Chance me for UMich (EA)/ USC (EA) Priv Catholic NY, 1440 SAT, Political science, 98.7 GPA W [NJ resident, 4.0 unweighted GPA, <$80k, political science / philosophy / economics (not pre-law)]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Demographics

  • Domestic

  • NYC (NJ resident)

  • Private Catholic All Girls (very small grade size: 84)

Cost Constraints / Budget

80K max

Intended Major(s):

Political Science/Philosophy/Econ (Michigan PPE)

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • School only does weighted: 98.69

  • All A’s every class since freshman year

  • Class Rank: Top 5%

  • ACT/SAT Scores: SAT 1440 (690 math,750 english) Average at school 1250

List your HS coursework: (All College Preparatory)

(Indicate advanced level, such as AP, IB, AICE, A-level, or college, courses as well as specifics in each subject)

  • English: Freshman English, Sophomore English, AP Language (5), AP Literature

  • Math: accelerated geometry, Algebra 2/Trig, Honors Pre-Calc,AP Calculus AB

  • Science: Bio, Chem, Physics, AP Psychology

  • History and social studies: Global 9, AP World History (5), APUSH (5), AP Art History (5), AP Government

  • Language other than English: French (9-11), Honors French (12th), Latin (10)

  • School only has 2 honors, and AP courses max at 8 taken in 4 years; took max available every year 8/8

Awards

  • AP Scholar with Distinction (11)

  • National College Board Recognition (11)

  • Salutatorian (11)

  • Excellence in Geometry, AP Language Art (9-11)

  • Varsity VB Sportsmanship x2 (10,11)

  • MIP Varsity VB (9,12)

  • NHS, Math NHS, French NHS,

  • French Grand Concours Honorable Mention

Extracurriculars

  • Internship for Grassroots Mayoral Campaign of Major NJ City; Field Intern; worked directly with candidate, voter registration + data organization, organized campaign events; high impact 3000+ doors knocked myself (13 hour/week 8 months)

  • Judicial Intern for Superior Court; Criminal, Civil, Family, EDC; drafted sentencing memos/ plea bargains, judicial process research (7 weeks, 16.5 hours)

  • Founder/President of Financial Literacy Career Exploration Club (Women in Finance); competed for first time in school history in 2 Finance Competitions (federal reserve, Wharton Global), one of few all-female teams. Budget workshops, seminars, organized all-female panels at NYSE etc

  • President of Selective Peer Leadership Group at School; organize and create events each month with small groups of multiple grades; represent 300+ students at board of trustee events as well; produce student led film for school history understanding

  • Lead Tutor at math center job; began sophomore year, lead a program from ages 4-8 specifically many with special needs (8 hrs/week) 3 years

  • Town Ambassador for National Vote Movement (largest student led nonprofit to encourage civic engagement): Led a school-wide voter registration event; spoke w/ local officials about policy; created 100+ informational pamphlets for upcoming local elections

  • Captain Varsity VB (12 hours, 9 weeks) 4 years: 4 championship appearances

  • MassDems Volunteer (3 hrs/17.5 weeks 2 years) Phone-banked for U.S. Special Elections, NJ and VA gubernatorial races, and CA Proposition 50, calling voters to boost turnout and recruit volunteers. Supported Democrat Aftyn Behn in TN-7,

  • Grassroots Democrats HQ Volunteer: Wrote and mailed 200+ postcards and called 150+ voters and state representatives to support the Wisconsin Supreme Court election

  • Homeless Shelter Volunteer 20 hrs

Essays/LORs/Other

Common app essay- Had AP Lang Teacher read it and College Counselor, both said not to change a thing, it definitely showed who I am. I’d say very good

Really strong UMich Supplementals (one about the intersection of morality and law in a supreme court case I was researching regarding racial gerrymandering and how I want to continue that normative questioning at Michigan; talked about multiple programs and classes etc; leadership one about Women In Finance and seeing disparity and wanting to do something, continue to bridge that at Mich through political science)

LORs are very strong 9/10 from AP Lang Teacher (which I had the highest grade it and scored a 5) as well as French teacher who I’ve had from freshman year, testament to my growth and character.

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Schools include: UVA, UMICH, UCSB, USC, TULANE, Lehigh, Syracuse, UC Berkeley, SDSU, Maryland, BU, LMU, Wisconsin Madison,

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So this means 4.0 unweighted GPA, correct?

Which USC? Both University of South Carolina and University of Southern California offer EA applications.

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Yes, University of Southern California for EA

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These are current applications that are already submitted?

Tulane - how much interest has he shown? If applied EA and hasn’t shown substantial interest expect a deferral and then a pitch to switch to ED2. Then it’s your call… the $80K max is less than their expected CoA but run the Net Price Calculator on their site to see what, if any, school aid you might expect to be eligible for.

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UC Berkeley will be slightly over your budget, but slightly. The same is true for UCSB.

I have no idea whether or not USC will be in budget for you, but the NPC should give you a good hint if you get your parents to run it.

You have a good list of schools. For most of them, I do not understand what advantage they have over Rutgers, which is also very good and would be way under budget since you are in-state. Some of the SUNY’s would also be likely to be less expensive and closer to home, and are also very good.

If law school is likely (just guessing based on your proposed major) then definitely budget for a full 7 years of university. The last 3 of these would be the better time to push the budget.

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For Fafsa, my SAI was 0 due to my custodial parent only having to fill out. I will receive max federal pell grant, so that should be in budget for Berkeley and UCSB. I also want to do policy analysis the goal is to not go to law school.

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Where is the 80K budget coming from?

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for schools that take css, as my dad is still in the picture and contributing. For UC specific because they accept FAFSA from OOS

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UCs don’t have financial aid for OOS, though.

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yes for federal aid, which isn’t a lot but still (5500 I think)

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OOS costs for the UCs are about 86k a year. With a $5500 federal loan, that still leaves a gap of $80k a year. How will you fund that? That’s what @tamagotchi is asking.

Unfortunately you’ll face similar challenges with the other public schools on your list (Michigan, Maryland and Wisconsin).

I agree.

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It was just an estimate, in total there is about 90k at most available for college for me as I am an only child and because both parents have set aside since I was born. Looking over Financial Cost, what do you think the chances are for and OOS acceptance at Umich

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I think the OP is saying that they live with their mom who is lower income and qualifies them for Pell Grant, but their dad is “still in the picture and contributing” and dad’s budget to pay for college is 80K.

It seems to me that as soon as dad pays one year of 80K towards college, they would become the FAFSA main contributor and would need to provide their information, in which case the Pell would go away? But I am not an expert on these situations.

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Do you mean 90k total for ALL years? or 90k EACH year?

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Yes, each year. Within the last 2 years, my dad has become more in the picture, and is now willing to put that per year. Very complicated situation, but I would also assume that after the first year they would lower the grant.

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Now I am wondering about something. Is this $80,000 per year, or is this $80,000 total for a full 4 years?

If it is $80,000 total for four years, then for most if not all of the out of state public schools on your list the affordability gap is going to be quite significant, and probably insurmountable. In this case you are very likely to only be able to afford either in-state public schools, or private schools that meet full need. Even the in-state public universities might be a stretch.

Fortunately you have very good in-state public universities in New Jersey. I have for example often praised the quality of the many Rutgers graduates who I have known over the years (one of whom may be slowly beating me right now in an on-line chess game, although it is not quite over yet).

Please, please, please do not start university anywhere unless and until you have a realistic plan to pay for a full 4 years of university. Also, a public policy job with just a bachelor’s degree is not likely to pay all that well, so you should be very reluctant to take on debt and I would try very hard to avoid any debt beyond the federally subsidized limits (which I think is probably $5,500 for your freshman year of university).

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Thanks for clarifying the budget situation. I’m glad to hear that finances won’t be an issue.

Regarding your admission chances, I’ll only comment on the schools I’m familiar with:

Michigan and UVA - reaches (lower probability). Michigan will likely defer you.

Maryland - toss-up, leaning towards yes

Wisconsin - yes

Good luck!

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Thank yoU!

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FAFSA is an application from the US government.
It’s called the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

The FAFSA application is just a form. FAFSA’s application information, is sent to your selected universities, with your information, like Pell Grant eligibility. The information that you completed on the form, is/was calculated to indicate that you were Pell grant eligible.

“Federal” indicates the whole country is included and it isn’t just special or specific to the UC’s. California kids fill out the FAFSA application to see if they qualify for federal funds everywhere. It pretty much happens in every state where students are asking for funding.

It doesn’t have anything to do with whether or not California accepts it from an out-of-state student. It’s Federal. If you qualify for a Pell grant through the US government, then the universities dispense the government’s $5500 for freshman year. So you would get $2750 per semester the first year.

The University of California won’t change their tuition and fees for out-of-state students. The UCs were created by the government of the State of California, for resident students so that local students would have an instate, affordable university to attend. They became phenomenally successful because of their selections of professors, staff and ambitious, hardworking students from within the State.

The way it’s funded is through the states’ taxpayers. If you’re from out of state, or from another country, you haven’t paid the states taxpayer fees, so you don’t get the reduced in-state fees. You pay out of state fees as a guest of the State of California’s universities. The UCs and California State Universities get thousands of applications from all over the world. The popular UCs get over 100,000 applications per year. It’s extremely competitive.

Your out-of-state fees are in the range of $80k to $90,000 a year, depending on the school and the location. If you’re “PELL grant eligible” for the year, subtract $5000 from those amounts.

Is your Father OK with paying $360,000 over four years for your education at a public college? It won’t be a private school.

These are large, public universities that are cities within themselves. Most of the UCs are on the quarter system. That means you have 10 weeks to prove yourself. These classes are extremely fast-paced. If you’re not used to the rapidity, it will be a challenge.

Remember that these universities are funded by the State, so there’s not a lot of money and some classes are extremely large. My daughter attended Davis and her calculus class had 500 students. The larger classes can be at Berkeley or UCLA.

You may be accepted, because California needs your money, but you need to know that a lot of students at the top UCs, have stronger stats and they drive the level and pace of grading and performance at these schools. They are used to the quarter system because the high schools in California are on similar systems.

Edited to add: I believe that the UC‘s and USC are out of your price range. Michigan I think is $90 K but I don’t remember. For a PoliSci degree, are you sure that your father is willing to pay these kinds of fees?

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