<p>Hey. I'm an African American female from Detroit, Mi.
I already have my list of schools, including a safety and financial safety and I can afford to risk applying to two or three very risky schools, but I'm not sure of which ones. </p>
<p>3.55 uw gpa and 27 act... I attend an “underprivileged" school (No APs and most students are below average in math and reading on state standardized testing)</p>
<p>I'm looking for a school with holistic admissions because my application will rely heavily on my essays and extra curricular activities. I plan to double major in visual arts and political science and I'm looking for Midwestern, Midatlantic, and Northeastern schools</p>
<p>My reaches are the University of Rochester, George Washington and Case Western Reserve </p>
<p>Which of these should I apply to? Carnegie Mellon, Notre dame, northwestern, Georgetown</p>
<p>Or could you recommend any prestigious universities?</p>
<p>I have literally seen someone get into Harvard and Stanford as a URM with those numbers, so nothing is really off the table.</p>
<p>I suggest you pick a few schools you might like and contact admissions directly. Tell them your story and see what they say. You might hit the jackpot.</p>
<p>Michigan is most likely where I’m going, haha. I didn’t consider it a reach. It’s a great school, but I do want to go to smaller college for undergrad. I’d definitely go to Mich for grad school if not undergrad. </p>
<p>@MrMom62 I’ve seen it, too. If I personally contact admissions, what exactly would I be saying to them?</p>
<p>If you’re lowish income, then I would suggest picking a reach that isn’t too far from home. Yes, these schools claim to meet need, but rarely do they figure enough money to realistically cover travel at expensive times (Christmas) and the one way tickets at Fall and Spring, but airport shuttles. </p>
<p>If you want smaller, with financial aid, and one that will take your whole application into consideration, pull up the US News Liberal Arts College list. There are tons of colleges where you can do your double major that are in the regions you want, including some not too far from home. You’ve probably got a good shot at some of the Top 25. But look at some of the smaller top National Universities as well, since they’re bigger, they sometimes have more slots to offer students who have great potential from challenging environments.</p>
<p>When you contact them, tell them exactly what you’ve told us in your first post. It’ll get the conversation started and they’ll take it from there. The right college will be fascinated by your story and guide you in what you need to do. </p>
<p>The only possible downside is it’s getting late in the application season (yes, already, assuming you’re a senior). Several of these schools have had diversity weekends already, and I know more are coming up. They are expense paid trips so you can see what they’re really like, but there may still be time to get you to some of them. So call ASAP.</p>
<p>Good luck and would love to hear where you finally go.</p>
We’ll have to disagree here. I think UMich is a reach - your scores are <25%ile and your grades are <30%ile. [Office</a> of Budget & Planning: Common Data Set](<a href=“U-M Office of the VPIT-CIO | Office of the VPIT-CIO | University of Michigan”>Office of Budget and Planning) And according to the UMich CDS they don’t consider racial/ethnic info. If you do get accepted to UMich I would definitely go there. They meet need for in-state students. Do you have a safety school?</p>
<p>Among the 4 reaches you list, I’d pick Northwestern and Georgetown because they meet 100% need.</p>
<p>Notre Dame is among the worst “wealthy” schools wrt meeting lower-income students’ financial need. (I assume you’re low income because you attend an underprivileged school - I do realize you may be middle class attending that school because of various reasons you can’t get into.)</p>
<p>Top 25 LACs, the Ivies, etc, are all heavily recruiting kids with good stats despite extremely challenging circumstances AND they offer very good financial aid. By this, I mean that if you get into Harvard, Princeton, or Yale, and your family makes less than $60,000/year, they’ll cover your tuition, room&board, books, and roundtrip ticket to go home for the holidays. You WILL have to work on campus of course, but some of these schools even have a no-loans policy. Meaning you’d go to school there for cheaper than at UMichigan or other state schools. DO apply. Pick one or two you like (perhaps among Liberal Arts Colleges since they may be more holistic). I think it’s worth a shot.</p>
<p>(If you have that possibility, try taking the ACT again to see if you can score higher than that 27, although I assume it’s higher than your school’s usual “best”)</p>
<p>Look at what’s required for the Experience program at Colby and think quickly whether you could get it all together quickly. The deadline’s past but if you can get them the documents they require within 24h might they be able to make an exception? It doesn’t hurt to ask. After all, you only learned about this opportunity today …
[Colby</a> College | Admissions & Financial Aid | Experience Colby](<a href=“http://www.colby.edu/admissions_cs/visit/ec/]Colby”>http://www.colby.edu/admissions_cs/visit/ec/)</p>
<p>After that, request information from LACs ranked 35-55. I guarantee you’ll get a lot of interested replies, perhaps with invitations to their Diversity Weekend program. This is especially true for schools outside of big cities and away from Michigan so request information all over.</p>
<p>@Erin’sDad Of course it’s a reach based on my stats, but I don’t consider it a very high reach because I keep in touch with the Detroit admissions officers. I have safeties and a local financial safety where I could go with all expenses paid.
Although Michigan claims to meet full need, loans are included to meet need and they also deduct outside scholarships from what you would receive from financial aid. That’s alright, but I feel like minimum loans will be used at private institutions and I wouldn’t be penalized for outside scholarships. </p>
<p>@MYOS1634 Thanks for the input. I never considered applying to ivies; My gpa ranks quite low. I’m not sure if I will. </p>
<p>@MrMom62 Thank you! I should be getting started right away. </p>
<p>I looked at a few threads about diversity visits, but I’m not very interested in the schools that offer the most aid and transportation. They are too far away. My parents will not be able to go anywhere with me and I cannot travel too far by myself. I know that some give travel grants, but there would be no way for me to set up the transportation. My parents will not drive me anywhere over an hour. </p>
<p>I did apply to and was just accepted this morning to Miami University’s diversity visit My parents will drive me to Toledo where i will take a shuttle to Oxford provided by the school.</p>
<p>Travel grants are for plane tickets. If you’re accepted at the schools that meet full cost of attendance (not just full tuition, but actual full cost of attendance including books and trips) the school would essentially fly you from the airport closest to your home to the closest airport to the school, then pick you up.
Same thing for Experience Colby: they fly you there. All you have to do is get to the Detroit airport. Colby is in Maine so it’s not too far.
Congratulations on getting accepted to MU’s diversity visit . :)</p>
<p>Eh. I consider Maine very far away- about 16 hours driving if we take a short cut through Canada. I doubt my parents would go. They are not too open-minded. I’m willing to travel although my father wants me to stay as close as possible. Also, I’m not sure if my father would allow me to travel by plane alone. </p>
<p>Rochester may be a pretty good fit, and you’ll be able to get there fairly easily from Detroit.</p>
<p>I’d take a look at Connecticut College. Your stats are pretty good on their own, so you wouldn’t feel overmatched, but getting to New London could be a bit of a challenge if you got in. (You’d probably fly to Providence and get a ride with someone or take the train.)</p>
<p>Also take a look at Macalester and Carleton in Minnesota and Haverford, Bryn Mawr, or UPenn in Philadelphia.</p>
<p>Boston U is not small, but much smaller than Michigan. It’s easy to get to from Detroit and again, you wouldn’t be overmatched, your stats are close on their own. (MLK got his PhD from there, if that makes a difference. They’re very proud of that.)</p>
<p>What is your financial safety and how are you sure that you have all costs covered?</p>
<p>I see that you’re going to Miami Ohio for a dversity visit. That’s an OOS public. Have they given any indication that they provide huge amounts of aid to OOS low income students? What does their NPC indicate?</p>
<p>I’m going on the assumption that she pretty much needs a full ride, there is no financial safety position. Someone has got to give a poor African-American kid from Detroit with those scores and GPA a break. We just have to help her find it, then it’s up to her.</p>
<p>Of the schools you listed as reaches, I would suggest Northwestern and CMU given your interests in visual arts and poli sci. The other schools you listed as reaches are solid in PS, but not as strong in visual arts. Some other ideas re strong schools with good visual arts and poli sci, Southern Cal, NYU, and Brown. Good luck!</p>
<p>The focus needs to be on schools that meet 100pc need spedpaajw with no loans. I hope that OP gets very clear answers regarding financial aid at Miami because as a public out of state school it may gap applicants and / or have a loan based financial aid package.
I understand that you and your family may not want to apply to far away schools but the financial differencebetween a top Lac in New England and another university may be $10,000 or more. The key to maximizing financial aid is to avoid geographical. restrictions</p>
<p>@Erin’sDad Thank you for that information, but I visited Howard this summer and I don’t think an HBCU is the right atmosphere for me. </p>
<p>@mom2collegekids I have a scholarship that fully pays my cost of attendance at any two year university or fully pays tuition at any public four year university in Michigan. I have plenty of options to fall back on.</p>
<p>And I’m visiting Miami U with no intent on going. The only public U I’m looking at is the University of Michigan.</p>
My parents will drive me to Toledo where i will take a shuttle to Oxford provided by the school.</p>