I’m a rising senior at pretty rigorous private/catholic school
3.9 weighted cumulative GPA (my school doesn’t do unweighted GPAs or class rankings).
I’m a first-generation college student which I think will give me a slight advantage in my applications.
planning to major in Business or Finance or Computer Science (not 100% yet)
My guidance counselor has given me some likely/near reach schools like UMass, Bentley, Lafayette, Lehigh, UMiami, and Case Western
I’m looking for:
Medium to slightly large size (5K-15K undergrads)
work hard, play hard vibe that also has a tight community (good First-Year experience)
Strong academics, career center, active alumini network
Location: Anything really east of the Mississippi River but not terribly far from home (Boston)
not an urban campus (I’ve eliminated schools like BU, Northeastern, and GW) but I’m open to urban schools with more typical campuses like Fordham
Some diversity and international students on campus
don’t want to have to be in Greek life to be in the social scene (I’m a male)
party/social scene
15%-40% acceptance rate
I’ve visited Babson for business and really liked the academics but felt it was a little too small for me and the social scene didn’t seem very promising
U.Mass Amherst is very good for computer science. I do not know much about business or finance. I am not sure that it is a safety for you, but “likely” sounds right to me.
Do you know what your budget is? Are your parents fine with spending $320,000 over four years or have you run the NPCs and figured out whether your parents are okay with what comes back?
Do you have any school that you are confident is a safety? To be a safety you need to be very confident that you will get accepted, that you and your parents can afford it, it should have a good program in your major, and you need to be willing to attend.
Thank you for responding.
I am going to apply test optional to schools that I’m below the 50% accepted scores.
I haven’t took the SAT yet because I got injured the night before I was scheduled to and my first ACT was a 29 which I hope to get better on my next one.
It would really help if you could provide an unweighted GPA. As are calculated as a 4, Bs as a 3, Cs as a 2, Ds as a 1, and Fs are a 0. Add up your grades and divide by the number of courses you’ve taken, and that should give you your unweighted GPA.
I still don’t know my budget. My parents told me not to worry about the money but I also do not want them to be spending so much on me and I don’t want to drown in debt.
Some schools I’m confident are safety’s are Indiana U, Bryant, Providence, and Elon.
Thanks for responding
I’d take a look at these schools. College of New Jersey & Binghamton will probably be the most affordable options on this list.
Boston College (MA)
College of the Holy Cross (MA)
Villanova (PA )
Brandeis (MA)
College of New Jersey
Marist (NY)
Syracuse (NY)
SUNY Binghamton
It’s great that you have schools that you feel confident you’ll be accepted to. But if your family can’t afford them, then admission won’t do you any good.
Have your family run the Net Price Calculator at some of these schools. If the schools asks for GPA, test scores, etc, then it will also give an estimate of merit aid in that calculator. But when your family sees the number(s) that the colleges expect them to contribute, they need to figure out if they can pay that amount without taking out loans themselves and without endangering a financially secure retirement. If they are willing and able to pay the amount that colleges expect (which many, many people cannot or will not afford) then great, that college is affordable for your family! If not, however, that means that budget talks need to be held. Find out from your family how much they are able and willing to contribute each year, and then let us know so we can help you find schools that will match your budget.
Thank you very much for your response.
I will be able to pay around 40k a year (maybe more if I think it might be worth it and take out a loan) and I’m hoping to get merit aid and I’ll be eligible for some financial aid. My parents are telling to me to not worry about finances while looking at schools so I’m not entirely sure yet but I’ll get back to you with a more accurate number when I speak to them about it soon.
Yes I do like University of Richmond but I’m also not committed to a LAC and I would appreciate a more specific curriculum. I feel like most NE LACs may be too small for me and not have a decent sized social scene but if you think some schools are different I’d gladly hear them. Thank you for your response.
You really need to get on the budget thing - that drives nearly everything. You also need to fill out some NPCs to see if it’s determined you have need. A 3.75 UW and no ACT will likely keep you out of Richmond - but not an Elon - but do you have the $$ for Elon.
Urban but not GW urban - Pitt, College of Charleston (maybe some merit), UVM but again, are they affordable, etc.
If you can hone in on budget and “affordability” - i.e. your parents may say $40K but they can afford $80K…then you get no aid - so it’s all merit - or perhaps it’s the other way - the NPCs say they can only afford $40K, etc.