<p>I am going to be a junior at a HS in Cali, have not taken SAT or ACT yet, but i plan on getting above average on both.
I am african-american, pacific islander, white, and indian.
I had a 3.7 unweighted, 4.0 weighted GPA sophomore year.
I plan on getting over a 4.0 these next couple of years.
I am going to be a 3-year varsity basketball player.</p>
<p>Arizona State
U of Arizona
UCLA
USC
UCSB
CSU Long Beach
San Diego State
Florida State
UNLV
UNR
UCSD
U of Georgia
UC Davis
U of Oregon
U of Washington
UCI</p>
<p>Too hard to tell. Just because you plan on getting a 4.0, doesn’t mean you’re actually going to earn that. What would be helpful is sharing your classes for this upcoming year.</p>
<p>classes are pre calculus honors, ap environmental, ap english language, spanish 4 honors, TV production, Culinary Arts, ROP Computer Arch design, and World History</p>
<p>Have you taken the PSAT? Doing above average on the junior-year PSAT could lead to you getting National Merit/Acheivement, which would help schools like USC become less of a reach.</p>
<p>Out-of-state at various other state “flagships” (the best/better known schools from a state’s public university system) are generally not that hard to get into if they a good amount of spaces for OOS students. Florida State can be hard to get into OOS, as is UW-Seattle (part of this is because they only let so many OOS students in at FSU). </p>
<p>As for the rest of those schools, to my knowledge, they’d be matches for you, if you make a 4.0 for the next two years (an upward trend in grades could help you some) and make an SAT of 1700 or higher, depending on the school. Junior year grades can be the most important, so work hard! Also, see if there is a school club or community service intiative that interests you. </p>
<p>You seem to be taking a fair number of classes that explore certain “vocational” subjects (subjects that translate directly into a career path someone might take ex. Culinary Arts = chef, TV Production = TV producer). Do any of those correlate to an interest you want to explore outside the classroom?</p>
<p>Playing a varsity sport for 3 years is a great thing and a great accomplishment, but basketball is only one season of the year - colleges want to see that you were active in your school and community during the other months, too! For example, University of Arizona leaves space on their application for you to write in your activities, and another area to write in the activities you did over the summer! They may also have varsity sports in their own section, so make sure that you have some interests that you can show commitment and passion for in the (non-sport) activities sections!</p>
<p>Thank you! are the number of AP/Honors classes good? Should i do more? am i allowed to do less?</p>
<p>Also, My mother only makes within 10K to 20K a year, so do you think money would be an issue at any out of state schools or even in state schools? or would i get full financial aid to all?</p>
<p>Lastly, would having a 4.2-4.5 GPA make up for an average SAT/ACT score at any of the universities? (such as around a 1500)</p>
<p>I live in Washington, and I can tell you that it would be very difficult to get OOS financial aid from UW Seattle. The school is suffering large budget cuts from the government, and so they’ve been trying to accept more OOS applicants in hopes of gaining more revenue (OOS pay about 3 times as much as in-state). I’m afraid that you’d have to be quite the extraordinary student to get financial aid from them.</p>
<p>ok thank you. that was probably my last choice anyways. haha. What about ASU (OOS), U of Oregon (OOS), USC (In state), UCSB (In state). or UCSD (in state)?
Those are my top choices probably.</p>
<p>USC would probably be the most likely to give you financial aid, since it is a private school and is not suffering the same budget cuts as the UC school system. Financial aid from public schools in general are pretty difficult to get, but I think ASU should give you some aid if you blow their stats out of the water.</p>
<p>Most public schools are not generous with need-based financial aid to OOS students (Virginia and North Carolina may be exceptions). Some may be generous with merit aid (e.g. Alabama).</p>
<p>University of California’s Blue and Gold Opportunity means that financial aid grants will at least cover systemwide in-state tuition and fees, but that still leaves books, living expenses, and misc. expenses. California State Universities start out less expensive, though. Note that both UC and CSU have a special method of calculating GPA for admissions purposes, described here: [CSUMentor</a> - Plan for College - High School Students - GPA Calculator](<a href=“http://www.csumentor.edu/planning/high_school/gpa_calculator.asp]CSUMentor”>http://www.csumentor.edu/planning/high_school/gpa_calculator.asp)</p>
<p>I would apply to more privates because they usually give much better financial aid than publics. Is there a reason you don’t have many privates on your list?</p>
<p>The general guideline that I’ve seen from schools is that students take at least 5 academic/core courses per year, which you are doing. The place where students sometimes slack most is in the sciences and foreign language. Being in Spanish 4 Honors is great and puts you ahead of many applicants. Make sure to take AP Spanish if it is offered to you next year. Also, as long as you have taken at least 3 of the following: Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Environmental/Earth Science (you’ve got that one!), then you will have covered your based for most schools (these are the “lab sciences” as opposed to “social sciences” like Psychology, and most schools require three). If it were me, I’d take one more weighted course than what you are taking, but the courses you are currently taking will be on par with what you need to get into the schools you listed. So I’m just a dork, and do as you wish :)</p>
<p>The best way to get merit money at ASU and U of Arizona is as a National Merit Finalist. California’s cut off score was 219 last year, and 218 the year before - if you get above that on the PSAT then you get $30k per year at U of Arizona, and automatic acceptance into ASU’s Barrett Honors College (plus some merit money - not as much as they used to give though).</p>
<p>@RainbowRose It seems that the OP is focusing on larger schools, or perhaps well-known schools, which are often publics. tahoe, you should keep on looking throughout junior and part of senior year to find what you really want in a college! There may be a smaller college or a private college in another state that would be a perfect fit for you! (Sorry for assuming that you haven’t done much research for college - I’ll bet you have, it’s just that I’ve overresearched and therefore know about those schools,</p>
<p>I was unclear about what you said was needed to receive a national merit scholarship? And to get into ASU’s barrett honors college? (that is what I want to do if I went there.)</p>
<p>For NMF you need to get above the qualifying score in CA for the PSAT in your junior year. That was 219 last year. Then your grades, recs, etc need to support being chosen.</p>
<p>The Junior Year PSAT is the National Merit Qualifying Test. An comparable SAT is required to verify the PSAT was not a one time thing but the PSAT is what qualifies you.</p>