Hi, I am currently a high school junior with a 4.2 GPA and 1400/1600 on the SAT, extra activities include a little bit of self learning java, was in junior varsity in swim team during 9th grade; did the Toshiba Exploration Project and did not get any result since there are only 50 honorable mentions for 10th grade throughout the nation, and is going to Science Olypiad soon but I do not expect any results. Plus I have 150 hours of volunteering hours. My family earns total of 25,000$ per year(considered to be pretty poor) and I want to go for either a computer science or a software engineering degree. But my parents are not paying for my college at all and I am really worried. My current dream schools are UC merced, Purude University, UT Austin, and Georgia Tech. What is my chance of getting in and then get a full ride (or just getting in)? (I am also a Chinese immirgant who came here just 4 years, so I was wondering if the colleges are going to raise up the rank) And is there any other colleges that I could have a pretty good chance of getting in and get a full-ride? (or just getting in).
Where are you in-state? Going to an out-of-state public university is usually not a good financial aid strategy.
Add a few private schools that meet a high percentage of financial need to your list. Use the College Board Big Future site to focus on those that have your major and meet 80% or more of financial need.