I’m currently on the college hunt and insecure in my college list. Here’s what I have so far:
Reach: NYU, Northeastern
Target: Fordham, Syracuse
Safety: RIT, The New School, maybe Pace, Rutgers (I’m legacy)
I live in the NY metropolitan area and ideally, I’d like to stay there. I’m willing to make exceptions though (since I do have some Mass schools) but my ideeeeaal location is NY. I think I’m riding too much on my dream of getting accepted into NYU, I need more target/safeties.
Some stats:
I haven’t gotten my SAT score back yet but I’m projected to land somewhere around 1350. I plan on taking it several more times.
I haven’t taken the ACT but I plan on doing so several times.
GPA: 94.56 on 100 pt scale
APs: Human Geography, Language & Comp, Environmental Science. Will be taking Literature, Gov & Politics, and Macro senior year.
ECs: Marching band varsity (4 years by senior year), section leader (2 years by senior year); GSA club member; NHS member (possible leadership senior year); internship for local Congressman. I might do debate senior year.
As for cost, my income is >50k, so ideally a college that will cater to that (generous financial aid). Let me know if I’ve made a bad choice will any of my current options.
If you are open to schools outside of NY then George Washington University and American University in DC. Both are known for their poli sci and international relations programs and DC is a great place for internships.
Re “generous aid”, that’s not NYU. Aid is almost all need based, and they do not guarantee to meet full need for most students. Fordham is more generous. Not familiar with aid policies of others on your list.
If you’re considering Northeastern, why not BU too?
Yeah, I’m aware NYU is very stingy with aid. It’s a long shot for me to get into to begin with (at least right now) but I’ve definitely been considering that.
I’ve considered BU, but I don’t think I’d get accepted. It wouldn’t be a target for me but I’ve looked into it too.
I really like GW – especially their 4+1 program. Thank you for the suggestions!
@eyestrain My son’s friend goes to GW and he was able to get aid that made it cheaper than our in-state flagship. He actually asked for more aid and they gave it to him. So I would say their FA is good.
GW is need-aware and not need blind, and they generally do not meet full need, but they are more generous than NYU. It’s a great school for politics/IR of course, as is American. I would also strongly suggest you consider the DC schools.
@eyestrain BU and Northeastern are similar in both acceptance rate and student profile, with Northeastern actually being a bit harder to get into these days. If you’re considering one you probably should consider both (or neither if they are not within reach). In your case given your criteria, both will be reaches but I think I would try for both in this case. Especially if FA is important, all of your reaches are very hit/miss with FA.
Definitely adding GW to the list. I never considered DC too much (ironically) but I’ll look more into schools in that area.
Also, yeah, I’ve noticed that. I seem to favor schools that aren’t very generous… but I’ll definitely apply to both. I plan on apply to NYU ED I, though, so I think applying to BU/Northeastern RD is a shot in the dark.
I visited Wagner, but they don’t have a very good government/poli program, at least from what I saw. I’ll look at St. Johns/Hofstra.
I didn’t include this OP but a good study abroad program is necessary for me, or at least one that is decent.