Demographics
US Citizen
Virginia
Large Title 1 underfunded public school in a competitive region (not so competitive school)
White, female
“soft” recruited at one school…if you know you know
Intended Major(s)
Applied astrophysics to most schools, political science & statistics to the others GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
Unweighted HS GPA: not given by school
Weighted HS GPA: 4.3
Class Rank: Top 10% (decile)
ACT/SAT Scores: not submitted
Coursework
APs: AP Human Geography (A), AP World History (A), AP Psychology (A-), AP Calculus BC (A-), AP Physics 1 (B), AP Lang (A), AP Seminar (A), AP Physics C M & EM (B on midyear), AP Statistics (A on midyear), AP Lit (A on midyear), AP Government (B+ on midyear)
Dual Enrollments:
Dual enrolled in a local T50 university Med School on a biotechnology pathway for all of HS (have received an A each year)
D.E. US History: B+ (junior year)
Have taken Art 1, Debate, currently taking Ceramics 1, and 4 years of Spanish
Awards
AP Scholar x2
Honor Roll yearly lol Extracurriculars
ROWING. I am emphasizing this because 99% of my time is spent rowing. I have been the female varsity coxswain on a well-known scholastic men’s rowing team for 3 years. I have been a coxswain period for 5 years.
I have worked a part-time job for the past 3 years on weekends and throughout summer (when not rowing).
I have been tutoring peers and underclassmen in math (AP Calculus, AP Statistics, Pre-Calculus, etc) consistently for the past 3 years
I volunteer occasionally through Key Club (I have been involved for 3 years)
I play the piano A LOT. I also take consistent lessons and I have performed in recitals. Essays/LORs/Other
Personal Statement: I absolutely love it. I know I’m partially biased, but I had two of my favorite AP English teachers review it and they both said it was one of the best ones they have ever read. It’s about how I found my voice through coxing and it shaped me from being shy and insecure to a confident change-maker. It also plays around with coxing being my escape from OCD (without “trauma dumping” or explicitly mentioning the condition lol, it’s moreso just adding to the metaphor).
LOR #1: Written by my junior year english teacher. We are close and he told me it was one of the best he’s written and I trust him. (9-9.5/10)
LOR #2: Written by my junior year U.S. history teacher. We aren’t that close but I interacted a lot in his class and we did have a pretty good relationship. He spoke a lot of my appropriate humor that brought light to mundane topics, so hopefully that turned out alright? (7-8/10?)
My EA versus RD supplemental writings are like night versus day. I feel pretty awesome about my RD supplemental even though I think my EA ones were pretty alright…just not as well done as my most recent ones.
Cost Constraints / Budget
I qualify for a really great amount of aid via FAFSA so hopefully that works out. According to the net price calculators my dad has done, I could afford any of the schools I get in to (this gets kind of iffy with the UCs, but oh well.)
Schools EA:
University of Maine (accepted w/ ~full tuition) (political science)
Princeton University (rejected ) (astrophysics)
University of Michigan (deferred) (astrophysics)
University of Wisconsin Madison (deferred) (astrophysics)
University of Virginia (waitlisted) (astrophysics)
Virginia Tech (accepted) (political science)
RD:
Syracuse University (political science)
UC Berkeley (astrophysics, political science alternative)
UCLA (astrophysics, political science alternative)
Barnard College (my top school - ranked majors: 1. astrophysics, 2. political science, 3. statistics)
Boston University (physics)
Dartmouth College (legacy, Quantitative Social Science)
George Washington University (physics)
Penn State (astrophysics)
Wesleyan University (planetary science)
James Madison University (physics)
Northeastern University (physics)
P.S. I have been feeling really anxious throughout the entire process so please take it easy on me…but I also need honesty. I feel like going test-optional as an astrophysics major was a mistake but I just never had anyone around me emphasizing the importance of the standardized tests until it was too late, which isn’t necessarily an excuse but it’s just what happened.
Congratulations on your achievements and U Maine and VT acceptances. Is that affordable w/ the full tuition award? But it sounds like you’d rather major in astrophysics somewhere?
Those are a lot of reaches in RD, which I know you know. Just to be clear…you didn’t get EA app in for JMU? I think you will likely be accepted to JMU RD, but probably not NEU. I don’t know how much merit you can expect at JMU in the RD round…what number would you need it to get to for affordability?
Did you make the Dec 1 deadline for PSU? If not, I expect if accepted it would be a 2 + 2 program, starting at a different campus.
FAFSA doesn’t give you money, it is used to qualify for federal financial aid, pell grant, and work study. Do you know if you qualify for a Pell Grant? (NPCs would show that)
Many of the schools on your list require CSS Profile, have you/your parents submitted those?
I know you said the NPCs look good, but of the schools you haven’t heard from, UCLA, UCB, PSU won’t give you any financial aid, so you would be full pay at those schools.
Is there anything for you to be doing for recruiting at the soft recruit school? Is the coach helping in admissions at all?
Beyond those tasks, all you can do at this point is stay busy and try to keep your mind of the coming college decisions. Do check your portals weekly, and make sure you file CSS Profile by the various deadlines. Good luck.
Congratulations on your acceptance and scholarship to University of Maine! You know you are heading to college someplace next year.
As far as the others, you seem to be a well qualified candidate from my point of view, so I will keep my for you on the ones you are waiting to hear from.
I hope you receive some great affordable additional options.
Are you hoping to row in college?
ETA…I missed this
soft recruited at one school…if you know you know
I agree, you should reach out to the coach for additional support.
The only aid the FAFSA qualifies you for is the Pell Grant portion for which you are eligible, and the federally funded Direct Loan. For freshman year, this is about $13,000. And you could get federal work study, but you have to work to earn that money. Schools using only the FAFSA do not guarantee to meet your full need with University of Chicago being the exception.
Most colleges that are very generous use the CSS Profile to determine awarding of their institutional need based aid.
Of these colleges, Penn State, James Madison, Syracuse, Michigan, Wisconsin, and VT do not guarantee to meet full need for all accepted students. And expect that you will be paying $75,000 a year to attend the UCs on your list. So…I do hope the others are affordable for you!
Hi, yes sorry I didn’t really word the FAFSA inclusion correctly…I received an index which I believe showed what I will be expecting to have to pay at most schools and it was very affordable. I’m very grateful because my dad has been the one handling financial information to keep one piece of the applications at a minimum, and he is the one assuring me that all of my schools would work out financially if accepted.
I did not apply to a lot of schools EA that I wish I could have because I applied REA to Princeton so it heavily limited my early application plan.
No! That is not what the FAFSA shows…again, it is just used to qualify for Federal financial aid. The CSS schools do not care what your FAFSA SAI is.
The schools that only use FAFSA only for FA don’t care what your SAI is because they don’t meet full need.
Said differently at schools like the UCs, PSU, JMU your cost will be much higher than your SAI. The UCs and PSU will be full price (less any federal financial aid). JMU will likely give you some merit…what price would make that school affordable?
You have to run the NPCs at the schools on your list to get estimates of what you will pay…have you done that?
Ah okay that makes sense. My knowledge of the financial info is pretty elementary since again my dad has offered to handle all of it…but he has been the one running NPCs and he is the one telling me that the schools will be affordable (aside from the UCs).
I also have been applying to several external scholarships in hopes of at least getting some money if I don’t qualify for any merit ones. But I’m not extremely worried about the financial aspects of my upcoming decisions just because I have two current school options that I know for certain would be affordable enough…sorry about my confusion lol
The FAFSA SAI should be viewed as the MINIMUM you will be paying at colleges that ONLY use the FAFSA form.
I hope you and your dad have also completed and submitted the CSS Profile to all of the colleges that require it from your list. Those colleges will use the data on the Profile to award their institutional aid to you…and that is the money that really matters!
If you have accurately completed the net price calculators on the college websites, those should be accurate IF you you can answer NO to all of these: are your parents divorced? Do your parents own a business or are they self employed? Do your parents own real estate in addition to your primary residence?
I am receiving “soft support” at one school (I would go more into detail but I’d rather keep most of it private, but I can DM you more info if you’d like).
It’s harder to receive “full support” at schools as a coxswain especially because I am trying to be a coxswain on a men’s collegiate team.
I understand. If your dad has questions, you can ask them here for him.
Go to each of your school’s websites and understand how they treat outside scholarships. Some will reduce aid dollar for dollar for any outside aid. Here is what UMaine says, note at the bottom it says you must report any outside scholarships to them (which is common).
When I hear students say they qualify for a lot of need based aid and that they applied to the UCs from out of state, I worry for them
So UMaine is affordable? Did VT send you a financial aid package?
A huge pat on the back to you! You sound like a wonderful candidate and person.
I’m curious about your sport. You’ve gotta be pretty doggone good. Why wouldn’t you want to row on a women’s team in college? That could help you. (You don’t have to answer, just thinking out loud.) I would definitely lean into your sport for help. Your coach, the higher-ups at the place where you row-- anyone who knows anyone. This could tip the balance in your favor at some of these schools, even if you are a “walk on” and not a candidate for an athletic scholarship. Title IX is your friend.
Thank you for your help! This is my first time veering off of Reddit and using this forum instead and I’ve already gotten so much quicker & better advice lol.
Anyway–I feel like I made it seem like money is a huge factor in my potential college decisions, but I am middle class and my extended family is pretty well off and have offered to help us out if necessary. I just qualify for a decent amount of aid at a good amount of schools since his business suffered extremely badly when COVID hit and my mother was forced to take an extended leave from her job.
He has also filled out the CSS profile for all of my schools that use it, so I think he is doing okay. I’ll definitely come back with any questions he has since we’re all a bit new to this (but my grandparents and uncles are very much not and they have been helping us a lot haha).
Thank you so much! This reply actually made me smile…I’ve been feeling so stressed out lately thinking I’m not “good enough” when in reality college is just competitive period.
As for rowing, in the most humble way possible I do think I am a good coxswain and I really LOVE it. That’s why I’ve devoted my entire life to it and why I think I am slightly lacking in the creative ECs and awards department. But it was all worth it and I’d do it all the same.
I’ve coxed men my whole life and so that’s where I spent all of my time trying to get recruited. I know pretty much every men’s team coach at all of the schools I’ve applied to that have rowing. Unfortunately, it’s a bit late in the women’s recruiting timeline, but I may take your advice and email some women’s team coaches and try to get in touch with them. I’ve honestly just spent most of my rowing career coxing guys so it’s what I’m used to and it’s what I’m good at. I do love boxing women though, just in different ways, so I’ll see what I can do. It’s just a bit more difficult to get in touch with them since the coxswain walk-on culture is a bit more difficult compared to men’s team coxswain walk-ons.
Just keep in mind that sometimes the net price calculators are not accurate when parents own a business. There are deductions allowed by the IRS for tax purposes that are added back in as income for financial aid purposes.
So be cautious with those NPC estimates. They could be spot on…or they could be way off…depending on how the college treats business owners…and those deductions.
I’m going to keep my fingers crossed that this all works out for you! Please do update us!
Oh no, okay, well I really hope it ends up working out for me. My dad is very honest with me and so far he seems pretty sure that financially things will work out…according to him, the hardest part will just be getting in first!
I will be sure to update! I really hope getting “soft support” will actually help me out. The school I am supposed to be receiving it at is somewhere I’d really love to go and I absolutely love the team I’d be joining.
This whole process has put me in the most anxious state I’ve ever been so I do hope things start paying off soon. I know I’m not by any means an extremely competitive applicant but I just did the things I loved and challenged myself with classes I was passionate about (most specifically physics. I may not be the best at it in my class but I LOVE it!!!). My rejections and deferrals just sent me into a bit of a pit of nervousness but after getting into Virginia Tech I’m starting to feel a bit more like me again.
Thank you for all of your help and support! I really do appreciate any kind words I can get (:
Hang in there. All the rest of your decisions will be out soon enough. In the meantime, you have two great acceptances…which I hope are affordable ones!
With the new rules about the transfer portal, college sports have never been more fluid. I would bet it’s not too late to look into women’s teams. I realize you do something very niche and specific, and there’s only 1-2 per team, but you never know. And in the meantime, you can continue exploring opportunities on men’s teams. I love your story. I bet that essay really is great. You got this. Steady as she goes
I know this is such a stressful time. Deep breaths!
I am happy you are excited about VT.
Keep us updated here, everyone is rooting for you. If you have recruiting questions let us know, stay in touch with that coach with the soft support…is there anything else to do there?
) (astrophysics)
