I think with your classes + ECs, you can tell a very good “story” for marine bio–I definitely think you’d be competitive! Don’t discount Stanford out of hand–it’s really about your supplements, and if you’re a skilled creative writer you can ace those. The student I assisted w/ her essays didn’t have a 4.0 and her SAT was hovering just below 2000, but she got in. (so your stats are better than hers)
So w/ marine bio in mind, I would look for schools that have both–marine biology as well as creative writing departments/interesting English Lit courses. You could minor in writing, perhaps. BU definitely has both (including some really cool study abroad opportunities for marine bio). I would definitely apply to UCSD–they partner with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and I think w/ your stats you’re very competitive for UCSD. (UCLA too, actually) UCSB also has marine biology. So for your four UCs, I would apply to UCLA, UCB, UCSD and UCSB. I would also look at the University of Hawaii and the Western University Exchange–I checked and they do offer WUE opportunities for the Marine Biology program specifically–ie: if you get accepted, you would be eligible to pay closer-to-in-state rates instead of out-of-state rates (take the in-state rate & multiply by 1.5): http://www.wiche.edu/wue/students
Thank you for your help, I really appreciate it! I will definitely look into Stanford more seriously, I had never though of that school as an option for me before but I can see now how my marine background would help a lot… @proudterrier
We are currently researching how to solve ocean acidification with the use of kelp as one of CO2’s nutrients. We are taking into account pollutants and global warming. @merc81
You probably need to have a discussion with your parents sooner rather than later about money and the cost of your college education; which should include a discussion of potential costs of graduate education (especially if your undergraduate degree is in English or a social science).
The #1 source of scholarships/financial aid is the college itself (#2 is the federal government with the federal loans, the 3 is your state if it has grants/scholarships).
NYU has lousy financial aid. So you can’t count on scholarships to pay for tuition there.
Run the NPC to see how much you’d likely get and whether it’d be affordable.
@merc81 class rank is irrelevant to the UCs. The top 12% is judged on a state wide basis, not by individual school outside of some auto acceptance criteria.
To the OP strongly consider UC Santa Cruz which has both an excellent undergraduate English program and an outstanding environmental science department.
The University of Washington, which is like UCLA loves full pay Californians and you would likely love it.
Tulane and the College of William and Mary could also be possibilities.
If you’re interested in another mega reach also consider Duke.
@whenhen: I’ve been informed that on a theoretical basis class rank itself is not a relevant factor in the UC system, but that on a practical level it can essentially be a barrier to admissions. If that is not the case, then I’m glad you spotted my error.
Based on your demonstrated interest in science and English and your solid academic record, you would be a good candidate for the University of Washington Honors Program.
If you are interested in UCs, your high school’s weighted GPA is not relevant. UCs and CSUs calculate weighted GPAs their own way, as described at https://secure.csumentor.edu/planning/high_school/gpa_calculator.asp (UCs also calculate a GPA without weighting, and a GPA without the cap on weighting).
If we assume that your high school’s weighted GPA of 4.0 to 4.2 is an unweighted 3.5 to 3.7, then it would be a long shot for UCLA, though some other UCs may be more likely.
But be sure to talk to your parents about costs and what they will contribute, and run the net price calculators on the various colleges of interest. New York University is well known for high cost and poor financial aid, and its net price calculator will give you the bad news up front.
On UCLA’s website, it says they weight incoming freshmen GPA’s out of a 5 point scale… my school doesn’t have A+ so our A- goes from 90 to 94. With the 5 point scale, I would have a 5 (if they make A’s 90 - 100) because I have all A’s and A-'s… @ucbalumnus
Convert your grades to ABCDF (no +/-) and use the method from the link in reply #36 to calculate the GPA used by UCLA and other UCs.
If you do have all A grades (unweighted 4.0, UC-weighted probably around 4.3), then UCLA becomes a more realistic chance than if your unweighted GPA is 3.5 or so.