I am a Junior in Ohio and I have been compiling some colleges together. I formed a list consisting of over 50 schools. I am not sure where i would stand with these schools. I’m hoping I can get into a few of these schools. My current GPA is a 2.8, and at the end of this year it should be a 3.0. On the ACT I scored a 19, and I’m projected to get a 21. I have really great extracurriculars. I want to major in one of the following: Computer Science, Software Engineering, International Business, Business Management, Marketing, or Entrepreneurship. Can you take a look at my list and give me some advice for increasing my chances into getting into one of these schools? I know these schools are competitive, and my chances are rather low. If I can make myself standout among the crowd, then that can increase my chances and I may be able to get in. Any advice for these colleges is appreciated. Thank you!
Top schools:
• Penn State
• IU
• UC Santa Barbara
• Purdue
• Hofstra
• NYU
• Babson
• Carnegie Mellon Univ.
• Rose-Hulman Institute of Tech
• UC Riverside (Great Business School)
• Colorado Boulder
• Boston Univ.
• Rutgers Univ.
• Univ. of Arizona
• DePaul Univ.
• Univ. Wisconsin-Madison
• Drexel Univ.
• Rutgers-News Brunswick
• Univ. of the Pacific
• Univ. of South Florida
The main way you could increase your chances would be to raise your grades and test scores. ECs are important, but they will only get you so far if you have low stats. I think some of the schools on this list are simply too competitive (mainly CMU, NYU, BU, and UCSB). You will have a much better shot at the other ones if you focus on your grades and test scores. If the ACT is not working out for you, perhaps you should try the SAT?
I just took the SAT, I think I did fairly well. I am hoping I get at least a 1900
From your entire list, I’d say they’re all reaches except Hofstra and University of the Pacific, perhaps as reaches DePaul, Drexel, and USF.
Have you, as advised, gone to collegesimply (the website), entered your ACT, and looked at the colleges it qualifies you for?
As was already said on your other thread, your GPA makes you ineligible to apply to UCs from OOS.
@MYOS1634 I used US News, College Book, and other College Brochures for my research. Thank you!
And now you should use Supermatch (on the left) and collegesimply (you enter your ACT score and get an overview of possible colleges); your research does not at all target possible colleges for you. Out of a list of 20, you only have 2 match schools…
If you haven’t used collegeconfidential.com’s SuperMatch tool, you should do it right away: http://www.collegeconfidential.com/college_search/
Very helpful.
@MYOS1634 I was doing some research and came across this http://www.fairtest.org/sites/default/files/Optional-Schools-in-U.S.News-Top-Tiers.pdf Its a page that talks about colleges that don’t put the ACT into consideration. Do you know anything about this?
Yes, they only use your GPA + extra essays, no test scores.
You’d have to target colleges ranked 100-200 by US News WR
However some require test scores for scholarship consideration.
@Fritzy2019: Reality Check for California UC’s.
- Minimum UC GPA required to apply 3.4 for OOS applicants. UC’s use only 10-11th grades and as an OOS appliant, you can only use AP/IB classes for the extra Honors points:: http://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/
2)OOS students receive little to no financial aid at the UC’s. Expect to pay $55K/year to attend.
Use the Supermatch feature plugging in your GPA and ACT/SAT scores. This will at least target some schools where you have a better than average chance for an acceptance.
Can your family afford to pay $40K+/year for college (I believe NYU is up to $65K)? That’s what it will cost for your schools. And don’t think you can just borrow for that. You as a student are limited to a $5500 loan as a freshman, rising to $7500 as a junior and senior.