Greetings! The four schools are listed above (UCB, UCLA, University of Pennsylvania, University of Chicago)
Statistics:
GPA: 3.95 (UW), 4.51 (W)
ACT: 34
APs taken: 3 Junior year, 5 Senior year (I wasn’t allowed to take any before junior year, mostly everything else is Honors courses).
Leadership stuff:
President and Founder of INSPIRE Club (Club dedicated to tutoring younger students that can’t afford official help around the state of Arizona)
President of Science National Honor Society (SNHS)
Vice President of STEM Club
Recording Secretary for Physics Club
Treasurer for Unitown Club (A club dedicated to the leadership camp I was nominated for to represent my school, lol that sounds pretentious I’m sorry)
Camp Counselor for Minitown (Abridged version of Unitown but targeted toward middle school students)
Link Crew Leader in Link Crew (Program dedicated to helping freshman transition to high school)
Competitor on school’s Science Olympiad team
Volunteering:
Worked with elementary school’s Robotics Club for 2 years, continue to do so every friday
Spends lunch 4 days a week tutoring physics students for free
Has volunteered at my local library for 3 years, and I’m a member of its “Teen Advisory Board”
Essay:
I’m not going to be that person that’s like, “my essay is amazing please Harvard bow down ^:)^ ,” but I think it’s good in the sense that it speaks deeply from who I am and the struggles I have faced with the bisexuality caused me to attend online school because I was bullied out of public schools and lacked help from my religious household. Plus, future physicists tend to be nutty, and I believe my essays show that uniqueness to me.
Thank you for actually taking time out of your day to give me some opinions. I know I don’t have much on my side, but I’m incredibly passionate about what I want to do, and I hope that shines through in my application. Feel free to put any college suggestions below as well.
Hahahahaha I like how every time I see you, you’re asking people that question. I’ll figure that out if I actually get into my dream school (UCB). I probably can, it’s just my parents would be willing to pay more since it is my dream. @“aunt bea”
@bordertexan Yeah, took Bio E and Physics this month (getting scores back tomorrow). Taking Math II and most likely retaking one of the above. And it’s that I’m entirely intimidated by Princeton, but I just don’t think I could stand a chance of getting in…
I ask the money question often because students don’t know how much tens of thousands of dollars really are.
So your parents will pay $240K for your education at Berkeley? That’s a quarter of a million dollars. If they have to take out loans for that, it will be a big mistake.
Have you even visited the campus? How do you know its your “dream” college? We are instate, and none of my 3 kids (different personalities, different everything) liked the campus/housing/area, etc.
I don’t know that much but I do know that @“aunt bea” and the other posters she mentioned, always bring up great points due to their experiences with their own kids plus the kids they have helped, both on CC and in person. They certainly helped me!
I do know that you can save some money by starting at the California Community Colleges first, and then transferring to a UC. With all your APs, you could be a one year transfer. Read and post here http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/uc-transfers/ My daughter is a successful transfer, and didn’t follow the usual path through HS to get to college. We learned a lot on these forums about how to accomplish the transfer process.
So what we are saying is that you really do need to know if your parents have the funds already for your education, since taking out loans of that amount could be a big burden.
If you’re looking at physics, check out the College of Creative Studies at UC Santa Barbara. (“A graduate school for undergraduates.”) It has a HIGHLY SELECTIVE physics program where accomplished undergrads can go into graduate-level research starting in their freshman year.
I’m interested at the way that your list ebbs and flows. On one of your threads quite a lot of posters -with specific information- pointed out that your in-state option is actually better for your subject than UPenn. On still other threads posters have come back with similar feedback: OOS costs make UCB & UCLA non-starters for you.
You have a lot on your side: your in-state university is super-affordable and highly respected in your field. If you just have to get out of town, look at the other places various posters have suggested. Note that you don’t have to go to a wildly expensive undergrad to get into a great physics PhD program- or do great research. My D is doing physics at a very small LAC (you wouldn’t rate it), but got an REU at UChicago for last summer. She spent 10 weeks doing research at Argonne. Her REU the summer before wasn’t as glamorous, but it got her a publication and a presentation at the national physics conference.
There are options, but you will be a happier person in the spring if you broaden your search, being realistic about finances.
Excellent advice for an excellent student who has a good shot at all of these schools. Best of luck to you.
I would just qualify the statement by aunt bea that taking out loans is a “big mistake” by noting that some parents use these loans as short term financing to spread out the cost into 12 monthly payments.
If you have the stats and are comfortable applying to UPenn, Chicago, Berkeley, you shouldn’t feel uncomfortable applying to Princeton. They give the most generous scholarships. My kid didn’t want to apply to Princeton either, It’s the one I required him to apply to, mainly because of their financial aid. It was the best of them all. Luckily, his 1st choice changed their aid after he wrote to them. It isn’t going to hurt you, but will require your parents fill out more financial forms, Princeton’s are different from all the other schools. Good luck and again, if you have the stats, don’t sell yourself short.
I just wanted to say thank you all so much for your suggestions. I really appreciate that so many of you are willing to take the time to advise me.
@“aunt bea” , ultimately, I’ve spoken with my parents, and I they have now claimed that they will let me get a maximum of 100k in debt (which still sounds absolutely ridiculous). But, if it helps at all, I really don’t see myself starting a family (I swear this isn’t self-deprivation) and hopefully I would be able to pay that off? I would really just like a steady income and doing the thing that I love the most.
I’ll apply all around, including some of the suggestions above, and see where I get in and what financial options I have. But thanks to you guys, I will MAKE SURE to fully analyze college loans as well as their impacts on my future.
Based on your previous threads (parental contribution limited to $30,000 per year, no financial aid):
UPenn: out of reach, too expensive with no merit scholarships
Berkeley: out of reach, doesn’t look like the merit scholarships would be anywhere close to enough
UCLA, Chicago: super-reach, you need the Stamps scholarship at these schools
@ucbalumnus I don’t know about OP’s family income, but what about financial aid at Penn/Chicago? Both these schools meet full demonstrated need as calculated by their FA office (although that can be less than a student’s real need) for admitted students.
Ynotgo is correct. You apply separately - getting into UCSB does NOT mean you get into CCS. CCS is very, very selective, often with just a handful of students accepted into some of its programs.
However, given that you now know you have cost constraints, I wouldn’t dwell on any University of California campuses. They’re just too expensive: going into debt for $100K for a BS is insane. It will make you an indentured servant for YEARS. It’s likely to make you a statistic (millennial burdened by college loans.) Please, please trust us on this.
Apply to the Ivies (which can be generous with aid) but focus on AFFORDABLE schools – ones where you can graduate debt-free or nearly debt-free. Large flagship universities offer decently priced, excellent education and, for the ambitious, successful student, research opportunities as well. From there you can shoot for the moon: world-class graduate programs that are funded, so you won’t get deeply in debt as you work on your PhD.
