Hi everyone I’m new to CC but I’ve been trying figure out where to apply this upcoming fall for the 2020 class. I am a Hispanic female both of my parents have had little to no education so I am really lost in this process my older brother was a legit genius and got in to elite schools when he applied 4 years ago so he’s really no help except to make me feel bad about myself. I want to go to a good ranked school with a big college feel. I want to major in PoliSci and/or Biology if the school I go to allows me to double major I really don’t know how that works. BARE WITH ME i know my gpa lacks A LOT but it’s only been an upward trend due to personal issues and moving right before high school my freshman and sophomore year grades were horrible but I did go from a 2.6 sophomore year to a 4.1 junior year.
School is SUPER competitive
UW GPA out of 4.0 : 2.89
W GPA : 3.23
SAT: 1300 650R and 650M
HONORS CLASSES: 8+
APs
Spanish language
Gov and Politics
Psychology
Human geography
Biology
English language (senior year)
Calc AB (senior year)
Environmental (senior year)
I will also be doing an internship at the local hospital doing research and learning about surgical innovation. Along with that I will be taking 1 or 2 dual enrollment classes at the community college.
ECs:
Dance Team 3years
Competive Dance Company 8 years
Secretary of 1 club
Lots of volunteering with many fundraising organizations.
Volunteer at Children’s Hospital In DC.
I know this is all a lot of info but some of the schools I am very interested in are Virginia Tech, UMBC, JMU, LSU, TEXAS A&M, UT AUSTIN, Towson U, PITT, and my top Rutgers.
Trust me I know I have to be realistic but if you reply please don’t make me feel bad LOL. I know my stats aren’t the best but I really hope my essays will help and my teacher recommendations stand out. THANK YOU FOR READING THIS.
Are you thinking of pre-med? I don’t think double majors are the path to med school. @WayOutWestMom can tell you what you need to know for med school.
You’re not your brother so don’t worry about what he did. Focus on what you want. Have your parents given you a budget yet?
What state are you from? A flagship university like UT-Austin is going to be out reach both admissions-wise and financially for an out-of-stater (OOS) with your stats. FWIW, Virginia Tech is a great school, but, you’re going to have to run your family’s income info through its Net Price Calculator (NPC).
Looks like LSU, JMU, Towson and some of your other choices are good matches with your stats. I’m not sure how far you want to go but some of the midwestern state flagships might be good, too, like Indiana U, Iowa State, Alabama and Nebraska. University of Delaware might be another good one for you. Best of luck
Presumably you live in VA, MD or DC itself. Which is it? Does your school have Naviance? Your school GC may be able to help assess your chances at those schools. Can you afford those OOS schools?
Like I said I really don’t know much about the whole process but my parents are very ‘poor’ on paper, I’m not sure how the whole financial thing would work with OOS but as long as it’s around $10,000 out of pocket my parents would be okay.
Assuming you are a Virginia resident, you should run the NPC for JMU (also, assuming you mean, James Madison University.)
That means, going to their website.
I am a Maryland resident but UMD is a far reach i know many students with perfect gpas and ECs that get rejected. Towson and UMBC are my other choices but when I research UMBC my stats are awful so I’m not really sure what my chances are.
Also my school does use Naviance but I find it to be really inaccurate since it takes data from like 10 years ago til now.
Ultimately I am going pre-med but I want to go to large well known school. I plan to apply as a Spanish Language major to the schools that I can eventually change my major at. Does anyone know what my chances are at Texas A&M, PITT, and Rutgers?
Can you select to display only certain years? Your GC should be able to help you categorize schools too.
This is going to be a critical limitation. Room and board typically costs more than $10k. Is there a commutable 2 or 4 year college option for you?
Working with your parents (because you will need tax returns and other financial info), get an estimate of your FAFSA EFC here: https://fafsa.ed.gov/spa/fafsa4c/?locale=en_US#/landing
Then, at all the schools on your list run the Net Price Calculators (NPCs)
to see what you will be expected to pay. Here are a few links:
https://www.jmu.edu/financialaid/calculators/undergraduate.shtml
https://www.towson.edu/admissions/tuition/calculator.html
https://ofas.umbc.edu/netprice/
One potentially lower cost option is to start at a community college near home, do better there than in high school, and then potentially have more options to transfer to than you have now for frosh admission.
However, there are complications for pre-med purposes. Some medical schools do not accept pre-med courses taken at community colleges. Others want to see some pre-med or upper level science courses taken at a four year college after you transfer, so you need to take that into consideration when planning your schedules.
You can do pre-med alongside any college major. Getting admission to medical school does require very high college GPA and MCAT score, along with the usual pre-med extracurriculars (e.g. volunteering or paid jobs in a clinical context and serving disadvantaged populations).
Pre-med is not a major. It is just a series of courses you will need to complete in order to qualify for med school. You can major in Spanish and still be “pre-med”.
TBH, you’re best chances are to stay in-state. The OOS public colleges you’ve mentioned are not likely to offer very generous financial aid. Have you thought about some of the private, highly esteemed, but, lesser known liberal arts colleges that actively recruit lower-income students and meet 100% financial aid need? Take a look at places like Hamilton, Macalester, Occidental, and St. Olaf’s. They all offer solid pre-med preparation.
Most of those schools are OOS public Us funded by their state constituents. Little chance of those being affordable, particularly with your grades OP. What other Maryland state schools are there?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_colleges_and_universities_in_Maryland
So far thank you all for all the input I will definitely look into the NPCs. Does anyone know how high my chances are with Towson and UMBC?
Google Common Data Set and look at section C. It will show you what weight different parameters are used for admission and what grades and scores were for admitted students.
Towson has other allied health majors. You might get in. Are you in Prince George’s county?
See new reduced cost community college program (almost free/ up to $5000 in aid)
https://mhec.maryland.gov/Pages/Community-College-Promise-Scholarship.aspx
Do AA in chemistry, get your pre-med classes and transfer to UMD or UMBC.
http://catalog.pgcc.edu/preview_program.php?catoid=13&poid=961&returnto=1094
Maybe look at Frostburg.
Or see Howard CC program for pre-med. http://howardcc.smartcatalogiq.com/en/2013-2014/Catalog/Areas-of-Study-By-Academic-Division/Science-Engineering-and-Technology-Division-Division-Areas-of-Study/Pre-Medicine-A-A-Degree-Transfer
Ik with my financial need it’s best if I got a community college but at the end of the day i know my parents would pay any amount to send me to college. I’m trying to stay away from going to community college. Does anyone know any well ranked schools I could get in?
Frankly your GPA will preclude any real scholarship options. And you say you’d like to look toward med school which will cost a bundle (pretty much all loans). You would do best keeping your UG costs low. Maybe go to CC for a year and then look for your cheapest in-state option. Med Schools don’t care where your UG is from. They care about MCAT scores and grades.
Instead of guessing and taking “general talk” tidbits of information, you should sit down and get some real info from your parents regarding income and assets. It’s all very good that your parents will pay “any amount” for you to go to college, but unless they have that “any amount” they aren’t going to be able to “pay the piper” when the bill is presented. Private colleges are entering the $80k a year mark.
What is their AGI on their 1040 tax form? The FAFSA links to it, so there’s no getting around that hard number. Any contributions made that year to qualified plans are added back in along with some other non taxed income, there will be a list of examples . FAFSA wants total assets on the day you submit the application, so you need an estimate of what your parents gave, excluding any QUALIFIED pension plan type assets. I capitalize because it had to be officially so designated under certain plans, not just earmarked as such. Primary home is not included.
That info got your parents and you generate your Expected Family Contribution or EFC. That is the absolute least you can expect to get away paying, unless you get sticker priced lower or scholarships to cover. Realistically, few schools guarantee to meet need based on EFC.
The schools that do guarantee to meet need fully tend to use PROFILE which asks for more info like family businesses if in the picture, and value of primary home which FAFSA exempts. Also divorced non custodial parents and their spouses get included in the inquisition. Some exceptions, but not many.
I would pick a school like, say Haverford College, that guarantees yo meet full need and fill out their NPC to get a close to best case scenario on the type of financial aid such schools might offer. Of course, if you have some schools in mind , run their specific NPC.
The schools you have listed use FAFSA only, and do not guarantee to meet full need. As a general rule OOS Public universities do not give much financial aid to students. Unless you qualify for great merit money, being a high level student with great test scores, you aren’t likely to get much money from them.
VTech TAMU Pitt are selective schools. If you are worried about getting accepted to UMD-CP and UUMBC, those OOS are high reaches for you and not likely to give you money. Same with JMU, Rutgers. Ut-Austin is a lottery ticket even for top flight students. LSU might be a likely for admissions, but getting money out of them is not likely
Find out how much your parents really can pay each year for college. If it’s $10k, and you can borrow $5500 Direct loans as a freshman, maybe work summers and school year, you need to get that net cost to about $18-20k Which means your NPC showing you costs about there after awards.
I suggest you look at Marymount College, Mcdaniel, Frostburg, and Salisbury, in addition to Towson.
As a URM, you might get a bit of extra consideration at some schools like Muhlenburg, Susquehanna, Juniata, Ursinus, Wittenberg, Denison, St Lawrence, Albright College. Take a look at those. You Have a decent SAT score— it’s the GPA that is an issue here. When you write your notes to your GC for your LOR from that office, ask that the GC highlight your upward trend.