Is it worth it?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hey everyone! I'm a pretty good, but not great student. I think I spend more time with friends than doing schoolwork, so my scores aren't spectacular or anything. I have an actual question at the end, so hang tight. (Sorry It's so long. I didn't realize how much random stuff I had wrote)</p>

<p>Basic Information
I'm an Asian male (Vietnamese).
I am an Oklahoma resident.
Financial Aid is a *must<a href="further%20explanation%20later">/i</a>
Upper-Middle income- My parents don't tell me exactly, but it's between 80-120k. I think.
Major/Career- Sounds Stereotypical for an asian, but I enjoy being with and helping others, and medicine sounds really attractive. However, I am considering chemical engineering/biochemistry at this point.</p>

<p>Academics
GPA- 4.0 Unweighted, 4.666 Weighted Class Rank- 9 of 741
School Type- It's pretty good, Probably one of the top in the state- High number of Academic All-State and National Merit.
Courseload- I'm not one to fill my schedule with 6 or 7 AP's.
Freshman:
Pre-AP English I, P-AP Biology I, P-AP World History, P-AP Algebra II, Spanish I, Band
Sophomore:
P-AP English II, P-AP Chemistry I, Honors World History, P-AP Math Analysis, Sociology, Spanish II, Band
Junior:
AP English Language, AP Chemistry, APUSH, AP Calculus BC, Spanish III, Band
Planned Senior Schedule:
AP English Literature, AP Physics C, AP US Government, Band, Calculus III/IV at local Community College</p>

<p>Test Scores
ACT June 2006- 32
Pending Scores on ACT June 2007
SAT I January- 700CR, 660M, 650W
SAT I June- 680CR, 720M, 760W
SAT II's- US History: 670, Math IIC: 730, Chemistry: 740
AP Tests Pending</p>

<p>I'm kinda disappointed with my scores. However, retakes are nearly out of the question, as every single test date in the fall corresponds exactly to a major band contest/event that I must be at. To retake the ACT would require a trip to dallas for the September date, and a retake for the SAT would require me not to advance to 2nd Round of Auditions for All-State Band (Which I likely won't, but it's nice to remain optimistic)</p>

<p>Extracurriculars
Marching Band- It technically is a class, but it eats up so much time out of class that I'm listing it as an extracurricular. During football season, we have practices Monday and Tuesday- 3:15-5:30, Thursday- 6:00-8:30, and Friday- 4:00-11:00. Saturdays are Contests, generally from 7:00am to 12am/1am Sunday.
Offices- Band Council Junior Representative, unsure for next year. I will be at least Co-Section Leader of the Saxophone Section next year.</p>

<p>Multicultural Club- We have to work hard throughout the year to make sure events and fundraising go off without a hitch. Hours of planning go into each event, and weekly, sometimes daily meetings are called right before an event. Our sponsor does nothing but sign her name, to keep us busy.
Offices- 9- Jr. High Vice President, 10- Treasurer, 11- Vice President, 12- President (we had elections already)</p>

<p>I'm also a member of NHS, Key Club, Youth and Government, but those don't matter nearly as much. Various other clubs... I do some volunteering, yada yada yada...</p>

<p>Awards
Academic/Scholastic Team- We travel around the state to take part in interscholastic meets. Not that prestigious, but nice to fill up this empty space in my chances thread- I've won several awards including Chemistry, Spanish, Economics, Business, Grammar, and Spelling. </p>

<p>Teachers have given me some awards, "Robert Frost Chemistry Award" by my AP Chem teacher, which she made up, considering Robert Frost is a Poet, but all it really amounts to is best/favorite student. </p>

<p>Chances and Question
First off, I'm thinking of the following schools-
University of Texas- Austin, Rice, UCIrvine, UCLA, UCBerkeley, WashU, Stanford. (I can Dream, okay?)</p>

<p>Safety- University of Oklahoma</p>

<p>Do I even stand a chance at getting in at those schools? Are there any more schools I should be considering? What can I do to improve these chances?</p>

<p>However, I have a more interesting question- Not to be overconfident, but my PSAT in Oklahoma is more than likely going to put me in National Merit Contention. If I become a Finalist, OU will throw money at me like crazy- their offer has a full ride- 5 years of tuition, Room, Board, Books, $5000 cash, a laptop, and money to study abroad. However, OU won't provide the same level of education as the rest of the schools on my list. </p>

<p>Is it worth it to try and take my chances at Stanford or UCLA or UT while paying for that experience, or do I take the humongous scholarship? Is the added money worth it?</p>

<p>Thank you so much! I'm surprised that you made it to the bottom of this motherpost.</p>

2

<p>What I'm going to say is probably nothing new to you, and it'll sound cliche, but I:</p>

<p>1) Don't think you should sell yourself short about scores or whatever when it comes to college, and just apply where you want to go
2) Think you need to weigh your reasons for going to each school, regardless of financial aid</p>

<p>What are your reasons for liking Stanford? Because it's prestigious? Because you feel its academic program is the best? Figure out what it is about schools that you feel are at all "out of reach" that makes you consider them at all.</p>

<p>Then, take a look at schools where you have a better chance of getting in, or a better chance of paying for it painlessly. Visiting might help you see hidden benefits or qualities of these schools that you would have missed otherwise. You are better fit to decide whether or not it's worth the financial aid package after considering all of this.</p>

<p>You might want to look at other decent state schools, just out of curiosity. Many of them have really good programs for the majors you're interested in.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

3

<p>I'm in a very similar situation. I think it's really hard to pass on a free undergraduate education, when it's highly likely that you will go on to grad or a professional school. If OK has an honors program, I'd look very closely at that.</p>

4

<p>Thanks for the advice everyone- I hate to bump an old thread, but I got my June ACT scores in- </p>

<p>E- 35, M-35, R-35, S-35
Composite 35</p>

<p>Obviously a 35 will help me, but is it enough to increase my chances significantly over my 32?</p>

5

<p>i think being a OOS makes your chances at the UCs and Stanford VERY slim</p>

6

<p>I'm from Oklahoma--- where do you go to high school? And congrats on the improved ACT scores. A 32 is very good, but 35 is even better and, in my limited knowledge of how these things work, I'd say you definitely have a shot at WashU. Texas and Cal are different since you <em>are</em> OOS, and Stanford is just.... Stanford.</p>

<p>If you want to do medicine, WashU is an excellent place to do that. I applied, was wait-listed, and finally rejected with much lower test scores than yours, so go ahead and give it a shot. </p>

<p>I visited the campus too and, for all the talk about St. Louis being an urban wasteland, it really is located in a nice part of town. The Forest Park area is lovely--- there's a huge park (the titular Forest Park, no doubt) across the street, a zoo, and an art museum if my memory serves me. I read somewhere that STL is now the most dangerous city in America, but you wouldn't know that just by the looks of Forest Park. You should be safe enough in the area immediately surrounding campus. </p>

<p>WashU has an extremely well-regarded medical school that partners with Barnes Jewish Hospital. All med school faculty are on staff at BJH, as well. At WashU, the life sciences/pre-med is one of, if not THE, most popular major there. And from what I've seen, the dorms are much nicer than average. Tuition is killer, but they do have some scholarships to apply for. However, the full-tuition scholarships are EXTREMELY competitive, so don't bank on getting one. I think they're pretty generous with financial aid, but if your family is making between 80 and 120k/year, I honestly wouldn't count on you getting much 'need-based' aid. Of course, you won't know for sure until you do the FAFSA and everything, so don't take my word for it. I don't know how much research you've done on WashU, but here's the scholarships/financial aid page:</p>

<p><a href="http://admissions.wustl.edu/admissions/ua.nsf/2nd%20Level%20Pages_scholarship_finaid.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://admissions.wustl.edu/admissions/ua.nsf/2nd%20Level%20Pages_scholarship_finaid.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>I think WashU is supposed to have a pretty good engineering school too, but I'll leave you to browse the WashU forum to hash that one out.... good luck!</p>

7

<p>Reject at Stanford. Nothing special.</p>

8

<p>I think you should do some more research about schools. You need more matches and safeties. The UCs (except Irvine) are reaches since you're out of state. Same can be said, to a lesser extent, about UT-Austin since your SATs are kinda low. Rice and Stanford are definitely reaches. Wash U waitlists everyone.</p>

9

<p>I'm from OK too and I'm also wondering what high school you go to. 4.666 and you're only ranked 9th? That's an awesome GPA. Glad I don't go to your school.</p>

10

<p>Thanks everyone for the input, this will really shape my list. </p>

<p>jenkster- I go to westmoore, and the top percent or two's rankings are really brutal. You have to take a full 7 hours of AP classes to have a real shot.</p>

<p>icanread- I decided that I didn't need too many safeties because of the scholarship that OU's giving me. I don't want to spend thousands of dollars on an education that is moderately better than one I can get for free. :(</p>

<p>gaffe- i know I'm not stanford material, but it's still a dream... :)</p>

<p>herodotus53- again, from westmoore. I actually took a trip to STL, not actually for the school, but stopped by and thought it was pretty nice. Since OU's application doesn't require much time at all, I might just fill out the commonapp and see where that takes me.</p>

<p>poloruler23- I know... It sucks being from a state that has an okay university and offers the same scholarships to instate as out of state. </p>

<p>Nathansub- OU actually does have an honors program, and it doesn't look too bad. It's not a bad school, but I just wanted to see how much better I can do.</p>

<p>heyyjude- Thanks- I've been reevaluating my reasons that I really want to go to these schools, and keeping your advice in mind, my list has grown and shrank (like usual :) ). There were schools that I didn't actually want to go to. </p>

<p>Anyway, thanks for the help!</p>

11

<p>SATII's prevent UC's from being SAFE MATCHES/ ABSOLUTE LOCKS</p>

12

<p>Great gpa, great rank, good test scores (amazing ACT + decent SAT2s = good lol), I'd actually say good ECs: you're deeply involved in stuff you love and that looks great, especially for Stanford.</p>

<p>Since you're OOS, all the UCs become 10x harder to get into. </p>

<p>University of Texas - Austin - Match
Rice - Match
UCIrvine - High Match
UCLA - Reach/reject
UCBerkeley - Reach/Reject
WashU - High Match
Stanford - Reach (for everyone it is)</p>

<p>Don't let others influence where you apply, after all, it's your life, and you never where you might get into. I knew a guy that had a 1750 on the SAT and still got into Stanford because he was supposedly one of the best Trumpet players in the nation.</p>

<p>gl in college =]</p>

13

<p>Okay, Last Bump, I promise! :)</p>

<p>So it is my understanding that bad AP's don't hurt you in admissions, but won't good ones help you? My AP scores aren't great, but I did get them in the mail the other day.</p>

<p>English Language- 3
US History- 4
Calculus BC- 5
Chemistry- 5</p>

<p>llpitch- If only I was a national-level musician... sigh...</p>