What schools should I realistically be looking at?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I don't want this to be a formal chance thread or anything of that sort, but I'm trying to figure out which schools (as well as level of schools) would be realistic options for me.</p>

<p>So, I'm currently a junior at a large public high school in SC with 1700 students.
Honestly, the majority of the students here don't go on to any form of college, let alone a very prestigious school. </p>

<p>I'd like to go to a somewhat prestigious school that is ranked highly in my future major, finance (with a small possibility of economics), is somewhat close to a big city, but not having this wouldn't be a deal breaker, </p>

<p>I have an UW GPA of ~3.62, which is a bit low, but I'm hoping my rank will make up for it.
SC Weighted GPA of 4.54.
Class rank of ~8/300 so top 3%.
Superscored SAT score of 2220. (690 CR, 770 M, 760 W)
I'm an IB Diploma candidate taking the most challenging course load in my school.
After this year, I'll be an AP Scholar with Honor (Most likely, possibly with Distinction).
I've taken AP Language (3) and AP Human Geography (4) already.
I've participated in a variety of clubs, many of which with leadership positions.</p>

<p>This year, I'm taking:
IB Math SL 2
IB English HL
AP Psychology
APUSH
IB Spanish SL 1
IB Chemistry SL 2
IB Theory of Knowledge
(also AP Chem and AP Lit exams in addition to these)</p>

<p>Next year, I'll take:
IB History of the Americas
IB Spanish SL 2
IB Psychology HL
IB English HL
AP Statistics</p>

<p>So which schools should I be looking at?
Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Some safeties
Boston University
U Mass
SUNY Binghamton</p>

<p>Matches
NYU, Boston College</p>

<p>Reaches
Georgetown</p>

<p>High reaches
Ivies</p>

<p>NYU, in particular, appears to be a pretty good match. In the middle of NYC, a strong finance/business program, and getting more prestigious by the year.</p>

3

<p>Ok, thanks. What do you think about the low (for those schools, at least) GPA? Will the rigorous IB course load and high rank make up for it?</p>

4

<p>You should be looking at schools like BC, Villanova, UT Austin, Lehigh as possible matches. Fordham could be a safety a you’re interested, and schools in the range of NYU, UChicago, or the ivies could be reaches for you. </p>

<p>I don’t think the low gpa will hurt you too badly, with the rank and rigor.</p>

5

<p>*
So, I’m currently a junior at a large public high school in SC with 1700 students.
Honestly, the majority of the students here don’t go on to any form of college, let alone a very prestigious school. </p>

<p>I’d like to go to a somewhat prestigious school that is ranked highly in my future major, finance (with a small possibility of economics), is somewhat close to a big city, but not having this wouldn’t be a deal breaker, </p>

<p>I have an UW GPA of ~3.62, which is a bit low, but I’m hoping my rank will make up for it.
SC Weighted GPA of 4.54.
Class rank of ~8/300 so top 3%.
Superscored SAT score of 2220. (690 CR, 770 M, 760 W)*</p>

<p>Bubbles list is fine EXCEPT for the safeties list. Until we know if your parents would pay for those schools, those aren’t safeties. None of those schools “meet need” so until affordability is known, those aren’t safeties. </p>

<p>Your Math + CR score is the important score. Your superscore is a 1460. The Writing score isn’t that important for many, many schools. </p>

<p>Have you asked your parents how much they’ll pay each year? If not, do so. That’s important. </p>

<p>If you have a non-custodial parent, that will also come into play if you need aid to afford top schools. </p>

<p>With an interest in Finance, you’ll need to apply to some reaches, some matches and some financial safeties (schools that you know for sure that you can afford, you like, and will accept you).</p>

6

<p>I live in South Carolina so Clemson or University of South Carolina could both be my safeties. Honestly, they aren’t near the caliber or schools I’d like to attend, but I could attend either for near to nothing. </p>

<p>My mom is a single mother who makes ~60k a year. We entered our financial information into a college financial calculator and it said we have an EFC of around ~8k, which is reasonable as my mom is realistically able to pay between 5k and 10k.</p>

7

<p>Well if you’re at all interested in the West Coast, UCLA has a good program and obviously is near a big city. UNC is good too, and although Chapel Hill isn’t a big city, but it is really cool. The University of Texas at Austin is really highly ranked as well.</p>

8

<p>maybe you would like haverford or swathmore</p>

9

<p>Tufts and Holy Cross.</p>

10

<p>Thanks guys. I’m not too into the liberal art type schools. </p>

<p>My top choices right now would probably be:
Villanova
Fordham
Boston College
Lehigh
UT McCombs
University of Virginia
University of Southern California
Carnegie Mellon University
Clemson University
University of South Carolina
Cornell
UChicago
NYU Stern</p>

<p>I just wanted to make sure that majority of these schools were realistic, without having too many reaches or too many low match type schools.</p>

11

<p>Cornell and Uchicago are definitely reaches from that list^ but it looks pretty solid. Definitely look to trim a few schools as you do some more research - I would recommend applying to at most 10 universities (but preferably less).</p>

<p>I would add Indiana University. Very strong in Finance/Econ, you would automatically receive 11k/year in merit scholarships (I think), and with aid, you would likely attend for almost free. They’re often underlooked as a high quality business education.</p>

<p>Northwestern, Michigan, and WashU may interest you, as well (although they’re all pretty reachy).</p>

12

<p>NYU doesn’t give much financial aid.</p>

13

<p>You should definitely take a look at University of Denver in Colorado… Its a private school and it gives FA for highly qualified applicants… Also, check out Elon, GW, and Tulane… (these would be in the match category for you)!!!</p>

<p>Does Wake Forest interest you at all?</p>

14

<p>If you are not interested in the liberal arts I suggest that you look carefully at the core at the U of C and consider removing it from your list.</p>

15

<p>^ I think he meant LACs</p>

16

<p>It’s a great well balanced list. It looks like you’ve given this some thought. </p>

<p>Don’t forget to take 2 SAT IIs this year. CMU requires a math and one other. Many schools These are tests you should study for. Consider taking Chemistry or US History in May just before the AP exam. You should be overprepared for these by virtue of the AP courses. Do a practice exam just to make sure. I would take both because only the higher score will count and 2 tests give you a better chance to get a higher higher score. Take a Math SAT II in June chose the one based on your current math course. I don’t know what MATH SL is, but if print out the topics from the college board site, your teacher could help you choose the more relevant one. The Math Level II has a better curve, but that only matters if you know the material.</p>

17

<p>Is your dad alive? If so, then some of those schools will require his info as well.</p>

<p>The top schools that give the best aid require CSS Profile and usually require the non-custodial parent’s financial info as well (and any new spouse of the NCP).</p>

<p>If your dad is alive, you may not have noticed that the Net Priced Calculators often mention that their calculations aren’t correct when parents are not together.</p>

<p>I would add Indiana University. Very strong in Finance/Econ, you would automatically receive 11k/year in merit scholarships (I think), and with aid, you would likely attend for almost free. They’re often underlooked as a high quality business education.</p>

<p>He’d get the merit scholarship, but I don’t know why you’d think he’d get enough aid to go there for almost free. It’s an OOS public that isn’t likely going to give much of anything beyond a 5500 loan.</p>

18

<p>You need to check those schools’ aid policies - many that you listed are in the $40-50,000 sticker range and do not meet full financial need. NYU in particular is well-known for poor aid. It’s worth applying to a few financial reaches, but if they’re half your list, you’re going to be in for a nasty surprise when the aid packages arrive.</p>

19

<p>

</p>

<p>A 3.62 unweighted GPA isn’t low, not in light of your class rank (top 3%), scores (2220) and course rigor (full IB). A poster in another thread describes a kid who ranks 70/325 (outside the top 20%)… and an UW GPA of 3.7. Not every A is equal; grade inflation seems to be rampant at some high schools. Colleges understand this (or at least the ones with holistic admissions do).</p>

<p>In section C of the Common Data Set, some of the most selective schools (Brown for example) will show class rank distributions, but no GPA distributions. I suspect this is because they admit many students from competitive schools that don’t hand out as many A grades. </p>

<p>If your ECs are strong and you can present yourself well, there aren’t too many schools you’d have to rule out based on your stats alone (maybe some numbers-driven state universities, or a handful of the most selective private schools).</p>

20

<p>Please look into Questbridge. Several of your schools are on their list (and many of the top institutions in the United States). If you are chosen then all of your application fees will be paid for and if you accepted to one of your schools the full cost of tuition, room and board will be covered. Questbridge will also help explain the lower GPA.</p>