What are my chances for a few different schools?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I have a few schools in looking at and wondering what things look like for me in admissions.

Here they are, alphabetically: Minnesota-Twin Cities, Montana, Nebraska-Lincoln, Ohio State, UC-Berkely, and UCLA (A couple reaches, a few middle-of-the-roads, and a safety. Clearly not respectively)

Little Info About Myself:

State: North Dakota

Gender: Male

Ethnicity: White

Family income status: I’d say Lower Middle to Middle class. We are certainly not wealthy, by any possible meaning of the word.

GPA: 3.56 (I really slacked off freshman year, and my school doesn’t offer any AP classes or stuff like that, so my GPA is my GPA. No fancy weighted/unweighted magic to hide anything.)

ACT: 30 (don’t honestly know how good this is. I only know one person who has gotten better than me.)

Main Extracurriculars: Football, Golf, Speech, Student Council

Intended Major: As much as I think about college, frankly, I’m not sure. I know I’ll probably be headed into a physics or chemistry. But I want to go somewhere where regardless of my choice in major, it will be a good school.

Some things I do:

I’m an accredited reporter for major events by the state media association. (For those of you who don’t understand jargon, which is fine, you know those guys at sporting events who wear special passes and sit in the front with their fancy laptops and radio stuff? That’s me.)

I’ve seen more of the world than a lot of people. My dad’s a Marine and I’ve traveled a lot. For someone in a tiny town, I’m pretty cultured. (I’m not sure if having a military parent changes things.

My community’s movie theater went out of business and was almost shut down before the city stepped in and bought it. There isn’t any employment so to speak, so it’s all volunteer. I’ve ben a volunteer there for the last 3 and a half years.

I’m working with a nearby museum on a project for the state historical society, regarding reconfiguring, catologing and researching artifacts. It’s my summer job.

I’m actually a listed researcher in a book on the sioux wars and early setters reaction. I’m not the author, nor the translator, but I’m listed in there.

We’ve had these little things put on by a St. Paul, MN-based human rights activist for the last few years called prairie talks. I’m not really sure how to describe them unless you’ve been. But here’s a list of our past speakers, and it’s pretty impressive for a town in the middle of nowhere.

Something else to note, most of these things are opportunities I had to make for myself. None of them were simply job openings listed in the classifieds. I went out and talked to those in administration to put these together. I’ve tried to take advantage of, and create my own, opportunities at every chance I get, trying to put together a resume that allows me to go somewhere amazing.

I think that’s really it. As you can see, I’ve done a ton of volunteer work for the community, and I hope that makes up for a low GPA, and, I think, a so-so ACT score. So how do you think I’ll do in admissions?

2

I’d check in with these schools and determine what there GPA and Standardized testing requirements are first. From what I’ve seen, you have decent scores and GPA. And all of the volunteering you have done would be perfect for a college resume. Overall you seem very bright and productive; which is valuable in standing out in a crowd of students. I’m sure you will be qualified but you should really check to see if you meet the requirements for all these schools.

3

@StuckinND69

how are you going to pay for Berkeley, UCLA, or Ohio State even if you get accepted?

bump your ACT up to a 32, keep GPA above 3.5, and you get full tuition to Alabama.

Wyoming, South Dakota, and South Dakota State should be inexpensive for ND students.

Minnesota is a great school for you to target.

my best advice is to boost that ACT and GPA as high as possible before application time.

4

I’d say that a 30 is a great ACT score. It’s more impressive since you haven’t had AP courses (and therefore haven’t been taking a rigorous curriculum that would have better prepared you for the test). Your GPA is good, too. The volunteering that you’ve done is also impressive. UMN, UNL, and Montana are schools that will probably admit you for sure. I could also see you getting into Ohio State. If you take the ACT again and keep your grades high before you apply, I think that you’ll have a chance at UCLA and maybe UC-Berkley.

5

UCLA/UCB does not offer FA for OOS students, so expect to pay around $55K/year. GPA looks a bit low for these schools but UC’s do not use 9th grades in their UC GPA calculation which could be to your advantage.

Run the Net Price Calculators on all your schools before applying since there is no point if they are unaffordable.
I agree with @spark64, bump up your ACT and GPA which should help your chances.

https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/

6

Stuckinnd69 - I’d agree that while acceptance with your current stats to MN CLA is likely but not certain, you should fine other acceptable alternatives to apply to. I also agree that you should study hard for and take the ACT one more time. Practice tests, practice tests, practice tests are the way to go.

That being said, is the cost of colleges within the Midwest Student Exchange Program and the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Ed Programs too cost prohibitive for your you? See below:

Midwest Student Exchange Program
Students from participating MHEC states pay no more than 150 percent of in-state resident tuition to attend participating colleges and universities in Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and Wisconsin.

Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education
WICHE’s exchange programs lower tuition costs for out-of-state students at participating colleges and universities in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.
•Western Undergraduate Exchange - Undergraduate students from WICHE states can request a reduced tuition rate of 150 percent of the resident tuition at participating campuses.

•Western Regional Graduate Exchange - Graduate students from WICHE states are eligible to enroll in available programs at participating institutions at resident tuition rates. Students need not demonstrate financial need.

•Professional Student Exchange Program - WICHE’s Professional Student Exchange Program (PSEP) enables students in 10 western states to enroll in selected out-of-state professional programs usually because those fields of study are not available at public institutions in their home states. Students enrolled in WICHES’s PSEP receive preference in admission. They pay reduced levels of tuition in public institutions or reduced standard tuition at private schools. The home state pays a support fee to the admitting school to help cover the cost of students’ education. Fields supported by the State of North Dakota include, Dentistry, Optometry and Veterinary Medicine. In addition to applying to the college of your choice, a separate application for the North Dakota PSEP program is required. Applicants must apply for PSEP certification by October 15th of the year prior to enrollment. Please contact NDUS at 701-328-2906 or at ndfinaid@ndus.edu with any questions.