Need college advice - huge upward GPA trend, high ACT, ambitious

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hey! Well this isn't really a chancing thread. I just wanted some opinions on where I stand college-wise in the future. I'm currently a Junior at a suburban public school in Ohio.
I had started my high school career pretty badly. Freshman year, I was very disillusioned existentially and with the whole educational process. I would be very apathetic and not care about school, eschewing grades for hanging out with friends and didn't have many good influences. After a year with an unfortunate 2.8 GPA, I took the summer to get myself together. I really am a very ambitious and idealistic person when it comes to my plans for the future and success. Freshman year is just a dark spot on that path. After having my priorities and goals more in line with myself, I started to do really well.
I'm naturally very intelligent (this is the only place I would blatantly say that though) and I honestly felt like I put more effort into getting bad grades than good ones. After putting in minimum effort and focusing on school more, I started doing a lot better with very rigorous classes. I am really charismatic and friendly (I know that doesn't play into the application process but when writing essays and such I think a likeable personality helps). So far here is some information:</p>

<p>GPA:
Freshman - 2.80
Sophomore - 4.27
Junior - 4.92
Senior - n/a
*Cumulative - 3.80 *</p>

<p>*ACT: *34 <a href="M%2033%20E%2033%20R%2035%20S%2035%20/%20%5Bi%5DW%2012%5B/i%5D">/b</a></p>

<p>AP:
AP US History - 4</p>

<p>*COURSES<a href="electives%20excluded">/b</a>:
*Freshman -
English I, Physical Science, Honors Geometry, Spanish II, Modern History
Sophomore -
Biology, AP US History, Honors Algebra II, Honors English II, Spanish III
Junior -
AP English Language, AP Bio, AP US Gov & Politics, IB Psychology SL, IB Chemistry HL Yr 1, Honors Precalculus
Senior (planned) -
AP Physics C: Mechanics, AP English Lit, AP Calc AB, AP World History, IB Chem HL Yr 2, AP Comp Sci, IB Business & Management SL</p>

<p>SAT Subject Tests: not taken</p>

<p>EC:
Future Business Leaders of America <a href="Officer">i</a>*
Social Studies Club <a href="President">i</a>*
Student Senate
Key Club
National Honors Society (next year)
Library Volunteering<a href="25+%20hours">/i</a>
*Work as Teacher and Tutor *at enrichment academy (teach math, computer programming, lego robotics)
*Founded and ran online professional Graphic Design business <a href="grew,%20managed,%20designed%20static%20and%203D%20motion%20graphics">/i</a>
Raised hundreds of dollars with cancer charity t-shirts
*Interning at a Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering Laboratory at The Ohio State University this summer
Youth Forum Leader at local cultural committee (Bangladesh Association)
Tutoring
Teaching inner-city kids how to read
Partner at a media, art design, and social media LLC company
(EC's are a bit scattered but I just get involved in anything that seems interesting to me)</p>

<p>Also, my family is middle class (earns about $80,000 before taxes) and I am a first generation Bengali-American. Neither of those do me any favors for college but I'd rather earn admission based on my own merit and ambition anyways.</p>

<p>So basically I'm just wondering what type of colleges I should be looking at and such.
I know it would help to tell you what I want to major in but I'm not sure. I like physics, engineering (biomedical/mechanical), philosophy, business, robotics, AI, CS, nanotechnology, economics, public policy, venture capitalism, neuroscience, etc. So obviously nothing I can definitely say with such broad interests.
I like the idea of a large-ish campus (not too huge but I've lived in the suburbs all my life - I want some change). I don't want to go to the south or anywhere in the "middle-of-nowhere". New York, California, DC, Chicago, Virginia, etc are all fine with me.
My safety school is The Ohio State University, so I want to look up from there. Some examples of colleges I like are Berkeley, UCLA, NYU, UPenn, Northwestern, Georgetown, UMich. I don't think I have much of a chance at HYPS (maybe Stanford as they don't consider freshman grades much). I know CC tends to be very critical and harsh (not to offend anyone), so try to give me some fair recommendations and advice. I'll accept anything, I'm just in that stage where I have nothing but colleges on my mind and would really appreciate some other people's advice.
Thanks everyone!</p>

2

<p>Berkeley, UCLA, UMich = will not be affordable for a middle class family. $50,000 a year and no financial aid available for out of state students.
NYU is unlikely to be affordable but you never know.
Some colleges factor in the fact you’re a first generation student - check out Hamilton, for instance.
Check out Tulane, Emory, Vanderbilt, Boston College, Fordham. All are reaches but they’re similar to what you listed.
Plan to apply to Ohio State’s Honors College.
Ohio has literally a hundred colleges, plus those in PA and NYS: you should easily find quite a few you like :slight_smile:
Find The Fiske Guide or The Insider’s Guide to the colleges and start reading, marking the colleges you like with a post it.
You might want to swap IB business&management SL for a less “soft” course.
For the colleges you’re aiming at Spanish IV would be expected.</p>

3

<p>Thanks! I’m still probably going to apply to schools that have higher tuition. You never know what scholarships you might get. I’ll check out some of those schools and I will definitely by applying Honors @ OSU.
I’m wondering what schools I would have some chances for with tuition considerations coming after though.</p>

4

<p>It’s simple: run the Net Price Calculator on each website (you have to do this for each school since they calculate differently).
Higher tuition may mean better financial aid… or not. it’s unrelated. Sticker price and net price often have nothing in common, except for public OOS universities.
You don’t necessarily want schools with higher tuition; you want schools that meet 100% need
<a href=“Colleges with Need-Blind Admission for U.S. Students”>Colleges with Need-Blind Admission for U.S. Students;
and schools that offer scholarships for your stats:
<a href=“Automatic Out-of-State Tuition Waivers - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums”>Automatic Out-of-State Tuition Waivers - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums;
<a href=“Competitive Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - #61 by bumpyroad - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1461983-competitive-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-p5.html&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“Automatic Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums”>Automatic Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums;
Private out of state LACs/universities tend to appreciate applicants from 400+ miles away.
Public OOS do not have financial aid, except for the merit scholarships listed above.</p>

5

<p>I’ll check it out. And you’re right - I should be looking at schools that will meet my needs. As I said, I can be a bit idealistic which puts things like money out of my head when picking colleges.</p>

<p>If anyone else has anymore college suggestions that would be great. </p>

6

<p>Please see points 1 and 4 in this post:
<a href=“Before you ask which colleges to apply to, please consider - College Search & Selection - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1621234-before-you-ask-which-colleges-to-apply-to-please-consider.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

7

<p>I think your financial needs will be a bigger obstacle than your freshman grades. With the help of some insightful recommendations and essays you should be able to finesse your rocky year 9 – plus the results of years 10 & 11 speak for themselves. Once you edit and focus your EC list to illustrate what you really care about, you’ll be a strong candidate.</p>

<p>Money is tricky for families in your financial tier. Ask your parents to run a few net price calculators to get an idea of the kind of NEED based aid you’d be likely to receive. If that doesn’t work, you’ll need to start looking for schools that might grant MERIT aid. </p>

<p>The first step is to understand the difference as many well known colleges do not offer merit aid, period.</p>

<p>In addition to carefully researching the larger universities listed on the financial aid threads linked above, you might also reconsider your wishlist and your reluctance to use your demographic to your advantage. </p>

<p>At many small liberal arts colleges – especially those in Southern, Midwestern or rural locations – you would be considered a URM and get a diversity boost. Your background would be less of an plus at urban schools or large research universities.</p>

<p>Take a deeper look at where students at some of these “middle of no where” small colleges attend graduate school. You might be surprised at the opportunities – both academic and financial. I’d start with Grinnell, Carleton, Rhodes. If those hold any interest, there are others.</p>

<p>If it turns out that you’re eligible for sufficient need based aid, you could widen your scope considerably.</p>

<p>So cast a wide net and keep your options open.</p>

8

<p>

Does that mean you would be a first gen college student or a first gen American? The first can be a tip at schools, not usually the latter. Also your grades are weighted. What is your UW GPA? Since you have tOSU as a good safety I would apply widely. There are some OOS schools that will offer good merit aid for your grades and scores. Look in the FA forum at the sticked threads.</p>