I have finally narrowed my college list down to the following schools, and need some advice to make sure that I am applying to a good variety of schools and that I have a decent shot at having somewhat of a choice for where I want to go come decision time. Here are the schools I plan to apply to:
University of Delaware
University of Vermont
University of New Hampshire
University of Rhode Island (in state)
University of Maryland College Park
Villanova University
Northeastern University
In addition, I am looking to add about two more schools from the list below:
Loyola University Maryland
Clarkson University
University of Rochester
My Stats:
Race: White
Gender: Female
SAT: 1940 M-670 CR-670 W-600
ACT: 33 (english 35, math 28, reading 34, science 33, english/writing 32)
GPA: 3.53 unweighted, 4.1 weighted
Rank: school very competitive and doesn’t rank, only uses deciles. I am in the second decile.
AP’s by end of snr year: Ap European History (3), AP Statistics (4), AP Biology (4), AP Language and Composition (4), AP Literature and Composition, AP Calculus AB, AP Psychology, and AP Environmental Science
Extracurriculars :
- National Honors Society: 2 years
-Ski and Snowboard Club: 3 years
Club Soccer Team: since 8th grade, compete at a high level and have gone to Regionals past 3 years
-Soccer Team: 4 years, 3 varsity (won JV states freshman year and varsity states last year)
-Indoor/Outdoor Track Team: 4 years, all varsity, hopefully will be a captain this year! (have competed at states every year)
-Math Team: 2 years
-Community Service Club: 2 years, over 70 hours of service
-Worked at Subway for 2 years (10 hours per week during school year, 30 per week during summer)
-Summer Undergrad Course at Brown: Physics 0030 (equivalent of AP Physics C) Grade: C
If you guys could please chance me at these schools and let me know which ones are safeties/matches/reaches, that would be great! Thanks!
I think you’ll get into all of them.
For the safeties, they must be affordable. You need to check the net price calculators if you need financial aid for them to be affordable.
Your list is all safety/matches - you should add some reaches
Can you afford OOS tuition at all of these?
What’s your parents’ budget?
Have you discussed how much they can afford and run the NPCs together to see if your list is affordable?
Are you hoping for merit scholarships?
Academically you should get into most of those, but depending on your budget they may not be affordable, so that you may end up with many acceptances but no college to go to because they’re not affordable…
My parents are divorced and my dad has told me that he thinks that around 40k would be a reasonable price for him. He makes about 175k a year, so I doubt we would get any financial aid. So, I guess I would be relying to an extent on merit aid because I know that most of these schools are more than 40k. That’s why my list doesn’t have many reaches, although I may add some anyways just to see. I also hope to have a part time job wherever I go so that I can have some extra money without having to always ask my parents for money. I want to get a job working at a restaurant this summer and hopefully save about 5-10k to go towards my tuition. @MYOS1634 @intparent
If you have a job at a restaurant this summer, you can hop to make about 4K. It’s likely you’ll spend at least some of it - it’s only human- so expect to earn at most $3,500.
Dont submit your SAT, only submit your ACT.
40K is a very good budget, don’t forget to thank your dad for his generosity and his willingness to invest in your education.
With that salary + your mother’s + any partner’s/spouse’s, it’s indeed unlikely you’d get any financial aid anywhere and public universities are indeed your best bet.
I’d cross out Villanova (lousy aid). URochester may be iffy on the 3.53UW even from a competitive school.
For all the public OOS universities, you should apply ASAP since their best scholarships have upcoming deadlines (from Oct 15 to Dec1st typically, but check website by website).
UVermont will be within budget and is a safety for you.
UMaryland Honors+ scholarship is going to be difficult but fortunately you don’t need much in order to make things happen. With 40K, 5.5K in federal loans, and a part time job about 8-10 hours a week, you can handle most public flagships in the country except the UCs and UMichigan.
Are you set on the MidAtlantic/New England area of the country?
You’d get a guaranteed full tuition scholarship at Temple and you’re likely to get it at Miami-Ohio too.
At Penn State you’d need to win one of the mysterious Provost scholarships that no one knows the criteria for OR get into Schreyer (among the top Honors Colleges in the nation, but only about $5,000 in scholarship off the 46K pricetag) AND take on some federal loans.
Loyola Maryland and Clarkson are safeties.If you like Clarkson, look at Union.
I would remove Villanova and sub in Loyola MD (merit unlikely at Nova, likely at Loyola). Might get a little merit at U of Rochester but not enough to get to $40,000. I think you’re in at all the publics, with enough merit to make one or more out of Vermont, DE, and MD feasible (not familiar enough with NH or RI to comment on merit). Any interest in providence College?