Need Help Selecting my Reaches, Safeties, and Matches.

College Search & Selection
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<p>I am a rising senior. </p>

<p>-State: Alabama</p>

<p>-GPA: 4.7 weighted. 3.95 weighted because of one honors B in freshman year. I am in the top 5% of my class.</p>

<p>-SAT: 2280. CR 760, M 770, W 750. I was feeling sick that test day. Will be retesting in October aiming for 2350 or above. Math II 770 and Biology E 780. </p>

<ul>
<li><p>AP: (All junior year) Macroeconomics 4, Environmental Science 5, Language 5, Statistics 5, Psychology 5. Will be taking an additional 6 AP's my senior year.</p></li>
<li><p>Extracurricular: Science, ecology, english and math and volunteer clubs. Varsity tennis for one year. Worked as a math tutor. made money from e-commerce.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>-Volunteering: Veteran's home, hospital, libraries, local fairs, fundraising drives, tutored for National Honors Society and a math honors society. </p>

<p>-major: this is difficult because I can't decide yet. I would like a university where i have a wide breadth of choices. I am thinking of psychology right now. I also really liked macroeconomics class and would enjoy economics+business as a major (if those aren't too different things entirely). I initially had a strong interest in medicine and I went to a biomed high school my freshman year before I had to move to alabama. My teachers say I would do well in engineering. I have never been exposed to an engineer's work, nor an economist's, surgeon's, or businessman's. So I feel lost in deciding which career path I want to head to. I enjoy writing and reading very much, but I don't know what job an english major can endow me.</p>

<ul>
<li> My family has 20,000 total for my education. Our family of four income is a little less than 100k annually now.</li>
</ul>

<p>My parents won't take me to college visits. Does atmosphere really make or break a school experience?</p>

<p>I want to go to an Ivy League but I also want to choose matches and safeties. I can attend close to home or far away, as long as it is affordable. Can you knowledgeable parents please suggest some matches, safeties and reaches (that are affordable)?</p>

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<p>Well… U of Alabama is an obvious safety, you can go pretty much for free given your stats, I think. And they draw a lot of smart students to the honor college there from all over the country because of their generous NMF and guaranteed for high stats scholarships.</p>

<p>Atmosphere does make a difference. Will you maybe be able to visit a few colleges once you have acceptances? Can you at least get to colleges that are somewhat local (either your parents might be willing to do to those, or you could ride along with friends)?</p>

<p>Regarding “affordable”, it depends on whether your parents are willing to pay some in addition to the savings you say they have out of their current income, and also if you are planning to take out your federal loans. Colleges will expect your parents to pay some, so for most colleges that pop up on your list you need to start by having your parents help you run the Net Price Calculators on the financial aid webpage. If your family can’t or won’t pay the shown cost of attendance, then the school most likely is not for you. So you can start by running those for the Ivies and see how they look. Generally the higher ranked the school, the more generous the need based aid.</p>

<p>Other routes you can take:

<p>Lots of other schools will give you SOME merit aid. But you may need a lot, depending on what your parents are willing to pay in addition to the $20K saved.</p>

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<p>It’s confusing because the Calculator for Princeton says that our EFC is 10,000/yr, but their brochures contend that anyone earning 100k and under is eligible for free tuition and half of room and board. </p>

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<p>Half of room and board, plus books, personal expenses, travel, and maybe student fees could come to around $10,000. If you look at the page where they show cost of attendance, a lot of schools include those expenses.</p>

5

<p>Based on the info before me right now, I’d suggest you have not much hope for an ivy or Stanford. Your ECs are going to hurt you at many near ivys. This is tough because many of the elite schools will meet need. Your best chance is to raise that SAT and that will be hard to do. Taking 6 APs senior year is over-doing it; three should suffice and still allow you to enjoy BOTH semesters of your senior year. </p>

<p>So that means you’re left with approximately 3400 schools from which to choose. You’re smart enough to see that the fly in the ointment of your college dreams is money and your parents. You cannot do anything about the latter but you can choose your colleges to address the former. </p>

<p>You’re an automatic tuition scholar at your home flagship, UAlabama, as well as her sisters. That will leave you with about 11K to pay off each year. If your parents provide 5K and you 2K in work, you can get away with 4K in loans. This is a lot better than most other students will be doing. So you have more than one potential safeties. Now you have to decide if you would go to one of them if all else failed.</p>

<p>For the matches and reaches, you will also need a great deal of need-based aid OR a tuition scholarship. However, it is doubtful anyone will give you all you need because the schools are likely to expect your family to pay more than 5K each year; the schools won’t likely eat that gap between Expected Family Contribution and 5K. That means you will have to find a way to do so. So let’s stick with schools that offer full tuition for now.</p>

<p>Go to the Financial Aid forum and look for the stickie at the top of the page that says automatic full tuition/ride scholarships. Take a look at those schools. Then go to the stickie that says competitive full tuition/ride scholarships. This is where you should do most of your searching for schools, unless the SAT jumps to 2350.</p>

<p>You know from the example of UAlabama that a full tuition scholarship anywhere will put you close to being able to afford that school. To get one of these competitive full tuition awards you’ll have to set your sights lower than you would if you had all the money in the world or a string of outstanding ECs. You’re going to need to find schools where you’ll be in the top 1-2% of students they would admit. </p>

<p>Tulane and UPitt, from my own experience, come immediately to mind as schools that might consider you for full tuition. URochester is another. This is going to be really hard to do, so you might want to drop your sites even lower to make such merit more likely. New College of Florida is an excellent school that nobody’s ever heard of that might be a good place to look. Honors Colleges at USouth Carolina and Arizona State are others. Ohio State and Miami of Ohio. Syracuse offers a few. URichmond and Washington & Lee offer a bunch. Somewhere between these schools and Alabama would make it more likely. Schools in the Northeast or West that offer full tuition might be interested in an Alabama student to round out their class.</p>

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<p>I had a talk with my parents (because something was really off here) and I realized there was a big misunderstanding. </p>

<p>There is around 20k that I thought was a lump sum… but $1,000 are added to it every month. So each year, I receive around 12k in new funds.</p>

<p>Sorry about my naivete in personal finance here…</p>

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<p>Okay, that’s great. 12K per year plus whatever grant aid the schools offer your family, plus summer work would add upto…? Run those net price calculators, but I still think the full tuition scholarship is going to be required at most schools.</p>

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<p>Don’t waste time retaking the exam. Anything over 2250 looks the same. Save your money. And YES the atmosphere really makes or breaks the experience. There are programs that provide free college visits. Try to find one. I will chance you when I have more time</p>

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<p>I can’t see any reason to retest either. You have a 1530/1600 M+CR. Any chance you will be a NMF? There is a whole set of schools that have scholarships set aside for those students.</p>

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<p>Did you parents attend/graduate from a 4-year college?</p>

<p>If you are NMF you’ll have a lot of good choices.
Look at Clark (excellent for psychology, management/entrepreneurship, and LEAP scholarship).
Northeast, Midwest, and Pacific Northwest would appreciate the geographical diversity you bring, so target some schools in these areas, looking for their Honors programs (and scholarships). As it’s been mentioned, look over the “competitive full tuition/full ride scholarships” list on the Financial Aid Forum.</p>

<p>When you say “made money from ecommerce”, how much money are you talking about? Do you have a legitimate niche, a sort of “brand” or object you specialize in? (I’m asking because your EC’s are lacking whereas everything else places you in contention for any Top 25 university/LAC).
Do you have any passion? is there anything “weird” that you do?</p>

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<p>“Well, now that you ask, @MYOS1634, I have a proclivity for…” :)) </p>

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<p>Hm, I was thinking like “build birdhouses”, “repair swiss cuckooclocks”…</p>

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<p>I disagree with those telling you not to take SAT again. I think if you score over 2300 you have a better shot at some of the most selective schools (especially since you are coming from Alabama). I see no reason you shouldn’t apply to Ivy League and comparable schools, especially those with good financial aid. You probably want a larger university, since you are unsure about major, and might choose engineering. You might look at Duke as one of your reaches. Perhaps look at Wake Forrest as well.</p>

<p>You absolutely should include U of Alabama on your list. It’s a fantastic safe school for somebody in your position.</p>

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<p>

</p>

<p>Huh? If there were many people from Alabama with those stats, Alabama wouldn’t need those scholarships to attract them to the state. </p>

<p>I would definitely recommend applying to ivys and Stanford. There is no school that should be off of your radar. </p>

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<p>Take a look at the ECs, CRD. I thought it unlikely that “Alabama” would overcome the absence of leadership and extensive CDs. In 2010, for instance, Stanford welcomed 9 students from Alabama, 8 in 2008. Alabama has a large applicant pool, unlike South Dakota or Wyoming or some of the least populated states.</p>

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<p>This is why we have such rich discussions on this web site:

:smiley: </p>

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<p>There’s nothing wrong with OP’s ECs. Obviously, he/she will need to explain them better in an application, and they’d be better if he/she had won a Pulitzer Prize or something, but there are plenty of kids at Ivies and other selective schools with ECs just like that, especially if they are from smaller towns. Also, it’s worth noting that what is required to get into Harvard and one or two others may not be quite so necessary for a lot of other very selective schools.</p>

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<p>Look at Princeton apply early u are a competitive student so it’s crapshoot if I get in but it’s EA so u can choose what u want to do if u can’t afford it but Princeton has Excellent fin aid ud pay very little and it’s a low cost of living in rural NJ. </p>

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<p>Gosh, I did a rough summary of my EC’s but I guess I should flesh it out some more to make it read like an application. </p>

<p>Future Business Leaders of America- President. Various volunteer projects. 10 hours. </p>

<p>Wildlife Club- President: We are working on a conversation and sustainable agriculture area behind our school and lake. We are starting from the ground up by applying for grants and building out in the fields. I have so much fun with this group and the project. Many volunteer hours here of building signs, digging, paperwork, etc. </p>

<p>Mu Alpha Thetha: math tutoring. 8 hours</p>

<p>National Honors Society- Around 25 hours of tutoring</p>

<p>Veteran’s Home Volunteering. Around 30 hours. It was nice knowing you could make someone’s last years fun and pleasant. We talked with them and wheeled them to events and such. The people there were a blast. </p>

<p>Varsity tennis for sophomore year. Loved my teammates and the game but the training just wasn’t for me. </p>

<p>Translated articles from Korean to English for a top Korean/American entertainment website. Paid job. </p>

<p>National English Honors society- library volunteering hours</p>

<p>Poem published in anthology collection (not sure if this is relevant). </p>

<p>Science Olympiad: We won 1st in regionals last year! Love this club!</p>

<p>Chem Club- sophmore year</p>

<p>Scholar’s Bowl sophomore year. was a team president for local competition</p>

<p>Tutored math at an outside company as a job for around half a year?</p>

<p>Volunteering at hospital at waiting desk and the surgery floor. around 30 hours. </p>

<p>I do what I love doing and what interests me. I think this list covers just about everything!</p>

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<p>@MYOS1634‌ I sold a particular, niche product that appealed to certain hobbyists online! Profit of $7ish for around two seconds of work. Sounds like a good deal to me!</p>

<p>I’m really interested in model natural landscaping, if that is relevant at all. Not sure if colleges would care about that at all. Creating a smaller model of natural landscapes is really interesting. Lot of detail work. It’s just a hobby; I don’t have any public exhibitions. </p>

<p>I also like magic. This is probably why I liked Psychology class so much. In dealing with patter, slight of hand, etc, it takes advantage of human vulnerabilities like change blindness, selective attention. Sometimes we see exactly what we want to see by signal cues intimated by the magician. </p>

<p>I guess I’m pretty weird. </p>

<p>I also like photography. I’m by no means professional, but I have thought about being a photographer/journalist in the future. </p>

<p>Also, about my SAT, I will retake in October. the 2280 was my very first time taking it. My practice tests have yielded me higher scores and I know testing day didn’t go well for me. I realize 2280 is an excellent score but I know it’s not fully representative of my abilities. </p>