<p>So basically money is holding me back big time. So here it goes...</p>
<p>Asian male.
Alabama
3.9 UW GPA
2130 SAT
Math-750
CR- 639
Writing-750
SAT2- in November.
Expecting a high 700s in math idk about chem.</p>
<p>Schedule-
All AP classes I can take with two HL iB classes: bio and math.</p>
<p>EC- mostly music oriented. Performances infront of hundreds of people. Leader in numerous church events:worshiping team.
400+ hrs or church volunteer.
Raised $1000 fundraising for church </p>
<p>Also I had a summer internship at Auburn University chemical engineering lab</p>
<p>Decent rec letters and haven't written essays yet.</p>
<p>So far, im applying to...
UT Austin, Cooper Union(ED), Stanford, CMU, Duke, Texas A&M,, and Cornell.</p>
<p>Chance please. </p>
<p>I am applying for Chem E. I really need financial support. Can anyone suggest some other college that has great Chem E with good financial aid?</p>
<p>Of course I have more music oriented ECs.
Marking band section leader 1st clarinet in honors band, all state band, etc
Also varsity track& cross-country in my freshman and sophomore yr</p>
<p>Are you looking for need based or merit aid? What concerns me about your list is that the schools most likely to admit you, the Texas schools and CMU, are not likely to give substantial aid. For the Texas schools it’s because you’re OOS and CMU is known to be weak on aid.</p>
<p>If you qualify for need based aid, look for schools that meet 100% need. Sorry I can’t be helpful with schools offering chemE, but you might try the engineering threads.</p>
<p>If that is your total household income and there are no significant assets, it would benefit you to look at more colleges that meet full need. Google the list and consider adding some less competitive than the ivies and Duke.</p>
<p>Okay thank you.
Ah I’ve worked pretty hard to get the score and the GPA… I’ll probably end up going to a crappy college with dumb kids…
So discouraging</p>
<p>Cooper Union and Stanford are extremely high reaches. Cornell and CMU are reaches. I’m unsure about the Texas school since I’m not familiar with them.</p>
<p>It’ quite unusual to see an Asian from Alabama… do you have a Southern accent? O_o</p>
<p>Yeah…I hope I get in to stanford or CU. Maybe coming from AL will help.
And I do not have a southern accent haha. Thank god. The accent is extremely annoying</p>
<p>Perhaps you ought to think about doing some kind of transfer? I am NOT an expert on this stuff, but maybe if you move to the state in which you want to go to college (Texas…) and go to a community college there then you could establish residency and save tens of thousands of dollars? If I were you I would ask around on this forum about how to achieve the best chances of transferring like that, but I hear that sometimes you only need 20-30 units to transfer (~2 semesters=1 year=residency), so if you’re really motivated and get straight As it would seem to me that it could actually INCREASE your chances of getting into the school as well. Especially if you make it clear to the university that you literally moved and had to transfer all because you so desperately want to get into this particular school.</p>
<p>Edit: Also, this would give you time to broaden your EC’s… hold down a steady job, join some clubs, do some community stuff, etc.</p>
<p>Hmm thank you for your advice!!
But would they consider me as an in state resident even if I’m a student, whether of a community college or not?
I think my score Is good enough for Texas but it’s just the money…yeah.</p>
<p>If you have high need & very good stats, why are you not considering the University of Alabama? Mom2collegekids is always posting about Bama & Engineering and the possibility of merit aid & need based aid. If you have the right stats, it sounds like a great opportunity to get an excellent education at reasonable cost!</p>
<p>I think you have a very good shot at Cornell. You are from Alabama, probably first generation to go to collegel (?). I hope you are a green card holder, otherwise very little aid for you. </p>
<p>Columbia has an engineering school. What about schools like Lehigh or Lafayette? Next tier down, easier to get in, good schools, possibly good aid. What about UMich, not sure about how good they are with aid if you are out of state.</p>
<p>If you need FA, often top private schools will give you more aid than public schools.</p>
<p>To get into those top privates, it will be about your essays and application. I think you will have very good chance if you could present yourself well in your application/essays. I would suggest for you to have an adult in the marketing business to take a look. Ask your English teacher(s) to read your essays.</p>
<p>Make sure you list any major music awards, especially if you won any state or national competition. Even if you just made it to the final of a competition, put it down.</p>
<p>Good luck. I think you will get into a good school. You will just need to cast your net a bit wider than other people. Go to the engineering or financial aid forum, you will get better advice from some parents. Most of us do not go to “What’s my chance forum.”</p>
<p>Your stats and ECs make Stanford a huge reach. But I’m not gonna say you have a bad chance, because apparently Stanford’s a very, VERY weird school in admissions. Duke is sort of a reach and the same goes for Cornell. I’d say you’ve got a good shot at CMU and you’re in at UT Austin, but I don’t know about Texas A&M so I can’t give you a chance there, sorry! Seriously, consider some privates that give better aid. I advise you to look at some top 25 schools on US News and see if they can meet full need. Your status as low income may help you though, according to a few senior members’ past posts and silverturtle’s chancing calculator.</p>
<p>So, to sum up:
Stanford - high reach
Duke - reach
Cornell - reach
CMU - match
UT Austin - safety/low match</p>