Match Me: Hispanic Female STEM

Chance Me / Match Me!
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I have proposed a list elsewhere and gotten amazing feedback but still struggling a bit. Maybe I try this another way. I will give my daughters particulars. I ask that you propose 5-6 schools. Safeties would be appreciated as we seem to have a bad handle on them - things we seem to see as safeties are generally assessed as reaches in CC.

Statistics and Grades

  • GPA: 4.68
  • GPA Unweighted: 4.26
  • SAT: 1450 (EBRW 730 / M 720)(Retake scheduled for March 2022. Optimistic 1500 is achievable as above was prior to preparation)
  • School does not rank students

Awards / Honors

  • National Hispanic Recognition Program (awarded to top decile Hispanic test takers of the PSAT)
  • Principal’s Honor Roll Each year
  • Spanish National Honor Society
  • Science National Honor Society

Coursework

  • AP’s (will be completed by end of Junior year)
    • Physics
    • Computer Science
    • Statistics
    • Psychology
  • AP’s expected Senior year
    • Calculus AB
    • Physics 2
    • Spanish
  • Taken at Honors level by end of Junior year
    • Global History and Geography 1
    • Math 9
    • Math 10
    • Math 11
    • Biology
    • Chemistry
    • Spanish 3
    • English 11
  • Electives taken by end of Junior year
    • Introductory Electrical/electronic Engineering
    • Introduction to STEM
    • Design and Drawing for Production

Athletics

Varsity Lacrosse: freshman, sophomore years. Starter sophomore year. Expect to start Junior year.
Varsity Soccer: sophomore, junior years. Starter junior year.
JV Soccer: Coaches Award
Varsity Soccer: Coaches Award
New York State Public High School Athletic

Work and Extracurricular

  • Camp Counselor, Summer 2019
  • Dockmaster/Gift shop attendant, Summer 2020, 2021
  • Letter Club
  • Letter Club Treasurer Junior year
  • Currently working with school ENL Director to create a program to help ENL students with college application process
  • Tutoring: Tutored 6th grader in Math and Science via Zoom during pandemic
  • Tutored elementary student during COVID via zoom
  • Volunteer: Letter Club
  • Volunteer: Varsity organized lacrosse clinics with PAL

School seeking: Strong and broad STEM programs. Interests are pre-Med or Engineering. She is liberal leaning, and definitely does not want to be out in the sticks for school. So within a city or a reasonable ride away. Prefers a warmer climate but knows she needs to be flexible.

Budget: We can swing 60-70k a year, but that would expend all resources and grad school would likely be out of the picture. So premed should be at much less that 60-70k. Engineering would have a higher budget for undergrad.

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See list at College Board National Recognition Program (includes former National Hispanic Recognition Program) Class of 2022 - Specialty College Admissions Topics / Hispanic Students - College Confidential Forums

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Thanks. I am all over that thread. Disappointed in the situation in AZ.

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Situation disappointing at ASU indeed, but it should still fit within your budget.

Have you considered University of Arizona too?

What do you have on your list at this point?

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Either U ofA or ASU
SUNY Bingampton (instate)
Steven’s (told their provide $ for females and athletes)

Was thinking Brandeis, Tufts,USD and Santa Clara … in the hopes- which I am told are just that- that one of them might offer 15-20 merit to make it possible.

At reach - or the Northeastern, BU, Case Western, GTech. Beyond them giving no $, I am told she basically has not shot.

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If she’s interested in a women’s college she could get very good merit scholarship money at Agnes Scott College in Atlanta. They have a very diverse population (about 40% white, fairly equal % of Black and Hispanic 25%ish or so, mix of other ethnicities and international students). They have very good STEM programs including pre-med. It’s ranked very highly for diversity, economic mobility, #1 most innovative LAC. Rankings At A Glance | Agnes Scott College

Edited to Add, everyone gets a scholarship of about $22K. Your daughter would qualify for more potentially. There are at least two full rides she could apply for.

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Texas A&M in College Station
Obviously she’d be out of state, but would get some automatic scholarship for Hispanic SAT score. She can qualify for in state tuition if she receives $4,000 in TAMU scholarships.
I’d definitely get on their radar. Probably too far for a campus visit, but get in touch with a recruiter for NY (or out of state).

University of Texas (Austin) and UTD (UTDallas), too.

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Tufts = no merit but they have programs for URMs

You should look at Johnson Scholarship at W&L, not in the city but so what. Free. Saves u tons. SMU etc for a full ride.

If the 4.26 is on a 4 point scale I disagree on NEU and BU no shot and I think CWRU is a great shot. But if you want safeties look at similar schools…Syracuse, Pitt, u of Miami, U of SC Honors, Miami Ohio. Arizona is left leaning and in a city. Wisconsin ? College of Charleston. FSU. NC State.Kalamazoo. Wooster. You can go for much cheaper than 60-70k.

NEU and BU are tough but no shot isn’t right.

Good luck.

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Our Hispanic daughter graduated from her med school program this past Spring. We saved $$$ in 529 accounts. She attended a UC for undergrad and attended a UC program for med school. It is a very expensive experience even for those of us who pay instate rates!

With your daughter, you really need to find a very inexpensive program so that by the time she graduates, she will have the funding to pay $300K+ (minimum) for med school and her expenses.

All of my daughter’s med school roommates (4) were on loans, loans and loans. My physician (who graduated-years and years ago- from UCLA’s medical school) recently asked about my daughter and told me that he had just finished paying off his med school loans - 20+ years ago.

Our eldest attended SUNY Buffalo (OOS) which had a program leading to medical school. She would have smoothly transitioned to a med school program. She ended up changing majors to EE/CS. She received an excellent education there and has been back in California since graduation. She had zero problems finding a job out here in SoCal and has moved rapidly up the ranks in engineering management in her corporate experiences.

SUNY’s are extremely underrated. WE knew nothing about the schools. Sending our 18 y.o. daughter to upstate New York with no relatives on the East Coast was a challenge. Our daughter handled it well and performed well. She was on a full ride then.

I’m sorry that students from LI are rejecting their SUNY’s because these are really affordable, good universities. I think these would be her best bet with her goals of Med School.

Edited to Add: Scholarships for med school don’t really exist and, since these are some of the best students in the nation, every single student would qualify for them.
The students are either on loans or on the Bank of Mom and Dad.

As for being Hispanic in a Med school program, it is not rare. In California, it is very common. Also, as for being bilingual, in my daughter’s class of 127 students, many were near-native in fluency in Spanish without having “hispanic” backgrounds. Most of the students in her class were also fluent in a language other than English (Mandarin, Tagalog/Pilipino, Russian, Vietnamese, Persian, and ASL).

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Her National Hispanic Recognition Program designation assures $6k if she is accepted. That would also secure her the in-state waiver.

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At TAMU as a OOS NHRP student, she would indeed get $4K/year + OOS tuition waiver ($6K/year is for in-state).

See Scholarships - National Scholars (tamu.edu)

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I had to remind myself that you are looking one year ahead. That gives your daughter ample time to increase her SAT score.

I think that both University of Arizona and ASU will still be reasonable in term of cost by the time she applies (as in half-tuition merit).

SUNY Binghamton should be on list as safety.

Stevens is likely to offer half-tuition if SAT score increases.

Don’t know enough about Brandeis, Tufts, USD or Santa Clara to comment.

I think that she has a shot at Northeastern and BU but unsure if they will come within budget.

GTech is going to be tough without a major SAT score increase.

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you are correct, thanks for that correction!

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You have to recall the 4.26 on a 4 scale but with a 3.9 Arizona would be $8k today abd has a wonderful honors complex. If it’s a 4.0 tuition will be 3k. Tucson leans left and is a great city.

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Indeed, thanks. But the student is currently only in her third year of high school and there is a recent rumor that University of Arizona might decrease its amount of merit after this year, following the path of ASU.

Rumor started at Arizona State Class of 2026 - Colleges and Universities A-Z / Arizona State University - College Confidential Forums

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We shall find out. One has to keep tracking. There are others but doesn’t sound like ole miss. Miss State etc meet the desire. uah might be looked at.

If u want merit you need to go where merit is. Your wish list has to shrink.

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OP, what does Naviance say? The results from kids from your own HS is going to be a more accurate prediction of safety/match than the rest of us. We are only going by your D’s stats-- but your HS has several years worth of actual results from actual applicants.

It’s important to check not just “Do kids like my D get accepted” but also the “Do kids like my D get rejected” space. That will help you figure out if your D is on the cusp (and some of her activities, recommendations, etc. can push her over the edge) or if she’s lacking something that those other kids had (recryuted athlete, legacy).

Come back and let us know where your D falls on your original list- and then we can help you tweak. Nobody needs 6 safeties- so if her safeties are indeed safe, and you can afford them, then we can help build that list out.

FYI- don’t assume that grad school is out of the picture. MD- yes, kids need to self finance (parents or loans). But a PhD in some STEM field would be funded (the university pays) so you don’t need to save money for that. And many engineers don’t need grad school at all- they go from undergrad to great careers- and their employers will typically pay for some or all of a Master’s program if they need that.

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Agree! Engineering only needs an undergrad degree.

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Your unweighted GPA cannot be more than 4.0

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School weight for honors and whatnot

Their unweighted is giving extra .5 for pluses (A+ = 4.5, B+ = 3.5)

If unweighted is A and A+ = 4.0
B and B+ = 3.0…

Then she has to be a 3.9 or so. Only has one B+.