Given OPs original list, interest, home area and fact they are queer, what suggests they’d be interested in Tulsa or Alabama? Yes price is good but could not be more different schools or locations….
there is a middle Ground of merit that more aligns with her interests and vibe, no?
Without thinking much, maybe Ithaca, UVM, Trinity (ct) in a state capital so may have some good policy connections and has some merit..Ithaca would give a ton
I was simply commenting on the largesse offered via their comment about cost, which given their list they don’t see to care about.
You all seem to make out as there are no lgbtq kids excelling at southern schools. That would be an incorrect assumption.
My point is simply that they made a comment about money but built their list otherwise.
I’m trying to understand, given their list, what they desire money wise.
They said they like their list so I said that’s fine. It counters what they said but they’re not looking for others so….
Demographics
US domestic
Type of high school: public New England competitive hs
Other special factors: none unless being queer counts (reported on application)
Cost Constraints / Budget
technically could afford pricier schools but would prefer not to (saving money for law school)
Intended Major(s): Public Policy!! or poli sci
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
Unweighted HS GPA: 4.0
Weighted HS GPA: 4.67
attempt to calculate UC GPA: 4.3~
ACT/SAT Scores: 1540 SAT (1520 PSAT) → I know they don’t look at it but just here for yalls info!
List your HS coursework
English: AP Literature, honors English prev 3 years
Math: AP Calculus AB, AP Stats, honors math 3 years
Science: AP Chem, Bio, Environmental Science, Honors Physics
History and social studies: AP Euro, AP Psych, APUSH, other honors courses
Language other than English: AP Spanish, honors prev 3 years
Visual or performing arts: not much tbh besides minimum requirements
Other academic courses: normal phys. ed, arts classes to graduate,
completed all A-G requirements
Awards
Girls Nation Senator (2025)
1 of 102 delegates selected from 20,000 contenders
Won sponsored trip to D.C. to participate in mock senate
selected from state-wide girls state program
National Merit Semifinalist (2024)
Girl Scout Gold Award (2025)
Governors Citation
Presidential Volunteer Service Gold Award x2
Extracurriculars
- Education and Equity Chair of Governor’s Youth Council → accepted proposal and leading 35 council members, researched and proposed policies
- Town Commission Co-Chair (acc local government) + Liaison to school body → created events, a public incident tracker, engaged a lot of community members, first student commissioner
-fellow for state-based nonprofit and founder of summit → engaging 200 statewide students and 10 speakers, advocating for specific legislation, received 1.5k stipend
-cofounded local cultural event created in response to local issue → 3500 annual attendees, received a grant and raised 10k for a nonprofit, became a 3 town event, town issue was addressed
-research assistant on education topic @ HYPSM (PAID) → reviewed cases and researched global educational policy thru fieldwork partnerships
-research assistant on misinformation and partisanship @ HYPSM → studied Econ games, learned qualtrics, analyzed survey data and policy trends, created survey stimuli
- legislative intern for statehouse representative → authored legislation that will be submitted to joint committee on education next session, other various interny things
-Girl Scout (self explanatory loll)
- president of cultural club → 10 to 30 members, worked with admin on policy change and created school wide initiatives
-speech and debate → top 5 in event in my state, team mentor (not captain ;-
-karate → 3x local champion, black belt, teacher (imp info: sole female sparrer in dojo, recruited more women)
- team lead at local food gleaner organization
-edx course on citizen politics
-service for a fandom community solving a specific issue
PIQs
Prompt 1) learning to balance between realism and idealism in leadership
Prompt 6) taking a very unique/specific class at my high school and what I took from it and got interested in policy/education (tied together with a little something something I can’t go into more detail with lol)
Prompt 7) starting my town cultural event → connected into cultural exchange
Prompt 8) running a service helping members of a specific fandom community! working to solve a problem in that community and 3 traits I learned in process
Schools
uc berkeley
ucla (I would be so so happy I love the education and social transformation program)
If you are not a CA resident, you should be aware that UC current average COA is $86,658 (plus or minus a bit depending on campus).
Then don’t apply to UCs.
Tulsa would be free tuition and room. If you get NMF, other full ride or full tuition open.
Lots of lower costs schools would be great in public policy and Poli Sci.
Kansas State, Utah. W&M has sociology has a social justice and Policy concentration. Some like College of Charleston, where you would likely be a candidate for big scholarship Fellows, have a Public Svc concentration in Poli Sci or a Social Problems track in Urban Studies.
Shepherd program schools, focusing on poverty and solutions, might be up your alley - Bucknell has merit, Centre will be high merit, Juniata, W&L if a Junior as they have the Johnson but the deadline passed for this year),and UVM are others.
You can find what you want at many schools - more than I mention - and for far less than a UC.
And don’t forget the cost of likely grad school.
Honestly you sound more sociology to me.
If you wanted Pub Admin or Policy, strong and cheaper programs include Kansas, Miami Ohio, Pitt, Delaware, and Arizona. and the two MPA meccas would also be good undrgrad - Syracuse (which is now heavy discounting) and Indiana.
If you need to save money, there are many subs that could certainly meet, come close or exceed the UCLA program - admins achieve your financial goal which is a good thing given a likely career outcome for someone with your interests.
My belief is your undergrad has zero impact on law school - given how many colleges are represented at top 8 law schools (well over 100 at Harvard, UVA, Penn), I’d be saving for the big expense because you likely can’t save in law school,
Good luck
As I said above, I think that this is a very good plan. However…
I am having trouble reconciling these thoughts.
Both reaches, but apply and see. Plan to be full pay at over $80,000 a year.
I’m a little confused here. Does this “new” Chance me thread mean that you have crossed off all the other schools you have listed in your original post?
If not, why are you adding two additional reach schools.
I fell in love with UCLA’s education and social transformation program. Furthermore, I realized how much I struggle during the winter months here in New England - I wanted to put myself in a different environment to see if I’d be happier there. I also honestly regret saying that I’m looking to save money for law school, that’s really not the case here to the degree that the repliers might think (my family makes enough to comfortably pay for both - I just dont want to overly rely on them when they’re in poor health). I really just wanted advice on the chances for the schools themselves, and I’m happy with my list especially because I’ve already been given a good scholarship at my state school. I’m also not familiar with CC and didn’t know these threads would be merged, I thought it would be like r/chanceme where people would just chance me on the separate thread.
I have eliminated all Deep South/more southern schools from my list. I have no intention of attending schools in the midwest either. These are not places where I feel that I would be comfortable and happy, especially when searching for policy opportunities that align with my beliefs. I’m not looking for additional schools to add to my list - I am guaranteed a scholarship at my state school. Thank you for the time and effort you’ve put into your responses on this thread, I do appreciate it, but please understand that I’d like to change what I said in my original response. My family CAN comfortably pay for these high-cost schools, I was just answering off the top of my head.
Thank you for all of your responses - I truly appreciate it. This is an amount my family can comfortably pay 
I have gone over the FAFSA and CSS with them and we are happy with my list.
That’s fine - so Gtown is no longer the dream school ? Are you still applying ?
I’m glad you found out early if it’s not. Truth is, there are no dream schools. You can succeed many places.
The UCs have three GPAs I believe @Gumbymom and others are very good at providing admission info but on paper you are obviously very strong. The only ‘negative’ toward your shift is that they are test blind so your incredible SAT won’t impact your chance. But hopefully you won’t need it.
Good luck.
So…are all of the Ivies off of your list (considering their cold weather locations?). Ditto UConn, Northeastern and Barnard?
If you get accepted to UNC CH or Georgetown EA, will those rise to the top? Or are the CA added schools now your top schools?
It’s good that you have an assured and affordable option on your list someplace.
Maybe I missed it…but do you have one full year of this?
You will hear from your EA schools soon enough. Applying to the two UCs is something you can do. You are a strong applicant, so apply and and see.
You were a semifinalist in 2024? And you are applying for admission to start in 2026? Is this correct @tamagotchi
Not sure why I’m tagged here, but my guess is that the “2024” is just intended to mean that the PSAT was taken when they were a junior (as would be expected).
I tagged you because I thought you might know if a 2026 high school grad would know their national merit status in 2024.
@Mwfan1921 or @MYOS1634 might know.
Sorry, I know nothing at all about national merit, S23 could not even take the PSAT (our HS has limited seats and a lottery) and D26 didn’t qualify. 
??!!!??? That’s awful! I would hope the PSAT was open to everyone. Even if not for national merit, as practice for the SAT.
I can answer this. A current high school senior would have taken the PSAT/NMSQT in Fall of 2024. The semifinalist are not announced until Fall of 2025 but I believe OP said they got a 1520, which is the highest possible score, so semifinalist would be assured.
My daughter wasn’t offered the PSAT, either (although I’m not sure she would have taken it anyway). And, in the Bay Area for the last few years, not everyone can even take the SAT. There are just not enough spots available, so if your family can’t afford to travel to Nevada or Arizona for the weekend, you were often out of luck. I understand from a neighbor with a senior, that this is getting a bit better now. They only had to drive two hours south to get to the SAT (although that too would be a tall order for a low income family without access to a reliable vehicle). This is likely part of why the UCs are still test blind - not everyone in the state has equal access to standardized tests.
That makes sense, thanks!