<p>So I'm a junior in high school right now and as the time for applying to colleges is coming closer, I'm kind of panicking. I've surely thought about colleges a lot but I feel as if I need to apply to more (I've only come up with a list of reach/somewhat match schools). As much as I hate to say it, the "name-brand" of a school is important to me but I think I should broaden my search because my grades (and the classes I'm taking) are not exactly up to par with many of the other asians (I'm asian) at my school, which is almost 50 percent of the population of my school.
I have about a 3.2/3.3 unweighted GPA, around a 1850 SAT score and 29/30 ACT score (I'll still be taking the sat/act a couple more times, so there is some wiggle room). By senior year, I'll have taken 5 APs.
I plan on majoring in English/Psych to become a teacher.
I don't mind the location (I'm from NY and was primarily thinking about the northeast and cali.)
I am eligible for financial aid so considering that, depending on how much aid I can get, money is not too big of an issue.</p>
<p>I'm having a lot of trouble with figuring out which colleges are safety/match/reach for me. I would appreciate if you could recommend me some to look at! Thanks! </p>
<p>A safety should be a place where you can almost certainly get in; a place your family absolutely can afford; a place where you absolutely would want to attend.</p>
<p>So you’ll need to find schools where your GPA and SATs would put you in the top 10-25% of admitted students; find out what your family can afford and match it to the cost of attending; and a place you have visited and thought was pretty cool if it weren’t so easy to get into. </p>
<p>Often the first place to look for safeties are in your state schools. SUNY Buffalo and Potsdam come to mind. You haven’t told us what your family can afford, so I’ll stop with those two.</p>
<p>@jkeil911 Thanks! I haven’t even thought of all the SUNYs yet. & I’ve updated on the financial issue; money is not too big of a problem so I would say I could go all the way up to 40k (depending on how much financial aid I can get) </p>
<p>Do yourself a favor before you go any further in your search. Run the Net Price Calculators for any school you are considering. Get your parents to give you their last tax return so you can fill in the data. Take the Estimated Family Contribution to them and ask if they can swing it. They might balk, but that will still bring you closer to schools you can afford (instead of finding out April of next year that you’ve been accepted to schools you cannot afford).</p>
<p>^ Most schools in the US do not meet need. This is both the exact truth and an understatement: only 65 schools meet need out of 3,700.
Therefore, the fact you need financial aid doesn’t mean you’ll get financial aid nor that you’ll get enough financial aid to make a school affordable. Many schools that don’t meet need “gap” the students they admit unless they’re among the top applicants.
With your current stats you’re unlikely to get merit, unless you attend a specialty/magnet/prep school where 3.2 places you at the top 10% of your class.
Bringing your SAT to a 1900 would definitely help you but you’re still not likely eligible at many “meet need” schools.
So it’s ESSENTIAL you run Net Price Calculators on different schools’ websites.
Based on your current scores, you could look into a couple SUNY’s, Quinnipiac, Fairfield, Ursinus, Alfred, Hofstra, Manhattanville, Marist - and see what they return (the numbers are likely to be different at each!) Then go show that to your parents.
Once you have your 2 safeties (you’re in the top 10-25% applicants) and 3-5 matches (where you’re near the top 25% mark and selectivity is above 40%) you can add as many dream schools, reaches, and wild cards as you wish or can afford.</p>