I’m currently a 2ed semester junior in high school, I’m planning on majoring in Philosophy then going to Law School. I live in California so l hope to go to a UC, but I’m open to more prestigious, out of state universities. The problem is, due to not taking freshman year seriously, I’m a pretty average student.
-My nonweighted GPA is 3.6 (W 3.8)
My first SAT, with out studying, was 1640 on the 2400 scale (I’m retaking it in May where I’m planning for 1200-1400 on the 1600 scale).
I got a 550 on the World Hist SAT Subject Test, but I plan on retaking it to get 650+. I also plan on taking the Lit test, and posssiiibbllyyy French with listening.
-By the time senior year rolls around I will have taken 8 AP classes. The only AP test I have taken so far is AP World Hist, where I got a 4.
-I am the Vice President of Photography club and I plan on running for an office position in Model United Nations. I am also in Interact club and hopefully going to be accepted into French Honors Society.
-I am taking Ballet in community college and plan on taking French 3 and Sociology in the next community college semester.
-I have 50 community service hours but it’s from boring places like the library and church.
-My 9-12 class rank is in the top 15% and my 10-12 class rank is in the top 8%.
Basically, any advice on what can I do in the next few months to get into a top UC or a top out of state school like NYU or U of Chicago?
Thanks!
If you are aiming for the top UC’s, you need to aim for a UC GPA of around 4.2+ with an new SAT score in the 1500+ range. I would focus on a few clubs/EC’s and having some leadership positions looks good on your application. Quality not Quantity for the EC’s.
At the end of Junior year, calculate your UC GPA, repost with updated test scores and posters can give you a better idea if your college list makes sense.
You also want to find out how much your parents are willing to pay for you to attend college (get a dollar amount). NYU is known not to give good financial aid and their cost of attendance is close to $70K/year. Run the NPC (net price calculators) for each school of interest and run the numbers by your parents. You do not want to spend time and money applying to schools that you cannot afford.
NYU would make no sense for you if you plan to go to law school unless your parents are wealthy. Law school is very expensive. Your idea of going to a UC seems much better. You guys have the best state system there is. Why would n’t you take advantage of it? I know many students from states with lousy (and mediocre) state systems who would give their eye teeth to go to a California school but the OOS tuition is too high for them.
If your parents can’t help at all, unless you get into a school that meets need, you simply won’t be able to go to NYU as an undergraduate because you won’t be able to borrow enough money to cover the cost. But maybe you can go there for law school.
NYU was just an example, im not trying to go there. I do mostly want to go to a UC im just saying if anyone knows of good out of state schools it wouldnt hurt to mention them.
You can only borrow $5,500 freshman year… you can’t go into a lot more debt on your own. An adult would have to cosign any additional loans. Unless you are low income and would get good need based aid, your options will be limited. Each college has a net price calculator on their website, you need to run them to see what your costs would be. NYU isn’t historically the greatest with even need based aid, though. To be honest, your GPA and test scores don’t seem high enough for most of the schools that meet need, either.
You may want to post on the California schools forum here on CC to find out what kind of grants and aid your would be eligible for at UCs and CSUs – there are some very knowledgeable posters on that forum.
This post isnt about financial aid, this post is me asking about what other extracurricular type things i should do to have better college applications. Lets stay on topic please.
No one can make suggestions without understanding your financial situation. It isn’t uncommon for high school students to get bristly when the pesky adults out here want to talk about finances, but it wastes everyone’s time to make recommendations of a bunch of schools that are just unaffordable.
What is your UC GPA? That is going to be a key factor for your admissions to UCs – I would say that adding ECs now is not the right approach. Buckling down and getting great grades this semester, and raising your test scores would go a lot further in improving your UC chances.
^agree. A frequent mistake many HS students exhibit is their sever over-estimation of the effect of ECs. Your GPAs and transcript rigor are the TWO BIGGEST factors in any college search. ECs are a distant third or fourth.
If you’re truly wanting some good suggestions, stop by your GC’s office. Plenty of brochures are sent there, most likely. College fairs will be upcoming. It’s not too early to go to some and get a feel of what schools offer. Simply keep your eyes/ears open. What might be important to you now may radically change a semester or two later. Best of luck on your studies.
@Julie3 You said “My family can most likely not help financially with college so I’ve accepted I’m going to be in debt my whole life, haha.”
So yes, financial aid is important. There is a difference between them not being able to pay and not wanting to pay. Come back with a number and then lots of recommendations will be forthcoming.
As @intparent has correctly stated, your personal student loans are capped at $5500 to $7500 per year for four years. That doesn’t go very far.
If your family is not going to help financially, your choice is actually pretty much limited to local colleges within commute distance; unless you can get significant merit aids but it is not likely with your current status.