Apologize for repetition, but this process is iterative. Great comment so far, such that list is now literally 100% different than originally considered.
Latina Female, from NY suburbs. Currently a Junior
GPA: 3.98 unweighted
SAT: 1450 (EBRW 730 / M 720). Assume no retake
School does not rank students
National Hispanic Recognition Program
AP’s (will be completed by end of Junior year)
Physics
Computer Science
Statistics
Psychology
AP’s expected Senior year
Calculus AB
Physics 2
Spanish
Most other courses are H’s
Varsity Lacrosse and Soccer- 4 years by graduation
Letter Club Treasurer Junior year
Currently working with school ENL Director to create a program to help ENL students with college application process
Tutoring: Tutored 6th grader in Math and Science via Zoom during pandemic
Tutored elementary student during COVID via zoom
Desires in college:
Warm weather or northeast
Urban or suburban
Strong STEM- likely engineering major
Budget: 60K/year. Will come out of pocket up to 80 if it is “worth” it, but would prefer to keep well below, to keep $ available for future education
Diverse and somewhat liberal student body. Size does not matter.
Current list, which we like to get down to 10. When down to 10 we will then five into coming up with a plan for visiting, reaching out to schools, contacting DIII lacrosse coaches, finding regional admissions reps and starting the “pregame”. But we need to focus this to 10 in order to do this properly.
Reach for Admission
University of Southern California
Tufts University
Carnegie Mellon University
University of California—Berkeley
Northeastern University
Maybe for Admission
Georgia Institute of Technology
Case Western Reserve University
University of Texas—Austin
University of California—San Diego
San Diego State University
Stevens Institute of Technology
Safety for Admission
Binghamton University—SUNY
University of Denver
SUNY New Paltz
University of South Carolina
University of Arizona
which should we: KEEP DELETE ADD
Thanks in advance. This forum is the most valuable resource I have had in this process of assessing schools for my kids. I hope to pay it back as I get smarter in the process.
-We will not qualify for financial aid
-Many of the pricier schools on the list are there because they are known for giving decent merit aid that could bring net price closer to our budget
What is your budget. Obviously you have a strong background. If budget (or even less than your budget) is a concern, i’d add Alabama (sort of suburban), Arkansas (urban/suburban), UAH (urban/suburban). Miss State and Missouri S&T but more rural…I mean there’s a host of schools for reasonable
You don’t want rural but you may look at W&L (small, not ABET approved but very good) - the Johnson Scholarship - you could be a candidate.
I’d eliminate the UCs - no merit. Tufts - no merit aid - so that’s two you can cut off.
Ga Tech will be tough/reach - not sure about aid. UT Austin - likely no aid. UCSD not gonna be aid. btw I’d have had Arizona in the list I showed above for budget - a smart choice $$ sise.
Agree on your safeties and I think SDSU and Stevens are in and one could make the case for Case and you have as a maybe.
So if you are happy with your list, it’s great and you can prune it by taking off the schools that won’t work $ wise.
You might consider, depending on your budget Florida, Florida St (but engineering off campus), and Purdue which are all reasonably priced.
PItt - being hispanic - you could get the cathedral of learning - but you are later in the game for Pitt so you’d want to apply soon - for merit consideration. It’s urban and a safety. And a great school.
Exceptions will be UCB, UCSD and SDSU which offer little to no FA to OOS students. Merit aid at the UC’s is highly competitive and a drop in the bucket based on overall costs.
Best of luck and CA publics do not consider test scores or race in their admission decisions.
Any specific kind of engineering, or are you not quite decided and are likely to change?
The answer to the above question can affect how desirable various colleges can be based on ease or difficulty changing majors.
SDSU is likely to be considerably less difficult to get admitted to than UCSD, and is likely to be significantly less expensive. However, the EE department apparently did change requirements without warning that prevented students from being able to graduate on time as they previously planned: My School Made Horrible Changes...
tsbna44:
Alabama, Arkansas, UAH, Miss St, FL, FL St, Purdue and Missouri could make sense $ wise, but are hard sells for someone of Mexican heritage coming from the liberal northeast. She eliminated each of those states for that reason. W&L essentially for the same reason.
Tufts I agree- its a tough one to scratch for her, but in the end, it will likely be tossed. UT very likely will fall off because chance of admit is very low, and low chance of any $.
GA Tech we will likely keep on as a reach. They have scholarships for Hispanics entering STEM through Goizueta Foundation, so am hopeful her meeting a need there and the $ can come together to make it an admit with $. Maybe a longshot, but a shot nonetheless.
UC’s and SDSU even at full cost might make sense, as they are still well below the cost of privates even as OOS.
Stevens and Case are known for $, and I think she matches up well with them admit wise. They are schools somewhat easier to get into based on location. No one is stoked to go to Hoboken or Cleveland, but this creates opportunities for those like by D who will consider them.
Pitt has been on the radar but nothing I have read just yet has caught our eye as something we should explore much more (ie anything that would make it more desirable than the schools already on her list). Maybe I am missing something?
gumbymom
Point take on CA schools. Still, they are somewhat of a bargain compared to private schools here in the NE. Not cheap, but not the nosebleed prices we see here.
ucbalumnus
Not sure about specialty in engineering. It was hard enough to get her to verbalize it as a major for the purposes of winnowing down her list. I am somewhat amazed, and at the same time suspicious when I read of 16 year olds who already know they want to study fluid dynamics at Purdue. Envious that my kid is not that passionate about anything yet and is still open eyed. Curious though, that a kid that age can be that specific. Either way…
Despite what you quote above, SDSU checks off many boxes with its relatively low cost (even for OOS), broad offering of majors and relatively lower admission requirements. That said- CA admission requirements in general…must be very dependent on GPA, and the methodology for weighting from my read, seems to give a big advantage to CA students (which is crazy to me that they never did- CA residents pay the taxes after all!).
But I digress- and don’t want to create a tangent on CA admissions policies.
I don’t feel the UCs are worth the OOS tuition. I do feel that Cal Poly is though. It’s a CSU, so cheaper, but has very well regarded engineering. It’s not urban though.
Full disclosure, our son is an alum, from OOS. He didn’t apply to any UCs because we have a solid instate, large research school with good engineering.
eyemgh
Interestingly, he aunt did ME at SLO in the early 2000’s (my wife is CA native and went to Cal). Although I love the school, the location is probably not optimal for someone who will need to do the cross country trek 2-3 time/year.
Pittsburgh engineering admits to a first year undeclared engineering status. But unlike many other schools that do this, declaring a specific engineering major is non-competitive, needing only completion of first year requirements and a 2.0 GPA: https://www.engineering.pitt.edu/first-year/advising/choosing-a-major/ . So it may be a good place for students who want to do engineering, but are not sure what kind of engineering.
Michigan is similar in this respect.
However, some other colleges like Texas A&M, Purdue, Minnesota, Ohio State, Penn State, Virginia Tech, and NCSU have higher GPA thresholds or competitive admission for undeclared engineering students to enter specific engineering majors.
ok- Pitt possibly, but I think she’d only go to Pittsburgh for CMU.
Whicch ones should I take OFF?
I am thinking of dropping:
Tufts and UT as mentioned
-U of D: even with good merit aid, it could be expensive and not necessarily worth the net price.
does above apply to CWRU? If so, also delete
-Stevens maybe for same reason.
-Drop either UCB or USD (unless applying to both is just checking another box on the UC app)
These are for the whole campus. Different divisions or majors may have different levels selectivity (usually, engineering and computer science majors are more selective).
Note that UCs admit by major to engineering majors, and engineering majors tend to be full at most campuses, so changing to a different engineering major can be difficult. UCB does offer engineering undeclared as a frosh application option; it allows free choice of College of Engineering majors later, but is more competitive for frosh admission than specific engineering majors.
It certainly isn’t. That said, there is a robust ride share program. There’s always someone going to SF or LA. Direct flights from there would be easy and eliminate relying on a puddle jumper that is frequently cancelled.
I’d keep Case on. We know kids who ended up there sort of kicking and screaming when Plan A didn’t work out- and they all LOVED it. Cleveland is fantastic for classical music, art, there is always something going on either locally or on campus, engaged and active student body. School doesn’t empty out on weekends; much to love about it. If your D loves Northeastern I cannot imagine she wouldn’t love Case- which is much less pre-professional, more academic.
If Binghamton is a true safety for both admissions and finances, I’d leave it on and get rid of the others. She doesn’t need so many safety schools, particularly ones that are far away and expensive to fly to…
The UCs are not bargains unless your budget is mid-high 60s. SDSU is. If you get Cathedral of Learning at Pitt it is.
I took note of merit but admittedly not of ethnicity. - Ga Tech, Case, Bama, and W&L are similarly hispanic - mid to high single digits - but that’s the school, not engineering…and obviously a school’s size will impact. ASU, New Mexico,
Pitt - ie U of Pittsburgh, not CMU. CMU has some merit. Pitt preferences its best merit on URMs via Cathedral of Learning.
btw - U of SC - if Bama is off, it has lower hispanic %. But I’d have both on…but I understand the hesitation. I hope as a society we’ve done better. I know we haven’t…but I still hope.