1st generation to go to college (parents are divorced, foreign born & have no US education )
Male
US citizen & Florida resident
Really lower class (19.6k yearly income)
Major:
Undecided but STEM, economics or statistics seem favorable
Stats:
3.47 gpa/4.35 weighted on a 5.0 scale
34 ACT 2270 SAT
School doesn't do class rank or valedictorian. It's #265 on US weekly so that's kinda good i guess.
12 APs : Human geo (4) World history (5) Music theory (4) psych (4) Stats (5) Spanish (5) US history (5), English language (5) taking cal AB, Computer science, and Physics 1 and 2.
ECs (Sorry for no tl;dr):
Over 2000 service hours (2152), mostly in music. I give kids free private classes in addition to serving as a teacher in junior orchestras. I've put in about 7-8 hours a week since freshman year with the exception of some trips that count as 24 hours per day.
Model UN, Science honors society (Non-Officer)
Math honors society (Top 10 school in the nation, am on stats team) (Non-Officer but very involved)
President of Music honors society
First chair in school orchestra (concertmaster), have traveled to Washington DC, Orlando, Italy, New York for non school-related trips. First clarinet in band. Disney and New York for school related trips.
Have played in the Vatican for an Italian organization centered on world peace and education access for kids with students from at least 30 different countries. Played for the pope in October of sophomore year. Received a blessing from the new pope in addition to playing in several other cathedrals in Milan, Asisi, Turin, and Rome. They're very well known for bringing different cultural atmospheres in (There were a couple kids from greenland one year) and they're selective in their invitations due to the quality that is required by the organization(At least they pay for most expenses). I've gone 4 times (5th, 7th, 10th, and 11th grade) so far and the possibility for a 5th trip is still plausible.
Colleges i’m considering:
UCLA, Berkeley, NYU, BU, University of Florida, Florida State, University of Miami, University of illinois, Penn state, University of Michigan, and Florida International University being the safety.
Where do I stand and do i have a shot at any of the higher tiers schools? Any chance at an Ivy or top 20?
There are no sure things with getting into Ivy Schools. Unless your last name is Bush or Kennedy. I have no clue on the reasoning that went into your wide-ranging list. Why Penn State, for example? Nice school, but what does it have that other schools don’t? How does it fit into what you’ve done or where you’re going? If you’re shopping cross-country, there are some really great schools that didn’t make your list.
Think also of your parents. After graduation, you are most likely to get your first job in the same region as the campus. How will you visit your parents and vice versa? Do you know how much it costs to live in some of your locations?
STEM is overly broad. I think if you really wanted to be an engineer or a particular type of scientist, you would know it by now. At many schools, general ed requirements are integrated with the engineering or scientific curriculum, so you’d need to decide on that from the jump.
Outside of a school with extremely large endowments (I’m thinking Princeton, Harvard, Yale) that would greatly help you pay the freight based on your limited family income and your narrative, I don’t see the viability of a “Top 20” out-of-state school. College is a path, not a destination. Work on expanding your opportunities after graduating, not putting yourself and your family in a hole that would limit your options.
You will get into some of those schools but not all. Your lower GPA is the reason, but your excellent ACT and SAT scores help you tremendously.
I would not put any stock into the comment likely getting a job in the same area you went to college. You can search for work wherever you want after graduation. Often students fall in love with the area they became adults in and wish to stay, or they find out about local jobs through the campus career center, but you can do whatever you want, and if living close (or far away from) to your parents is a priority, then look for work there. I graduated from college in Ohio and got my first post-college job a couple months later in California.
Also, if you were to get accepted to most in the top 20 or so, with that low family income of yours, you would likely go for free including room and board. Most of those colleges give amazing financial aid and meet full financial need…from Vassar to Colby College to all the Ivy Leagues and Stanford and on and on. Being out-of-state doesn’t apply to most of those top schools as they are private and the cost is the same for in-state or out of state…and again, they typically give amazing financial aid for those who need it. Usually at about the $60,000 family income level, you would get either full tuition and room and board or close to it, but at under $20,000 a year, that is assured at most of them. Here’s a list of colleges you should consider that meet full financial need:
Yes, you have a shot at all of those schools. Just do not overload with elite colleges. Just because most elites admit about 10% of applicants does not mean that if you apply to ten then you will get admitted to one. Many excellent students make that mistake. So, keep your safeties and matches.
I consider Florida State to be your best safety, unless you live near Florida International and can commute.
I suggest adding Tulane University to your list. Also take a look at Rice University, Case Western Reserve, and University of Rochester. Those three all have outstanding STEM programs, plus U.Rochester has the Eastman School of Music (which you might appreciate even if you do not study music).
UCLA, Berkeley, and Penn State are going to be expensive. I recommend picking the one you like most and forget about the other two. Because of cost, it is very unlikely that you will actually attend any of those three. They give very little aid to OOS students.
I thoroughly disagree with this statement. This is no more true about STEM subjects than any other area. Plus, many people find their passion after they get to college.
Agree with Soze. The Ivies will be a reach for you (as they are for nearly everyone considering how competitive applications are now), but write a great statement about playing for the Vatican and you have a good shot.