I’m a junior in Maryland. My gpa is a 3.5 unweighted and a 4.0 weighted, my sat score is a 1850, I’m in some clubs and honor societies, i have lots of leadership activities, and I have multiple survice hours. I am looking at colleges and having difficulty knowing which schools I’d get into and which schools are a good fit for me! I want a school in the south, not ridiclously expensive, has Greek life, football would be ideal but not necessary, and I prefer a town located in a nice college town or city. Somewhere where stuff happens not in the middle of no where. Currently I’m interested in schools such as usc, Clemson, charleston, fsu, auburn, uf, Tennessee, Virginia tech, ut austin and tcu! Please tell me your opinions or any advice thanks!!
You just described every state school in the South.
So, you wanna PAY full-ticket to go to a state school out of state? Not gonna get any scholarships with that SAT score.
You also pretty much described University of Maryland minus the whole South thing. Just join Greek life, go to a men’s lax game (seriously they’re so much fun), and hang out around your school. Pretty much the same experience as a Southern state school.
Source: I go to a big Southern state school and know a couple current students at UMD.
@Mandalorian - OP is still a Junior; s/he has time to retake and raise their score. An 1850 can easily become a 2100+ with a summer worth of consistent and dedicated preparation. If they can pull off stellar grades their first semester of senior year, their 3.5xx can easily become a 3.6+ We also don’t know how their weighted GPA translates into class rank (if applicable) – if OP is in a respectable decile (~top 10%) that can make up for a less than “phenomenal” GPA.
Plus, I know that UNC Chapel Hill has the Carolina Covenant which ensures that low income students who are admitted to Carolina can graduate debt free through need based grants and work study; none of the stipulations require NC residency so OOS students qualify. Depending on OP’s finances, s/he could qualify for that. I’m not sure if any other state schools in the south have similar programs.
Bro, UMD’s right here; it’s exactly what you want only cheaper.
@preamble1776 We can’t just assume OP’s poor, I wouldn’t bank on that Covenant.
Assuming stats don’t change, UMD is the best option. It’s exactly what OP’s after.
@Mandalorian - I’m not assuming OP is poor; I’m trying to suggest that depending on financial circumstances, OP won’t necessarily need pure merit aid to make an out of state school affordable. And OPs stats might very well change, don’t you think? A lot of people do better on SAT retakes with proper preparation - since they’ve already seen the test first hand, it’s all about furnishing the necessary skills to maximize a score.
thanks so much for the suggestion! Cost is not the biggest issue personally for deciding what school, which I am extremely thankful for. All I was saying is it would be preferable to obtain some form of a scholarship, doesn’t have to be an extreme amount. I am doing tutoring now for the sat so I am sure my scores will go up. My gpa is held down by the high school courses I took in middle school and my freshman year grades. Currently I take 4 ap’s and the rest honors courses and obtain a 3.8 unweighted. Personally, college park is not the school for me for multiple reasonings. I have grown up around that school and id prefer to leave this state and go somewhere more southern.
I responded before to preamble so please read that to have a better awareness of my situation! Although college park is a great school, getting in in-state has become extremely difficult, not sure if I would even get in. Also, I do not like the area of college park or the city of DC. Ive grown up here and its defiantly not the place I want to stay. If you have any other suggestions that would be extremely appreciated! Thanks.
You have a good list. I think you’d like any of these schools based on the parameters you’ve given us.
“You just described every state school in the South.”
Nah, some of them are in boring towns.
What about University of South Carolina? You might be a good candidate for their Capstone program if you could raise that SAT score a bit. Seems to fit your criteria especially as it is in a (small) city.
You could get automatic scholarship money from West Virginia, Mississippi,.and.probably others. Check out Texas Tech, oklahoma state, u of South Florida.
Take ACT and SAt as many times as u can. Every increase in score qualifies for more automatic scholarship cash at lots of fine state schools in the south and.Midwest.