Is this college list too ambitious for a midwestern oboist who wants to major in business?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi!

Is my (tentative) college list aiming too high?

Hi guys! I’m a junior, and I have no clue where I should apply to. I need your help!

Here’s my current list:

Schools: List of colleges, ED/EA/RD, etc
this is a long list at the moment. I have a wide range of acceptance rates and prestige, because I don’t know how high to aim!!!

I’m including my tentative list and my stats/ecs.

Safeties:

-UCF business honors

-Arizona state honors ???

-Michigan state honors accounting

Match

-Umaryland accounting honors (I like the location of the school)

-Uflorida accounting honors (full ride national merit !!!)

Low reach

Umich in state (Ross is a stretch tho)

UNC (I’m oos)

Mega impossible Reach

-Rice business major

-USC accounting (offer national merit half scholarship)

-Northwestern? good business and music

-Brown Econ

-Yale? Maybe? I love their music and Econ programs

ABOUT ME:

Demographics:

White girl from suburbs of Michigan.
Single parent (low middle class) w/ a divorced other parent (upper middle class). Only one parent has a degree.

**Intended Major(s): business, accounting, or econ. I might minor in math or music depending on the school and whether my credits transfer.

This is an ISSUE. None of my extracurriculars are business related. I mainly focused on my sport, music, work and clubs in high school because they’re the things I’m good at.

ACT/SAT/SAT II:

1470 on my PSAT (221 index, which should qualify me for national merit in Michigan).

I haven’t taken the ACT, but I’ve been getting 34-35 on practice tests.

UW/W GPA and Rank:

4.35GPA, weighted. School has a messed up gpa system. An A+ is a 4.33. they don’t tell us unweighted, and don’t weigh AP’s on a 5.0 scale.

My school doesn’t rank.

Coursework: AP/IB/Dual Enrollment classes, AP/IB scores, etc

I don’t want to reveal myself too much! But here’s a general rundown.

Mainly honors freshman year.

APUSH and Calc BC sophomore year, mainly honors classes

4 APs + Calc 3 (got an A!) and Differential Equations dual enrollment junior year

4 APs senior year

Band all 4 years, top band sophomore year

Awards: these are sad

  1. All-State Music, highly-ranked in state on my niche instrument (oboe)

  2. Accepted (as one of two people who play my instrument) into the top group of semi-prestigious music summer camp

  3. very very likely National Merit Finalist

  4. regional music award

Extracurriculars: Include leadership & summer activities

Ok, I’m gonna be extremely vague here. Still not sure how to order these.

  1. School sport (co captain next year).

It’s kind of a niche sport. I can’t get recruited for it.

  1. All-Student Body (hopeful VP, committee leader)

Set up a bunch of projects within school yadda yadda

  1. regional youth music groups

I’m in multiple. One is very prestigious and I’m 3rd chair. One is less prestigious, and I’m first chair.

  1. part time job:

I work like 12-15 hours a week at a local store. Started this year to help family and hopefully save up for a car.

  1. Class Student Council

I plan homecoming stuff, prom, run social media, and I’m in charge of advertising

  1. Volunteering club outreach leader

hey it’s sort of leadership… maybe I’ll go for a higher position next year

  1. Assorted School music clubs

Section leader + I mentor younger players

  1. NHS

(plan to run for leadership next year)

  1. Freshman helper team

(plan to run for leadership next year)

  1. freshman and sophomore only: super competitive club team for my sport. It was like 20 hours a week and super expensive… so I quit… oopsies

Essays/LORs/Other: Optionally, guess how strong these are and include any other relevant information or circumstances.

I’ve been told that I’m a strong writer, but I’m not sure what I plan to do for essays quite yet.

I plan to get a LOR from a teacher I have this year, who I’ve worked with in one of my clubs for years. I think she’ll write a great one.

Second rec… idk? My only high school stem teacher this year doesn’t know me that well, and my calc 3 professor is weird and idk about him.

I’m considering asking my calc bc teacher from last year, who I also had freshman year. Is that too far in the past? She really liked me.

So yeah! Let me know what you guys think!

2

Congratulations on your achievements.

First things first, what is your budget? Some of the schools on your list require CSS Profile, which will take your non-custodial parent’s income/assets into account. NMF should get you Benaquisto in Florida, so that would be a full ride (tuition/fees, room and board).

What are your AP test scores? Do you have any Bs in core courses? You can calculate your uwGPA yourself…core courses only (E, M, Sci, SS, FL), using a 4 point scale where an A=4, B+/B/B-=3, and so on.

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I wouldn’t plan on Benaquisto. It’s in trouble of being cut.

4

Definitely bears watching, here is the thread OP: Possible Changes To Benacquisto and Florida Aid - #177 by MYOS1634

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Hi! I am a senior who applied to to schools as a business major this year. Some other great schools you might want to consider are The Ohio State as well as The University of Texas at Austin! Both have very strong business programs and seem to be matches/reaches for you. Also, Arizona State honors is an amazing choice! I am not sure how hard it is to get in but that is one of the schools I am considering at the moment for business. good luck and I hope this helped a bit!!

6

Hi!

I got locked out of my original account (I guess I used the wrong email) so here I am on a different account haha

I don’t have any B’s, and I have 5’s on both of the APs I took last year.

Budget is tricky. I’d have to talk to my noncustodial parent to see what he feels comfortable paying. Personally, I’d like to pay as little as possible, which is why UF or other merit scholarships would be AMAZING, but I saw the news of that Florida bill… yikes.

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Your issue is that a number of your target schools are going to be very expensive. Merit aid will only cover part of your tuition.

Our son was a National Merit winner and USC offered him half tuition. The total COA, at that time, would have been ~$72K; half tuition was $25K so we would have paid $47K per year. We got better deals elsewhere. The Pandemic adversely impacted the finances at the colleges and universities. Scholarship funds have been impacted and will continue to be an issue for, at least, two years.
I think you’ll get in to several schools, but if one parent is a low middle income, and another is upper middle class, the Financial aid department will definitely use that information. So the question is: how will you pay? You have to consider how much your parents can pay per year. It doesn’t make sense if you apply to these schools, get accepted, and you find out that they are unaffordable.

Ask your parents for a budget. Look at the NPC’s (net price calculators) on each schools’ website. Make sure you look at OOS tuition. There are schools, like ASU and Alabama who give generous aid. Rice will be extremely expensive and their aid is often not enough to cover your yearly Cost of Attendance. Get some instate safeties. Good Luck!

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There’s lots of great schools out there. UNC and UVA meet need - but that’s not necessarily just aid. Assuming you’d qualify for aid (I don’t know), look at the list of schools that meet 100% of demonstrated need.

I’d absolutely apply to SMU (they have 20 freebies a year they offer) and Washington & Lee - who has the best merit aid in the country - The Johnson Scholarship - and is strong in business.

Don’t push aside schools such as U of SC, Arizona, Alabama especially where your merit scholarship would be awesome. There are “Ivy” like students at most state schools. These are good because you know you’ll have a strong offer.

Also, I’d apply to Florida - and would not worry about the upcoming legislation that has stalled. If it happens, it happens - but in the meantime it’s a wonderful opportunity and if offered you would know up front whether they would still cover the entire four years. Don’t kick yourself for not doing it is what I’m saying - legislation in general is slow to change. It’s worth the $30 to apply just in case.

See this list - but BU, Florida State, Tulsa…great opportunities.

Good luck.

9

UNC will almost certainly be a reach (if not a mega-reach) for you. UNC is a difficult admit for OOS students. Some of the OOS public schools on your list provide healthy merit aid, but some do not. Aside from worrying that FL will continue the BA as is, consider that UMD and others will likely cost approx $40K-$50K/yr. Ask your mother how much she can afford on a lower-middle class income.

Nearly all of the private schools on your list provide no (or very little) merit aid. All the private schools require the CSS and will take your father’s income (and that of his spouse and your mother’s spouse) into account. Depending on his (their) income(s), it is very possible you will not quality for any need-based aid. With little merit and possibly no need-based aid, it is possible your bill will be = > $60K/yr for the private schools on your list.

  1. Before you can go further, you need to find out all your parents’ and step-parents’ incomes. You need to determine how much each parent is contributing to your education each year. This will help give you a better estimate on what schools will be affordable to you.

  2. You should research colleges further and add some less selective privates that will provide more significant merit-aid. Even with merit-aid, the yearly costs at these private schools will likely still be $30K-$50K/yr. You must verify if your parents are willing to contribute that much.

That said, from your current list, your most likely best option will be Michigan State, followed by U Michigan (if you get accepted.) Those are the only two that are the most likely to be affordable at this point.

Until we know more, the likely most affordable OOS public options are UFL and UNC, but UNC is a high-reach for an OOS admittance. You have a good chance at being admitted to many of the public schools, but most will be expensive.

Good luck

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You are correct which is why you should always include Alabama, U of SC with the #1 Honors Program, Arizona, Miami Ohio, etc.

These are schools with strong merit. You can actually know up front from Alabama, Arizona and more - such as Ms State - what they’ll pay you. Bradley in Peoria also posts. Also, WUSTL and W&L will give you application waivers - even without being a pell person. Many other colleges will as well.

Cast your net wide - and hit a few of the big merit schools - just in case.

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Oh, Florida State - another great one to hit.

Don’t worry so much about rank / pedigree - every big state flagship or similar have lots of Ivy League like students - you’ll find great company at a very affordable price.

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Thank you so much for the detailed reply! I’ll definitely ask my parents if we can figure out a reasonable budget together. They haven’t really wanted to be too involved in this whole college process, so it’s been difficult.

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Thank you! UNC actually doesn’t require noncustodial income, so I figured out that I would be paying less than 20k a year there, which is less than MSU or UofM.

But yeah. Getting in will be hard

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NPCs won’t be accurate for this student unless they know their NCP’s detailed financials.

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UNC Chapel Hill DOES require CSS Profile and NCP financials for the first year.

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Aw. I’m not sure where I got that other information from. I guess that’s going off of the list!

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SMU should be on your list. It’s a reach for their full tuition scholarship but they offer them. I think Fordham has/had full tuition for National Merit winners. S20 liked them both for business and received a very nice offer from SMU but still was $40k/year.

S21 got into FSU honors and OOS waiver so $18k/year COA. It’s on his short list.

South Carolina, Temple, Pitt and Mich State should be on your radar. Pitt and Temple have business honors programs. They look out for their students.

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18

Not sure that Northwestern or Rice has undergrad business.

19

Rice just got a brand new business major!

And for northwestern I meant to put Econ, oops!

20

I think you are going to be just fine