Chance Me/Match Me: Average Student with Strong EC and School Leader, Trans Male, 3.3 UW GPA, 1290 SAT, Poli Sci Major, NE or Mid-Atlantic Schools [NY resident with single parent; applying for financial aid, <$30k]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Demographics
• US domestic citizen
• State/Location of residency: New York, NY
• Type of high school: Large, public HS, art portfolio admissions
• Gender/Race/Ethnicity: Transgender Male
• Other special factors:
• Intended Major(s): Political Science/Public Policy/Government with Visual Arts or Religion/Religious Studies minor

GPA and Test Scores: (Upward trend and will likely be 3.9 or 4.0 for this final semester and hopefully first-semester senior year)
• Unweighted HS GPA: 3.3
• Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): 3.7 (school does not grade inflate or rank)
• ACT/SAT Score: 1290 SAT but will be taking SAT again and ACT this month. Will apply TO to schools if does not improve. Registered for SAT for round 3 in early Fall.

Coursework:
• School limits APs/Honors to 1 AP + 1 Honors sophomore year, 2 APs + 1 Honors for Junior, and 4 APs or Honors Senior Year
10th: Honors English and AP World History
11th: AP Bio, APUSH, College Pre-Calc
12th EXPECTED: - AP Drawing, AP Stats, AP Gov, AP Lit

Awards:
• Scholastic Art Awards: One Silver Key and three Honorable Mentions
• National Honors Society

Extracurriculars (strong):
• Vice President, Student Council (two years)
• Vice President, National Honors Society
• Prestigious competitive internship at a major museum, Spring and Summer 2024
• Owner of an online business started in middle school and featured in two NYC magazines. Profits donated to a NYC charity that helps youth at risk.
• Accepted and attending Tufts Summer Pre-College Leadership Program
• Co-president, Archery Club
• Organizer, Art Exhibition with Manhattan Borough President
• Next Generation Politics, Civics Fellow
• Others

Cost Constraints / Budget:
Applying for financial aid. Single parent. Older brother with autism.

LOR, Essays, and other (I think strong):
Includes a letter from the high school principal that says I am community-minded and a school leader. Others from my AP Bio and APUSH teachers. I will submit samples of my art when allowed. Essay about being transgender and the lack of a male role model that led me to a life of activism and being a voice for others.

Safety
• SUNY Purchase
• University of Vermont
• American
Target
• Hunter College
• U Mass-Amherst
• Clark U.
• George Washington
• SUNY New Paltz
Reach
• Connecticut College
• Binghamton
• Lehigh
• Lafayette
Far Reach
• Tufts
• U Penn
• Cornell
• Wesleyan
• Vassar
• Boston University

I would love to hear your thoughts and other suggestions. I would like to stick with schools within a train or bus ride of NYC, preferably under 4-5 hours.

Thank you!

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You may want to look through the responses on this thread since the goals are similar

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So I’m giving this from an academic POV - not sure how the art portolio will impact:

Only Purchase is a safety but I can see UVM as an admit for sure. AU, with these stats, I’ll call a slight reach - but - AU is very much a demonstrated interest school - so you need to show the love!!

Targets are ok - same on GW as AU.

The reaches are that and highly unlikely on so many areas.

I’d personally find more safeties because I see only one.

And less reaches - because they are highly unlikely - even if your test score goes up - and will require a ton of time. If you are thick skinned and can handle rejection, then ok but you’ll have a lot.

So maybe another SUNY or two - like Albany or you like smaller - an Oneonta.

Ithaca might be a private to try. Or perhaps some of the LACs in PA - like Juniata, Ursinus, or Muhlenberg vs. your reach. Drew too? More realistic reaches might be a Dickinson or Gettysburg, etc. Sarah Lawrence or Bard too.

Nothing wrong with shooting for the stars - but you need more focus on where is likely is my point.

The most important school on your list is the affordable one that’s a safety that you’d love to attend. You have Purchase - so you need to focus on the most important part of the list, and you’ve gone the other way - is my point.

As for cost constraint - you need a budget. Applying for financial aid is not a budget.

Some of these schools are $400K or near - for four years. Can your family afford that?

Best way to know is to have mom/dad fill out a net price calculator - I put a few below.

Some of these schools are need aware - so if you need too much, the can and will decline you on that basis alone.

Also, if your second parent is alive, in almost every case - whether they participate or not, their income will matter - so when you do the NPC, please have it filled in properly.

Best of luck.

Welcome | Net Price Calculator (collegeboard.org)

Welcome | Net Price Calculator (collegeboard.org)

Welcome | Net Price Calculator (collegeboard.org)

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If the other parent is alive, then be aware that some of the colleges on your list require both parents’ finances for financial aid. Be sure to take that into account when using colleges’ net price calculators.

The second to last column of https://profile.collegeboard.org/profile/ppi/participatingInstitutions.aspx shows which colleges that use the CSS Profile require the non-custodial parent finances (however, verify any information on the college web site, because sometimes the information there is out of date). Colleges which use only the FAFSA do not require the non-custodial parent finances. Colleges which use some other form (typically their own) may or may not require non-custodial parent finances.

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Ha! That’s my mom. I guess we should coordinate our posts!

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:slightly_smiling_face:
If you read through that thread, what colleges jump at you?

American is a reach for poli sci.
UVT may not be affordable.

Clark, Vassar, Lehigh… have different vibes. Any chance you can visit some?

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For a university to be a “safety”, it needs to be safe from both an admissions and an affordability point of view.

I would expect you to be admitted to UVM. However, UVM can be relatively expensive out of state unless you qualify for a very good merit scholarship. While I do not see the details of your financial situation, it is not clear to me that UVM is a safety from a financial point of view.

This is mostly based on personal experience, but I do not think of highly ranked universities as “better”. Instead I tend to think of them as academically more demanding. This makes me wonder why Cornell or U.Penn or Vassar or Tufts would be a good fit for you? These are academically quite demanding universities, and a 3.3 unweighted GPA is low for any of them.

But then removing these schools from your list might still leave a pretty good list, particularly if you are sure that SUNY Purchase really is a safety from both an admissions and affordability perspective (I do not know much about it).

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Ha! That’s cute that you both submitted posts. I noticed your mom posts your UW GPA as 3.7 and you posted UW GPA of 3.3. That makes a difference for sure.

I think you got great advice on both threads but if GPA is 3.3 then I would pare down the high reaches quite a bit.

Good luck!

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And just as a FYI, there is no “s” on National Honor Society (honor, not honors).

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Only at schools that require non-custodial parent info, just FYI.

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Actually, mom didn’t specify the 3.7 as being UW. Based on her posting, I would have assumed UW as well. Some of the responses, as a result, may have been less-than-helpful. Another reason why chance threads are only as helpful as the information provided

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Mom did actually specify UW in a post further down.

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She didn’t specify at the top but she answered a question by saying 3.7 is UW. I made my suggestion based on that but I would not have suggested the same for 3.7 weighted.

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Thanks. I missed that.

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That was a typo. Thanks for the catch.

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So would my having a 4.0W the second half of my junior year make any difference? BTW, my GPA is on the low side because sophomore year I had COVID twice and then the flu so missed a ton of school. I was planning to write about that where they ask for COVID impact information.

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I would recommend your counselor write about that rather than you.

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I’m not sure how the financials would work out but for location, major and environment, I’d consider Sarah Lawrence. It is not a safety though.

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Unlikely to matter at the high reaches. A higher GPA could help if you lessen your sights.

A weighted GPA is really dependent on the scale. One can use an UW GPA - a 4 for A, 3 for B, etc. - it’s apples to apples.

All schools weight their own way - so having that # in and of itself, may not mean much. Some schools though, take the weighted GPA as is - without factoring in other factors.

Your ability to pay always helps and we don’t know your ability - just that you’ll apply for aid - so that could work against you.

Your test could also hurt - more and more are wanting it. They may be optional but that doesn’t mean they want kids who don’t submit.

As I noted in my comment yesterday, as long as you have Purchase, as an example, assuming it’s affordable and you’d like to go there - you can apply where you want.

But you’d give yourself much better odds at more schools by adding schools that are reaches for you…but less selective than most your list which, at least in my estimation, is highly unlikely.

But I wouldn’t do anything now - without a budget. You need a hard # - and I sent you NPCs yesterday - so your parent(s) can fill out to determine if schools you like will even fit that budget.

That’s step one.

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I think an upward trend definitely helps in general. But your reachiest schools typically admit students with AT LEAST a 3.7-3.8 UW and they reject most people with higher GPAs than that.

It’s just really tough at schools with single digit admit rates (or close to it) no matter what your GPA. And with a 3.3 UW I would consider most of the very most rejective schools as very unlikely. But shoot your shot where you want to go! Just have a sold safety or two and a de targets.

Best of luck!

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