Hi I’ve already posted about this but I need a little bit more help.
Here is a list of all the schools I’m looking at for various reasons:
UNR/UNLV
Loyola Marymount
CU Boulder
UW
Usc
Unc
USD
Vanderbilt
umich
SDSU
Asu barrett/UA
Nau
osu/iu /umn /umich
Ucsb/cal poly
Northwestern
Penn
BC
Brown
Duke
Cornell
WashU
Fordham
University of Denver
UO
Ucla
UCSB
Berkeley
Columbia
As you can see i need to narrow these down quite a bit. I’m undeclared so far and have a 31 act and around 4.3 weighted/3.8 unweighted. My parents said they would at most pay 35k but even that is a stretch. If I have absolutely no shot at a school, please let me know and if there’s no way to afford financially tell me that as well. I don’t want to apply for no reason thank you
I think you can take quite a few off as they aren’t going to be under $35k. Cal, UCLA, UCSB and any other UC’s. CU Boulder is going to be more than that without much hope of financial aid/merit.
We don’t know how much your parents make or have in assets, so don’t know if you will qualify for need based aid at all the Ivies or Duke or USC. Merit aid is very hard to come by at most of the schools you listed.
The privates are expensive:
USD is $62K per year,
Loyola Marymount is $60K per year,
USC is $70K.
These privates do have scholarships but these are very competitive.
“CU Boulder is going to be more than that without much hope of financial aid/merit”
One daughter was offered some merit aid at UC Boulder with similar stats, but not enough to get the total cost of attendance down to $35K/year.
“My parents said they would at most pay 35k but even that is a stretch.”
The total cost of attending university is a very common constraint, and is going to narrow your list quite a bit. I will assume that by “35k” you mean the total cost of attending university for one year (including tuition, fees, room and board, books, and other expenses).
I honestly don’t know if any of the out-of-state schools on your list will have a total cost of attendance of $35K or less. Your in-state public schools should be solid matches or safeties for you and affordable. With somewhat similar stats, the only schools that we found that were under $35K per year were our in-state public schools, and universities in Canada (where the top 3 and a few others might be close to $35K for an international student, but most would be less than this). Costs at other US schools will however depend a lot on whether you qualify for need based aid.
You should run the NPC on each of the schools on your list and see how it comes out.
Agree with @TomSrOfBoston Limit your reach schools. A 31 ACT is very low (likely under 25th percentile) for Vandy, Penn, Northwestern, Penn, Brown, Duke, Cornell, WashU, Columbia. I’d take them off your list or at most apply to one or two.
Run net price calculator for other schools to see if they appear affordable. Merit aid is highly unlikely for the UCs. Take out any that appear unaffordable.
If you are looking to shorten your list I’d take out all the schools where your ACT is under the 25th percentile. If you have one or two favorites then go ahead and apply but know that as an unhooked applicant the odds of getting into a hyper-competitive college with standardized tests under the 25th percentile are remote. And then look at cost and take out all unaffordable options. Don’t was your time, energy, and money applying to a lot of schools that don’t make sense for you.
Unhooked means there is no reason a school would want you in particular over others with similar or better qualifications. Examples of hooks include being a recruited athlete or the child of a huge donor. Few people do have these hooks.
IMO it is time to start getting realistic about where you can get in and what you can afford. But in the end it is entirely your call as to where you apply.
"@DadTwoGirls … and also, how much money did she receive at boulder "
My older daughter was offered enough merit aid from UC Boulder to bring the total cost of attendance down to about $40,000 per year, not including travel costs nor incidentals (such as a laptop and cell phone). This was about the same as most universities that she applied to. The exceptions were our in-state flagship and McGill, both of which were a lot less, and Northeastern, where she got no aid at all. This was a few years ago so it is possible that costs might have gone up a bit.