Which colleges in LA or NY should I apply to?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hey you guys, I am in a serious dilemma! I am trying to compose a list of college(s) to apply to and right now I'm getting mixed up with a few restrictions with Early Action. I would like to live/go to school in the New York or Los Angeles (So. California) area, either or really, doesn't matter (also slightly considering Chicago). My top choice is Columbia University, with probably Stanford/Pepperdine as close seconds. I also plan on applying to Fordham, UCLA, NYU, Yale, USC, SFU, Berkeley, UChicago, Princeton. I'd like to attend a top notch educational institution, Ivy League would be ideal haha. My ACT score isn't incredible, and im working on it, but below are a few of my credentials....</p>

<p>My school offers a Gifted Education Program which is ranked about Honors and AP which you have to test into through an IQ test, so I took all Gifted. We do not weigh GPA's in our schools, which sucks, so everything is raw. </p>

<p>GPA: 3.79 Unweighted (All Gifted Classes)
Class Rank: Top 10% (52/576)
ACT: 27 (9 in writing) [taking it again, and again until I get a 30]
PSAT: 217 (National Merit Scholar) </p>

<p>Extra-Curricular(s):
State President of FBLA
President of FBLA (school)
President of the Youth Ambassadors of America
Senator on Ex. Board Student Council
Graduate of the Jr. Leadership Academy
Freshman Mentoring Program
Captain Flag-Football
Captain Softball Team
Historian Latin Club
Big Brother Big Sister
Beta Club
Nat'l Honor Society
Nat'l English Honor Society
Vectors Scholar
Admitted to Duke University's LEAD Business Program
Scholarship recipient to the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts
All State Speech Team (2011 - 2012)
Speech & Debate
NFL (Nat'l Speech) Qualified (2012)
CFL (Nat'l Speech) Qualified (2011)
4th in State Speech (2011) [I have a bunch in different little placings like this, don't really feel like writing them all out, but have about 6 of them ranging from 1 - 4th]
Superior in State Spanish Extemp. Speaking (2011)<br>
Excellent in State Spanish Interp. Reading (2012)
4th in State Impromtu Speaking (FBLA - Nat'l Qualified 2012) </p>

<p>Letters of recommendation to come form from my English (Gifted) and Spanish IV teachers, both know me very well and can write really good letter of recommendations. My third will probably come from my FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) sponsor, who helped me get elected as state president.</p>

<p>My Senior Load: Creative Writing (Gifted), Psychology, Statistics (Gifted), English IV (Gifted) and I am Dual Enrolling Principles of Econ. 201, and Mathematics for Finance 206 (1st Semester) and Intro to Financial Accounting 201 (2nd Semester) </p>

<p>Currently have:
English 1 - 3 (All Gifted)
World History, US History, Civics/Free Enterprise (All Gifted)
Spanish I - IV
Latin I
Alg I, II, Geom, Pre-Calc, Calc I (All Gifted)
Art I
Theatre III
Bio I, Chem I, II, Physics I (All Gifted) </p>

<p>I'm a prospective Accountant or Finance Major. </p>

<p>I am also the CEO of my own LLC which I founded in 2009. We have been in business for three years and have partnerships in four states (CA, LA, TX, NY). I am from Louisiana and am a African American male.... Which colleges should I apply to? I was considering either Yale of Stanford Early Action, but they are restrictive and I wouldn't be able to apply to any other private colleges EA (Not Columbia because it is Early DECISION, and I can't commit). Would it be worth it? And which college would have the best scholarships for me? I was thinking that it may be smarter to apply to a easier non-restrictive EA colleges that I am pretty much guaranteed admission and scholarship awards, but I don't know. I really want to go IVY and I feel my only way in may be EA.... thoughts?</p>

2

<p>Ask yourself these questions:</p>

<p>Is cost an issue?</p>

<p>Intended or possible majors?</p>

<p>Why not take the SAT? Based on your PSAT score, you will probably score better on the SAT than what your ACT is equivalent to.</p>

<p>Do you have a safety which you will get in, you will be able to afford, and you will like to attend? This is the most important school on your application list, since there are plenty of stories each April of students who got no acceptances, got accepted only at unaffordable schools, or got accepted only to “safeties” that they do not really like.</p>

3

<p>I live in Louisiana, and do not want to go college anywhere near here. My safeties I guess would be Fordham, St. Johns (New York), Adelphi, and I’ll be applying to LSU which I am auto-accepted into and I’ll already be a student at the Univ of Louisiana at Lafayette (It would be basically free tuition and LSU as well), and won’t have to apply. But I strongly dislike those schools… so that’s why I’m on here to learn about some potential safety schools in the areas where I’d like to live. Cost is definitely an issue, that’s why I am trying to apply to schools that will give me some good scholarship offers. I only know of big name schools really, and am trying to find out how to balance my list.</p>

4

<p>If cost is an issue you should delete UCLA and Berkeley from your list. Unless you are a recruited athlete, you are not likely to receive enough financial aid as an OOS student.</p>

<p>Some other California private schools you might want to look at are University of San Diego, Chapman University, and Santa Clara University (which is in Northern CA, but since Cal and Stanford are on your list I didn’t think you were looking exclusively at SoCal). If you can get your GPA a bit higher, and if your SAT is as high as your PSAT predicts, you may be able to get some pretty good merit money from them.</p>

5

<p>There exists a full ride scholarship at Berkeley, but it is hard to get and for mechanical engineering majors only. Don’t expect generous need based aid at Berkeley, UCLA, or NYU.</p>

<p>If cost is an issue, what is the price limit that you and your parents can pay? Depending on what it is, there may be some colleges whose list price is within your budget even without financial aid.</p>

<p>Also, how does that actual price limit compare to what the colleges determine your expected contribution to be? If your actual price limit is significantly less than your expected contribution, then you need to look for large merit scholarships (often found at less selective schools) or schools whose list price is under your actual price limit.</p>

<p>Try the net price calculators on the web sites of the colleges you are interested in.</p>

6

<p>None of the scools you list as safeties, other than LSU, are safeties if you need a cent of aid. These are terrible aid schools! The UCs will not give you money, take them off your list. Google “colleges that meet 100% of need”, these are the only colleges that should be on your list if you need much aid.</p>

<p>While AA males are in great demand at many colleges, the 27 may well keep you out of Stanford, Columbia, Princeton and other very top schools. Make sure to put several schools just below the ivy tier on your list. This will be tough in NYC or LA. Schools like Bowdoin,
Colby, Bates, Colgate, Trinity CT, Carleton, Macalester, Davidson would be good choices for an excellent education with great aid.</p>

7

<p>I did the “expected contribution” calculator at Yale an it was $8,300/year, which isn’t bad at all. Between scholarships and all I’d like to keep tuition around $12,000/year (preferably a full ride, but we can afford about 12k w/out student loans) . I prefer private schools because they are smaller and give better aid. I know full rides at smaller private schools are very doable, as many of my friends that are graduating have received full rides to Reed College, Boston College, Texas A&M, UC at Boulder, Univ. of So Florida, and even Columbia Univ! (he only had a 24 ACT, given her was an AA male with a lot of extra curricular(s) and a 4.0) and more… </p>

<p>I’m also guaranteed a 4.0 next year, so my graduating GPA will be around a 3.91. I did this on purpose so I can improve my ranking next year and my overall scores. </p>

<p>I’m mostly worried about location of my schools. I have two siblings who have already graduated from college, one from St. Edwards Univ in Austin, TX and one from ULL in Lafayette, LA, both received full rides. And the number one thing they told me is to live in an area you love. I place to get my masters in the same area I get my undergrad and quite possibly live there for the rest of my life. </p>

<p>University of San Diego is definitely on my list, but I know most California schools are elitist and prefer students applying from their own state and are stingy with offering money to out of state students. Champman Univ. is an option, but I’d prefer not to live in Orange, CA. I guess in all reality, the areas I’d love to live in are: Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, New York City, Chicago… or within 15 - 20 minutes of these cities. </p>

<p>LSU and Univ of Louisiana at Lafayette, are both safeties for me and I would have to pay nothing to go to either institution. I really want to attend a college with a beautiful big campus, (Columbia, UCLA, Stanford, Pepperdine, UChicago), and that is within 20 minutes from a big city. Much like my brother who sent to St. Edward’s… he wanted to live in Austin so he found a lot of smaller private schools around the area with a good campus feel that he knew he could get a full ride too. I’m just unaware of a lot of the smaller schools outside of the South. I’m not opposed to applying to 20 schools, that’s not a problem. I just want to see if there are any of smaller private school with EA that I should consider that may offer me a great scholarship package before I apply to Stanford or Yale restrictive EA. </p>

<p>*I understand that most of the IVY’s I’ve listed aren’t near New York. But I would settle for living outside of a big city, for an Ivy League education and the work benefits I’d receive upon graduation. So, they are an exception.</p>

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<p>Sidenote: I’m adding SDSU to the list, because it is affordable and I am far above their admission standards. Does anyone know any good California Schools or Chicago/NY Schools to apply to that have special Nation Merit Scholarships?</p>

9

<p>I think USC offers National Merit Scholarships.</p>

10

<p>You need to do more homework. The only aid you’d get from SDSU is the Federal, and it doesn’t sound like you qualify for a Pell grant, so you’d get ZERO free money.</p>

<p>USD is a private school as is Chapman, and do not favor CA students. only the UCs and the CSUs do. It’s not that they’re stingy with aid, it’s that they give NONE to OOS students.</p>

<p>You need to put colleges that meet 100% of need on your list. Most are not as generous as Yale, but all give decent aid.</p>

11

<p>So far… I’m thinking, Berkeley, USD (gives really good scholarships, good chance of getting in), Stanford (reach school), Chapman (good chance of getting in, USC (national merit finalist scholarship sounds very lucrative, good chance of getting in), Pepperdine (good change of getting in), UCLA (good chance of getting in), UChicago (reach school), Northwestern (reach school), Columbia (reach school), Yale (reach school), Princeton (reach school), NYU, Fordham (safety), Adelphi (safety), St. John’s (safety) and LSU (safety). </p>

<p>I’m thinking about applying to Stanford EA, but it is restrictive so I can’t apply to any other private college EA. But most all my private colleges listed don’t even offer Early Action (USC, USD does but I don’t feel it’d be necessary to apply early, NYU is only ED, Columbia is only ED, Princeton is only ED) and all the public universities I’d like to apply to are mainly UC’s that don’t offer EA. So I think a restrictive EA wouldn’t be bad for me.</p>

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<p>Since you are a National Merit Semi Finalist, you need to add schools which offer guaranteed big money and opportunities for NMFs. Go look at [National</a> Merit Scholarships - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/]National”>National Merit Scholarships - College Confidential Forums) </p>

<p>You aren’t from California and you are concerned about money, so you cannot afford any UCs. The UC system does not guarantee to meet need for California residents, let alone out of staters. SDSU’s statistics may look welcoming, but there is a strong preference for students within their catchment area–meaning, those who live in the San Diego area. This is in order to provide a Cal State education to those who don’t have the means to pay for living on campus. The Cal State system, like the UC system, does not guarantee to meet financial need, so it will also be out of financial range for you.</p>

<p>I don’t know about odds of getting in or financial, but research some SoCal LACs like Occidental and the Pomona consortium, perhaps Pitzer.</p>

13

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<p>Not true about the “NONE” part if Berkeley’s financial aid estimator is anywhere near accurate. However, it is true that they won’t give very much grant aid for out of state students, even though it is likely to be non-zero. (For practical purposes, this means that Berkeley is unaffordable for an out of state student needing a lot of financial aid, unless majoring in mechanical engineering and getting the Drake Scholarship.)</p>

<p>[Financial</a> Aid Estimator - UC Berkeley Financial Aid and Scholarships Office](<a href=“Financial Aid Estimator - UC Berkeley Financial Aid and Scholarships Office”>Financial Aid Estimator - UC Berkeley Financial Aid and Scholarships Office)</p>

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<p>Thanks! I found that if I increase my ACT score by two points, Liberty U will guarantee me a full tuition scholarship and room and board. I just don’t want to live in VA. USC Gaurantees 1/2 tuition to NMF which knocks it down to 20k and there is still much room for scholarships. UMASS also has full tuition for NMF. I guess I can add UMass and Liberty U to the list, but I really would not like to attend either university. </p>

<p>California colleges are proving to be the most difficult haha. Do you think I’d have a chance of getting accepted at Stanford EA? (assuming I get my ACT up to a 29-30, which shouldn’t be to hard. I’m scheduled to take a class before the June ACT)</p>

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<p>Liberty University is a very conservative (Southern Baptist) religious school.</p>

<p>A safety is only a safety if you would like to attend it.</p>

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<p>Yale is generally regarded as being more generous with need-based aid than most other schools. Run the estimators on all of your schools, including your safeties.</p>

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<p>Thats why I can’t really decide between Yale (13%) or Stanford (12.7%) EA. I dont know which I’d have a better shot at. I’m trying to look at trends, such as the number of AA males they have, southern students, LA students, etc., so I know which could be needing a student like me more, thus increasing my chances of admission. But I feel like its always a hit or a miss with IVY. </p>

<p>I still haven’t found a great safety school that I love and can afford that’s in a location that I want to live in. I guess I might just have to shoot for my reach/middle schools and pray to God I get some good scholarships.</p>

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<p>“most California schools are elitist”</p>

<p>Most schools everywhere that pay attention to GPA and test scores tend to favor the more intellectual applicants over the less intellectual applicants. There’s nothing unusual about California in this regard.</p>

18

<p>offer accounting or finance. I don’t think Yale, Stanford, Columbia, or Princeton offer accounting or finance as a major.</p>