Updated Chance me! Worried

I got a 2.8 GPA W after junior year which absolutely sucks.
My chances are probably down the drain but I bought my ACT up to a 26.

Here are my stats
I got a D in Algebra 2 but a B first semester and a D second semester.

Gender: Male
Ethnicity: middle eastern and Hispanic

2.77 UW
2.80 W

28 ACT (Edit: 26 last October)
1200 SAT

EC and awards:

Science Olympiad- Planning on my 7th year. I have a few state medals, top 5 at nationals, many regional medals, and a lot of invitational medals.

Spanish club

Food taxi

Volunteer at a hospital and have around 200 hours

Work at a Kids camp for science

Won a scholarship to play violin at my local music institute

South Asian Club

Fencing
Cross Country

Intended Major: Biology

Schools I am going to apply to and want to go to:

UMass Boston
Purdue
Indiana Bloomington
Penn State
UIUC
UIC
Loyola Chicago
Mizzou
Michigan State
UChicago and Northwestern (parents work there)
What other schools should I look at?
I have a twin sister and my parents income is >100,000
And two mor brothers younger than me so in the near future money is going to be hard

bump

Penn State would probably offer you a branch campus.

Your extracurriculars are pretty good, but i would focus on bumping up either your act or sat score

You need a school with forgiving admissions standards and an affordable financial deal that does not depend on merit aid. To me, this says that your most realistic way to go out of state is through the Midwest Exchange. https://msep.mhec.org/institutions?field_state_term_tid=1&field_program_type_term_tid=12&field_sector_term_tid=All

The UWisconsin branch campuses might be a good place to start. The IU, Purdue, U of Missouri and UMinn branch campuses as well. If you up your game academically at any of these in the first two years, then you can look at whether a possible transfer to the main campus would be worth the additional cost.

Cross-check the list of MHEC schools with admissions statistics and the other factors you care about (demographics, extracurriculars… fortunately you can major in bio pretty much anywhere). You should be able to find a good OOS deal in the kind of environment you want, with admissions standards that will work for you.

Thank you! I will definitely look at those.
Do you think I have a shot at any of the colleges I listed.

TBH, if I were going to go down the list and “chance” you, I’d just be looking up stat ranges for each school and seeing where you fall… which you can do just as well as I can. You have distinguished yourself at some solid EC’s, so that could tip you toward a “yes” if you’re “on the bubble,” but it won’t supplant your academic record.

What I can say is that you’re not going to get any merit aid, and your OOS public U’s aren’t going to give you need-based aid… so even if you could get into schools like IU, Purdue, MSU and Penn State (which I tend to think you won’t, honestly) they’re going to be fairly expensive, and you’re saying that cost is a problem.

The exception to these generalizations is UIC, since that’s the one in-state non-flagship on your list. That seems like a good one to shoot for, in addition to the Midwest Exchange schools.

Loyola Chicago is not a slam-dunk but possible, and maybe you’d get some need-based aid given the multiple sibs in college - run the Net Price Calculator and see how that looks. But… they meet, on average, just 82% of documented need. And admissions are need-aware, so applying for aid may reduce your chances of getting in… but paying full price for a private U doesn’t sound like a reasonable option for your family, at all. So… run the NPC, and if your Expected Family Contribution is affordable, apply for admission and financial aid and hope for the best. If it isn’t, don’t bother.

Why do you think your grades have been so low? I think it’s important to have a sense of what you’ll need to do differently, to be more successful in college. Would you do better in a more hands-on program, perhaps at a co-op school? If I were in your parents’ position, I would want to see “proof of concept” at an affordable school before I’d be willing to stretch financially. There’s no way I would dip into your siblings’ college funds to gamble on your performance at an expensive school.

If they’re comfortable paying low-40’s per year, then you could potentially have some good OOS public options… for example, U of Cincinnati is a great urban co-op school where I’d say you have about a 50:50 chance of getting in, and there’s great music there because they have a top music conservatory. (And there are merit scholarships for continuing students that you could earn by doing well.) A less expensive alternative to UMass Boston would be Portland State in Oregon - Portland has many similarities to Boston in terms of being a small, fun city for students, but PSU would be less expensive than UMass and it also has more of a residential community of non-commuter students. You just barely meet PSU’s admissions requirements (which require compensating standardized test scores for GPA’s under 3.0), but you do, so check that out if the OOS price tag is acceptable - it’s a great place that attracts a lot of bright but previously-uninspired students.

But low 40’s is still a lot of money. A lot of students in your position have to prove themselves at community college; and in reality, that might be the most appropriate path, which could get you to UIUC if you get the grades. If you really want to go to a four-year college, what seems most appropriate to me is to look at the affordable in-state and regional-reciprocity branch campuses, where you can either complete your whole 4-year degree for a good price, or earn the option to transfer to a more competitive and expensive school.

Bottom line - your high school grades will no longer matter two years from now, but your college grades will matter a lot, so think first and foremost about what will set you up for success, at a level of financial investment that makes sense for your family. Hope that helps.

Oh, I should suggest U of Akron in particular. It’s an urban, public, STEM-focused school, and it’s on the Midwest Exchange, so your costs would come in just over 30K/year. Their bio major offers lots of research opportunities, and there are other interesting STEM opportunities too, with a particular specialties in polymer chemistry and polymer engineering. There are also multiple tracks of biomedical engineering, including a biomaterials and tissue engineering track with a co-op option. You would not have trouble getting in, but you would also not have trouble finding as much challenge as you wanted once you were there.

A few questions:

  • Why do you want to go out of state?
  • Do you know why your GPA is a bit on the low side?
  • What do you intend to do with a biology degree?

Based on the reports I hear from a daughter’s friend who has graduated from U.Chicago, it does not sound to me as if it is likely to be a good match for you. I suspect that this applies to Northwestern also.

I moved during freshman year and that tanked me the most,
I want to be an orthodontist
My parents want me to have an “experience” out of state

Then your parents will have to pay for that expensive OOS experience. Are they prepared to pay more than half of their income for your tuitions?

Then, check out the pre-dental programs/advising at the schools you’re considering.
Examples:
https://www.uakron.edu/bcas/prehealth/predental.dot
https://www.pdx.edu/pre-health/pre-dental-program
https://admissions.uic.edu/program/pre-dentistry
http://www.uc.edu/preproadvising/pre-health/pre-dentistry.html
UIPUI shares a campus with the UI dental school, which might be a point in its favor. Also, the MSEP price for UIPUI is relatively affordable at ~27K/year. https://science.iupui.edu/ppdgengenpre-dentistry

I just talked to my parents right now. They said they can pay around 30k a year.
Thanks for your help guys. I’ll have more questions soon after I meet with my counselor on Monday.

@auntbea , in-state in IL isn’t cheap either, unless OP goes the community college route.

The Midwest Exchange schools like UIPUI and U of Akron are less expensive for IL residents, with the discount, than UIC or Illinois State (which is also a reasonable option admissions-wise).

OP, the upward grade trend will help, if you’re borderline for admission.

But the 30k-ish limit is going to constrain your choices to in-state (and those will stretch the budget) or Midwest Exchange schools. Luckily there are good options on that list. Quite a few of them impose GPA thresholds to get the MSEP rate (for example, Kansas State and Missouri State both require a 3.5) so you have to click through to the “view details” page to make sure. UIPUI and Akron do not state that there’s any GPA or test score requirement to get the discounted rate. The U of Wisconsin schools, and U of MO St. Louis, look okay too if you can get in. You’ll have to go down the list and check the ones that interest you.

Last thing - I haven’t suggested Truman State (in Missouri) because it’s a little reachy for your stats and more rural than the schools you say you like; but it’s an excellent public LAC and a great financial deal - cheaper than any other school we’ve discussed, at under $20K with the MSEP discount. Average GPA is 3.76 and average ACT is 27, but they accept 79% of applicants so with your EC’s and upward grade trend you may have a shot, and there’s no GPA cutoff for the discount if you can get in. http://www.truman.edu/majors-programs/majors-minors/pre-dental-studies/

Good luck!

One other thing… I believe that some Canadian universities would come in at your price point, and I’ve been told they do not consider freshman grades. If your GPA from 10th grade on is really a lot better, that might be something to look at more closely.

UChicago and Northwestern are out of reach.

Your ACT is above average, which might make-up for the lower GPA at some schools. The GPA is still going to hurt. If you want the OOS school experience, you could go to the University of Wyoming. They’re an open-enrollment school and they have very low nonresident tuition. Another open enrollment school is UTEP, which also has similarly low nonresident tuition. Both have FBS football with plenty of school pride. Both have a 100% chance of getting accepted.

Is it possible if I can get my chances at the schools I have listed such as umass Boston etc.
Thanks

You’re chance at UMass Boston will be better as full pay OOS, but at $45,000 you can’t afford it.

I’d say you have a shot at Michigan State. Definitely apply regular though if you think the GPA will go up this semster. It would help a ton with aid especially.

Would you mind chancing me as well?