Type of high school: Public, Large (1700+ in my class)
Other special factors: Nope
Cost Constraints / Budget Under or around $55k at Maximum
Intended Major(s):Finance
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
Unweighted HS GPA: 3.84
Weighted HS GPA: 4.0646/5.0
Class Rank: School doesn’t do official rank but I’m somewhere between top 11% and 25%
ACT/SAT Scores: 1350 SAT (700 Reading/Writing, 650 Math), Retaking for sure
List your HS coursework
English: English l CP/On-level, English ll Advanced, AP Lang, AP Lit
Math: Geometry Advanced, Algebra ll Advanced, PreCalculus Advanced, AP Stats, AP Calc AB
Science: Biology Advanced, Chemistry Advanced, APES, currently undecided on fourth science but between Advanced Physics and Dual Credit Stars and Galaxies
History and social studies: AP Human Geography, AP World History: Modern, AP US History, AP Gov, AP Macroeconomics
Language other than English: Spanish l (Middle school, they didn’t offer advanced/honors here), Spanish ll Advanced, Spanish lll Advanced
Visual or performing arts: Art l On-level/CP (9)
Other courses: Fundamentals of Computer Science (9), Principles of Business, Marketing, and Finance (10), Business Law (11), Practicum in Business Management (12)
Awards
Outstanding Effort in Biology (9)
Honorable Mention in Scholastic Art and Writing Competition (9)
Gold Key in Scholastic Art and Writing Competition (10)
Silver Key Mention in Scholastic Art and Writing Competition (10)
Honorable Delegate at TX Model UN Regional Fall Summit (10)
John Locke Essay Contest 2025 Shortlist (11) - top 18.65% out of 63,000+ around the world
Extracurriculars
NJHS/NHS (9–) - Try for officer senior year
MUN (10–) - Try for officer senior year
DECA (10–) - Try for officer senior year
Peer Leadership (10–)
Principal’s Advisory (10–)
Library Volunteer (10–)
Event Coordination Internship with Texas Environmental Action Movement (10-)
Paid Sales and Marketing Intern for a startup in the custom clothing industry (11-)
Director of Outreach for an international 501(c)(3) pediatric cancer focused nonprofit (11-)
Essays/LORs/Other I don’t have these yet, considering I’m a junior
Schools UW Seattle, UT Austin (applying as economics here not finance), OU, Texas Tech, Rutgers, LSU, UTD, Texas A&M, UGA, IU Bloomington, University of Houston, UIUC, UF, Georgia Tech
I should add UIUC is over budget. So remove. Ohio State or Purdue would be a better sub. Rutgers is at $55 and will be higher when you go Binghamton or Delaware would be better.
In Tx, your rank outside your SAT is too low. But you are just a junior. It likely will come up.
It’s really too early to chance you. But you picked competitive schools.
What is the goal of a finance major ? For general finance, the where won’t matter.
You’ll have options. The where won’t matter. If you want to be a lawyer, maybe you should save $$. The top law schools - like Harvard, Penn and UVA have well over 100 kids in their not very large first year classes.
But schools like Rutgers and Illinois cost too much. And won’t matter vs say LSU for law school.
I mean you have safeties. Students with these qualifications, in my experience, usually end up at A&M. Make sure to apply early. It’s not safe but it’s a target in my opinion. (And since you go to such a large school, I imagine you’ll have a sense for these things as well.)
Thought about Baylor? SMU? Both could get budget with scholarships
I did think about those but aren’t those 80k+ a year? My household income is quite high but only one parent earns so I don’t know about my chances of a scholarship.
Merit aid - income won’t have to do with your income. Or how many parents work.
Need aid - income will.
If you want a Texas private that gives good merit, check out Trinity in San Antonio in addition to the other two. U Tulsa is another close by that gives solid $$. It’s historically been a back up for Rice/SMU - fine school. U Denver is excellent for finance and should meet cost - merit is aggressive. These schools need butts in seat - so they pay.
What do you really want in a school - start with that? Gigantic or mid size or small?
$55K isn’t an issue in the sense there will be loads.
I think your stats are on the low side as an out-of-state applicant for UGA and especially GT. UGA has been upping its requirements for OOS admissions over the past several years (and it’s become an increasingly popular choice for OOS applicants due to its football success).
You could try Virginia Tech (Pamplin) or UofSC (Darla Moore) (South Carolina) or UTK (Haslam) (Tennessee). All of these have excellent business/finance programs. My daughter is a 2025 graduate of Pamplin and her boyfriend is a 2025 graduate of Haslam and both have excellent jobs in finance. Several of their co-workers are Darla Moore graduates. These 3 colleges should get you on or about $55k for OOS (you may even get some merit from UTK or UofSC).
ETA - still consider applying to UGA if you love it but you’ll likely be deferred and have to wait for the March decision after they admit all of the in-state applicants during their regular decision round. GT, IMO, would be a heavy reach.
Edited to also add - if you’re looking to stay under $55K and want a large public U, another one to look at is Florida State. If you achieve a certain score on the ACT (32 or 33, I believe) you may qualify for in-state tuition there and if not, their OOS rate is on the lower side.
Class rank means TAMU is possible, UTD, U Houston&Texas Tech are safeties, with merit likely (DO apply to their Honors colleges), but UT out of reach. LSU and OU are more or less safeties but why pick them over your Texas choices?
The others aren’t in the cards I’m afraid.
Seconding VTech, FSU, and USc Darla Moore.
For a reachable reach, look into PSU Smeal since 2/3 decision= GPA×rigor (the remaining 1/3 is mostly test scores and if need be essay/ECs). Should be within budget. Somewhat equivalent to TAMU so TAMU would be a better value for you, unless you’re interested in an OOS college or don’t get into it/dont get your major there.
But given the OP wants finance and law school, why pick a $55K school. In addition to in-state or OU, why not Alabama, Kansas or K State, Miami Ohio, Michigan State, Arkansas, Louisville, WVU, name your SUNY etc.
Why spend right to the budget - and then of course there’s travel, books, sporting events, fun nights out, Greek life, etc….
When there’s substitutional schools that will get you to the same law school and likely a similar job if law school isn’t in the cards, why spend on schools like Va Tech or Penn State or CU or wherever - that’s going to ultimately bust the budget.
Direct costs at PSU, as an example, are near $59K - $43,476 for tuition/fees and $15,346 for room and board.
OU has ample choices - they mentioned OU and LSU - perhaps they want to stay close. They can add Arkansas - Walton School is excellent in finance - and they’d be well under budget vs. some mentioned.
These schools are all subs, especially for mainstream finance.
I didn’t apply to Baylor, but SMU was extremely aggressive with both need and merit aid for me; they were cheaper than Colby/Wesleyan/W&L at the end. I think they’re worth applications. They could be in budget just on merit scholarship
Another OOS bargain with a strong business school is U of Utah, which offers a path to residency such that you’d only have to pay OOS tuition for the first year. They also have a great Honors College - not certain of the stat thresholds for this. Finance | Undergraduate | David Eccles School of Business If being in a major city would be a plus for you, UofU could be worth a closer look as compared to other OOS flagships on your list that don’t check that box.
Question is whether you prefer to go out of state, or whether you’d be happy to attend an in-state public other than UT-Austin, which isn’t a likely admit and even if admitted would require you to pass up a true finance major.
You will certainly have good in-state options; even schools that are “safe” admissions-wise, like Texas Tech and U of Houston, have strong programs.