The University of Massachusetts/Amherst has always been diverse. Especially economically. If you like a city it’s a school filled with city kids. Weekends in Boston, NYC with local experts (your friends) is a blast.
SUNY Buffalo is diverse…have you heard back from them yet? It’s also close to a city. UMass sounds like a school that would be a good fit for you.
OP if you aren’t happy with your choices I suggest you take a gap year and volunteer etc. You will have a chance to craft a new list that is more aligned with your interests.
I applied to SUNY AT Buffalo and I got in. It was my fifth choice at the time, I’ll do more research on it. I’m not sure if we are referring to the same SUNY though because they are different schools. @twogirls
I am referring to SUNY Buffalo…UB. I am not talking about Buffalo State. It’s a diverse school, close to a city, wide variety of majors etc.
@twogirls Wow thanks for pointing that out, I actually didn’t realize how diverse it was. I’m going to research it more. As of now, it’s maybe 7 on my list but my list keeps changing.
Check and see if it’s SUNY Buffalo or Buffalo State. Both are diverse but SUNY Buffalo would be the “prestigious” one. It’s especially well-known and recruited for Engineering.
Buffalo State wouldn’t have the prestige you’re after, but the quality of education is decent.
SUNY BUffalo: an average student will have 1225 SAT, a good student will have 1310. 45% will have a GPA 3.75 and above.
Buffalo State: an average student will have about 990 SAT, a good student will have 1070. 7% have a GPA 3.75 and above.
Pitt and Penn State are equally diverse or non diverse: 75% White. The big difference is that Pitt has a higher (11v.7)
percentage of Asian students and a much lower percentage of Hispanic students than Penn State. A major difference is that Pitt is in the middle of a city whereas Penn State is in a college town which itself is in the middle of rolling Pennsylvanian hills/mountains.
I meant that Penn State, the university and its campus, is much bigger than UMass Amherst (40,000 undergrads v. 23,000 undergrads). If you visit both, you’ll notice the difference immediately. Both have a walkable town where you can find anything you might want.
I am definitely referring to SUNY at Buffalo. I wish I knew that before applying to Penn State, I would have applied to Pittsburgh instead of Penn. It is? I thought UMass was known for its massive size, Penn must be hugeeee. @MYOS1634
I’m not sure what would have been gained by applying to more reaches? They’re called reaches because most people will be rejected- and your stats don’t lend to the idea that you’ll have any sort of edge in admissions. What is it exactly that you’re looking for? Diversity in race? SES? Religion? Ideology? Are you looking for something like NYU? UPenn? UCLA? Your post is kind of vague and your attitude is a tad off putting, but I am betting that people here could still guide you in finding good matches- though it may be too late to apply to some for this year. Also, I know you’ve said it, but are you certain that money is of no object? That your family can pay full price (sometimes more than $70k a year) with no financial burden?
@CalinAmry - we’re asking about money because students - you - can only borrow about $5-7,000 a year for undergraduate school. So if a school is more than that (and those will certainly be more than that except maybe SUNYs if you applied for financial aid) there is a gap if your parents aren’t paying.
Or maybe they are planning to pay it all - we’re just checking.
Ok I know you don’t want to go to Temple but maybe you’re making the same mistake in looking at other schools. If the average SAT is around the same as yours (and having already taken it twice it’s a fair reflection of what you can achieve), then of course a bunch of people will be above you. If you were at the upper end then the average would be well below your SAT.
By the way it looks like 25th percentile SAT is 1300 at BU, so it definitely qualifies as a reach for you.
As others have said you already have a couple of good offers in there, you just need to stop being hung up on “prestige”. Good luck with deciding on a college.
@milgymfam I am not trying to put down other schools, I am just saying I would prefer a school that has average stats that are mine or above, at least. I’ve already been accepted into safeties and targets so I don’t have much interest in schools that would be easier to get into. My attitude? Why is it so bad to simply not want to go to schools that are at my stats level and above, I’m not saying that they are equal to intelligence but I want to get into a school around my stats or higher, it just is more comfortable to me. I am trying to respect these schools here but I just don’t have much interest in a lot of them. Edge in admissions? My stats are average or higher in most schools I applied to first of all and second, I have a ton of extracurricular activities, good recommendations, and a great common app essay. With respect, please stop trying to talk down about my stats, those are my stats, I worked hard for them and I want to go to a school around or above them and I don’t see why not wanting to go to schools below those stats is a bad thing.
@OHMomof2 My parents are willing to pay 30k for me, but they say they will pay more if I get into more expensive schools that I like. They say it’s good if they don’t pay for everything because I should have some sort of credit record, which seems fine to me.
@SJ2727 I took both SAT’s very close together and honestly I regret not studying that much for them. I honestly don’t think they reflect hard work, many people are bad at standardized testing. I think GPA is more important because it reflects more consistent hard work while the SAT is mostly memorizing format and one shot things. I think GPA should be viewed far higher than SAT tbh, but who cares, it’s over. Yea, I know it’s a reach, I’ve mentioned that a few times actually. It should be my only true reach, but if anyone else wants to add a real reach that seems to be on my list, just tell me, I would like some extra anxiety.
I know this is college confidential but 1250 is a solid SAT score. I am not amazed by it, I would have preferred a 1400 to be honest, but this is what I get for studying as much as I did, and I went up 100 or so points so give it a break, pls. That’s 82 percentile and is at least average for MOST of the schools I applied to.
OK, great. So you have some affordable choices.
Some of these schools will be more like $70K - BU is one. Penn State is about $50k. Temple will be about $42K.
Not something to be worried about until final costs come in since presumably the SUNYs are at or under $30k. But some of the current list may not be affordable.
1250 is great. It’s basically what my son had. He’s very bright and he had some good college choices. However, they were not super prestigious choices. He didn’t care about that - and neither should you.
Yes, it’s a solid SAT score. And you got into solid colleges, commensurate with that. This is what people are trying to get across to you. The only reason anyone is talking about your SAT score is because you keep on talking about “prestige”. Generally what you presumably think of as “prestigious” colleges expect unhooked applicants to have significantly higher standardized test scores. If it’s just a case of not testing well (it may or may not be, depending on how your school grades) then you would possibly have been better served applying to some test-optional colleges.
@SJ2727 I honestly should have applied to more test optional schools but I wanted more proof I did fine in class. Plus I never considered my GPA that high until doing research. On prep scholar, they mark 3.6 as very competitive and atm I have 3.8 or 3.9 which is even more competitive and I guess I didn’t think I had enough proof to show I could do decent in college??? well too late now.
As for what is or isn’t a competitive GPA, typically your choice of courses (honors? APs? Math through Precalculus or calculus? Foreign Language through level 4 or AP? Bio/chem/physics? Etc) and class rank are factored in. In addition, they mean unweighted, not weighted. So, a 3.7 unweighted with 8 APs and 10 honors classes class rank top 10% would be very competitive. A weighted 3.6 with all regular classes and a top 50% ranking wouldn’t be.
In that sense, you did well picking Penn State over Pitt - Pitt focuses on test scores, Penn State on GPA.
Try and see if your HS library has a book called Fiske Guide. It’ll include descriptions with student experience for most of the universities you’ve been admitted to.
Try to get a more solid answer from your parents about the money. If the real answer is that the limit is 30k, then fine. If the real limit is 45k but only at college/university X, Y, or Z, then you need to know that too. Did you and your parents run any of the Net Price Calculators at the websites of the places you applied to? The NPCs would give you at least ballpark estimates of your likely costs.
Since you mention both wanting a city school and wanting to become fluent in Spanish… MYOS mentioned St. Louis University already, which is in a city in its own right, is a high-match for your stats, and has rolling admissions, so you could still apply. SLU also has a campus in Madrid, and there are a number of majors that allow you to spend your entire first two years there, returning to St. Louis for junior and senior years. (Plus there are some majors that can be completed entirely in Madrid) Just a possibility, in lieu of the gap year in Spain that appeals to you but not to your parents.
https://www.slu.edu/madrid/academics/degrees-and-programs/madrid-st-louis-majors.php
https://www.slu.edu/madrid/academics/degrees-and-programs/index.php
TBH, it sounds as if you are panicking and writing off the schools you’ve been accepted to, rather than looking more closely at them to give them a real chance to win you over. I’m pretty sure that you will find at least one good option on your current list if you approach further research with an open mind.