Hey everyone, I am trying to add some more schools to my college list to consider. I’m not looking at any specific characteristics in a school but I would like to stay close to CA as this is where I live but I would not be opposed to leaving home to be more independent. Right now, I’m considering either majoring in Business Administration or Neuroscience(premed) which are two very different fields so I’m probably going to apply to both and decide later. P.S. I would love to hear stories or anecdotes on your experience in these two fields and majoring in these majors at your specific schools. I am heavily considering full tuition+ scholarships from National Merit Scholarship schools.
Stats:
-Asian Male from competitive high school in SoCal
-Upper-middle class, however need financial aid if I don’t go to a UC or CSU because my family has many expenses living in an expensive area.
-GPA(unweighted): 3.98
-GPA(weighted):4.4
-SAT: 1550 (760RW, 790M, 16E)
-PSAT:1490 (223SI)
-SAT Subject Test: 800 Math 2, 800 Chemistry
-APs: (all 5s) Comp Sci A, Calc A/B, Chemistry
-Senior Schedule: AP Calc B/C, AP Stats, AP Physics, English, XC
Activities:
-eBay business for 3 years
-National Merit Semifinalist
-Screen Printing Business I started and run
-Piano Level Advanced CM, won many local competitions
-President for music club outside school
-Varsity XC and TF
-Manager and President of XC
-Eagle Scout
-Went on missions trip to India this past summer
-Intern at screen printing company for 2 years
-Intern at import/export business for the summer
What I’m looking for
-Good weather(Not super hot or super cold)
-Near a city where I could network or further my career
-Merit Aid(I do not qualify for need-based at most institutions)
Safety:
CSULB
CSUF
SDSU
UT Dallas
University of the Pacific
If you think I am too ambitious or not ambitious enough, please tell me! Any advice or recommendations is seriously needed, whether negative or positive. Thank you so much!
I would put UCLA into the Reach category since their acceptance rate this admission cycle was lower than UCB’s. Other than that I would add either UCD or UCSB as another Match school.
Check out the College of Creative Studies program at UCSB… they don’t have business at all, and they don’t have neuroscience but they do have both bio and biochemistry and with your stats you might well be in line for a regents scholarship there. I’d also suggest checking out the Barrett honors college at Arizona State… I think they are highly ranked and give good merit money for NMF kids.
If you apply to all of the UCs except for Merced and Riverside, then I don’t think you need any CSUs as a safety, unless there is one that you would prefer more than UCSC. You will probably be accepted at most of the UCs, if not all.
I wouldn’t be surprised if you were offered some Regents scholarships as well. A Regents scholarship would be useful for making sure you get the best professors. In addition, the UCSD Regents allows you to do a research project starting in your first quarter as a freshman. Since you are considering premed, I’m sure you have read some of the threads here about choosing a college at which you are likely to have a high GPA and can do research as an undergrad.
I see that UT Dallas is your National Merit Scholarship choice. Are you thinking of adding any more from the list that offer generous NM scholarships?
I have no idea whether you would be accepted at your private reach schools. One just never knows.
Many highly selective private schools (such as Harvard, Stanford, and Caltech) award little or no merit money.For any colleges that interest you, check their Common Data Sets, section H2A for the number of merit scholarships awarded and average amounts. For 2016-17, Caltech awarded 2 merit scholarships averaging only $5K each.
There are a few exceptions. Selective schools in warm-weather states where you may have a shot at relatively large merit scholarships (> $20K or so) include the University of Southern California (USC), Duke,Vanderbilt, Emory, and UMiami.
I think you are likely to find the best balance of quality and net price within the University of California system. If you decide the UCs (or CSUs) don’t meet your needs but you want at least a full tuition scholarship, then you probably need to focus on much less selective schools, such as the ones listed here: http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
If you need less than full tuition, then you might want to consider some moderately selective colleges that award competitive merit grants, typically averaging around $15K-$20K or so. Examples: http://competitivefulltuition.yolasite.com/