Chance/Match me as a Texan girl please! [TX resident, 3.89 UW GPA, 1520 SAT, Psych Major]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Demographics

  • Demographics: Class of 2027, female, high-income
  • State/Location of residency: Texas
  • Type of high school (or current college for transfers): Very competitive medium-sized public high school

Cost Constraints / Budget
Not super sure what my parents’ hard line is, but they don’t want to pay more than 65k a year ideally (Rice is the exception)

Intended Major(s): Psychology with a minor in Biology

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.892
  • Weighted HS GPA: 5.041, weighted on a 6.0 scale with AP being worth 6, Advanced worth 5.5, and on-level worth 5. A 99 in AP Bio for example would be a 5.9.
  • Class Rank: Probably in the top 20%, but my school only goes up to top 10%
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1520 SAT, (790RW 730M)
  • Total APs by end of HS: 19

Coursework:

(bolded courses are planned for senior year)

  • English: English I Adv (B first semester), English II Adv, AP Lang, AP Lit
  • Math: Algebra I Adv, Geometry Adv, Algebra II Adv (B second semester), AP Precalc (B second semester), AP Calc AB, AP Stats
  • Science: Biology Adv, AP Biology, Chem Adv (B second semester), Anatomy and Physiology, Pathophysiology, AP Chem (Will be a B second semester), AP Environmental Science, AP Physics I
  • History and social studies: AP Human Geography, AP World History, AP US History, AP Psychology, AP Government, AP Economics, AP Euro, AP Art History
  • Language other than English: Spanish I (skipped this with Credit By Examination), Spanish II, Spanish III Adv, AP Spanish Language
  • Visual or performing arts: Art I Adv
  • Other academic courses: AP Computer Science Principles, Health Science (B second semester), AP Seminar

All B’s were B+’s except for Chem Adv (85)

  • AP Exam Scores: AP CSP (4), AP Human Geography (5), AP Biology (5), AP World History (5), AP Spanish Language (3), AP Precalculus (4)

Awards:

  • 5th in state for competitive FCCLA event (jr)
  • 4th in area two years in a row for two different HOSA events (freshman & sophomore year)
  • USABO Honorable Mention

Extracurriculars:
Member of the Teen Leadership Council at a local homeless shelter, internship at a company focused on workplace mental health, research paper published in student journal. ~200 hours, 87 at a local food pantry, 25 volunteering at a hospital over summer before sophomore year, + others from scattered volunteering experience. member of save the children club as well as fccla. worked two jobs over sophomore year, one in retail and one tutoring. i’ve continued the tutoring job into this year.

Essays/LORs/Other
Psychology teacher: loves me, 9/10

Schools

  • Assured (100% chance of admission and affordability): UT San Antonio (auto admit)
  • Likely: A&M
  • Toss-up: Baylor Honors EA (would at least need 20k/year), University of Rochester (would need at least 25k/year)
  • Lower Probability: Trinity University EA (would need at least 20k/year), Case Western (would need 30k/year)
  • Low Probability: Emory (need university scholars program which is 1-2% acceptance), Rice (would need 20k/year my parents are willing to pay more for this though)
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I think you get into lower probability and above - but you are right, budget is the issue.

Fortunately for you, all those schools are buyers - and my guess is all will give you the $$ but certainly one will.

Not sure why they would pay more for Rice - it’s a Psych degree - the where is mostly irrelevant and there will be grad school.

So I think you’re fine but I suggest adding one other school that you 100% would attend and 100% know you’ll get in.

Would you 100% be ok with UTSA? If so, you’re done - if not, there’s a zillion schools - OOS publics and other privates where you’d crush the budget.

Good luck.

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I’m okay with UT San Antonio, but it’s not really where I want to go that much, I’m hoping to at least get into Baylor honors with some Merit. I just don’t want to be anywhere within 30 minutes of Dallas. i forgot to add University of Houston to my list, and my parents won’t be willing to pay more than an in state public for an OOS public

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That is a LOT of AP classes. One obvious question is whether this might make it possible to graduate university in 3 or in 3 1/2 years. You might want to think about whether you would want to do this if you could.

These are majors where some form of graduate degree is relatively likely. It might be a good idea to consider this when figuring out what your university budget is.

Psychology and biology are popular majors that are available at a very wide range of universities. You would not need to travel as far as Rochester or Atlanta to find many very good programs in psychology and biology. Are Rochester and Emory really worth this much travel as an undergraduate student?

Is there any chance that you are premed? If not, then what do you intend to do with a bachelor’s degree in either psychology or biology? Would a master’s degree or PhD possibly be of interest?

Mostly I think that you have a good list. I live in the northeast and do not know Texas schools all that well, but to me TA&M (or TAMU?) seems like a good choice if you get in (which I would expect), and Baylor seems like a good choice if you get in and if it ends up being affordable. Staying in-state in some cases might improve your chances of getting enough AP credits to graduate in either 3 or 3 1/2 years. If you are premed then I do not know whether this would be a good idea however. A 3.89 unweighted GPA is not all that many B’s, with a very tough course load, so I think that Emory and Rice are at least worth applications if you would want to attend them (I have in particular heard good things about Rice, although we never considered it mostly because we live way to the east and north of you).

I like the fact that Texas has auto-admit for strong students. While I think that you are very likely to end up somewhere else, just having the auto-admit to UT San Antonio at least to me seems to take a bit of the stress out of the whole process of applying to universities.

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I forgot to mention I’m going into premed, thank you for your advice !

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I think your chances at Baylor and Trinity are a little better than you estimate. Rice very rarely gives merit aid, and I don’t see any realistic chance for that here, so you would be full pay. You titled this Chance/Match - were you looking for suggestions or recommendations of other schools that might fit? There are a variety of OOS publics, for example, that will get close to or even below in-state TX prices.

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Then you should add a school that 100% will hit. I’m sure you’ll get into A&M but a 100% will hit - how about a UTD. You know Baylor is religious, right? Baylor is a buyer - so they are likely to meet your cost - but not assuredly.

But schools other Texas publics if they appeal - or an Alabama, Mississippi State, LSU, Arkansas, UNM, and then lots of privates - would crush the budget assuredly.

But I think you will be fine as is - but not entirely risk free.

Have you looked at Hendrix? Fine private that will match in-state tuition. Tulsa would be another fine school - the kind that Rice turn downs look to. They’re not assured but likely to achieve budget. Full cost is barely above and you’d most certainly get big merit.

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yes I was looking for some schools to be matched for me because I don’t think that my list is big enough

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I will look into hendrix, thanks :slight_smile: my parents won’t let me to go to schools they view as party schools like ole miss. i don’t mind baylor being religious tbh

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Your list is beyond big enough. - but your mistake, if pre-med is, have you planned for 8 years?

Med school will be another $400K+ potentially - sure Texas has lower cost but you have to plan for private.

Can they afford $65K or Rice and 4 years of med school? You can only get $200K in federal loans.

And oh by the way, no one will care where you went undergrad in most every case.

So in this sense, would money be a bigger issue? Then you need to add big buyers onto your list to keep your cost down.

One only needs one school - for you, that assured and affordable THAT YOU DESIRE. That doesn’t sound like UTSA.

Beyond that, you need nothing else - so whether you have 5, 10, or 15 - that’s a personal call but not a requirement. You don’t need targets and safeties and things like that - but you have mostly admission safeties with a few targets and reach - but the money is the unknown but in your odds as schools, like Case, are desperate for students - to the point that they have to provide big merit to get them.

Pitt would be under budget. UAB would be excellent for pre-health as would College of Charleston (many kids work with the MUSC a few blocks away). These are all under $65K with UAB way under $65K.

But for you, a Bama would be mid-20s, Miss State less. For smaller, a La Tech, less, etc. so you can save for med school - if that’s a need. And there’s many more.

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Do you have other preferences beyond just strong psychology/pre-med opportunities? Big vs. Small, Rural vs. Suburban vs. Urban, Religious vs. Secular, Hot vs. Cold Weather, etc. are all things that can help narrow down the choices.

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I don’t truly care that much about where I go, but I want the school to be be smaller with a good student/professor ratio and I don’t want anywhere excessively rural if it’s in texas like ut permian basin

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Would you prefer to stay relatively close to TX, such as a neighboring state, or would you (and your family) be open to other regions of the country?

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My parents would prefer me to stay closer, so if I get 30k/year at baylor or urochester they’d choose baylor, but it ultimately depends on who (Except for A&M and UTSA) gives the most aid.

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Why apply to UR or CWRU - when there are ample schools to apply to much closer.

Why not UTD (strong in psych related things like neuro), Austin, Southwestern - those will all crush budget.

Neighboring states:

LA - LSU (if too big), La Tech, UL Lafayette and Centenary

Arkansas - UA and Hendrix

New Mexico - UNM - lots of opportunities

Oklahoma - U Tulsa if not interested in the biggies

Even a bit farther - a Truman State (maybe too rural) or U Denver

And why not SMU or TCU - which aren’t impossible to hit $ but not near as likely as Baylor.

Why apply to places you won’t go - Baylor has a better chance of hitting $$ than UR. And they don’t want you to go that far. Baylor is a buyer - they offer more money to people that haven’t accepted - because they need bodies.

You are in control here more than the schools.

So focus on your desires - staying close.

And make sure you can afford medical school - paying for a Rice but not others makes zero sense.

But if you are willing to go farther - schools like Rhodes and Furman would be great LACs that are buyers. Ogelthorpe and Agnes Scott in Atlanta as well. At Agnes Scott and Ogelthorpe, you can take a class at Emory. For publics, La Tech isn’t that far and UAH is just a few states away - that’s smaller.

But “prestige” has zero to do with pre-med. But note, you may major in psych but will be taking some STEM classes.

And there are zillions of schools that will hit budget without worry.

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Fair enough. I think there’s a decent chance that Baylor will get to your budget number with merit money, and if that’s a strong contender, you could also look at TCU and SMU - both are smaller and somewhat less religious than Baylor, and both will likely offer merit (though perhaps not quite as much as Baylor). I agree with tsbna that both Hendrix and Tulsa are good small private school options in nearby states that will meet or at least approach TX public prices. If the state of Kansas is close enough, I would also look at Univ of Kansas and Kansas State Univ - both are great academically, essentially guaranteed for admission, and competitive with merit scholarships, while not being too much bigger than Baylor. Mizzou could be another option, but it’s larger.

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This is the wrong way to look at things. You need to have a budget. It doesn’t sound like you do. You said they could pay up to $65K. But what do they want to pay?

You could be $20K a year on up given your stats.

Some schools, with merit, cost more than others full price. So you set a true budget and go from there. Talk to them and explain to your parents - with geographic flexibility, you can be $20K…or $40K….or $65K, etc.

To say that the one who gives the most amount of aid means every school has the same sticker and they don’t.

Some are $25K sticker and others are $80K but give significant merit aid. But for example, a Florida State full price will be cheaper than a CU Boulder with merit.

So you need a formal budget - and not just a - i think my parents will pay this.

Then you build a list to hit that budget.

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As a premed student you would want to budget for a full 8 years. You really do not want to take the full cost of medical school as debt. Even taking half of the cost of your doctorate as debt would end up being a lot of debt.

One daughter was pre-vet and is now a veterinarian. The required pre-vet classes are the same as the required premed classes so she had multiple friends who were premed. One thing that I noticed is that this is a long path and requires a lot of determination. One difference however is that she did not need to do a residency – she got her doctorate and after a few weeks of licensing stuff was a veterinarian already. Becoming a medical doctor is an even longer path. You do however have quite a bit of time to make sure that you really want to do it, and there are a lot of other options if you change your mind.

There are a LOT of universities that are very good for a premed student. You really do not need to attend a highly ranked university to go on to a very good medical school. Also, premed classes will be very challenging at a wide range of undergraduate schools. Just as one example, if you get into TAMU with in-state pricing, and get into Rice at full cost, you would very likely be way better off saving your money and going with the in-state public option rather than attend even a very good but expensive local private university. You might be surprised how strong the other premed students are regardless of whether you end up at TAMU, Rice, or somewhere else.

We set a somewhat cautious strict limit on what we would pay for our daughters’ undergraduate education (though bachelor’s degree). By the time that our older daughter started her doctorate, we were all very glad that we had done this. Having some college money still in the bank was a huge help.

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You might also look into Rhodes College in Memphis, a very good LAC. When I visited there with my daughter several years ago, there were a lot of kids from Texas who were visiting (and I think that a good number matriculated); I think the interest from the Texas kids had to do with being shut out of the automatic acceptances at the Texas public universities.

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Indeed, it is a lot of AP. I think TAMUCT is as at least a school worth looking at. They are purely an upper-division school (not a lot like that these days), and while I have not done the calculations, you look like you have the 30 credits to be admitted directly into the sophomore year. It’s certainly not the most prestigious of the A&M schools, but I have read many use it to transfer to a better school later.

AP precalc? I didnt know there was such a thing. Not that I, as a math major, believe precalc is of any value. A course in Applied Calculus can be done after Algebra 2, and IMHO is much better preparation for reasons that would require a different thread.

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