Hi all! I understand that admissions work in mysterious ways, but I would appreciate some insight / advice to help my S20 in his process. He is a B+/A- student with 3.5 UGPA, 4.87 WGPA, 1390 SAT (will take another one in August but I do not think it should have a drastic change), in state in Texas. I don’t think that being hispanic in TX should give him any advantage, but wondering about other schools out of state. Thank you very much in advance for your help, I find this forum extremely valuable.
Is this an admissions question? Or a financial aid question?
admissions : )
I don’t think it will help much, or any more than regional diversity will help, and it may be hard to tell which was the deciding factor.
It could help at rural LACs in New England, Mid-Atlantic, and Mid-west. Iow, schools that have few Hispanic students. (Look at the CDS.) He should understand, though, that at such a school, he’ll be in a small minority, so he should be comfortable with that.
Out of state won’t help much because then you’re looking at paying OOS rates if you select public schools. A number of those schools can’t look at race because the laws of the state don’t allow that (UC’s, CSU’s). My kids are hispanic; it didn’t help much. Their stats, EC’s and essays got them in.
@laura2019mom I think the advantage you seek is more in the cultural diversity he would bring to the campus. That is, most schools I am familiar enough to talk about do not have any # for Hispanic or Latino applicants. But they do highly value the cultural diversity than ANY kid could really bring. I know that around here (Midwest), the greatest number of those who are Hispanic/Latino are from Puerto Rico, Cuba or Central America, but not Mexico. Forgive my being presumptuous, but are you of Mexican descent? As that would be unusual around here, and if an applicant can show how he would bring his culture with him to campus, it would make him stand out. I am not suggesting he be ALL about his ethnicity, but perhaps share how his background and culture gives him a different way of approaching things in his essays.
Where I live there are SO few Hispanic/Latino applicants that any college which tries to seek them regularly will get frustrated really fast! So I do think your son can bring something to them which they will find unique and a real add to their campuses. Good luck!
As a Texas resident, note that Texas public universities use class rank instead of GPA. All except UT Austin automatically admit top 10% (UT Austin top 6%), but that may not necessarily assure admission to the desired major. Many have additional automatic admission categories based on class rank and test score.
He should apply to UC Berkeley. I know CA law makes it illegal to determine admissions based on race but that school has been encouraged to have more diversity so your son being Hispanic and with good stats gives him a good chance.
Being from Texas, however, he would not get any financial aid at UC colleges.
@12Vnji: California has no lack of Hispanic students and as stated no advantage due to Affirmative action being banned and costs at $65K/year with no FA. UCB is not a good option.
What type of school is he interested in, and what is he considering as a major? It doesn’t make sense to look at a school for an admissions boost if they don’t offer the major he wants, or if it’s not the type of school that he wants to attend.
My initial thought went to Pitt, Penn State, and Ohio State as large public universities. These schools have very low Hispanic student populations (due in large part to the relatively low Hispanic populations in the region), so I would expect him to get a boost there compared to states such as TX, FL, or CA. His grades put him as a match with these schools anyway, so I don’t know if there would be an actual boost. However, I do believe that they offer diversity scholarships that he could potentially qualify for.
Schools publish what they use for admission in their Common Data Set (google school name Common Data Set and look at section C). Here is Ohio States https://oaa.osu.edu/sites/default/files/uploads/irp/cds/columbus/IRP_CDS_2018-2019_Columbus.pdf and you can see that race is considered. You can then run the Net Price Calculator to get an idea of how much the school would cost.
In case you didn’t know (as it’s a bit buried) there is a Hispanic Students Forum where you might find some insight:
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Even with the prospect of paying full OOS fees, a 3.5 has no chance at Berkeley.
I agree with the above poster who suggested liberal arts colleges in New England, Mid Atlantic (Juniata, Muhlenberg, Bucknell, Lafayette, Wooster), and Midwest (Earlham, Grinnell). Private schools are often looking for geographic diversity, so just applying to schools where fewer Texans apply helps. We are in Texas and my son will be attending college in New England this fall. You might want to look at the Colleges That Change Lives as a starting point for LACs. Good luck! Also, don’t be put out if Texans have never heard of some the schools your son applies to. I moved from the East Coast to Texas and I’ve always been shocked by how many Texans have never heard of great out of state schools.
As you probably know, in Texas public universities, class rank is critical for UT (6 percent) and A&M. With his SAT score, for any other public university in Texas, I think he would be admitted, even if he isn’t in the top ten percent.
In Texas, I don’t think being Hispanic will be an admission boost. If your budget allows out-of-state publics or private colleges, then that might be helpful in admissions there. We didn’t look very seriously outside of Texas for a couple of reasons, mostly because the NPC clearly made those out of our budget.
Here is my unsolicited advice if applies to UT. Even if he is auto-admit, the essay and short answers matter. They will follow his application through the entire process. If he applies for an honors program or scholarship, there will be additional essays but they consider those submitted with the original application also. It makes sense, but remind him to really do his best work on them, even if he is auto-admit.
Best wishes to you and your son!
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Depending on his major look at Kansas State. He would be eligible for a very good merit scholarship that brings the cost down and in the Dallas or Houston areas there is also a nice alumni scholarship available for kids that live in those areas. There are a lot of students from TX but not that many Hispanic. There are a few in my son’s fraternity. We are from TX and he has loved it there and doesn’t even want to come home because he feels so at home there. He is also getting a great education and just got back from a nice study abroad.
No, the CDS doesn’t tell you how a college reviews. The format creators picked certain categories, the colleges respond. But in holistic, every part of the app/supp matters. That section of the CDS is not a ranking of factors.
I agree with @Ultimom and @gardenstategal that he should look to LACs in New England and the Midwest. Bucknell and Earlham are fine schools, but with those scores and his Hispanic heritage he can at least take a look a little higher, at the level of Bowdoin, Kenyon, Carleton.