Chance me: First-gen female from NY applying EA UIUC, EA Purdue [3.7 GPA, 1400 SAT (superscore), need FA (parent income $45k), computer engineering)]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Thank you so much for taking the time to read this if you do! Slowly starting to stress out about where I’m going to go, especially since I go to a specialized school where I just feel like everyone is doing so much whilst I might not be doing enough. Wanted to give this a shot as much as I could so here I am doing this. Brutally honest opinions would be quite appreciated actually. Also open to recommendations of school I could possibly apply to as well.

Demographics

  • US Citizen
  • State/Location of residency: New York
  • Type of high school (or current college for transfers): Public high school (specialized)
  • Other special factors: First generation south asian female

Intended Major(s)
Computer Engineering

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.7
  • Weighted HS GPA: Not shown to students
  • Class Rank: School doesn’t report class rank
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1400 superscore (760 math, 640 ERW) as of right now, but retaking in the coming weeks

List your HS coursework
(NOTE: Our senior classes have not been provided yet so not too sure what I’m taking this coming year asides from one or two courses. I also go to a humanities-based school, so STEM classes are very lacking.)

  • English: Honors English Freshmen and Sophmore year, AP English Language junior year, AP English Literature senior year
  • Math: Honors Algebra 1 freshmen year, Honor Accelerated Algebra (basically geometry) sophomore year, Advanced Algebra 2/Trig junior year, Honors/Advanced Pre-calculus senior year (I think?)
  • Science: Honors biology freshmen year, honors chemistry sophomore year, honors physics junior year, possible AP Biology senior year.
  • History and social studies: Colonial US History freshmen year, Honors Global history freshmen year (two history courses each year till junior year), AP World History sophomore year, Late 19th century and Early 20th century US history sophomore year, AP US History junior year
  • Language other than English: Honors Spanish 1 freshmen year, Honors Spanish 2 sophomore year, Honors Spanish 3 junior year
  • Visual or performing arts: Music sophomore year, Studio Art junior year
  • Other academic courses: Personal fitness elective taken 1st semester junior year, Constitutional Law elective taken junior year 2nd semester, self-studying for AP Calculus AB

College Coursework (Transfer Applicants)
The American political system (college-level class taken at college connected to our school) junior year taken 1st semester

Awards
Certificate for completing the 2024 Girls Who Code Summer Immersion Program, multiple nationwide and statewide awards from taekwondo competitions prior to high school and during high school, and AP Scholar Award

Extracurriculars
School ECs:
School Newspaper
Girls Who Code
Literary Magazine (Rank: current person who’s running it)
National Honors Society
Community Service Club
Advocacy Club
Model UN
UNICEF Club (Rank: treasurer)
Out of school ECs:
2nd degree black belt in taekwondo (active from 2012-2024)
Official staff at said taekwondo institute (from 2019-2024)
apart of the CTY Scholars Program under JHU from Summer 2021 to present
CTY On-Campus Summer Porgram at JHU during summer of 2023
Girls Who Code Summer Immersion program Summer of 2024
JHU Online Courses in “From Structure to Style” (Essay writing), Honors Algebra 1 (Math), and “Introduction to Python” (CS)

Essays/LORs/Other
Strong essays, personal statement is considered strong by all those who have read it (even my personal advisor from scholars program).
Strong LORs from 11th grade AP English Language teacher who I’ve been super close to through my bond with my English teacher from 10th grade, and 10th grade Bio/Chem teacher who I’ve been close to since my freshmen year.

Cost Constraints
Applying for financial aid ~ annual income is around 45k. However, siblings and parents and personal advisors are telling me to focus less of affordability as of right now and focus on getting in, so solely just trying to see where I’d have a chance.

Slight note about grades
Will be including with my admissions a note of a slight dip in my grade (usually a 90+ in all classes student, but junior year some grades had been in the 80s) due to passing of two family members.

Schools
ED:
Cornell (not too great of a shot there but just choosing to shoot my shot)

EA:
UIUC
Purdue
UT Austin
Texas A&M
University of Wisconsin - Madison
OSU Columbus
Virginia Tech
Georgia Tech
NC State Raleigh

(not going to state my RD list as I’m more so worried about my EA’s)

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Might just delete this post towards the next 24-72 hours due to self-paranoia LOL so any responses given within the time before I delete it are so so so appreciated.

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Both UIUC and Purdue would be very high reaches to get full ride merit scholarships needed to be affordable. This is likely the case for the rest of your list of out-of-state public universities.

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Understandable, I thought this was definitely the case for a lot of the school on my list.

Honestly, regardless of affordability and scholarship, kind of more just wanted to see how credible my stats and ECs and awards and everything were to the schools I want to attend to freak myself out a little less as my self confidence in my admissions isn’t too great.

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I’m sorry to give you some bad news but the schools on your EA list do not give financial aid to OOS students and are generally very stingy with merit aid. And the cheapest on the list is around $40K/yr. You need to look at SUNY schools and also public schools that give a lot of merit to high stats students like yourself. I’m sure some people here can give you recommendations.

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Since admission but too expensive = rejection, you may want to focus your application effort on schools which have at least a reasonable chance of being affordable. If a merit scholarship is needed for affordability, then any chance estimate must be based on the merit scholarship, not admission.

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I’m sorry but I really have to beg to differ from your friends, family, and personal advisors to not focus on costs or money.

It won’t do you any good to apply to any university that you cannot afford to attend because you won’t be able to go there if they admit you. The schools don’t decide, after you’ve been admitted, to give you any money. They’re assuming that you’ll be full pay.

You have several out-of-state public schools that are not going to give you a dime. Out of state public schools serve their state residents. Because they are public schools, they are given money by their state’s taxpayers.

Assume that your costs are going to be an average of about $70,000 a year for most of these schools.
So where is your money coming from for your university experience? It’s usually the Bank of Mom and Dad. There are no loans that your family will qualify for to cover some of these costs.

Plus you’ve picked an impacted major. Computer engineering is a very tough admit no matter how good your stats are. You’re stuck because you’re on a budget.

You have the SUNY schools. They are a great bargain and they are vastly underrated. I am in California. I was first generation going to college.

My eldest took advantage of your state taxes. She got into the UC’s, she got into the California State University system, she got into Johns Hopkins she got into USC, she got into Yale, but she chose University of Buffalo because they gave her a free ride and they had a medical school program that she was very interested in.

She is now an awesome computer software engineer working in California for an engineering firm. She double majored in electrical engineering and computer software. She’s killing it.
We’d been saving money for her college since she was born. We could’ve been paying for a very expensive University education but she’s math smart and she knew she would save us a ton of money.
We bought her a brand new car when she needed to do an internship in upstate New York and needed transportation. We saved dollars overall, so she got a car.

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Edit - replaced my original message. I thought tuition $45k. Not parent income.

Run NPCs at privates and look at NY TAP and other NY income programs like Excelsior.

That’s why they are there. Buffalo, Albany, Stony Brook and New Paltz are accredited for CE.

Also look at the full ride schools for low income students via Questbridge.org. You’d have to move quick on this one.

Have you family run the net price calculator for schools like Miami Florida and Union College. Google the school name plus net price calculator.

Out of state schools are to support their residents.

So you are wasting time in most every case with your list. Sorry to say.

Here’s a link for them to fill into see what your cost might be.

I disagree with your advising unless you family has a fortune not tied to income. You get in somewhere. How will you pay ? Every year many kids find homes, but they can’t pay to enter.

Build your list properly up front. So glad you came.

https://npc.collegeboard.org/app/union

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Can your family run the net price calculators at colleges you might like? Are your parents divorced? Do they own a business or are they self employed? Do they own real estate in addition to your primary residence? If no to all…then the NPC should give you a decent estimate of your net costs.

I will say…if you can’t pay the cost to attend, you can’t go to a college. Also, how will you feel if you get accepted to a bunch of unaffordable colleges…and can’t attend them.

I would strongly suggest that you find affordable options, that you like and where you have a strong chance of acceptance first and foremost. You have the SUNY colleges. The TAP or Excelsior awards would likely cover your tuition. Can you commute to a SUNY college? What about CUNY?

@sybbie719 might have some suggestions for you for these sure thing colleges.

After you get two sure things for applications, then sure, look for other colleges. You probably need to look where schools meet full need for all, or possibly for close to full ride merit awards.

Your unweighted GPA is likely not going to get you into highly competitive colleges that meet full need…or full ride merit awards.

@ucbalumnus any suggestions?

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How will you be able to pay for the colleges on this list? These are out of state public universities which give the bulk of their aid to their instate students.

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Suggestions would be to check:

  • SUNYs, CUNYs (check net price calculators).
  • Net price calculators at any other school of interest.
  • Much less selective schools which offer full ride merit scholarships that would be realistic.
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Not an option as outlined in Term of Service.

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Like?

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Some full rides that appear automatic for the listed stats:

https://www.tuskegee.edu/programs-courses/scholarships/freshman-scholarships

There are many others which are competitive, and would be more realistic to aim for than those at UIUC, Purdue, etc…

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Not to pile on, but as others have said, this whole list of out-of-state public universities would be unaffordable.

It sounds as if you would qualify for financial aid at private schools that meet documented need. However, most full-need-met private universities are very competitive for engineering and CS, especially with limited STEM AP’s (no calculus, and bio as your only science AP). You have a good high school record, but not quite the rigor that most applicants to highly-competitive engineering schools often have. (Although, if your school doesn’t offer many STEM AP’s, your rigor will be viewed in that context.)

What I wonder, looking at your background, is whether you truly need an engineering school, or if you would consider studying computer science at a liberal arts college that has CS, but not engineering. It sounds as if you’ve found that you like coding, but you don’t necessarily need an engineering school for that. The advantage of liberal arts colleges is that they don’t admit by major, so you don’t have to apply for computer science specifically; you just choose your major once you’re there. You could consider schools like St Olaf College (which meets need) and Beloit (which doesn’t guarantee full-need-met aid but is quite generous and meets need for many). Try running the net price calculators for these, to see whether colleges in this category could work financially - if so, there are others as well. Here is St Olaf’s NPC - every college has one.

There are also a few LAC’s that have engineering programs as well as CS, and that could be attainable and potentially affordable. Check out Union College in NY, and Trinity in CT. Consider women’s colleges too - Smith has a general engineering major in addition to CS, and Mount Holyoke and Bryn Mawr have CS.

For an engineering school that meets need, Lehigh could be worth a shot. They give no-loan aid to low-income students. It would be a reach, especially for engineering/CS, but not a Cornell-level reach. It’s neighboring rival Lafayette could be worth a look also. Both of these schools gave a “URM bump” to Asian applicants prior to the SCOTUS decision, and you might still have an edge there if you discuss how your cultural background and first-gen experience have affected your life, in your essays (or in Lehigh’s case, attend their diversity overnight - see below).

Questbridge could be worth a try - sounds like you qualify financially. Becoming a finalist wouldn’t be a slam-dunk but you won’t know unless you apply!

But all of those are just potential alternatives to the NY publics, and you don’t necessarily need an alternative to those, because there are so many excellent choices in that system, and NY is particularly good about supporting low-income students - residents of many other states are not as fortunate in that regard! Have you already researched your SUNY/CUNY options?

Cornell is a very high reach. If you want to “shoot your shot” in the ED cycle, you might consider some alternatives… and also consider teeing up an ED2 application if you find a school you love that meets need and offers an ED2 cycle.

If you give some more information about the RD schools you’re considering, what your favorite in-state publics are, and whether no-engineering LAC’s with good computer science programs would work for you, that will help us to fine-tune the advice.

One more thing: some schools have funded fly-in programs for underrepresented/first-gen applicants. You might consider applying to a few of those; it can be a great experience, and give you an admissions edge at the school. For example, here is Union’s - the application hasn’t posted yet but will soon: https://www.union.edu/admissions/school-counselors/diversity Here is Lehigh’s: Diverse Achievers Program | Lehigh University CWRU’s is due by 8/15: Diversity Overnight Application Smith has one: Smith College | Women of Distinction Program, Rochester has one: Multicultural Visitation Program - Undergraduate Admissions, and Trinity has one: https://www.trincoll.edu/admissions/bantam-bound/. I would definitely recommend applying to any and all that interest you.

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Great idea!!

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Why not Quesbridge for this student?

QuestBridge

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Scroll up…it’s already been suggested…and not just by you.

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I see it now - twice - in # 8 by me , 15 by aquapt.

Mixed in long messages.

Hope OP sees it. I put the partner schools in the link below. Many top and obviously wealthy schools, some of which will have your major.

Not sure if they are strong enough academically - but a QB expert on here may know if they are.

Seems a home run for a student like this - in addition to the NY programs (TAP, Excelsior)

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Out of state private colleges may give better aid, but you are needing a ton to be comparable to SUNY system. I’d look at RPI, Lehigh, University of Rochester that may be willing to give merit aid and offer good STEM. Out of state publics are going to be more stingy.