<p>I am currently a junior in high school in North Carolina and UCSB is my top choice. These are the other schools I plan to apply to so what do you think my chances are.
UC Santa Barbara
UCLA
University of Southern California
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
University of South Carolina
Clemson (already provisionally accepted into)
University of North Carolina Wilmington
Auburn
NC State
University of Miami</p>
<p>I am in the IB diploma program however I took 5 AP classes as a sophomore</p>
<p>UC GPA: 4.2
ACT: 33 (will take one more time because science was at a 28 which brought my composite down)
SAT: 2150 (assuming I raise my ACT to a 34-35 I will likely not submit this)</p>
<p>Varsity tennis- 4 years
Piano- 13 years (I have done many competitions and shows as well)
Work- tutoring center and Chick fil a 30 hours a week (parents refuse to pay for college/car etc.)
Special Olympics volunteer
FBLA officer- 2 years, won state competition 2 years and will be competing at nationals this year, member 4 years
Speech and debate- member 4 years.
Science Olympiad- won regionals, member 3 years
Science national honor society- Hopefully officer next year, active member 3 years
Bollywood dance club- VP
Caring 4 kids club- officer 3 years</p>
<p>I think all of them are high matches except for UCLA which is a low reach. Aim higher!</p>
<p>USC: Match
UCLA: Match (can you pay full-freight?)
UCSB: Low match
UNC-CH: Low match/Match
U South Carolina: Safety
NCSU: Safety
Clemson: Safety
UNCW: Safety
Auburn: Safety
U Miami: Low match/Match</p>
<p>I think that you have really good shot at all of those schools! UCLA may be a low reach just because they receive so many applications, but other than that, I think you’re a very competitive applicant at all of these schools. I don’t know if you want to, but why not consider UC Berkeley as well? </p>
<p>Chance me back? <a href=“http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1616663-please-chance-me-i-ll-chance-back-p1.html”>http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1616663-please-chance-me-i-ll-chance-back-p1.html</a></p>
<p>UC Santa Barbara match/low match
UCLA match
University of Southern California match
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill safety/low match
University of South Carolina low match
University of North Carolina Wilmington safety
Auburn safety
NC State safety
University of Miami match</p>
<p>Thank you for chancing me!</p>
<p>If you get into UCLA, don’t go to University of Southern California. Actually, stay in NC and go to Chapel Hill instead of USC. Considering that it is is private school, University of Southern California is far too big; with 40,000 students, it is way bigger than most flagship state universities. Besides, in most respects UCLA is a better university. </p>
<p>From these 40,000 students at USC, about 1/2 are pursuing graduate education of some sort… and USC has the advantage of not being cash-strapped so the OP may actually receive financial aid.</p>
<p>You’re saying that UCLA w/o financial aid is a better choice than USC, even if USC gave the OP a full-ride?</p>
<p>USCB: low match
UCLA: high match
USC: match
UNC: low match
SC: low match
NCSU: safe
UNCW: safe
Auburn: safe
Miami: low match</p>
<p>USC- low reach
UCLA- low reach
Rest are matches
UC schools will favor California students slightly over out of state. People underestimate how difficult it can be to get into UCLA, but you have a chance</p>
<p>USC: Match
UCLA: Match
UCSB: Low match
UNC-CH: Low match/Match
U South Carolina: Safety
NCSU: Safety
Clemson: Safety
UNCW: Safety
Auburn: Safety
U Miami: Low match/Match</p>
<p>@NROTCgrad UCLA & USC have nearly equal student body populations. And yet…</p>
<p>USC student-faculty ratio: 9:1
UCLA student-faulty ratio: 16:1</p>
<p>USC class sizes:
Less than 20: 56.8%
20-49: 27.8%
50+: 14.2%</p>
<p>UCLA class sizes:
Less than 20: 50%
20-49: 29%
50+: 22.3%</p>
<p>*Similar # of small/medium classes, but a sharper difference in the # of large classes (which USC usually caps at around 200-300, while UCLA tends to be at 500-600).</p>
<p>Not to mention the budget. Sooo I guess being private does make a difference.</p>
<p>Okay, I stand at least potentially corrected. </p>
<p>However, it has been established that student-faculty ratios are almost always inaccurately biased in favor of private universities. This occurs because public schools usually include all students in their ratio but private schools typically only include undergraduate students in those ratios. I am willing to bet that USC has an actual ratio closer to 12 or 13. However, it cannot be calculated because the data is not available from USC. See this webpage on their site:
<a href=“Institutional Research, Assessment, and Analytics - Institutional Research, Assessment, and Analytics | University of South Carolina”>Institutional Research, Assessment, and Analytics - Institutional Research, Assessment, and Analytics | University of South Carolina;
<p>Notice how the relevant link to “Section I” is not available. Not exactly inspiring confidence there on class size statistics either. Sorry, but once I learned this distortion used by private universities, I have become suspicious of any numbers that I cannot personally verify.</p>
<p>Generally speaking the only colleges with student-faculty ratios lower than 10 are small private liberal arts colleges (usually fewer than 2500 students). At major private research universities this is very rare, and ratios of 12 or 13 are typical.</p>
<p>P.S.
Actually I was able to go back to 2011. USC does provide numbers there. For that year, USC itself says that its student-faculty ratio is 17:1
<a href=“Institutional Research, Assessment, and Analytics - Institutional Research, Assessment, and Analytics | University of South Carolina”>Institutional Research, Assessment, and Analytics - Institutional Research, Assessment, and Analytics | University of South Carolina;
Major points for honesty. Part of their formula accounts for part time professors.</p>
<p>@Catria
I almost never recommend that anybody turn down a full ride scholarship unless the school simply does not have the student’s field of interest – like, say, engineering. That is for them to determine, but I would rarely turn down a full ride, except for another full ride (or close to it). Even I would attend USC, if it gave me a full ride.</p>
<p>Since the OP already has sights on Auburn, she should also consider its rival, the University of Alabama which is almost guaranteed to offer her a full ride:
<a href=“http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out_of_state.html”>http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out_of_state.html</a></p>
<p>Also, the OP should definitely still apply to USC. I did not intend to discourage that. Obviously there is a strong interest in attending a university in California.</p>
<p>For what it is worth, concerning finances, one of the best ways to get a full ride is to get accepted to a private “safety” liberal arts college. Such schools often give great scholarships to students who could attend more elite universities. Most liberal arts colleges give an outstanding education, and are often a better value than larger schools. Almost zero classes have more than 100 students, and very few classes more than 50 students. Since OP’s parents “refuse” to pay for college, I highly recommend a serious exploration of this route. In fact, I recommend applying to at least as many LACs as large universities. Consider some of the following:</p>
<p>Ohio Wesleyan University
Wofford College in South Carolina
Eckerd College in Florida
Centre College in Kentucky (a personal favorite) B-)
Rhodes College in Memphis
Colorado College (love this one too) B-)
Willamette University in Oregon
Lewis and Clark College in Oregon
University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington
College of the Atlantic in Maine</p>
<p>The only reason for the dearth of California LACs on this list is the lack of many in that state. However, I can recommend all the Claremont Colleges (Scripps, Pitzer, Pomona, and Claremont McKenna). All are elite quality.</p>
<p>While there are a lot of benefits to going to a smaller liberal arts school I don’t necessarily think that is the best option for me. I want to attend a bigger school with a bigger student population and more of a social atmosphere.</p>
<p>Okay. I hear ya.</p>
<p>So, for finances, I do recommend checking out the University of Alabama. Almost guaranteed full ride, plus students will be similar to your cultural background. Of course, apply to several other schools too. Never know who will give you money (or not).</p>
<p>If you really want to attend in the Los Angeles area, then you need to make a trip out there. The air remains the most polluted in America, and it really might burn your eyes and/or make breathing difficult.</p>
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