Chance Me 1450 SAT Texas Dude for CS and Business (rising senior) [top 1% rank, <$30-40k]

Chance Me / Match Me
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SAT: 1450
Race: South Asian
Auto Admit Rank

UW GPA: 3.95/4.0

ECs:

  1. A Neurosurgery Lab Intern that used LLM’s to navigate meta analyses for collision meningioma tumors
  2. Research Intern this summer for a lab at a university analyzing the effectiveness of LiDAR sensors and camera sensors.
  3. Part time job this summer
  4. Huge orchestral involvement, orchestra officer for 3 years with awards from solo contests at my district, and All Region as well
  5. Member of the Asian Student Union, cofounder and did a bunch stuff with them
  6. Engineering club member, went to TSA regionals and was a finalist for Board Game Design
  7. Non Profit where I taught middle schoolers how to play violin
  8. NHS member for past couple years
  9. Tutored very briefly at a tutoring center
  10. Played violin for a nursery center, but not for super long

schools:
Purdue
Rose Hulman
umich
uva
uiuc
umd
washington and lee
college of william and mary
Lehigh
UC boulder
Washu
iu (for business)
georgia tech

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Here is the OP’s previous thread (I looked it up because budget isn’t addressed above): Chance Me Junior in hs (1350 SAT, 3.9 UW) [TX resident, top 1% rank, computer science,need FA]

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Great record - I don’t think 8-10 matter. Not sure why you need another post but on the first chain, you said need financial aid.

Anytime you say that - or not - you need a budget. What can your family afford to pay - or rather, what are they willing to pay without loans?

you are possible at every school on your list - but if W&L is high $80s, can you afford it? Michigan will be $80K for two years and more the last two, etc. UVA - same.

So I can say - Rose Hulman, CU (maybe for Exploratory) and IU are for sure - but if you can’t afford them, how does that help?

So please provide a budget.

Business is, in most places, a much easier admit than CS - so for example, you can be yes for business at Purdue but a reach for CS, etc.

It’s a great list and nothing would surprise me. Yet at the same time, depending on affordability, it might be a disastrous list.

Rose Hulman doesn’t appear to offer business. UVA has secondary admissions.

Please tell us more…meaning budget (no loans).

And why not A&M, Tech, Houston or UTD - you may be auto admit to UT but you’re not to CS.

Thanks

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Yeah sure, my budget is around 30-40K a year, I’m willing to shell out for Umich and take out loans. This is still a prospective school list, I’m willing to take and add at will, if you don’t mind I might need some suggestions for some more schools. Also the only reason I’m applying to William and Mary as well as W&L is I heard they provide good merit aid, am I wrong for this?

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Oh yeah to clarify, these are only OOS schools, for texas schools I have a pretty good idea of where I’ll apply.

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UMich cost for OOS students is $84-88k for the current year (and is likely to rise).

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Lucky for your future, you can only borrow $27k total from the federal programs (edited) - over four years. U Mich is (this next year) is $80k for tuition and room/board (not all expenses) for the first two years and $85k the last two.

So your parents, not you, would need to, if they’re willing and could fund $40k out of pocket - $170k.

So out of school, you’d have to pay $2200 a month for ten years if 8.5% interest - including no fees. Hmmmm no.

Please remove U Mich from your list. They are there to support in state, not out of state students. You want big publics at $40k - Arizona will hit a lot there. U Alabama is $20k for you. Maybe you don’t love the South ? That’s a tradeoff for not paying $2200 a month for ten years that you most certainly won’t have coming out of school. There’s others - UMN is a like school at potentially half the price of U Mich. Ohio State would be another.

As for privates - RHIT, W&L, Wash U, Lehigh - have your parents run the net price calculator?It will tell you the costs.

I’m doubtful W&M will hit. I think they can get up to 25% off.

Wash U has infrequent but possible full tuition merit so it’s worth a flyer. Same with W&L and the Johnson scholarship. Those are, unless the NPC hits costs - Hail Mary’s.

Purdue high 40s - a Michigan sub so if they have $40k a year, you can get there with loans. UVA and UIUC no shot - unless you go for Jefferson at UVA. I’d take it off.

UMD very low odds but if you get Banneker Key. CU and IU no shot for $$ and Ga texh a loan will get you close.

You’ve been a list of names but not for budget. And $30-40k is a wide range. You need to find out - per year - what your parents can lay out - and apply to schools that will get you to that #.

It doesn’t sound like you’ve done this yet. Please do this. I assumed $40k. But if I’m wrong, that’s thousands I’m off.

There’s nothing worse than applying and getting into schools you can’t afford. Trust me - you, moreso than a school name, will make your success in the long run.

Here’s an example - 2024 - average CS Salary UMN is $94.7. U Mich $97.1k. Some will be impacted by location - who is placing more in CA - but that seems an awfully small differential to pay $40k more a year. Bet on you - not a school name.

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You can borrow over $27,000 with no cosign with College Confidential’s partner. Prior information is wrong.

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I am not suggesting you take on this level of debt, but accuracy when advising others is important. There are several private lenders that will allow you to borrow above the $27k you can borrow as part of the federal program without a cosign from your parents.

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Question. I have legacy at Tulsa, with my stats is it possible that not only could I get in but get a hefty scholarship?

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I put in your stats. I guessed on sat to get 1450

It shows 25.8merit. Tuition, room and board - not all costs but direct costs show - $64kish so you’d be a bit over $38k

They don’t ask on the NPC for legacy so you can ask. And I don’t know if you’ll have need above.

Good luck

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You run the gamut on school sizes - do you have a preferred school size ? Geography ? Weather etc ?

Really button down a #, no loan, with your folks. Not a range but an actual #. It’ll get you more realistic options.

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What about other schools? All the schools on your current list appear to be over budget. If you and your parents are comfortable with taking out loans, that’s your decision (loans aren’t always a bad option). However, I wouldn’t recommend taking on loans so large that they create a financial burden.

If you’re trying to avoid loans or if the loans required would be too large for most of these schools, posters here can help suggest alternatives that may be within budget, especially those that offer strong merit or need-based aid. It might help to have your parents run the Net Price Calculators (NPCs) for a few schools to check if you qualify for financial aid.

Assuming you have some safeties in Texas, your list looks solid to me. IU, Lehigh, and Rose-Hulman are likely admits. I can’t speak for W&L. Many of the others (like UMich, UIUC, Purdue, UMD, and GT) are top 20 CS schools and will be much more competitive. UVA and WashU are also more selective overall.

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My daughter with similar stats/higher score applied to Lehigh, when she got her merit package she just laughed and said um, no (she was looking at $30,000 - $40,000 budget).

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It’s why OP needs to fill out the NPC (or they’re folks). Lehigh meets 100% need.

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At this point I’m not super worried about school size or geography; I am only worried about getting into the best school I can with my stats.

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What does this mean? There’s zillion of great schools but not great for you. Tulsa and Texas are vastly different in every way, shape and form except they have smart kids.

U.S. News is to sell magazines. It means little in regards to the person you’ll become.

So step back guess again. Whether Texas or Tulsa or Towson State, you and not the school will make your name.

We had a Vandy working for W Georgia. Harvard Kaw for Fairleigh Dickinson. Anything is possible if you work hard.

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You may have some advantage in the northeast at schools that do not draw a lot from Texas. SUNY-Binghamton and UMass-Amherst often give merit to get applicants down to in-state cost levels. Delaware and South Carolina have large OOS populations and will offer merit aid to good students, and their prices are reasonable. NC State is reasonably priced, but merit is unlikely.

If you are interested in smaller schools, Penn and Ohio are littered with private colleges that probably do not draw a lot of Texas interest. That may help merit aid offers.

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