Chance Me: Northeastern ED, BU, BC, Pitt, etc mainly test optional for STEM [NJ resident, 3.8 GPA, 1350 SAT, pre-pharm, divorced parents]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Demographics: Male, Gay, average public high school in NJ, divorced parents, 100k family income.

Stats:

SAT- 1350 (retaking in June and September but likely applying test optional wherever I can)

GPA (UW/W/4.5)- 3.8/4.05
No class rank

Courseload by Senior year: 12 Honors, 4 Dual-Enrollments, 5 APs (Lang, Lit, Bio, USH, Latin)

ECS:

  • Latin Honor Society Vice President
  • HOSA Vice President
  • Key Club Secretary
  • 200+ Volunteer hours at Hospital
  • 75+ General community service hours
  • National Honor Society
  • Robotics Club
  • ASL Club
  • Red Cross Club
  • Writer for the school newspaper
  • Member of Blood Drive Committee
  • YouTube channel with 100k+ views regarding sports entertainment
  • Snow shoveling program for elders
  • Work for the county Board of Elections/Poll Worker

LORs:

AP Lang Teacher: (9/10) I grew to have a really really great relationship with her this year. I do very well in the class and everyday we are joking/talking about something. I’m pretty confident that she will write me a very good letter

Dual-Enrollment Teacher: (10/10) I’ve had him 2 years in a row and definitely the teacher I have the best relationship with. He teaches all of my dual-enrollment classes which are all science/healthcare related courses. He’s a doctor himself so I’m sure it’s nice to have an MD at the end of the letter. Great rapport with him so very confident he’ll write me a nice letter.

Counselor: (5/10) The counselor is required to write one for every student so I’m sure she just fills in a template with some specific stuff about me. Don’t really talk to her that much but nothing bad has ever happened so I’m sure it won’t be too bad.

Essay: Sounds cliche but going to write about a very specific traumatic event that happened to me a couple years ago that truly has shaped my character and who I am

Major: Pre-Pharm* (if applicable), Neuroscience/Biology where not.

Schools: *denotes prepharm

(Reaches)- Northeastern* (ED), Boston College, Boston University, Villanova, Case Western

(Matches)- Binghamton*, Pitt*, Rutgers*, Purdue*, Stony Brook, UMass Amherst, Lehigh

(Safeties)- University of Rhode Island*, Sacred Heart*

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I think you have it right with Lehigh a reach.

I think you get into some, but maybe not all targets.

Good luck.

Ps - any budget issues ? With a lower family income, you may have a few schools that don’t achieve a low enough cost - Umass and Pitt specifically. .

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I’m not sure about the rest, but I believe Rutgers pharm is a bit more competitive if you’re trying to go directly into the pharmacy program. So you might be more of a match for A&S and a reach for pharm. You can get multiple decisions from the various Rutgers schools, so fine to apply to both programs. Just something to keep in mind.

4

Does this income include both parents?

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I like your list from an admissions standpoint. It seems very thoughtful and I am confident you will get some good offers to consider.

I also agree you need to make sure all those colleges would be affordable for you and your family. To me, a good rule of thumb is you would not need to take out more than the federal limits in loans.

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No just the parent I would be filing FAFSA under

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Yes I agree Rutgers pharmacy is extremely selective but the fact that I’m in-state and my dual-enrollment classes are with them make me a bit more confident. However I don’t disagree with you

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I’d be filing FAFSA under the 100k income but my other parent makes far more money and they do have a lot saved up. So I’m not expecting many budget constraints unless I get absolutely no aid for some reason

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Seems like you have a solid grasp of the schools and how you’ve categorized them based on the listed stats.

ED is a big help to Northeastern.

BC - TO hurts your chances of admission there. Also, they’re not going to offer much aid based on reported family income of $100k.

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The colleges you have listed all use the CSS Profile and require BOTH parent financials, I believe.

Please just make sure your parents are on board with the cost of these colleges which are rapidly approaching $100,000 a year! Except Pitt.

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For schools that require CSS Profile, OP will have to run the net price calculators with both parents’ income and assets to get a cost estimate and gauge affordability. (As well as the same info of any new spouses, as appropriate.)

OP, here is a list of CSS schools (most of the ones in your current list.) The second to last column shows whether or not they require financial info from the non-custodial parent.

For FAFSA, you will have to include the parent who contributes the most financial support. It is not necessarily the parent you live with the most.

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Alright, thank you for the info

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This suggests needing financial aid. Be sure to check whether colleges you are interested in require both divorced parents’ finances, so that you know whether you need both of their cooperation. Be sure to take that into account when using colleges’ net price calculators to estimate financial aid.