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Help me find schools!
studyybug
26 replies1 threads Junior Member
Hispanic, First-Generation Woman
GPA : 3.85 (unweighted) 4.65 (weighted)
* my school has a capped gpa so even w/o a 4.0 unweighted I will still be valedictorian
AP: Human Geography (4), still waiting on others
ACT : 29
MAJOR : Public Policy/Political Science
EC’s :
Student Council (4 years)
Freshman Class President
Sophomore Class President
Student Body Historian
Student Body President
State Student Council Board President
* first state member and president in my school’s history
National Honor Society (2 years)
Key Club (3 years)
Yearbook (3 years)
Photo Editor
Junior Editor
Chronological Editor
Soccer (1 year)
AWARDS/HONORS:
Distinguished Student Leader
*the second person to receive it in my school’s history
Honor Roll
Moderator's Note: I merged two identical threads so answers may be intermixed.
ED
21 repliesGPA : 3.85 (unweighted) 4.65 (weighted)
* my school has a capped gpa so even w/o a 4.0 unweighted I will still be valedictorian
AP: Human Geography (4), still waiting on others
ACT : 29
MAJOR : Public Policy/Political Science
EC’s :
Student Council (4 years)
Freshman Class President
Sophomore Class President
Student Body Historian
Student Body President
State Student Council Board President
* first state member and president in my school’s history
National Honor Society (2 years)
Key Club (3 years)
Yearbook (3 years)
Photo Editor
Junior Editor
Chronological Editor
Soccer (1 year)
AWARDS/HONORS:
Distinguished Student Leader
*the second person to receive it in my school’s history
Honor Roll
Moderator's Note: I merged two identical threads so answers may be intermixed.
ED
Post edited by Erin's Dad on
This discussion has been closed.
Replies to: Help me find schools!
What do you want in a university or college? Large or small? Rural, small town, small city, big city?
Yes, the financial side is very important. Students, unfortunately, can be accepted to schools and then not be able to afford it. You want to avoid that.
If money is an issue (it is for the vast majority), the public universities in your state will certainly be a place to start. You'd probably want at least a few of those on your list. And/or you can go for merit aid or need-based financial aid, aid targeted at Hispanic students. You can google colleges that offer generous financial aid and colleges that meet full financial need. Note that the latter often includes the most competitive schools (like Harvard and Yale) but also some that are not so competitive. And, in the end, they may expect you to pay more than you can. But a good place to start. Note too that many private schools will offer aid to a high % of students, which can make them 20-50% cheaper than the sticker price on the website, but that can still be expensive.
If you are in a western state, do you know about WUE, which provides reduced OOS tuition at many schools in member states.
https://www.wiche.edu/wue
Also some state flagships like Universities of New Mexico, Kansas, and Nebraska offer merit aid that can bring the cost down to in-state levels for OOS students. I think of Nebraska, which is actually an urban school and very close to the state capitol building, which would provide opportunities in your areas of interest.
Anyway, there are many schools very strong in your areas of interest. I think of Dickinson College and the College of the Holy Cross. Both have outstanding academics. Holy Cross claims to meet full financial need.
Would you be interested in an all-female school? I'm thinking of Mount Holyoke and Smith College, which are excellent and part of the Five College Consortium (with Hampshire, Amherst, and U Mass Amherst), so you can take classes and take advantage of opportunities at the other schools. The Smith campus is immediately adjacent to Northampton, a great college town, and MH has a notably beautiful campus.
https://www.smith.edu
https://www.mtholyoke.edu
If you do like the idea of a small college, you might check out Colleges That Change Lives. For your areas of interest, among these schools, I think of Clark University, Willamette University (in Oregon state capital), Rhodes College, etc.
You'd receive aid at many of those, though they would very probably still cost you something like 1/2 to 3/4 the sticker price. But always run the Net Price Calculator (NPC) for yourself at colleges that look good to you. No one can say very accurately what they will cost you--it varies by individual situation.
Some of these won't appeal, but maybe some will.
Good luck!
My home state is Nevada. I’d prefer to stay out of state, however, I would need financial aid. I’m not 100% how much my parents would contribute as they are relying on that I get a full-ride scholarship somewhere to cover the costs.
I like big campuses that are in urban or suburban areas. I’m looking for a rich campus life for sure!
I'm not sure how much college counseling you get at school, and how much you know about the WUE program I linked above, but that seems like a great program for you, in giving you some more choices that would perhaps be priced similarly to going in-state in NV. Note that schools might (or will) have a certain number of WUE spots, and it is first come, first served. So be sure to get your application in early at any OOS WUE schools that look appealing to you. A couple of UCs and some Cal States are WUE schools (not UCLA), at least as of recently.
Here's a list of schools,
https://wrgpsavingsfinder.wiche.edu/search-results.php
Would you consider the Midwest? Because of demographics (declining/stable populations), it can sometimes offer the best bargains. I mentioned Nebraska. It is not out in the cornfields. It's in Lincoln, the state capital.
All of the below are outstanding state flagship research universities,
Here's an example of the scholarship opportunities for OOS students,
https://admissions.unl.edu/cost/#scholarships/O
And scroll down on this link to see OOS scholarships for Kansas, which is in a great college town.
https://admissions.ku.edu/tuition-scholarship/freshman
You have a great ACT score. Note you might be able to bump up aid if you could get that slightly higher. Maybe you could take it again in September.
I just like this chart for Miami of Ohio,
https://miamioh.edu/admission/merit-guarantee/
Note that Miami of Ohio super-scores for admission AND aid. Also note that the application deadline for aid is early. That can be true at other schools too.
If not the Midwest, what about New Mexico?
https://scholarship.unm.edu/scholarships/non-resident.html
For pre-med students (but true for all students), I always like to recommend tutors for freshman science and math classes (and sometimes others). These can be challenging. Schools offer tutoring, families are paying for the service, so take advantage. Getting a tutor is not a sign of academic weakness but academic strength. What often happens is that excellent hs students bomb their first chem or bio or physics exam. They feel defeated. They panic. Then maybe they get a tutor. It's much more helpful to get one the first week and learn from them what you need to know and how best to prepare for an exam. And to add, resilience is the best predictor of success in college. Almost every student has significant challenges. Being able to learn and move forward positively is really what leads to success in college . . . and in life.
But certainly go through the WUE schools and see if any jump out at you.
Good luck!
Things you have going for you in a big way.
Unbelievably strong leadership and ECs. Commitment to volunteerism/community and obviously respected by your peers.
I would venture to guess that you will have wonderful letters of recommendation.
You have certain preferences that will help but not be automatics. But helpful for sure. However there are many talented peers with the same and excellence is a prerequisite more than the preference.
You are a smart and talented Hispanic women.
You have an UW 3.85 gpa and will be class valedictorian
You are 1st gen to college.
You will be Pell Grant eligible.
Nevada is a preferable state in terms of total number of applicants which is a very modest geographic preference.
The gaps to honestly understand.
You don’t have unlimited resources to pay for college.
You have an excellent but not elite ACT score.
Perhaps you could prep a bit and give it another try for a point or two perhaps.
In lieu of testing for a higher score and looking at public universities look at some of America’s finest schools with wonderful academics - that are also test optional. Importantly, many are also generous with financial aid. Many are meets 100 percent of your demonstrated need-type schools.
Most are reach schools for all students but worth a closer look.
Bowdoin
Bates
University of Chicago (though really intense)
Smith - all women
Colorado College
Wake Forest
Wesleyan
Colby
High Matches -
American university in DC
MT Holyoke
Colorado College
Bryn Mawr
Pitzer
Safer/Match
Bard - academic match or safety.
Some tip-tip schools that would be reaches for you, and almost everyone, but that would also potentially meet full financial need,
Northwestern University in Evanston, a great college town north of Chicago. Top school, claims to meet full financial need.
Williams College in western Massachusetts. Williams is often ranked as the #1 liberal arts college in the US, and it has lots of money. As of a few years ago anyway, it would even pay travel costs for students if that was necessary for them to attend. It is need blind in admissions, which means it does not consider an applicant's ability to pay. Some schools are need aware and will consider that in the admissions decision. Williams is a GREAT school, though it may be smaller than you are looking for. Being a smaller school, and in MA, being a NV resident might be an advantage--schools do like geographic diversity. Maybe it has several NV students and it's not a plus. But maybe it is.
Maybe Rice University in Houston and Boston College in a nice suburban area near downtown Boston, the king of college cities. Tufts University, also near downtown Boston, that I see listed as being need blind and meeting full financial need, though I can't vouch for that. All absolutely top-notch in every respect. Note that the acceptance rates are extremely, extremely low, especially in regular decision, for these schools. So don't take any negative outcome personally, it's just supply and demand. Not all outstanding applicants can be accommodated, and very, very many outstanding students receive rejection/waitlist letters, sometimes multiple ones. Two friends are very prominent professors at very good national universities, and they received rejection letters for college and grad school.
You might also google colleges that are need blind. These lists can vary and are not perfect, or perfectly up to date, but if you are seeing a school that looks like a good fit for YOU on lists of schools that are need blind and meet full financial need, then that's a good candidate.
For these schools, if you love one, and are SURE you would be happy to go there, you might consider applying early decision (ED). This can improve admissions chances. Duke, for example, has a much higher acceptance rate for ED applicants. Some of the gap is explained by things like recruited athletes, who are going to be accepted at a high rate, being a larger part of this pool. But it can be an advantage. Note, though, it is a binding commitment, and you will need to submit financial info to be eligible for aid.
But I would suggest you check this website and google colleges that meet full financial need and see if you find other schools that look appealing to you. That's what's really important.
But think of it as a journey, and an opportunity to learn about different schools and different places. There are lots and lots of great schools--hundreds and hundreds--you are a journey to find a small group of them that are great for you and affordable for you and your family. It's a great opportunity to think about who you are and what's important to you. Sometimes the higher ranked school is the best one for YOU, sometimes not. There are truly the most outstanding students at every single school mentioned by everyone in this thread.
Good luck!
Thank you for all the valuable insight! I’ll be definitely looking into those schools! I also just took the SAT so I’ll probably be updating this post soon!
Would you recommend that I apply test optional to UChicago?
Yes I would.
But if pressurized, time crunched test taking aren’t your strength, there maybe better and more rewarding environments for you. But I didn’t go there, this is only based off of anecdotal info.
You mention UChicago, which does grant some merit scholarships, but typically they have been much smaller than full ride (more like $10K, unless things have changed recently.) Most highly selective private schools emphasize need-based aid. To estimate your costs after n-b aid, you (or your parents) need to run the online net price calculators for any schools that interest you.
At some of the most selective private schools (like Stanford), need-based aid might drive your costs down to $0-$5K (or so), but only if your family income is less than about $60K - $80K (depending on the school). Otherwise, for a full ride, you'll probably need to focus on much less selective colleges. There are exceptions (super selective schools like Duke that do offer a few full ride merit scholarships), but the competition for those awards would be intense. You may need higher test scores to be competitive.
Here is a list of schools that have offered automatic *full tuition* merit scholarships, for qualifying stats, in the recent past:
http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
The following Wiki page lists schools that claim to be need-blind and to cover 100% of demonstrated financial need:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Need-blind_admission
(Keep in mind that the schools' assessment of "demonstrated need" may differ from what your parents expect. What matters is their income, assets, number of children, age, etc., and not what they are willing to pay).
But you need to give us some idea of what you are looking for in terms of size, location, urban/rural...
Definitely urban or suburban!
I’d like to stay in the West Coast, but I don’t mind traveling.
I really need diversity in a college. I recently went on a leadership trip where there wasn’t a lot of diversity in the state and it made me feel a little uncomfortable.
Occidental College in Los Angeles might be a great fit for you.