Thanks for the reply, and thanks for being super honest with me.
I cant believe that colleges weigh the sat and act to such high regards. Middle -high income families have resources to support prep classes, while I had nothing to study off of. Sure khanacademy did help, but I didnt know of it until a couple week prior to my test date. My school is underprivileged, with lots of URM no funding. I hate to be sounding naggy, but its ridiculous for colleges to view the sat and act as something that will make or break your application, its a single test for crying out load, with many factors contributing to one’s outcome. I will def look i to need blind schools though… could you help find me potential matches and low reaches?
100% of what THEY think you can pay, and not what your FAFSA says. They all use the CSS profile which delves deeper into family finances, which will include the $400,000 in savings. Please answer @thumper1 question. Are your parents business owners and do they support and claim your grandmothers as dependents?
OP, need blind only means the school does not consider your financial situation with regards to admission. Financial aid is a completely different department.
cptofthehouse mentioned how students paying the sticker price in full get the thumbs up while those needing financial aid have lower chances… how would that be the case for need blind schools?
She was referring to schools that are need aware, not need blind.
At a need aware school, admissions will see your finances and can use that to determine if they want to admit you. As I previously said, admissions at need blind schools don’t know your financials, they admit you without that consideration.
With the 400k in savings, it is doubtful the OP would be a candidate for Questbridge. OP, you need to know in what type of accounts that money is in and then those who know, such as @kelsmom can weigh in. You said you did the NPC at each school, have you done the FAFSA forecaster and also you should run your numbers on the CSS profile.
The QuestBridge figures were posted to illustrate common ACT ranges for high-achieving first-generation students, but not necessarily as a comment on the OP’s general eligibility for the program.
@MaybeIvy2020 You sure your UC capped GPA is 4.6? Seems high. My D20 has taken pretty much the same AP classes as you, all A’s (4.0) in HS and her UC capped is 4.44.
With that said, if you are in-state you might have a decent shot at UCLA / UCB as they really favor GPA, rigor of courses as well as test scores. With the Top 20 private colleges you will have a tougher time is my guess.
I will agree with you that top colleges place too much emphasis on a 2-3 hour test (ACT/SAT) versus the hundreds of hours of class work, homework, and labs that high stat students do in 4 years of high school.
My D who has a 32 ACT is taking it one more time in Sept to try for a 33+ as I guess a 98th percentile isn’t good enough…
For UCLA/UCB, your ACT is below the at or near the 24th percentile so I agree with several of the posters and consider retaking.
2018 UC capped weighted GPA averages:
UCB: 4.23
UCLA: 4.23
UCSD: 4.16
UCSB: 4.13
UCI: 4.13
UCD: 4.11
UCSC: 3.96
UCR: 3.81
UCM: 3.71
25th - 75th percentiles for ACT:
UCB: 30-35
UCLA: 31-35
UCSD: 28-34
UCSB: 28-34
UCD: 26-33
UCI: 26-33
UCSC: 26-32
UCR: 22-30
UCM: 19-26
2018 Freshman admit rates for UC GPA of 4.20 or above capped weighted and not major specific:
UCB: 37%
UCLA: 41%
UCSD: 70%
UCSB: 80%
UCD: 89%
UCI: 75%
UCSC: 92%
UCR: 96%
UCM: 98%
UCLA/UCB are still considered Reach schools and since you are a CA resident, you should also add UC San Diego, UC Irvine, UC Davis and/or UC Santa Barbara along with some solid safety schools.
Regarding @Gumbymom’s figures for admitted students (#55), note that the statistics for enrolled UC students will appear comparatively favorable to you… At UCLA, for example, attending California residents register a middle-range ACT profile of 27-34. Even your “low” ACT score of 31 would place you above average by this measure among this group.
Have you considered any of the test optional colleges? Look at fairtest.org and see the list. Some of these test optional schools do meet full need for all accepted students. You don’t submit the ACT or SAT to these schools.
Imo, $400k in assets likely means a family contribution of 24k minimum, per year, plus a ‘contribution from student summer earnings’ and possible work study. (Let’s not argue which schools elim work study or loans in first year.)
OP, you’re asking a number of questions that you need to look into- NESCAC, CSS Profile, need blind/need aware, or whether your grandparents are dependents on your parents’ taxes. (Ask your parents.) Asking basics can imply you don’t have a solid understanding of what these holistic colleges look for and want or how fin aid works. Try to bone up on that, from what the colleges say and show matters.
And it’s not the ACT Composite. For tippy top, it’s sub scores. What courses did you get less than an AP score of 5? And on a less than 65k income, saving for 17 years would be about 23k/year. Be sure you’re aware of all types of income the CSS asks about.