I’ve been looking at colleges recently, but I don’t really know which colleges are a realistic options for me.
My stats:
GPA- 96 unweighted, 100 weighted
SAT- 2200
ACT- 30
Rigor- 4 AP classes and 6 honors classes
Rank- 3/110
ECs- Im in 5 clubs(president in one, treasuerer in another), varsity tennis, NHS
Most important consideration in putting together a college list is how much you and your parents afford? You have very competitive Stats, so if you are in need of much financial aid, you need to target schools where your Stats would give you the most aid: need and/or merit based. Also look to your in-state schools first as Safetiess and Matches. Are you looking to go out of state (OOS)? Intended major? Large/Small/Elite/Urban/Rural/Religious??? You can start with the Supermatch feature on this website and plug in your Stats and preferences. This will give you starting point.
My dream school is Bucknell and the EFC said 20k. Is the EFC normally what people end up paying or is it usually higher? I could afford the EFC.
The EFC amount is the minimum amount you would have to pay. Most schools will gap you and not meet the full amount minus EFC. I am not familar with Bucknell, so I am hoping other CC posters can give you a better insight into the FA available there.
Bucknell meets 100 pct of need. Did you run the Bucknell NPC? The FAFSA EFC is not what individual colleges will expect. Private colleges that meet need will use more extensive financial info to calculate your parent and student contribution. You will likely have student loans in your package.
Average ACT 25% to 75% is 27 to 32
Avg SAT 25% to 75%
SAT Critical Reading 580 680
C9 SAT Math 620 720
SAT Writing 600 690
62% are in top 10 pct of class
I’d say your chances are very good.
check like people said above
but
remember 100 percent of need is their version - they still decide what you need to pay
and the individual college NPCs are accurate in general if you put in accurate numbers
My daughter had a similar score to yours (31). You have a score that could get you some nice merit awards. I’d recommend that you branch out your search a bit. My daughter’s best award was $20k per year to attend a private LAC that costs $41k - tuition, room & board. Her score put her in their top 15%. We haven’t received the total financial package. She’s going with this one because it was her favorite, she won’t have to take out loans, and I think only one other school will come close to the same price. She was awarded top merit awards at all the schools she applied to except one (she was right at their 25% cut off). Our goal was not to get my daughter into the most selective school she could get into. Our goal was to get her into the best school we could afford. At the beginning of our college search I wouldn’t have predicted that this is where she’d go, but she is absolutely thrilled and we’re really happy for her. Spend a little time reading up on where your stats put you at the top and make your visit list from there. You may find yourself questioning why a school costs $10K more than another one after visiting it. There were a couple that we just could not justify spending that much more. There was also a really expensive one where we totally got why it was expensive after our visit.
Might add Bowdoin and Holy Cross. HC meets 100% demonstrated need and has nice campus 1 hour from Boston.