I am looking for safety schools based on my application below. My major will be Business management and Hospitality.
I am a current high school Senior looking into schools for general Business majors with a minor in finance. Listed below are those schools. I am extremely nervous as I have been recently rejected from Babson College. Below is my information.
—Babson
—Bentley
—Berkeley
—Cornell
—U.Penn
—Notre Dame
—UNH
—U.Michigan
—NYU
—U. Southern California
—U California (Santa Barbara) (LA)
Class Rank
Class rank-63 Rank weighting-Weighted Graduating class size-435 Cumulative GPA-4.5400 GPA scale-5
GPA weighting-Weighted
Current Classes
Course 1 title-AP Physics (FY)
Course 2 title-AP Microeconomics(S1)
Course 3 title-AP English Literature and Composition (FY)
Course 4 title-College Accounting Honors(S1)
Course 5 title-Problems and Statistics Honors (S2)
Course 6 title-Exploration of Global Business (ELO) (S2)
Societies
National Honor Society (2 Years)
Spanish Honor Society (2 Years)
English Honor Society (Founder & President) (1 Year)
Testing
SAT-1750: Reading-590 Math-520 Writing-640 (retested scores come out 12/23)
ACT-25 English-23 Math-26 Reading-24 Science-26 Writing-24 (9/12)
AP Lang. and Comp.-3
APUSH.-3
AP Physics 1- May 2015
AP Physics 2- May 2015
AP Literature and Comp.- May 2015
AP Microeconomics- May 2015
Activities/Extracurricular
President Special Olympics NH- 2 years
President FBLA- 1 year (VP for 3 prior)
President Spanish Club- 4 Years
Student Representative to the Board of Education- 1 term
Treasurer Interact (community service)- 1 year
National Honor Society- 2 years
Spanish Honor Society- 2 years
North Academic Student Ambassador (founding ambassador)- 2 years
Senate- 1 Year
Work
Halloween Super Store- 2012: executive sales associate: 2012: 3 months (15 y/o)
Janie and Jack- 2012-2014: Sales Associate: 1.5 years (16 y/o-17 y/o)
American Eagle- 2013: Sales Associate: 4 Months (16 y/o)
Surf Restaurant- 2013-currently: Bus Boy, Food runner, Host, Bar back (17 y/o-now)
I am so very nervous. I am glad to provide my writing supplements if requested. What do you think, do I have a chance? What should i fix, and what is a specialty i do offer?
I was rejected from Babson for not standing out, do I stand out to you?
SAT 1750 and ACT 25 (and low AP scores) won’t get you into most of the schools you’ve listed. In fact, Babson College is a reach for you already, please don’t waste your effort to trying for more competitive schools like Cornell, Notre Dame. If I were you, I’d just put NYU, UMich, USC, UC SB as reaches, then search for safety schools.
Schools with 30-50% admission rate might be the ones you should aim for. I can think of U of Rochester and Purdue at the top of my head right now, but that cannot be your safety, more like High Matches. You do the math for ‘safety schools’.
FYI, schools like Cornell need at least SATs of 2100+, APs full of 5s, outstanding extra curricular activities. Students usually are in their top 10% of class, which I presume you’re not. Schools liks U of Rochester will need at least SATs of 1900+, APs mostly 4s, and top 20% of class.
You don’t have stellar ECs, no main focus of Business related work and studies, poor standardized test scores and poor school rankings. School grades are okay, but they won’t top your other faults. Make sure to boost your SAT to at least a 2000, and of course school rankings. Write AMAZING essays and target the right schools. These are the only stuff you can do at this stage.
What is your home state and what can your family afford? You have public Us from three different states and you would be full pay for at least two. NYU is also notorious for not offering good FA so can you afford $65K/year?
From a girl from california’s perspective, go for santa barbara out of the california schools. I think it’s slightly easier, and it has the most beautiful campus. berkely is amazing but the campus is bad and 50% homeless people, and usc is commonly known as ‘university of spoiled children’ just a suggestion, but good luck!
You have a nice resume, but they aren’t hiring workers. The problem seems your scores are below average for those colleges–your scores really need to be inline with the schools, sure a few reaches where you are at the bottom scoring if you have nice extracurriculars, which you do. I think you need more match/safeties.
Have a look at the Ithaca College School of Business. We were impressed when we visited last spring, and as a student you can cross-register for classes at Cornell.
UCLA and UCSB do not offer a Business major. UCLA has a Business Economics major and UCSB has a Economics and Accounting major. UCLA would be a High Reach and UCSB would be a Low Reach with your test scores. I agree with @alafae: If you are looking for safety schools, you need to be above the 50th percentile in your stats and it should be affordable. Good Luck.
Thank you all. While the number one thing I got from your reaponses was pure terror I do understand. I guess the thing I need most now is simply, where should I apply and feel safe getting into. Please if you could tell me a school that I fit into I really need saftey of mind right now.
Also, for those of who who said my application had low ECs, why do you nelieve that, what could I have done better?
I think you are asking the right question, you sound like a focused, very hard working student saddled with test scores that don’t reflect your potential. U.Indiana Bloomington is beautiful and has a great business program and is generous to out of state students. I think they have a Feb 1st application deadline
Indiana’s OOS tuition is high, especially for Kelley business ($34000 tuition) and Indiana is not so generous with merit aid. I know because my daughter had a lot higher scores and only got a drop in the bucket. With @alambert221 score of 1150 math and reading IU will not be giving him any merit aid, especially if the November 1 priority deadline for application submission was not met.
What state are you in, @Alambert221, and how much can your parents pay per year for school? If you need financial aid, you should probably start with an in state option or two as your safeties.
Are there any schools you can commute to that have your major? I’d start there. If your parents can’t contribute much you need merit aid and/or need based aid. Your stats aren’t high enough for a lot of merit aid at selective schools even if they were high enough to get you in (I don’t think your SAT is high enough to get you into the more selective schools on your list), and I think need based aid is tough to get.
For an admissions safety, what you need to find is a school whose accepted students had stats similar to yours. Check the Common Data Set for each school. Your stats need to be solidly within their mid-50%. If a school’s accepted students have an SAT CR +M range of 1050-1250, that’s a better pick for a safety than one that has a range of 1150-1350.
For a financial safety, if your parents qualify for full Pell (about $5k/year) and you take the $5500 federal loan, you may be able to afford to commute to a local in state school. If your parents can contribute another $5k/year and you work over the summers and part-time while you’re in school, maybe you could scrape together enough to dorm somewhere in state. If your parents make too much to qualify for Pell and can’t contribute much, your most viable safeties are going to be whatever schools are within commuting distance.
I’d start by finding schools near you. See if they have your major, what their stat range is, and what their application deadline is. (Some schools in our state have rolling admissions or deadlines as late as April 1, but they require SAT scores by the end of January). If the school looks like a good fit, run their Net Price Calculator to get an estimate of what they would cost.
Have you filled out the FAFSA yet to determine your family’s EFC? EFC (estimated family contribution) is usually the minimum your family will be expected to pay. You, as a student, can only borrow $5500 (freshman), $6500 (soph), $7500 (junior, $7500 (senior), and it’s generally not recommeded that parents take out a lot of loans for their children’s undergrad. If your family has to borrow a lot for you to attend a school, it’s really not affordable.
You’ve got some great EC’s and there are going to be lots of schools interested in you. If money’s a huge concern forget about schools that are not within a day’s drive.
How about St Joe’s in Philadelphia? They have an excellent business school and they are well connected for internships in Philadelphia.
The only problem I see with SJU is the cost. I suspect for you, after merit, it will be in the 30k range. If that’s too high then you really need to be checking local commuting options. Keeping debt down will keep a lot more options open for you than graduating from a big name school will.
You are in danger of being rejected by all your options but I have a few options for you, apply immediately to: University of Florida, UW Madison, UAlabama, UT Austin, and most definitely Florida International University. FIU is in the top 3 in the world for its international business program and you could get in.
FIU is NOT “top 3 in the world for international business”, and if OP’s parents can’t contribute then all state flagships are off the table since he won’t get sufficient financial aid. FIU would be cheaper but I’m not sure why OP would leave the Northeast to attend a primarily commuter, directional school… except for weather purpose, but then OP would have a better shot at merit attending Flagler, Barry, Stetson, St Leo, or even Nova Southeastern. Rollins has an excellent business school but I’m not sure OP would be getting enough financial aid - @alambert221: have you run the Net Price Calculators and discussed the results with your parents?
Are you attending a rural or low-performing high school? Does you school routinely send students to colleges ranked in the top 100? Top 50?
Your results are not in line with the universities you’re applying to. If you’ve already applied to the UCs, - they cost 55k a year without any financial aid.
The general business major is generally seen as useless -many students mistakenly believe it means they’ll be able to work in business, when they’d be better off majoring in economics or statistics, or in another “traditional” subject with a minor either in business or in math or in applied math.
You’ll get into UNH but it’s quite costly.
An obvious choice if you like Babson and Bentley is to apply to Bryant.
University of Southern Maine, University of Maine-Farmington?
You could apply to St Lawrence, Colby-Sawyer, Ithaca, Lesley in Boston (not sure, check it out), perhaps Clark or Wheaton as reaches + perhaps some test optional colleges.
Once we know your budget we may be able to suggest more colleges.
How about one of the public universities in New Hampshire other than UNH? It looks like you would get at least a $3000 scholarship/year at Plymouth State, $2500 at Keene State. If one of these universities (or another state college or university) is within commuting distance of your home, that may be your best option, though you’d have to see whether it has a major of interest to you.
^New Hampshire universities have very little financial aid, so it really depends on how much Op’s parents can contribute. Directional universities may not always be the best choice for a first-gen/lower-income applicant in a state with little state aid, since they may cost too much for the family without the proper aid, and increase the odds of not graduating in 4 years. They’re better than nothing but probably not optimal.
just a suggestion, but good luck!
- they cost 55k a year without any financial aid.