Hi, I’m Blake and I’m from Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood… Currently I’m applying to colleges/universities and things aren’t looking so good for me. I thought having a 32 ACT score and 3.5 GPA would be my ticket into the University of Illinois’s business school, but from what I’ve been told, odds of me getting in is small. So I’ve been applying to other universities outside of Illinois. Here in Illinois it is UIUC or bust since the other 2 prominent universities are Northwestern University and University of Chicago which are probably designed for the top .25% of high school graduates… I was doing some research and I found the University of Alabama offers a Presidential Scholarship which I seem to meet the initial criteria for. I was wondering what other qualities does UA look for in terms of the Presidential Scholarship? The UA site is vague, all it states is the 32-26 ACT score and 3.5 gpa. Do you have to complete an essay and/or interview for the scholarship? I’m not seriously considering UA but just curious about the scholarship.
From anyone’s experience, based on my information, what do you think my chances are of getting the Presidential Scholarship
High School: Competitive Private
GPA: 3.5
ACT: 32
All my junior and senior core classes were AP. Exhausted my school’s math curriculum so I’m currently taking math at the University of Chicago: Math Circles of Chicago.
I played varsity soccer for 4 years
I don’t have many extra circulars as you can see, which might be a deal breaker for the Presidential Scholarship.
Definitely do a search in the forums, and you’ll find a ton about Alabama. The scholarship is automatic based on stats. If you apply, and attend…you get it…automatically. It sounds like many people on these threads have been having good experiences, as long as they can get beyond any apprehension they may have initially. Again, search the forums, and good luck! (The business school at UofA has a cool name, too). I’ll let others chime in now…
Apply NOW to the University of Alabama as I believe the deadline is coming soon (early December). The Presidential is automatic so you will get full tuition for four years with your 32 ACT. Once you get your acceptance, plan visiting to see if you would like to attend. You can arrange a tour with the honors house (search past threads for information on how to do this.) There are MANY students from Illinois, and the Chicago area, who attend University of Alabama. Not only because of its great scholarships, but because it is a great school. I am on the Illinois/Wisconsin border and I have two students there right now (one with a 32 ACT, one with a 36). Definitely apply…its an easy application and for the cost of an application you will have the peace of mind that you have a great school you could attend if you want.
PLENTY of students from IL at Bama! There is a separate IL Tide Parents FB group which you can join. You can view the Dean’s List of students from prior semesters and perhaps someone near you already attends UA.
Thanks for the information everyone! The UA Presidential scholarship is the most generous one I have seen so far, also relatively pretty easy to get. My parents are definitely not down with me going to UA unfortunately. They are expecting me to go to a top 10-15 undergrad business school. I’m trying to get into management consulting so big name business schools have to be on top of my list. I’ll apply and use UA as a last ditch option. My parents are pretty easy going people except when it comes to education; they are serious and strict when it comes to school. My mom still to this day checks my homework. That women relearned calculus so she could check my homework… Looks like Indiana University’s Kelly School of Business is a school my parents and I can agree on. Kelly is considered as a top 10 undergrad business school (by most publications) also a target school for highly selective management/strategy consulting firms. I’ll keep UA on the back burner just in case things go bad with IU, Wisconsin and Texas. I’ll apply this weekend…. Thanks !
@mom2college kids: I will definitely apply to UA as a backup
My parents own a private equity firm and they create scholarships for their employees’ kids which turns into a tax write off for the firm. They paid for my sister’s college via the firm’s scholarship program and I assume they will do the same for me… So in short, money is no object.
I suspect you’ll get into UIUC’s business school. My D got in with stats just a bit higher than yours. She also got into Kelley and Wisconsin. Money was no object, but she chose Alabama. That said, her goal is not management consulting. However, one of her friends from the Chicago area graduated from Bama last year and got an excellent consulting job.
Another point of reference concerning Culverhouse, its accounting programs are highly rated by the Public Accounting Report annual survey of accounting professors. Alabama has been rated in the top 10 the past couple years. Even if you aren’t going to major in accounting, it reflects well on the whole business school.
My DD is from suburban Chicago and a junior at Bama - she absolutely loves it. Just be sure to apply by the scholarship deadline.
Hey! I’m from Chicago too. I’m in downtown, near Chicago and Michigan. I go to Latin. I read some of your posts here and on the IU blog so I decided to reach out to you (I just signed up). I’m in the same situation as you. I’m probably a borderline case for UIUC also.
Schools I applied to:
My Safety Schools (in no order)
Alabama (full OSS tuition wavier)
Iowa (full OSS tuition wavier)
Kansas(partial OSS tuition scholarship)
My realistic goal schools (in order):
Illinois
Indiana (direct admit to Kelley scholarship, not sure exactly what amount but its not a lot from what I understand)
Wisconsin
My parents and I visited Alabama in September. Like your parents, my parents aren’t too excited about me going to Alabama. UIUC is crazy difficult to get into. From what I heard UIUC 2016 b-school freshman class is predicated to rival the student profile of it’s engineering school. They have a ton of University of Chicago Summer Business Scholar and Northwestern University National High School Institute students applying this year. Did you do any of these summer programs? I didn’t, I wish I did now.
IU is looking like where I’ll end up (funny part Kelley is ranked higher than Illinois’s B-School yet it is easier to get into). An Illinois rep told me a good ACT score won’t “save” you, it just helps. Other than good grades and test scores, the b-school looks for “strong achievement” outside the classroom. It was explained to me that they look for quality achievements rather than quantity.
I read in your Michigan post that your mom is a Michigan grad. You should try to play the legacy card and apply to Michigan, you never know (would you really give up your left arm to go to Michigan? Ha ha)…
I’m losing so much sleep over this whole college application process. So much anxiety. Good luck with everything!
By the way, did you have a sister who went to Duke? I think I might know you/her.
I thought the Alabama campus was nice, though Alabama was my 8th campus tour making it look like any other campus I visited. After a while, college campuses (at least large state schools) all start to look the same. One thing I found interesting after all my visits was how the older buildings on campus were unique to their geographic locations. Like the Eastern campuses the older buildings all looked like Gothic churches, on the Midwest campuses the older buildings looked like old world European buildings and the Southern campuses the older buildings looked like colonial mansions. All new buildings regardless of location all looked the same, the glass and steel look. The odd part is that most state schools state they have money issues, but every single college I visited are in the midst of these multi million dollar capital improvement plans. Most campuses look like huge construction sites.
The most impressive campus I saw was Northwestern University (not that I have chance of getting in, but since it’s so close to Chicago, we took a tour). My god, they truly spared no expense on their campus renovation. Since they can’t build west, they are going into the lake using landfill and building these huge sleek buildings. The students have their own private beach. They are spending, with no exaggeration, over a BILLION DOLLARS for the Evanston Campus; most universities don’t even have a billion in endowment! They are spending another $3.75 billion for the medical school and bio sciences on their Chicago campus. If you are ever in Chicago, it is worth a look. Their dinning halls remind me of those $80 buffets in Las Vegas. NU was my favorite campus. I wouldn’t mind to go to Alabama for a STEM field or as a pre-med, but for b-school, it’s probably not in my best interest given the alternatives I have. I’m trying to get into consulting so highly ranked business schools usually are your best options in terms of landing those lucrative consulting jobs.
Do you mind sharing your daughter’s profile in terms of extra circulars? I really want to get into University of Illinois Business School. I’m trying to gauge my odds.
I did check out Culverhouse, in your opinion, how is Culverhouse a better option than Illinois Business School or Indiana University’s Kelly School of Business?