<p>I am a junior. I have a cumulative 3.77 gpa (upward trend, freshman year-3.4958 gpa; soph 3.87, junior year (first semester)-4.083). My school's gpa system goes up to 4.3 though. I received honors (3.5 gpa)second semester of frosh year and first semester of soph year and distinguished honors (4.0) since. I am in the national honor society, multicultural club, and latin club. I received an honorable mention in the scholastic writing competition for poetry and several awards for national latin exam (freshman-summa cum laude and soph-maxima cum laude). I also work at a convent (where I answer phones). Psat (Freshman-Approx 138, Soph-177 (after spending summer studying), Junior-186). Sat (March 2014) 1940 (720 CR, 560 M, and 660 W). In the summers, I have participated in a volunteer activity where I helped children with learning disabilities ride bikes, volunteer at mental health facility, and have taken an introduction to law course through a community college program designed for high schoolers. I received excellent effort for latin 1A and academic excellence (highest performance award) for spanish 2. </p>
<p>Extra info: I am an african american female from philadelphia. I go to a small private school (about a 100 people in my class). My mom went to temple and maybe I could get in there. I have no idea on possible majors. I used to like the humanities and read a lot but now I like chemistry too so I'm confused. But then again I've always said I would be a business major (probs human resources) for financial security reasons. (I really don't have a passion for anything as bad as that sounds. I Iike so many things but I'm trying to figure myself out). I love the idea of me going to florida for college but I'm open to any place that isn't too snowy. My school list as of now consists of u of miami, howard u, spelman, temple, upenn, usc, fordham, st joes. (Stanford used to be my dream but pigs would probs fly before that happened.)</p>
<p>Please read point 1 of <a href=“Before you ask which colleges to apply to, please consider - College Search & Selection - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1621234-before-you-ask-which-colleges-to-apply-to-please-consider-p1.html</a> . Reach/match/safety cannot really be assessed without your cost constraints; a safety must be certainly affordable as well as being certain for admission, while reach and match need to account for how difficult it may be to earn any merit scholarships needed to make the schools affordable.</p>
<p>If you can afford about $20,000 per year, Howard is a safety, since it has an automatic full tuition merit scholarship for a 3.0 HS GPA and 1170-1290 SAT CR+M: <a href=“http://www.howard.edu/financialaid/grants_scholarships.htm#Freshman”>http://www.howard.edu/financialaid/grants_scholarships.htm#Freshman</a> . Higher SAT CR+M or ACT scores can get better scholarships there, so you may want to try the ACT and retry the SAT. But apply early, as the scholarships are given on a first-come-first-served basis to those who meet the stats for them.</p>
<p>My parent contribution could not be more than 20,000 per year (preferably). </p>
<p>You need to check the net price calculator on each school’s web site to see what its need-based financial aid is likely to give. If that is still too expensive, you need to find out if there are large enough merit scholarships to bring the cost down to an affordable level, and make the reach/match/safety assessment on the chance of getting the scholarship, not just admission.</p>
<p>There are basically 3 strategies for managing the high costs of college:
- a strategy focused on need-based aid
- a strategy focused on merit aid
- a strategy focused on low sticker price
Generally, these 3 strategies point to 3 different sets of schools.</p>
<p>Selective schools that claim to cover 100% of determined need are good choices if and only if (a) your qualifications are strong enough for a realistic shot at admission, and (b) your parents are able and willing to cover the Expected Family Contribution (which you can estimate with a school’s online Net Price Calculator.) At the least selective of the full-need schools (e.g. Holy Cross), an SAT-M below 600 would place you in the bottom 25% of enrolled students (therefore, the school would be a reach). At the most selective of the full need schools (e.g. Stanford), an SAT-M below 600 would place you in the bottom 5% of enrolled students (therefore, it probably would be way out of reach).
<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2013/09/18/colleges-that-claim-to-meet-full-financial-need-2014”>http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2013/09/18/colleges-that-claim-to-meet-full-financial-need-2014</a></p>
<p>If your parents are able and willing to pay much less than the EFC, you may need to focus on schools that offer merit scholarships big enough to cover the difference (in addition to your determined need). Those usually will be schools where your stats would place you in the top 25% of enrolled students. So, they usually will be less selective schools that do not claim to cover 100% of determined need.
<a href=“http://www.thecollegiateblog.org/2012/12/09/national-universities-that-offer-full-ride-scholarship/”>Loading...;
<a href=“http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T014-S001-kiplinger-s-best-values-in-private-colleges/index.php?table=lib_arts&state_code[]=ALL&id[]=none”>http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T014-S001-kiplinger-s-best-values-in-private-colleges/index.php?table=lib_arts&state_code[]=ALL&id[]=none</a></p>
<p>The third strategy is to focus on schools with the lowest sticker prices. Generally, these will be in-state public schools. They may even need to be local schools to which you can commute from home in order to lower your room and board costs. </p>
<p>If your parents can cover the EFC, have a look at some of the less-selective full-need schools as potential “reach” colleges. Possibilities: Bryn Mawr, Connecticut College, F&M, Occidental, Trinity, Richmond. These are all small LACs. Check out USC if you want a much larger school. The University of Miami is less selective but also covers a lower percentage of demonstrated need (~80% on average.)</p>
<p>It’s hard to recommend match and safety possibilities without knowing more about your family’s ability/willingness to pay. For starters, run the Net Price Calculators for Penn State and Pitt.</p>
<p>If you are willing to consider a small school, look at Eckerd in St. Petersburg. They are very generous with scholarships. New College of Florida probably is too small for you, and lacks an actual business major, but is surprisingly affordable.They offered automatic merit scholarships to out-of-state students who submitted all applications materials by a deadline; that brought the price down to about $25k, before any need-based considerations. Seventy percent of their students graduate debt-free. You have a pretty good, realistic list already.</p>
<p>Are there any more medium to large sized schools outside of PA that you guys think I could qualify for academically?</p>
<p>At most of those schools you will be expected to pay more than $20K/year. Have you looked at the merit aid threads posted above?</p>
<p>Yes, I’ve looked at the list. I’m currently looking at Ohio State University and U. of South Florida which came from the list. </p>
<p>None of the Alabama schools? If you could bump that math score up there are some good scholarships available.</p>