I am a rising senior at a small-ish high school in New York
-3.4 uw GPA(Hopefully will go up with first quarter grades)
-All honors courses, taken all accelerated math courses available
-Only 1 AP bc school only offers about 4 or 5 APs in total
-1360 new SAT
-Taking ACTs- hopefully getting at least 31
-Looking at possible pre-law track but also considering undecided
-solid 8/10 essay
-good-great recommendation letters
ECs:
-member of Spanish honors society
-member of DECA
-placed at state DECA competition, competed on national level
-volunteer at hospital for 3 summers, over 180 hours
-member of class council
-varsity soccer
-varsity golf
-lettered in both sports
-part time job for two years and works throughout school year (not sure if this is an EC or not)
-organized multiple fundraisers for both DECA and class council
-will have class officer position and DECA officer position senior year
-volunteer at local church functions
*I don’t care about the size of the school or the feel, I just want a semi affordable college. I don’t qualify for financial aid so I will need some merit aid. Price will hopefully be within $25,000-$40,000 but a little flexible on that price.
Looking at colleges in New England and along east and west coast
Not sure what other info I should put on but if you want to know, just ask(:
Regarding your GPA, just do as well as you can in the time you have left. Your SAT score is pretty decent and should help you at the more score-conscious schools.
@prezbucky thanks! @ClarinetDad16 I only have a few so far but they are UConn, UC santa cruz, Fordham, Boston University… I really don’t have a feel for good safety, match, and reach colleges so are those any good?
Looking at Boston U, your GPA is a bit below average and your SAT is just about average. Overall admit % is 29%, so based solely on your numbers (as of now) I would call BU a low reach or a high match.
UConn and UC Santa Cruz are terribly expensive for those out of state. You are better off applying to SUNY’s, private colleges that give you merit and lower cost state flagship schools. When looking for merit look at colleges where your stats will put you at the top of their applicant pool.
I think you might consider schools like these – all in the northeast or near the coasts (otherwise):
Reach/low reach: Northeastern, Boston U, Wake Forest, U of Rochester, U of Miami (FL), Franklin & Marshall, Union College, Skidmore, Trinity (CT), Connecticut College, Occidental, Whitman, Reed, Holy Cross, Lafayette, U Richmond, Gettysburg
Match-range: Fordham, Temple, Furman, St. John’s College, Saint Lawrence U, Hobart & William Smith, Wheaton (MA), Willamette, Lewis & Clark, in-state flagship(s), OOS public schools that offer merit aid
Great list on #10. And #13 adds Wooster and Beloit, which are in Midwest and this important. Because Northeast and West Coast schools will generally give less merit than Midwest schools of same caliber. Similar to matches in #10 would also be Kalamazoo, Denison, Knox, Earlham, Lawrence, St Olaf. Reaches like Macalester. SO many Northeast kids want those Northeast schools but you could even get a little geographic hook by looking elsewhere. Of course, fit and location are important. For merit, though, looking toward the ‘Middle’ might be less costly for schools just as good.
You might look at that table. Most to the colleges folks are listing give merit aid, but a few don’t and at some the merit aid is not generally high enough to get you under 40K.