Ireally need help picking safety schools because i feel like the list of schools i want to apply to is mostly reach/match. I like the larger schools with good sports. With my info below what would be some good safety schools. Open to any suggestions.
State: Maryland
Cost is not really a factor
School: Large, public (recently ranked #1 in the county and #9 in the state)
Stats
GPA: 3.84 (UW), 4.80 (W)
SAT: 1950 (CR-610, M- 760, Wr-580)
ACT: just took it last weekend, probably not that good (most likely going to use my SAT)
Class Rank: Currently i am at 99/519 (19%) this is just from freshman and sophomore year. I did pretty well this year and my counselor today said with this years gpa I should be around top 10-15%
Classes(grade received)
9th grade
Gym (A)
Honors Algebra 2 (A)
Latin 1 (A)
Honors Govt (A)
Pre-AP English 9 (A)
Honors Bio (B)
Art (A)
10th Grade
Latin 2 (A)
Pre-AP English 10 (A)
Health/Abnormal Psych (A)
Honors Chemistry (A)
Pre-AP World History (B)
Cooking (A)
Honors Geometry (A)
11th Grade
AP US History (B)
Honors College Algebra (A)
Honors Engineering Principles (A)
AP Computer Science (A)
AP Stat (A)
Pre-AP Physics (A)
Honors English 11 (A)
Pre-AP Trigonometry (A)
12th Grade (no grades yet just my schedule)
Honors English 12
AP Physics C Mechanics
AP Environmental Science
AP Calc AB
AP Macro Econ
AP Micro Econ
Tech/Teacher Intern
Extracurriculars:
School Ambassador
Class Council
Special needs soccer, bowling, and baseball (peer assistant)
Allied Friends Club- basically volunteering with special needs program (Cofounder and President)
Volunteer 10+ hrs a week at an animal rescue
National Honor Society
Student Athlete Leadership Board (Special Needs Sports Representative)
Teacher Recs: 10/10 (both teachers know me really well)
Counselor Rec: 8/10 (it’s hard for the counselors to know students with a school of 2100+)
Essays 9/10
My list of schools i am applying to: (i feel like i made my list with too many reaches for my stats)
UMD College Park
Univ of Del
Penn State
UMich
UVA
VA Tech
Ohio State
Duke
UNC
Meaning that you have shown your parents the list price and net price calculator result for each of your schools and they are ok with them?
Intended or possible major(s)?
Many of the schools listed in http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/ will be safeties if you can afford their remaining costs after applying the automatic scholarships for your stats. Based on possible interest in engineering, this list includes automatic full tuition scholarships from Alabama (Tuscaloosa and Huntsville), Tuskegee (full ride), Howard (first come first served), Florida A&M, Prairie View A&M (full ride).
If you are interested in a small engineering focused school, there are South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology.
@mom2collegekids my parents are divorced and originally my mom was the only person who was going to be paying for my college so i was going to need financial aid. But now my dad decided that he is willong to pay half so it doesnt really matter anymore what the price is since my mom and dad can afford to pay atleast half
Yes, Tuscaloosa is the main campus of the University of Alabama. Note that the automatic merit scholarship for your stats is full tuition plus $2,500 per year for engineering majors, but only two thirds tuition for other majors (full tuition if you get a 32 ACT or 1400 SAT CR+M).
With divorced parents who say that they will “pay half”, did they give you specific numbers of what they are willing to pay? They may be thinking “half” of an amount that may be smaller than what costs at a private or out-of-state public school (other than a cheap one like SDSMT or a big merit one) will be. Also, if they are divorced, both of their incomes and wealth (including any new spouses from remarriage) will be considered for financial aid purposes by schools using the CSS Profile form (which is most schools with good financial aid).
If there is any question on the cooperativeness of your divorced parents, or their ability to pay, be sure that your safeties include schools with automatic large merit scholarships whose remaining costs will be affordable even under the most pessimistic assumptions of parental contributions.
@ucbalumnus My major that im going for is mechanical engineering. What do you mean by it is “full tuition plus 2500 a year”? Also my parents can both afford 30+ thousand a year so total they can afford
@gandalf78 yea i know that. I just really like them so might as well
^ I understand; and if you don’t mind paying the application fee, why not? Lightning might strike.
UNC does not offer engineering courses; although Duke and NC State do, so if you wish to study mechanical engineering, you should strike UNC off the list.
Here is a link that might give you some additional ideas for schools to research if you are interested in studying engineering: http://best-engineering-colleges.com/
Based on the above linke, with a 3.84 HS GPA and 1370 SAT CR+M, you would get the UA scholarship for 2/3 tuition. If you major in engineering at UA, your scholarship would be topped up to full tuition plus $2,500.
I’ll be very surprised if you don’t get into Virginia Tech. My son got in for engineering with a markedly lower math SAT (but still over 700) and a much lower critical reading SAT score and worse grades. His overall SAT was the same because his writing score was slightly higher than yours. He was out of state. His extracurriculars were pretty much limited to a varsity sport (but he wasn’t good enough to play at VT or any D1 colleges). I think your math score will make VT a very likely match if not a safety.
On the flip side, he was accepted to UMD, but not for engineering. Are you solely interested in large universities? UMBC has strong engineering, is up and coming and well run, and is easier to get into . . .my son got into there.
@amarylandmom thanks for your input. I consider VT to be a match school too. I thought about UMBC and visited but I didn’t really like the campus and I just couldn’t picture myself there. I have visited UMD, UMBC, Penn State, Temple, UDel, and Villanova. These schools were all very different and I knew when I visited UMD and Penn State that I could easily see myself going there. Not so much for the other 4 though. I am not solely interested in large schools but it seems to be what I am leaning towards after visiting 6 schools. Originally I was thinking just small schools but my whole mindset changed after visiting these schools. I am visiting VT in July and I consider that as of now the number 3 school I want to go to.
Yes, the additional $2,500 can be used for other non-tuition expenses like room, board, books, etc. (that in total cost significantly more than $2,500).
Unfortunately, I am not terribly helpful as VT and UT Austin were the only large schools we visited, but my son decided he wanted much smaller. I personally thought VT was beautiful, and I really liked Blacksburg too. Good luck with your search!!