Chance a shotgunner with a low gpa [CS major applying to colleges out of his league) [NY resident, 3.62 GPA, 1480 SAT]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Just wondering if my gpa will auto remove the possibilities of getting into these schools, as I did have a rigorous courseload and ec’s im proud of.

Demographics

  • US citizen
  • State/Location of residency: upstate ny
  • Type of high school (or current college for transfers): small private school
  • Other special factors: first gen, low income, minority

Cost Constraints / Budget
no budget - my aunt is going to help me with paying

Intended Major(s)
CS

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.62
  • Weighted HS GPA: 4.12 with AP’s weighted +1 and honors weighted +0.5
  • Class Rank: No rank
  • SAT Scores: 1480, retaking

AP’s – all 4’s and 5’s

  • 9th: human geography

  • 10th: world, phy1, csa, calc bc

  • 11th: apush, phy2, micro, lang

  • 12th: physics e/m, lit, ap stat, macro, gov

audited DSA through local college, no credit

Awards
several science olympiad regional top 3’s
11th place finish at states in a robotics event

Extracurriculars
NHS 10th to 12th - treasurer in 11th

Science Olympiad: go to states and got 11th (no medal)have medals in regionals - treasurer in 11th

Rotary Interact Service Club- Service club; co-lead group of 30+, such as soup kitchen help, raising awareness for Alzheimer’s, donating cans, raising total of 1000+

IT Internship over summer 11-12th - Connected several nationwide live earthquake sensors to a readable database and maintained server dependencies.

Research project intern with local hospital - Scraped public census data and helped visualize patient demographics to help hospital improve location-based outreach and insurance resource planning.

sports: basketball junior year,

Essays
have my caps about an 8bit cpu i was working on, but since I haven’t finished it yet, I’m deciding to chance the topic.

Schools
I’m going to ea most of them hopefully unless it would look better to do rd?? I’m new to college applications sorry

Reach:
Cornell – ED because it’s a big reach
University of Michigan – dream school
Georgia Tech
Emory
NYU
UIUC
Northeastern
Boston University
UMass Amherst
Target:
Penn State
University of Maryland
University of Rochester
Purdue
Rutgers
University of Pittsburgh
RPI
University of Georgia
Case Western??
Safety:
SUNY Binghamton
SUNY Stony Brook
RIT

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Stonybrook is a reputed/ranked university for CS. If that is a safety(don’t know the chances for in-state applicants?) then a lot of the target schools are not needed and the list can be trimmed. I will defer to others who know NY admissions better.

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What math did you have in 11th? Is AP stats your only math in 12th? How many years of foreign language have you taken?

For Cornell, are you applying to CS in CAS or College of engineering?

Same for Michigan? LSA or engineering?

Your list is reachy, and I would cut back on reaches. UIUC and Ga Tech are out of reach, IMO. Purdue is a reach, not a target.

For all your schools, apply EA if the school offers that. Get your Pitt app in ASAP.

So you aren’t applying for financial aid, and will be full pay? If not, what is the budget?

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You live in a great state for college.

Focus on your instate tuition universities.

Make a plan that doesn’t rely on your aunt’s $.
Look at colleges for fit, supports for student success for first generation, etc.
I may be wrong, but I thought recent court rulings and actions by federal government are directing colleges to no longer consider minority race for admissions.

Edit: Example at Stonybrook

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So I assume you know your grades are not as good as the large majority of successful applicants to some of those colleges. For many applicants, this would mean they should strongly consider not applying and should instead focus on more realistic applications.

However, such colleges do make exceptions, and one sort of exception they make is for various applicants they consider to have been disadvantaged in a way that means they are willing to relax their normal standards. And some colleges have made it clear that they will consider FGLIs as at least a possible case like that.

It typically isn’t possible to get a really good idea of exactly how far they might be willing to relax those standards. However, since you attend a private school, it is possible your HS college counselors actually have some useful data or other information on this subject. So that is probably your best bet.

Otherwise, I would suggest you think carefully about the number of applications you plan to submit to highly selective colleges or programs where you would need to be an exception to their normal standards. Basically, they tend to get a lot of such applications, and then reject a lot of them, and so you really need to be thinking in terms of how to write your best possible applications. And while I know a lot of kids are confident they can give a large number of applications their full attention, in practice I think that ends up being far more difficult than they realized it would be, and so they start to cut corners. And that may actually be less likely to work than choosing a realistic number of applications that you can truly write to the best of your abilities.

And then make sure you have a good list of other colleges where you would not need to be an exception, meaning you know they would be happy with your grades without any sort of special pitch.

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Our school doesn’t offer math beyond calc bc for juniors. And if I wanted to take stat, I couldn’t take physics 2 (schedule conflicts) which is the req for physics e/m for senior year. I do however plan to take linear algebra this coming year also

I would be applying for CAS and LSA for both colleges.

In regards to foreign languages:
I took 3 years of spanish, and averaged a c+/b- (no d’s) across the 3. Only course I had a c in, and only had 2-3 b’s for the rest of my school year.

Also I appologize if my reach/target/safeties are messed up, these were just the colleges I was interested in, and he placed them where he thought they should be.

Going to apply my pitt app as soon as I talk to my college advisor.

I will apply for financial aid, still need to talk to my parents/aunt about my budget.

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Very briefly, they cannot consider race or ethnicity as a generic factor that applies to every individual in that category. If, however, a given individual explains how their race or ethnicity has been relevant to them in a way that addresses the college’s other admissions criteria, then they can still consider that.

This is among the reasons that I think the OP choosing a realistic number of colleges is potentially important. The OP can’t just check a box and get favorable treatment. However, to the extent the OP can discuss the totality of their circumstances and paint a picture of why their grades were actually a really significant achievement in those circumstances–that is at least something a college could consider, although whether it was persuasive would be up to them.

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Congrats, you have a great profile and will not have a problem getting some admissions, as long as your list includes some less reachy schools and at least one safety that is assured to admit you and is affordable. Many of the schools on your list are a reach for even the most stellar students, so the list needs some tweaking.

The MOST important variable right now is to get that budget nailed down. You are in the right place, because people here will be able to tell you which schools can remain or must be dropped from your list based on budget alone.

The 2 most important questions are:

  1. How much will your family (including aunt) promise to pay per year, for 4 years, without expecting you to pay anything back later?
  2. Do you qualify for financial aid? Sounds like you might. Get together with your parents and run some net price calculators for a variety of schools on your list and let us know what the results are.
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You have to do this ASAP. Your budget is the driver of your college list.

Run each school’s Net Price Calculator (NPC) along with your parents since they will need all of their financial info.

Some of the schools on your list will give you no need based aid (like Pitt (~$64K direct COA this year), UIUC (~$60K), Michigan (~$85K), GA Tech (~$50K), U Mass (~60K.) If those prices aren’t affordable, the school comes off your list.

Some of the schools on your list may give you merit aid/a discount, but that typically makes a school reachier.

Here’s Cornell’s NPC to get you started: Net Price Calculator
NYU: Net Price Calculator
Northeastern: Net Price Calculator

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I am currently visiting my aunt and will get back home in a few days so I’ll run through the price calculators with them after I check the paperwork. My aunt, who is like a second mother to me from my upbringing, told me not to worry about the cost, and is willing to setup a system with me to pay her back after I get out of college, so price isn’t that big of an issue for us right now.

It is her concern that I get into a good college and not be held back by my parents financial situation. She is also adamant that I apply to Umich, since she lives 20 mins away from Ann Arbor. Other than that, I am more flexible with the reaches I apply to, but would like to attend a more prestigious uni.

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Before you say that, share the prices I gave you above. It’s great that you will have her financial support.

I understand, but the reality is you have a lower GPA than is typical at highly rejective schools with a C at multiple B’s. Definitely apply to some reaches, but I would cut back on how many are on your list right now, starting with UIUC and Ga Tech.

I know some may feel differently but for CS, a degree from a ‘prestigious’ uni is not necessary. Choose a school that fits you the best, where you can be successful academically, socially, etc. Have you visited any schools?

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She is aware that some colleges on your list are around the $100k per year range for cost?

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I’ll probably remove uiuc and keep ga tech for now until I talk to my college councilor, because I think I should qualify for getting my application fee’s waived due to parents’ income statements. The worst they could say is no!

I’ve only visited Umich and cornell, and i fell in love with their “college town” vibe. I’ve been raised in a really small school in an (annoyingly) desolate town with few commodities and am trying to escape that. Do you recommend any colleges that give that vibe and have a strong cs program?

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She knows this, and when I argued this point to her, she told me it isn’t the child’s place to argue about how much it costs.

I repeat that she is like a second mother to me, and I’m like a son to her - we are very close if you are thinking I’m taking “advantage of her kindness” or something. Thanks for the concern however!

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There are many, but really need to know your budget and if you will qualify for need based aid until we make suggestions. Run those NPCs, talk with your parents and your aunt, and get back to us.

Don’t argue with her, just share facts…that Michigan will cost you $85K, and they will give you no need based aid because you are out of state. So, is she willing to pay that? And how would you ever be able to pay back $350K+ (which is ultimately what Michigan will cost for 4 years)

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More of the concern is that sometimes parents or other relatives promise to pay for college, but then get shocked when they find out the price and cannot afford that amount.

Also,

suggests that paying for your college may not be that financially comfortable for her, which could be troublesome if you graduate into an economic or industry downturn and are unable to repay the agreed amount.

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Ok, I’ll get back to you on this by the end of the week in regards to the npc’s

In regards to Michigan, she is aware of this. She is willing to help pay the price, and in regards to paying her back, I will re discuss this with her. I’ll hopefully have a paying job and will chip away at it over the years is what I had in mind. She is kinder to me then I deserve.

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She is comfortable with paying it, offering to pay for it in full (I don’t deserve her) but this is how far she budged after I’ve told her how much these uni’s cost, and literally begged her to let me pay her back.

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My suggestion is that this money for all four years be put in a 529 account…or that a firm written contract be drawn up to guarantee this will happen for you. What IF your aunt has a need for this money.

Your reaches are…reaches.

Which of these schools is your sure thing for admission!

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I found a 1040 form from 3 years ago, and when I plugged the numbers in, here’s what I got:

  • 5k from cornell
  • 8k from NYU
  • 8k from Northeastern

Our economic situation has not changed, so this should be roughly accurate.
I will talk to my aunt and parents again this weekend about some of the expensive public oos uni’s as you brought up.

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