long have you and your parents lived overseas? Are they also US citizens? Have they been paying taxes in the US?