Chance Me: Northeastern, BU, BC, CWRU, Lehigh mainly test-optional for Pharmacy or Neuroscience [NJ, 3.77 GPA, 1320 SAT, divorced parents]

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Demographics

  • Gay male at an average, mid-sized public high school in New Jersey
  • Divorced parents (One makes 250k, the other makes 100k)

Cost Constraints / Budget

  • FAFSA SAI of about 74000, can afford ~40-50k a year

Intended Major(s)

  • Pre-Pharmacy
  • Neuroscience

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.77/4
  • Weighted HS GPA: 4.05/4
  • Class Rank: N/A/313
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1320 SAT

List your HS coursework

  • English: 2 honors classes, AP Lang (5) and AP Lit
  • Math: 2 Advanced courses, highest level Precalculus
  • Science: 4 honors (3 of them are dual-enrollment), AP Biology (3), AP Environmental Science
  • History and social studies: 3 honors classes, APUSH (4)
  • Language other than English: 3 honors classes, AP Latin

In total, 12 honors (3 of them are dual-enrollment), 2 advanced, 6 APs

Awards

My weakest spot

  • National Honor Society
  • Latin Honor Society
  • AP Scholar
  • CPR Certification

Extracurriculars

  • Co-President of environment club
  • Leadership in robotics club
  • Blood drive committee
  • Writer for school newspaper
  • 50 hours volunteering at hospital, 15 of them shadowing a pharmacist
  • Camp Counselor
  • Election Poll Worker
  • HOSA
  • Red Cross Club
  • 75+ General community service hours

Essays/LORs/Other

  • Personal Statement (9-10/10): I had my AP Lang teacher read it and she said it was excellent so I’m pretty confident in it.
  • Counselor Recommendation (7/10): She had a pretty lengthy questionnaire to fill out before she writes the LORs, and she met with me to discuss certain things she thinks I’d want to be included and emphasized so it shouldn’t be too bad.
  • AP Lang Teacher (9-10/10): I have a great relationship with her and she too had a very extensive questionnaire to fill out so I think it will be good.
  • Dual-Enrollment Teacher (9-10/10): He taught all of my dual-enrollment classes which are all science/healthcare related, and I have an amazing relationship with him; we’re always talking and laughing and bantering so it should be good too.

Schools

Acceptances:

  • University of Pittsburgh (Pre-Pharmacy)
  • Binghamton University (Integrative Neuroscience)

Safeties:

  • TCNJ - Biopsychology (Legacy and in-state, submitting scores)
  • University of Rhode Island (Pre-Pharmacy, submitting scores)
  • St. John’s University (Pre-Pharmacy, submitting scores)

Matches/Targets:

  • Purdue University (Pre-Pharmacy, submitting scores)
  • UCONN (Pre-Pharmacy, submitting scores)
  • Rutgers University (Pre-Pharmacy, Test-Optional)
  • University of Maryland (Neuroscience, Test-Optional)
  • University of Vermont (Neuroscience, Test-Optional)
  • George Washington University (Neuroscience, Test-Optional)
  • Fordham University (Integrative Neuroscience, Test-Optional)
  • Stony Brook University (Biology, Test-Optional)

Hard Target:

  • Lehigh (Neuroscience)

Reaches:

  • Boston University (Neuroscience)
  • Boston College (Neuroscience)
  • Case Western Reserve University (Neuroscience)
  • Northeastern (Pre-Pharmacy)
2

Congrats on a fine record.

However, when you have a budget, you need to pick schools within budget.

Your parents make $350K - I can’t imagine you’ll get a nickel of need aid. You can have them run the Net Price Calculators - here’s an example of one. You can google the school name and Net Price Calculator. Your SAI doesn’t matter for these schools - they are private and will require the CSS profile.

Congrats on Pitt - unless you receive merit aid, it will be over budget (I’m using $50K but $40-50K is a wide range. You should narrow down with your parents - and don’t forget added expenses - transport, books, nightly pizza, spring break etc.

Bing may work. OOS direct costs are $52K today. Hopefully you’ll get merit aid.

TCNJ - you’ll get accepted - and yes to submitting the score. It’s about $37K b4 merit - so it works.

URI - if you get merit - works.

Purdue - pre-pharmacy - what major? I assume Pharm Sciences. Hits cost and is a target. I personally think LGBTQ kids can prosper anywhere - and I saw it at my son’s and daughter’s southern schools. But state laws are changing and Indiana is a very conservative state - something to think about.

UCONN - $59K so you’ll need merit aid. Can go either way.

Rutgers - can go either way.

UMD - you won’t get in and you can’t afford. I assume you applied but if you haven’t, I’d tell you not to.

UVM - It’s $65K - you’ll need a lot of merit aid.

GW - no shot of getting that much merit. I wouldn’t apply. That you are full pay might get you in - they want the $$.

Fordham - not shot of getting that much merit. I wouldn’t apply. I think you’ll get in.

Stony Brook - you’d need merit to get under $50K. It’s a target but I’d lean toward yes.

Lehigh is a reach and you can’t afford it. Don’t bother. If you want a private to hit $50K, look at LACs such as Allegheny, Kalamazoo, Washington College in Maryland, Ithaca. Quinnipiac is a maybe.

Reaches - forget that you won’t get into any of the four, you have no chance to afford them. One exception would be Case Western where you won’t get in - but they do get aggressive with merit for some kids - so you might get under $50K.

One private not on your list but far out - that might make budget - is U of Denver. It’d be close.

I think your list is long - and while some are budget friendly, most aren’t.

If you wanted to add schools, Salisbury, Mary Washington, Christopher Newport, WVU, MIllersville, West Chester could be schools that aren’t far that would work.

Good luck.

Welcome | Net Price Calculator

3

Having a “realistic budget” that is lower than the official SAI is relatively common. There are a number of reasons this can happen, with divorced parents sometimes contributing to this (other factors can also cause this, some of which we ran into).

I think that this makes affordability questionable at any of your reaches. Both admissions and affordability are of course important. One daughter got into two of your reaches (she only applied to two of the four) but neither was even remotely close to our budget, and if you get the same lack of aid they won’t fit your budget either.

That is okay, you have lots of other very good schools that you have applied to (as did she – she went elsewhere and did very well).

The first question that some of us ask here on CC is “what are the safeties”. Of course nothing can be safer than a school where you have already gotten admissions, so long as it is affordable. These are two very good acceptances. Congratulations! Are they affordable? Is this a case where you hear about admission and financial aid at the same time, or is the information about financial aid going to follow?

I would predict that you will get into TCNJ and being in-state it should solidly fit your budget. I have no idea whether URI or St. Johns’s would be in-budget, but I would expect you to get accepted.

One daughter attended UVM. I think that your chances of admissions are excellent. You will however need good merit based aid for it to fit your budget. Merit aid out of state is possible at UVM. For us, also out of state, the NPC did predict merit aid and turned out to be spot on accurate.

I think that your chances are also good at Rutgers, and again being in-state should put it solidly within your budget. I happen to have known a number of Rutgers graduates, and they have all made the university look very good. You can get a very good education there. I do not think that it is a safety for admissions, but it looks likely to me.

I would expect you to get some more acceptances from your other “target” schools. It would not surprise me if some are affordable and some are not. That is fine, you can only attend one university and you seem to me to have very good solid safeties.

My best guess is that if you get into your reaches they are not likely to be affordable.

I think that this is a good list. Also…

For someone who is thinking of being pre-pharmacy, I like the fact that you have at least some experience shadowing a pharmacist. Hopefully you will continue to get some more experience in this area.

At least to me it looks like you are doing well.

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