Please 'chance' me... texas, alabama, fl, az...

<p>Hi! I have about 9 schools I want to apply to but some of them I'm not sure are even worth my time. I have a 3.74 (4.0 scale), my grades gradually inclined from freshman year to where I had a 4.0 both semesters my junior year. I have 2 AP classes this year (never had any before). I got a 26 on the ACT twice and an 8 on the writing. My "super score" is a 27, but I think the only school that accepts a super score that I'm applying to is CU. I live in Colorado, so most of the schools I'm wondering about are all out of state. I'm co president of Amnesty International (club), members of about 4 other clubs. Varsity tennis with lots of awards in that. Have held a job as a tennis coach for two years working lots of hours. That's about it. If you guys need to know anything else that will help you chance me, let me know!
The schools I am applying to are...
University of Colorado at Boulder
University of Arizona
Arizona State University
San Diego State University
Florida State University
Texas Tech
Auburn
Baylor
University of California San Diego
Texas A&M
MAYBE University of Texas (this is my huge reach obviously, but is this even realistic?)</p>

<p>Also, another thing is that I am looking for merit aid, ALOT of it. So if you could add that into the chances here that'd help me out. And if you guys think of any other schools I should consider seeing the schools already on my list, let me know that as well.
Thanks so much!</p>

<p>What is your major? And have you taken the SAT/SAT II yet? Your ECs look pretty decent… </p>

<p>Boulder looks very good for you - they have more than a 70% acceptance rate and you’re a resident, so that would lead me to say you’re almost certainly in. Plus staying in-state saves you a ton on tuition.</p>

<p>I can really only speak with details of the Texas schools. The public ones (all you’ve listed except Baylor) are bound by our top 10% rule, which means that all TX resident high school applicants in the top 10% of their graduating class are guaranteed admission. UT Austin is the biggest reach for you due to that reason (practically every HS student I know wants to go to UT), but all of the campuses can be affected, and as a result they have less spots available for OOS and transfer applicants which can make it extremely competitive (moreso depending on your major and the campus you apply to). Obviously, some schools don’t see as many applicants as the others, so they’d have more spaces available.</p>

<p>If you’re set on UT and you don’t get in to Austin, I’d recommend applying to one of the other campuses (Arlington, El Paso, San Antonio, etc.) and then transferring within the system to Austin after your first year - your chances would go up, but I can’t say for sure by how much because most of the people I know who’ve done it were in the CAP program, which is limited to TX residents. But in-system is almost always given preference over external.</p>

<p>You could do something similar with the A&M system if you didn’t get accepted directly to the College Station campus, but they have about a 70% acceptance rate compared to UT’s 44% so your chances are better. Texas Tech is 72%, while Baylor is closer to UT with about 50% of applicants accepted. Keep in mind again the 10% rule for the public schools, and then preference (typically) is given to TX residents who either don’t meet the 10% or transfer. Some of the campuses are definitely seeking to expand their diversity with OOS, and so long as your GPA stays above 3.5 (higher based on major) and you score well on the SAT, you should have a pretty decent shot at Tech, A&M, and the other UT campuses. IMO, Baylor is going to be tougher and Austin even more of a reach.</p>

<p>I am originally from CA (San Diego actually) and unless things have changed, UCSD and SDSU are going to be tough as well because you’re OOS. UCSD admits about 41% and according to the last numbers I saw, SDSU was even lower (which is surprising to me). SDSU was an impacted campus when I lived there, and I saw a lot of OOS students move into the area and go to Grossmont or Mesa CC to increase their odds of transferring. In comparison to the UC stats, UC Santa Cruz has a 73% acceptance rate and Merced is 91%, while all the other campuses are around 40% and UCLA and Berkeley are in the 20s. I’m not sure what their OOS breakdown is but it probably wouldn’t be too hard to find out. </p>

<p>You can look up the ASU, U of A, FL State and Auburn on [::</a> College Planning Made Easy | Inside Source for College Admissions Requirements](<a href=“http://www.collegeboard.com%5D::”>http://www.collegeboard.com) for their admission stats - it’s pretty handy for all the schools actually, with details on financial aid and tuition, etc. Otherwise I’m pretty sure someone will have more information. =)</p>

<p>Thank you for all the information! That was all very helpful. So basically UT, Baylor, Texas A&M would not give me money, correct?</p>

<p>I’m honestly not sure, I’m just going off of anecdotal information. The larger public schools tend to have so many students that qualify for aid that each student tends to get less (or so I’ve heard, I haven’t yet had to deal with it). The issue you’re going to find is that because you’ll be classified as an OOS student, your tuition will be higher, and the chances that you will get enough aid to make a big dent in those $25k plus tuition rates are pretty low. I’ve heard private schools, like Baylor, often give more in aid, because of their endowments, etc., and they typically have less students and less qualifying/needing aid. Again, I don’t know that first hand, just seems to be the trend. I’m referring to scholarships, grants, etc., not loans (Stafford or otherwise).</p>

<p>You really should call and speak to an admissions counselor at your top schools, and they can either answer or refer you to someone for your financial aid questions. I’d also suggest finding the school-specific and financial aid boards here on CC - there are a lot of people in the same boat that are going to know more and likely the ins and outs of the specific school. I know that I qualified for a fee waiver based on my financial aid status at my community college, so if something similar exists at each school and you qualify, you could essentially apply to all the schools you want since it won’t cost you anything and then see where you get in and who offers the best financial aid.</p>

<p>Thank you!</p>