-3.7 UW GPA / 4.1 UC Weighted 10-11 GPA and 4.2 Weighted 9-11 other schools
-33 ACT and 34 Superscore
-AP: Euro History, Calc AB, US History, Env Science, CS Principles, Gov, Stats
-2 dual enrollment classes (Got A’s)
-Honors Classes: Chem, Bio, English
-Hispanic Female
-Good essays
-California Residency, Dual Citizen (Spain and US)
ECs:
-Varsity Athlete; starter on CIF Championship Lacrosse team
-National Hispanic Recognition Scholar
-Intern for State Senator
-Volunteer for State Assembly Campaign
-Commissioner, City’s Youth Commission
-Two environmental clubs
-Special Olympics Volunteer
-Students for Tibet Club
Schools she is applying to:
-Northwestern
-Michigan (legacy)
-Wisconsin
-UT Austin
-Washington
-UCSB
-UC Berkeley
-UCLA
-UCSD
-UC Davis
-Cal Poly SLO
-San Diego State
-Oregon (Honors)
-CU Boulder
Admitted already to ASU; eligible to receive Full tuition ride because of National Hispanic Scholar (thinking Barrett Honors)
Also considering applying to Duke and Stanford, because, what the heck…
SDSU would be a safety.
SLO/ UCD/UCSB would be most likely Match schools.
UCSD a slight Reach and UCLA/UCB would be Reach schools although she is competitive for all.
2018 Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 3.80-4.19 capped weighted and not major specific:
UCB: 10%
UCLA: 9%
UCSD: 34%
UCSB: 38%
UCD: 41%
25th - 75th percentiles for ACT composite + language arts
UCB: 28-35
UCLA: 29-35
UCSD: 26-34
UCSB: 26-34
UCD: 24-33
Michigan even with legacy is tough for everyone OOS. She needs to show demonstrated interest. Not sure if she will have a chance to visit but many from your area have been accepted without visiting. Her essays should really show she wants to be there. Applying EA, if ready, shows this in some small way also. Northwestern, Austin, Wisconsin, can all be coin flips.
UT-Austin reserves 90% of their admissions for in-state residents. Getting in from OOS is going to be a high reach. Plus, even if she gets in, employable majors like business, computers, etc, are mostly chosen as freshmen. If she wants to change her major to something like business, it’s near impossible to get in from the outside. If she’s not sure what she wants to major in, it’s best to choose a schools that allows flexibility.
Thanks Gumbymom. Those were my thoughts for in state as well. Her first choice is UCSB so that’s good, and she likes SDSU (hopefully honors). I would say other than Barrett, Wisconsin is her #1 OOS school followed by Washington.
We visited Michigan three weeks ago and she liked it a lot. It’s unlikely she will go unless we get money because of the ridiculous cost OOS which I don’t believe full price is worth it (and I’m an alum). She applied EA along with Wisconsin. Michigan doesn’t give a lot of money so her chances of being admitted and then getting money are small. One of her essays for why she wants to attend there is really good and should stand out.
UT Austin is the only school of these we haven’t visited. If she gets in, great, it will be a finalist, but again, very pricey OOS.
If you are concerned about money, the OOS publics are all going to be expensive unless there is a specific scholarship like at ASU. I think you are wasting a lot of money on applications if you can’t (or won’t) pay for the OOS schools like Washington, Oregon, Colorado. Those schools aren’t known for giving a lot (or any) aid to OOS students.
We could pull it off, but not sure why we would spend a ton of money on undergrad. I think she has a good chance for money at Oregon based on her ACTs and diversity initiatives (have talked with the local admissions director and she might get money to make it on par with instate in CA), and perhaps CU. Washington gives the Purple and Gold Scholarship which might make it more affordable. https://financialaid.uoregon.edu/scholarships_freshmen
If she gets in to the UC or CSU of her choice, and we don’t get money from OOS, I don’t see here leaving California. Visiting Barrett in two weeks and thinking this is a really good possibility for her.
Considering the cost of applying to all the schools is less than 1% of the total of 4 years, I’m considering the big picture here. Another $70 for the application compared to what might come her way to me is no big deal, and I’m pretty conservative with money. (I was penny wise and pound foolish when it came to SAT prep for my undergrad, and didn’t make that mistake for my own grad school, which paid off. Lesson learned.)
Have you run NPCs from those schools’ websites? Are you entitled to aid from your state schools? How much are you willing and able to pay?
Since you have safety schools on your list (I’ll defer to @Gumbymom on those CA schools), and Arizona . And if state schools in CA are definitely affordable, you are good, Barrett is a definite in terms of merit, so go on ahead and apply wherever her heart desires.
I agree UTAustin is a tough one. OOS financial aid is not something I hear good things about. Admissions for. OOS not promising either. Not much in merit money for OOS. Not flexible in changing majors either.
I’d go ahead with the “what the heck” schools. You seem to have the bases covered as long as you know what costs are likely to be for your DD at these schools.
All good suggestions. My daughter is applying for the Forty Acres Scholarship from Texas, and a few others for the OOS schools. CA state schools for us are all affordable, as is Barrett. I dont hold out much hope for Michigan as they are stingy with financial aid, and I make too much money to qualify for need-based, although not enough that anything over $45K/year is comfortable or in my opinion, worth it (maybe Stanford?).
As for the “What the heck schools”, on the chance that they would want a Hispanic female with good grades and scores as well as ECs, maybe they would want to offer an enticement to make it affordable? (ASU worked that way; the “WTH” schools have plenty of all types of applicants I would imagine) But again, the worst that could happen is she gets rejected or gets in and it is full price.
Forty Acres gives out about 15 awards and if one or two of those recipients are OOS, I’m surprised. Amazing kids who get those awards too. Very tough to get this. But, “what the heck”?
I’d check out Rice too. They have a new initiative that expands eligibility for financial aid. Don’t know if it’s in their NOC yet. Wasn’t last time I checked. Look up Rice initiative. Highly competitive, but less of a lottery ticket than Forty Acres, OOS, IMO. Also look at JHU. They have new financial aid initiatives too and their nonpremed admissions stats are not as competitive as their averages show— they hsve an excellent Poli sci, humanities and Social science program. Easy to move from one major to the next, one Dept to other there and at Ruce too, important for undecided kids.
I don’t think Rice is a possibility. You will notice that all of the schools she is looking at, with the exception of Northwestern, are large schools. Rice only has 4,000 undergraduates, and JHU has 5,000. Even Northwestern, Duke and Stanford have 7-8K undergraduates. I tried to get her to look at smaller schools, but her high school has 3100 students and she said “Why would I go to a college with only 50% more students?”
Some kids want small, others want bigger. Can’t blame her myself as I was the same way.
Yes, I know exactly what you mean. One of my kids was the same way even going to a smaller high school. We visited some smaller schools, and some had a big feel to them. Large campus, full sports scene. And he even applied to some smaller schools, even LACs that he admitted were very nice. But, yes, when the decisions came rolling in, he stuck with first choice school, an OOS flagship. His preference.
And he was declined a request to move from one school to another at this university. There is quite the line to change certain majors. Something that not just state schools have—restricted choice to move among certain departments for change of major, but does tend to be a common issue at the large state schools. UT Austin, most certainly. He did face issues that are the drawbacks of going to OOS big public university. Still, overall enjoyed his experience and doesn’t regret choice