What schools should I realistically be looking at?

College Search & Selection
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<p>Thank you everyone.</p>

<p>My dad is alive. My parents divorced a few years ago, and I still see him fairly often, but my mom has custody of me. She makes ~47k, and my dad contributes around 13k a year in child support. He makes around 45k - child support.</p>

<p>Also, I took a look at the Questbridge program. I really wouldn’t consider myself ‘low-income.’ It would certainly be different in New Jersey or California, but 60k in South Carolina is fine. My family and I don’t struggle financially, although attending a college with little aid would be a significant burden. For that reason, I would be very reluctant to attend NYU or another school that is notoriously known for giving away very little aid.</p>

<p>I realize that many of the schools that I’m interested in are very expensive, but I will be sure to find a few good schools that offer a good amount of aid. Boston College, Emory, UVA and a few others all claim to meet full need. These are mostly high matches or reaches so I know I shouldn’t count on getting in. Also, as I mentioned before, Clemson University or University of South Carolina will definitely be my financial safeties. As I’m instate, I could easily attend either for very little. </p>

<p>I may have a relatively low GPA for these schools, and a high class rank paired with a good SAT score, but my school is in no way elite. They offer a large number of AP and IB classes, but many of the students are unmotivated. This is a large public school with ~1700 students, with 300 in my class. I’m doing much better academically than a majority of them, but my school definitely isn’t ‘competitive.’ We have never sent a student to an Ivy level school as far as I know. I’d say that ~10 students in my class have SAT scores of 1800+, with maybe 2 or 3 others breaking 2000.</p>

<p>Most of the colleges that I plan on applying to will never have been an application from my school. Even though it’s not competitive, I really hope that it appears that way to colleges. Will they look more in depth into my school or base my acceptance solely on the information that I’ve given them? (Information that suggests my school is elite and competitive.)</p>

22

<p>Your school publishes a school profile that’s send along with your transcript. Ask to see it. If you have trouble order an official transcript for yourself and open it up and read it. </p>

<p>That’s the information that the college will have. If you are really 8/300 with a 3.62, then the profile will indicate the grading scale at your school and you’ll probably be given extra points. Class rank if reported on your transcript usually carries more weight than raw GPA. Also self reporting something that for whatever reason doesn’t jibe with your school profile can look bad, so it’s good to know what’s actually on it.</p>

23

<p>If it makes a difference, which it may or may not, South Carolina uses a strange weighted GPA scale that is based on individual points (a 97 gets more than a 96). </p>

<p>Class rank is based on weighted GPA (mine is 4.54ish). On my transcript, it says my weighted GPA, UW GPA, and class rank. I know that most OOS schools ignore weighted GPA, but would that affect their view of my class rank as well?</p>

<p>Will that make a difference?</p>

24

<p>The better schools will use the ranking based on weighted GPA. You can use the Academic Index Calculator to get a sense of where you stand. I think you are in decent shape. </p>

<p>Generally an Academic index of 7-9 is very strong and competitive for top colleges, a 6 is decent and maybe won’t get you into Harvard, but will still take you pretty far up the food chain. Being top 3% is very good. Your GPA is not your biggest problem.</p>

25

<p>My dad is alive. My parents divorced a few years ago, and I still see him fairly often, but my mom has custody of me. She makes ~47k, and my dad contributes around 13k a year in child support. He makes around 45k - child support.</p>

<p>Will your dad fill out the Non Custodial Parent forms? </p>

<p>BTW…it seems like your dad’s child support is high; are you sure he doesn’t earn more than that? or have assets?</p>

26

<p>I have a brother who lives with me, so half of the child support is going towards him. He’s three years younger than me so I’ll be a senior in college when he goes to college.</p>