Type of high school (or current college for transfers): US Diploma
Other special factors: None
Cost Constraints / Budget
Parents make >45k annually. Budget within the general ball park of about 10k or 15k annually. Looking for lots of need-based aid for sure!
Unweighted HS GPA: 3.5 (we don’t have an unweighted GPA)
Weighted HS GPA: 3.86
Class Rank: School does not calculate rank, but I would probably fall in the top 10%
ACT/SAT Scores: Test optional
List your HS coursework
My school does not offer any APs at all so I hope I’m not at a disadvantage…
English: Eng Literature, Honors
Math: Algebra II, Honors: Precalcus, Calculus
Science: Chemistry, Physics, Biology
History and social studies: Arabic Social Studies, Social Studies + US History
Language other than English: Arabic, French
Other academic courses: Honors: Economics, Psychology
Extracurriculars
founder and developer of a Discord bot used in about 700 communities, hosted a game hackathon with about 30 attendees, school leadership for hygiene and cleanliness, freelance web development - made about 5 websites
Essays/LORs/Other
I think my essay is decent. I spent a good amount of time talking about how I grew up with my brother’s disability which prevents him from talking or moving entirely through patience and understanding I learned from a small age. My LORs are okay.
Schools
ED2 - Dickinson College
RD - University of Minnesota (accepted)
RD - Rutgers Newark, Camden (accepted)
RD - Penn State
RD - Stevens Institute of Tech
RD - Union College
RD - Loyola Chicago
RD - Syracuse University
RD - Denison
RD - Colby
RD - Grinnell
RD- Macalester
RD - Oberlin
RD - Swarthmore
RD - Washington & Lee
RD - WashU
RD - University of Richmond
I got a merit scholarship from Rutgers (around 10k a year) but that is barely enough to scratch the cost of attending but since I’ve been living outside of the country it’s basically impossible to try claiming state residency anywhere before college starts. I’m pretty sure a lot of these places I listed are pretty long shots but I’m hoping I get in …somewhere…
I know that it’s pretty late to go back and try submitting more applications to places that match my statistics a bit better but I’d love to see some suggestions either way. I admit I have applied to way too many schools, but I was able to obtain fee waivers for most through being a Questbridge non-finalist.
They were most affordable (the three) but are they within budget?
Why did you apply to schools like Rutgers, Penn State, or more.
Do you have a test score? If so, what is it?
Can you flex a bit?
A W Carolina is $20K-ish through its NC Promise program, as an example…maybe a bit higher. There’s 3 or 4 campuses at that price but it’s the most traditional.
No, school does not offer any kind of APs. I would have to go take a test at an external test center if I really wanted AP scores.
Yes, very much within budget – Dickinson was under budget mostly
I applied to the state schools as I felt that my list was lacking “safeties” but after looking into public schools, they don’t really seem to be a very fitting choice specifically for my situation.
I do. 1250.
I might be able to flex the budget well above the 15k range (to around 21 roughly). I only gave the figures that we can comfortably afford while still being able to look after my brother’s costs.
OK - so you won’t be hindered if no APs are offered - schools don’t expect you to take what isn’t offered.
No, publics won’t meet your cost. Is there a state you are a resident of? I assume not.
Look at W Carolina and thee might be others in the Dakotas or South (I can look tonight) - that could get you close - but I’m guessing not.
The privates may be your best bet but are need aware - so if they don’t want to give you that much $$, they can turn you down just for that - unfortunately.
If your school doesn’t offer APs you won’t be penalized for not taking them. I am a little surprised by the publics on your list as -especially for the flagship colleges - they generally don’t give much merit to OOS applicants (certainly not enough to get down to a $15k budget) with a few exceptions that I don’t see on your list. If you ran NPCs before applying what did they say for eg UMN and Penn State?
At this point I believe you are largely limited to rolling admissions schools if you want to apply more places. Frequently, with those it is harder to get in the later in the cycle you apply as spots have been filling up since, in some cases, August or September.
Yeah, that’s what I’m trying to figure out. Why did Rutgers randomly decide to give me a merit scholarship is beyond me.
The net price calculator for UMN is around 30k net price with some national scholarship. Penn State was extremely out of budget, close to 60 net price.
The only other country I would be interested in applying to outside the US is Saudi Arabia and they’re pretty much shutting the door as soon as I tried opening it. Scholarships here are exclusively reserved for Saudis and admission to Non-Saudis is in the single digits.
No plan B right now. The only really good option is taking a gap year and seeing where my boat floats, but my parents would obviously be unhappy with that.
Check the requirements but I believe your father will have to have been resident in California for one year before you can qualify for instate tuition.
What you have to understand about California is that they are very strict on residency requirements.
You have to have been physically present in the state for 366 days before you enroll.
It doesn’t matter if your dad is in the state; he’s not the one going to school.
You’ll pay full price at the UC’s ($70k minimum) and Cal States, for at least a year until you (yourself) establish residency and you have to live with your parent.
The state colleges like San Diego State and Fresno will charge you at least $45K a year. There is no State financial aid for non-resident (OOS) students.
Computer science majors are largely impacted in the public universities. This means that there’s not enough seats or staff to have a spot for you. I don’t think you’ll be able to afford the privates in California.
If you attend a California community college you can transfer into the UC or the Cal states, but you will be paying full fees until you established residency.
Well, it does if the student is dependent. But the father needs to have been there a year first and also needs to show “intent to remain” - not sure how they prove that.
Yes, as a resident of California, I agree. If the parent was here on business, and is returning in a year the parent is the one that has been living and working in California and not the student. That’s what I intended to imply.
To the OP: if you come here and immediately attend a college, that indicates that you have come here for educational purposes and you won’t be able to establish residency.
You’ll continue being billed as an out-of-state student at the community college and the transfer to the California public.
You can try the California privates but I don’t think your grade point average is competitive enough to meet some of the requirements at the privates, in the impacted majors.
Isn’t it more like, both the student and the parent need to satisfy the various residency requirements if the student is a dependent student for FAFSA purposes?