I’m looking for more safety/match schools. My top school is University of Florida but i’m worried that’s a bit of a reach especially considering I’m applying OOS. Looking for a school that’s
-30,000+ undergrad
-located in the southeast
-not exactly sure what I want to do, but something in the English/Langage Arts department.
My stats are:
SAT- 1310
WGPA- 4.47
UWGP- 4.0
Class rank- 12/370
Average/low EC’s but typically a strong writer so I hope to have very strong essays.
If anyone has any recommendations that might be a match I’d love to hear them, thanks!!
Your stats are very good for many or most in-state public universities. Your GPA and class rank are a bit stronger than your SAT. Your high GPA is very good since this is the best indication of how you are likely to do in university and is very important for admissions.
However, I am wondering how much SAT preparation you have done and whether you would want to consider retaking it.
I’m from South Carolina! Yes you’re right, that’s my SAT score without any sort of preparation so I plan to study and retake it in either August or October.
Here is a ranking of public schools based on undergraduate enrollment.
There are only 25 with greater than 30,000 students. I believe BYU and NYU are the only privates with that many undergrads.
University of Central Florida 55,783
Texas A&M University — College Station 48,346
The Ohio State University 45,831
Florida International University 45,813
Arizona State University — Tempe 42,477
Penn State University — University Park 41,359
UT Austin 40,168
Indiana University — Bloomington 39,184
Michigan State University 39,090
California State University — Northridge 35,552*
California State University — Fullerton 34,576*
University of Florida 34,554
University of Arizona 34,072*
Texas State University 33,480
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 33,467
Rutgers University — New Brunswick 33,060**
Florida State University 32,669
University of Alabama 32,563*
California State University — Long Beach 32,246*
University of Washington — Seattle 31,418
University of Minnesota — Twin Cities 30,975
UCLA 30,873
University of South Florida — Tampa 30,619
Iowa State University 30,406*
Purdue University 30,043
University of California — Davis 29,546
University of Wisconsin — Madison 29,536
University of California — Berkeley 29,311*
University of Michigan — Ann Arbor 28,983
University of Missouri 25,898* Fall 2017; *Fall 2015
Florida is tough OOS because it only has a small % of OOS students. The same with UT-Austin and UNC. Clemson, Auburn, Georgia Tech, Mississippi State, Texas A&M probably don’t make sense given your areas of interest. Unless there is a compelling personal reason, it seems like USC would make more sense academically and financially than UCF and USF, though those latter schools are doing a great job.
I’d think Georgia would have to be high on your list. Fits your criteria, great college town at 28k undergrads (it’s slightly under your 30k threshold). It’s gotten more competitive in recent years–many high-stat OOS students apply EA there and UVA, Michigan, UNC, etc.–but you’d be a very reasonable candidate.
After that, I’d think Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi. Mississippi does have a strong literary legacy, so maybe look at relevant programs at Ole Miss. Missouri would be another one if you are willing take a very expansive view of the Southeast. And Arizona might be a cool option if you just change a couple of letters to get Southwest.
Out of state tuition is triple the cost of in-state. Unless your parents are willing to pay the huge cost to attend one of those schools, you’re pretty much wasting your time. If the school you can afford is your safety, then you’re going about it all wrong, because that’s EXACTLY where you’re going. Find a variety of affordable schools and apply for all of them, then choose which one you like best.
State flagships in smaller/less populous states often offer merit awards. This makes them a better value when looking for out of state options. The trade off is that you will probably need to relax the 30,000 undergrad threshold that you have set.