I'm Back and More Prepared. Chance me! [FL, 3.91 UW GPA, 1590 SAT, NMSF, ~$10k budget]

Chance Me / Match Me!
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This is a semi-continuation from this post a few months ago. The thread closed two days ago, but I figured it would be better to start over with updated information than re-open it with 300 messages of baggage. Big updates, too!

Demographics

  • US citizen
  • State/Location of residency: Southern Florida
  • Type of high school: Small, very high ranking public HS
  • Gender/Race/Ethnicity: Male, White, Hispanic
  • Other special factors: First generation (check here), living in US for about 6 years.

Intended Major(s): Computer Engineering, Creative Writing, maybe Philosophy

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.91 (5 As from Fall term DE classes pending)
  • Weighted HS GPA: 5.2 (No one knows what it’s out of. Counselor says scale is out of 4)
  • Class Rank: School doesn’t rank
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1590 SAT (800 RW, 790 Math)

Coursework

  • APs: Spanish Lang (5, 8th grade), Human Geo (5, 10th), Lang (5, 10th), CSP (4, 10th), CSA (5, 10th), APUSH (3, 11th), currently taking Calc AB, Lit, Macro, and Gov senior year.
  • DEs: College Algebra (A), General Chem + Lab (B, A), Intro to Communication (A), Intro to Psychology (A), Basic Physics (B), General Chem 2 + Lab (B, A), Intro to Philosophy (A), Intro to Computer Technologies (A). Currently taking Intro to C++ (A), General Bio (+ Lab, A & A), Discrete Math (A), Intro to Humanities (A).
  • Cambridge: AS-Level Marine Science (B)
  • CLEPd out of Calc 1 (Studied over the summer), taking Calc AB because school says it’s mandatory

Awards

  • National Merit Semifinalist (1480 PSAT)
  • AP Scholar with Distinction
  • CollegeBoard Hispanic Recognition Award (2022 - Present)
  • Princeton Book Award
  • Finalist in an Argentinian web-development competition
  • Model UN Honorable Mention
  • Principal’s Honor Roll Recipient several semesters

Extracurriculars

  • Two Self-Led Research papers (1st on Convolutional Neural Networks for Poisonous Flora Identification, submitted to Columbia Junior Research Journal; 2nd in progress on data generation for large language models).
  • Developed a Machine Learning algorithm to help blind people use the web through screen reader image captioning.
  • Engineering research internship at a local university building plant disease recognition systems with Arduino alongside a local professor.
  • Created a Mycological society in my city with a fungal mapping project and over 50 members
  • Expanded my school’s gaming club across all 6 campuses and recruited more than 150 people. Hosted several events and raised hundreds of dollars.
  • Several weeks of PSAT/SAT tutoring
  • Creative Writing
    • Created a satirical newspaper for my school. Over 30 published articles and more than 200 article views daily.
    • Several short fiction stories, one of which is getting published at a local college’s magazine
    • 2 years collaborative blog with friends
  • 2 years of competitive swimming
  • Job Shadowing opportunities at a small Design firm and NASA

Essays/LORs/Other

  • Personal Statement: Very strong! (According to last year’s seniors & English teacher)
  • LOR 1: English teacher, definitely strong
  • LOR 2: Math teacher, somewhat strong

Cost Constraints / Budget
~10k?

Schools

  • Safety
    • Florida International University
    • University of Central Florida
  • Match
    • University of Florida
  • Reach
    • Georgia Tech
    • New York University
    • Brown University
    • Princeton University
    • Stanford University
    • Columbia University
    • MIT

I also have some extra questions:

  • Should I include the 3 in APUSH and the B in Marine Science? (In bold in the coursework section)
  • Should I list National Merit as Finalist even though finalists haven’t been announced yet?

Any help is appreciated : )

2

No.

6 Likes
3

Fair enough

4

Why would you bold face these?

5

Just to highlight. I tend to get 5s in AP exams, so these aren’t a particularly strong part of my application.

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6

I would NOT highlight weaker points in my application if I were you.

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No, I’m aware. I was just wondering if I should include them in CA or not. They’re only bolded in CC for quick reference.

2 Likes
8

I don’t think you have a choice about including course grades. You can leave the AP score off, I believe.

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9

Oh, the grades are fine. APUSH was an A and Marine was a B but I’m not terribly worried.

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10

You asked if you should Include your B in Marine Science. Right? Or did I misunderstand your question.

11

The Cambridge exam score, not the class itself.

12

Thank you for the explanation. That was not clear in your post.

13

Are the Florida schools at $10k or less all in ?

If not, you need a Tulsa which is full ride NMSF or Alabama - not quite a full ride if you get NMF or any of the other schools that will get you to $10k given the NMSF/NMF award.

14

We don’t know the family financial situation. He may be eligible for full financial aid from any number of schools.

OP, have you run the Net Price Calculator at any of these schools.

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15

For Florida residents, is the Benacquisto scholarship for NMF essentially a top-up to full ride at any Florida public university?

16

For FIU, with NMF - yes.

It’s the one I checked.

But right now it’s just NMSF - and Tulsa is a full ride.

@Momofthree24 - I don’t know the finances but I also know the student isn’t guaranteed admission at these - and Ga Tech, even if admitted, highly unlikely but not impossible to make budget.

But getting in is a a big “if”.

So I was noting for the guarantee at budget school.

Not sure if anyone other than Tulsa rewards NMSF to that level but 1/4 or so of their class is on the full ride.

Good luck to OP.

17

On this previous thread, the NPCs were coming in mostly in the 30s.

I don’t know if there have been any updates to finances since then.

2 Likes
18

Oh yes! Sorry, that was one of the things I was going to include in the new post.

UF is full ride with NMF. You can check under “Benacquisto” here. That’s the school I set as first choice for NM.

As for FIU and UCF, if UF doesn’t work out, I have a ton of scholarship money and will be applying early to see if I can find any scholarships. The NPC prices for every school in the list are:

  • MIT: ~18k
  • Columbia: ~18k
  • Stanford: ~5k
  • Princeton: ~10k
  • Brown: ~32k (Unpayable without private scholarship)
  • NYU: ~15k
  • GTech: ~43k (Unpayable w/o STAMPS / private scholarship)
  • UCF: ~19k
  • FIU: ~15k
3 Likes
19

I think you’ll land in a good spot but Brown seems like a long, long shot. Maybe switch to another generous school? Yale, Cornell, or Duke.

GT is a long shot but I think you have a case for Stamps. It’s still a long shot but worth an app. Good luck.

3 Likes
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This goes back to why you need Tulsa or another who rewards NMSF so significantly. Bonus that it’s a FANTASTIC school.

None of the schools - but Stanford and Princeton are within budget - but two things:

  1. You have to get in - and it’s not likely.

  2. There’s other expenses…travel etc.

While you are covered on NMF, right now you are just NMSF.

There may be other full rides for NMSF besides Tulsa.

But right now you have zero assured schools at $10K.

Good luck.

5 Likes