I would match you at Rutgers, two of my kids went there, I’d also match you in state at TCNJ, which was just ranked 3rd in NJ. University of Delaware, if they continue to go TO, will give you merit, but not enough to get down to in state (in the past merit was based on test scores). Stockton and montclair state should give you merit if they base it only on GPA, look at SUNY Binghamton, Temple, UMASS, UCONN, Marist, Quinnipiac, Scranton, Saint Joseph’s.
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@Mjkacmom I will check these schools out. Would you submit the SAT? I don’t know if will hurt me if I don’t.
Your SAT score won’t help you, so don’t submit it. In-state NJ public schools are your best option. You won’t get merit money except possibly at private schools that take at least 75% of their applicants (take a look at previous threads for “B” students and you’ll see some kids who got significant merit money at lesser small schools). You won’t get merit money at NY State schools.
Any idea yet what you’d like to study? Career plans? What part of the country you want to live in, eventually?
I guess it depends if colleges are basing merit on scores, my son had a 3.6 ugpa, 1390 SAT and was offered merit from Stockton and Montclair State, his twin sister was offered merit at Bing (but had a 33 ACT), they didn’t get anything from Rutgers (not surprising). I wasn’t expecting any merit for my son from any school.
@Mjkacmom thanks. Great info.
I heard Rutgers doesn’t give merit money. It’s ok. I was hoping Fordham would give. If they accept me.
@parentologist I know, it’s kinda low.
I want to stay in NJ/NY. I am applying undecided. I don’t know my career path. Perhaps marketing, business.
I know I don’t want STEM, educator.
You should check out Seton Hall. They give really good merit to the better than average applicants. You have strong stats for that school. Could be a good safety. You should be able to apply for free if you attend a webinar (not sure if they still do those) - stay til the end for the free code. We researched the business school for my son and thought they had a lot to offer. Their honors program looks decent too.
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I am afraid that Rutgers is not a safety, and possibly not even a strong match. You should definitively apply, but make sure you also apply to some real safeties in case it does not work out.
See the Rutgers admissions profile for reference: 2021 Admissions Profile.pdf (rutgers.edu)
Since you are undecided, you might want to start building your list of safeties by looking at the US News ranking of the regional universities in NJ:
Best Colleges in New Jersey | U.S. News Rankings (usnews.com)
Good luck!
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@NJEngineerDad thank you. i appreciate your advice
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@college_cal I didn’t even think about Seton Hall. Thanks. I will look for their webinar.
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Do colleges look at the applicant’s resume? Leadership roles? Just GPA? If I do not submit my SAT how does this affect my application process?
Do colleges look at the applicant’s resume? Leadership roles? Just GPA? My rank is pretty good. Some of these schools I have been suggested here seem pretty average. If I do not submit my SAT how does this affect my application process?
@Mjkacmom Do colleges look at the applicant’s resume? Leadership roles? Just GPA? My rank is pretty good. Some of these schools I have been suggested here seem pretty average. If I do not submit my SAT how does this affect my application process?
Public colleges typically look at unweighted (“core”) GPA and standardized test scores (SAT or ACT). This year is atypical because a lot of students were unable to take the SAT or ACT as test centers were closed due to Covid, so a lot of colleges are making standardized test scores optional. They might look at rankings as a substitute for the standardized test scores but some high schools do not rank, so they cannot do that everywhere.
If I were you, as @parentologist suggested, I would not submit your SAT score whenever submission is optional as it will probably not help you as it is a pretty average score.
Going back to Rutgers, understand that they cannot admit the top 25% of all the high schools in NJ (as number of high school graduates in NJ is currently in the order of 90K students and Rutgers NB has about 6.5K spots available).
Rutgers Class of 2020: Diverse, Accomplished and Largest Ever | Rutgers University
Now of course not all NJ students apply or decide to attend Rutgers if admitted, so you do not need to be in the top 6.5K out of 90K students to get in, but it suggests that not being in the top 10% of your school is potentially problematic.
Hence, you need to apply to other schools so you have options. Public in-state regional schools that you should consider include TCNJ, Ramapo and Stockton. If you prefer a national school, Seton Hall and Monclair State as suggested by @Mjkacmom are good choices. If you had been interested in STEM I would have strongly suggested NJIT and Rowan but you wrote you are not.
@NJEngineerDad thanks. I can say a lot (25 per year) of students from my high school go to Rutgers. I spoke to some of them that graduated last year and the year before. My cousin, who has similar stats as I, lives in NJ did not get accepted their business school. Where her classmate who was getting into trouble inside & outside of school (had a record of suspension, FAILED classes. TROUBLE with drugs and driving tickets, Had an average 2.9 GPA, poor resume, not sure what else. Was accepted into Rutgers as an undecided student. This student is US citizen, one Hispanic parent and the other Caucasian. NOT A LEGACY student. All of this, makes the application process so confusing. I am working on my unweighted GPA.
Assuming that you and your cousin are similarly credentialed and similarly hooked, you might expect the same result as your cousin had. I won’t comment on the admitted student, since I cannot know their credentials.
This is why people are telling you that Rutgers is a match for you, not a safety. So is The College of NJ. Your safeties (academically and financially) are other 4 yr public colleges in NJ, and private colleges where your GPA/percentile in class put you in the 75th percentile. BTW, at schools where you have to apply by major, the business school and comp sci are often more selective. Maybe you should apply to Rutgers undecided, or for a possibly less-competitive, but similar major, like Econ, and then transfer into the business school?
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Manhattan College and Siena College, if Catholic is okay, give excellent merit aid. There are lots of schools in PA, if you’re open to that state, that give great merit as well.
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Colleges do have you put your ECs and awards into the Common App. More selective schools have “holistic admissions” policies where they review all aspects of your application and put everything into context. Larger and less selective schools are generally more stat driven. There will be exceptions, of course. Without standardized test scores, they just place more emphasis on the details you provide, meaning each other component should be stronger to compensate.
I think the hard part for you as it feels like you want a big name, impressive school. Unfortunately, needing merit scholarship money makes it more difficult. Merit money is not offered at highly selective schools because they have more than enough qualified applicants. Merit money is used to lure top students who could attend a top college to a lesser known/less competitive school with the hopes they attend and boost the stats on their incoming class profile. You could be competing for merit money against students with 5s on AP tests and 1300+ SAT scores who also have a 4.0 GPA. If you need competitive merit money to make a school be in range financially, you need to target schools that offer money to students with similar stats to yours. Unfortunately, that means looking at schools without as much WOW factor.
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What about SUNY New Paltz for a safety with a nice campus that’s within your distance parameters to NYC?
Temple, in Philadelphia, would be a low match for the business school, you’d have a good shot at Honors.
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I feel strongly that the resume is an important element if the school allows you to upload it. Usually it’s optional. My S21 uploaded his resume everywhere he could because it was a great snapshot of all his accomplishments and in my opinion looked better than the separately keyed in activities page of the common app. As I mentioned before, my son had no SAT score yet he was accepted to 9 out of 11 schools (mostly private) with merit. Some of those schools included Fordham, GWU, Loyola MD, and Seton Hall. So there’s an example of schools who accepted an application without a test score and gave $20K-$33K per year. In your case I would not submit the score.
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