Just got ACT scores back- where do I stand?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Demographics- White male, NC, no hooks (unless one parent dropping out of high school and college counts, but the other is highly educated)

Intended major: CS + Business

GPA- 3.9 UW / 4.3 W (3 B’s, 2 freshman year and 1 sophomore year, upward trend?)
ACT- 34 Composite, 35 SS (36E, 35-36 R, 34M, 32S) Dunno my writing yet, but it was an 11 last time and I feel pretty confident that it will be a 10+ this time around.

ECs: Developed a mobile app, 250+ hours via online tutoring through my state’s online class system (all math and programming tutoring), co-lead of one of the volunteer teams in that system, 80+ hours volunteering at a local food bank, ran a fundraiser for this food bank that raised $1k, NSLI-Y Chinese summer program (virtual because of Covid-19 :/), peer mentoring program at my school for middle and elementary schoolers (40+ hours)

Awards: NHS, Presidential Service Award Gold, Ap Scholar (not that great I know)

Schools: Stanford (REA?), CMU SCS, UIUC, Rice(?), Cornell COE, Harvey Mudd, Columbia Engineering, NC State (gunning for the Park Scholarship), UNC (Morehead-Cain?)

I’m also looking for some good schools in California that I might be able to get a full (or mostly full) scholarship at. Thanks!

2

To what question(s) are you looking for an answer? Just California schools with good merit aid? You say “also” but I don’t see a previous question.

3

This is in the ChanceMe forum. I’m looking for someone to chance me for the schools listed and also recommend me schools that give good merit aid.

4

You mention needing a full or mostly full scholarship…what can/will your parents pay for college?

Most of the schools on your list don’t give any merit aid. If you haven’t yet, run their net price calculators (NPCs) to get cost estimates…do that and let us know the results. The NPCs may not be accurate if your parents are divorced, own a business, or own real estate beyond a primary home.

Do you want an engineering major? CS?

All the schools on your list are reaches, including NC State and UNC if you need those highly selective scholarships to attend.

5

Stanford, CMU SCS, UIUC CS, Rice, Cornell COE, Harvey Mudd, and Columbia Engineering are all high reaches for anybody. Competitive for all, but all have very low chances.

Why Rice? It is very different from the other reaches, and is both a reach, and it’s CS programs is not at the level of the rest of your reaches. In fact, UNC Chapel Hill has a better CS program than Rice.

As for Harvey Mudd, while it has one of the best CS undergrads out there, it is also very different from the other schools on your list. It is really small (fewer than 1,000 students), and is the only engineering LAC that there is. Its closest similarity is to Caltech, which is not on your list.

UNC Chapel Hill should be a match for you as an in-state student. NC state is either a low match or a safety, depending on what your school’s Naviance says. The last two are dependent on whether admissions to CS in these two schools is more competitive than the regular admissions.

So your list is reach heavy, and not many matches.

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No, I said that I wanted to look for match schools that I could get good merit aid at, not that I needed a full ride to attend college. I don’t NEED a full ride scholarship to attend NC State or UNC, but because those are safety/match schools respectively I’m gunning for one. I was asking what my chances are for the scholarships listed at each school.

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I added Rice because it’s a highly ranked CS school, although I still need to do more research into it. I’m interested in what you mean by “It is very different from the other reaches” as I don’t know much about the school.

Harvey Mudd’s business program seems better than Caltech’s. Caltech’s overall seems somewhat lackluster, and I don’t think I would be a great fit for it as a result. Please tell me if you think something different, though.

8

Then you will need to put some schools on your list that offer merit aid.

For merit aid in California look at Santa Clara, Loyola Marymount, Univ of San Diego (USD, not UCSD), and Occidental.

Other merit aid options: Miami Ohio, U Alabama, Ole Miss. Case Western.

But, until we know your budget, some of the above options might still not work for you.

I doubt anyone here can accurately estimate your chances for Park and Morehead-Cain scholarships…my point was if one needs to win one of those highly selective scholarships in order to afford those schools, then one would categorize those schools as reaches.

9

Just wondering how you got an ACT score? I thought that the last 2 test administrations were cancelled?

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@stachlj958 Are you in Wake, Meck, Guilford, or Union counties? If so, are you in any of the top 5 districts in one of these counties? What is your class rank?

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@Tigerwife92 I’m not in any of those. I am not yet sure of my class rank exactly, as that has not yet been reported to me by my school.

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Stanford, CMU, Rice, Cornell, Mudd, Columbia - what I call a match reach. You’re in the statistical ballpark of students that are accepted, so you won’t be dropped early in the process. But among those students who meet the academic profile, the acceptance rate is still very low. Lots and lots of students in the “middle 50%” are rejected along with those that are accepted. So an admissions chance greater than their average admission rate, but probably still ranging from maybe 15-20% (CMU SCS) to 30-40% (Rice?)

UIUC - pretty decent chance of admissions.

NC State, UNC - I’d say a very good chance of admissions, but I’m not familiar with the scholarship programs.

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CMU admission stats.

https://admission.enrollment.cmu.edu/pages/undergraduate-admission-statistics

Maybe Michigan or Georgia Tech? NC State is nice option to have.

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Some proportion of the June ACT sites were open. It’s unfortunate that more schools/sites didn’t try harder to figure it out.

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M.C. and Park are very competitive, obviously; its one of those things you apply for, work very hard on the essays and interview prep, and forget about it. Don’t count on them; it’s more of an “icing on the cake” thing. Good thing is our in-state rates are really low compared to other states. I have yet to know anyone who actually received either scholarship; many of them made it to interview rounds, but that was as far as they got. The kids we know were all 4.0uw, 4.55+ wgpa, 35+ act., top 5, great leadership and ECs, etc (many are ORM); however, they are all from the counties I mentioned. Think of it like applying to an ivy; everyone is qualified, but in the end they’re looking for something “else” that is out of your control. Residing in a rural county could help. If you are a NC public school student, your class rank is often located on page 2 of your transcript or located in Naviance. Are you a possible NMSF? It’s not really a boost for M.C. or Park, but it could earn you more merit from schools like UofSC or AL. I know you’re gunning for CA’s or top CS schools like CMU, but add in some match OOS state schools with great honor colleges. Many of the tech, manufacturing, bio, and financial companies are relocating to NC (Charlotte and RTP); don’t overlook what that could mean for intern/coop opportunities.

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Unfortunately, for me it is still quite expensive. UNC and NC State would give me no need-based aid, so I would have to pay $24k a year for both schools. All the private schools I’m looking at are either roughly the same or cheaper. Columbia would only be $20k a year.

I’m in that awkward middle-class position where I get so little need-based aid that college is very expensive but my family is not wealthy enough to afford it without loans. That’s why I’m gunning for these scholarships, as I am not excited about attending these schools and they aren’t at all the cheap option.

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@stachlj958 Most everyone is in that position. You’re full pay for in-state schools, but would receive $60k in aid from Columbia? Something is “off.” No aid at in states would probably put you in the 50k-60k/year range at Columbia. Did you run the NPC on the sites with correct info from your parents?

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Before getting too carried away, you need to have the “money” talk with your parents. Worse than getting rejected is getting a list of acceptances to schools you can’t afford. Your numbers seem way off. If you can afford full pay at an in-state college plus room and board, I can almost guarantee Columbia won’t give you a price tag of $20k, or most any private school for that matter. You’ll need to run the Net Price Calculator for all of the private schools you want to go to.

If you’re looking for merit aid, TCU and Baylor are good candidates for a tuition scholarship. SMU is a great option as well.