Chance Me Please! NJ resident, 3.74UW, 1120 SAT, top 15%, International Relations/CS, ~$40k

Chance Me / Match Me
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Demographics

  • US domestic (US citizen or permanent resident) or international student: US Citizen
  • State/Location of residency: NJ
  • Type of high school (or current college for transfers): Public HS
  • Other special factors: (first generation to college, legacy, recruitable athlete, etc.): First Gen

Cost Constraints / Budget
(High school students: please get a budget from your parents and use the Net Price Calculators on the web sites of colleges of interest.) : ~40K maybe more for certain schools (SAI ~60K)

Intended Major(s)
International Relations
Computer Science

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 4.0 out of 4.5 (18As, 4Bs, 1 C)
  • Weighted HS GPA: 4.43 out of 5.5
  • Class Rank: Top 15%
  • ACT/SAT Scores: SAT 1120, but tutoring ongoing and will sit for tests in Oct and Nov.

List your HS coursework

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

  • English: ELA Honors 4 years
  • Math: Geometry honors, Algebra 1 honors, Algebra 2 honors, precalc honors (senior year upcoming)
  • Science: Lab physics, lab chemistry, lab biology
  • History and social studies: World cultures honors, US hist 1 honors, US history 2 honors, Government and Politics AP (senior year upcoming)
  • Language other than English: Spanish 1, Spanish 2, Spanish for natives, AP Spanish (senior year upcoming)
  • Visual or performing arts: Music Appreciation, World Piano & Percussion
  • Other academic courses: IT ESS PC Fundamentals, AP Comp Sci A (senior year upcoming)

Awards
National Honor Society
Spanish National Honor Society

Extracurriculars
Varsity HS Hockey goalie, Club Hockey goalie, Pre-college summer program for International Relations, Local Campaign volunteer, Special needs hockey coach volunteer, learn to skate hockey coach volunteer, Italian Club, Teacher’s aide for special needs kids (work)

Essays/LORs/Other
(Optionally, guess how strong these are and include any other relevant information or circumstances.)
Will have very strong LoRs from hockey coach, history teachers as well as science teacher and School’s Athletic Director

Schools
(List of colleges by your initial chance estimate; designate if applying ED/EA/RD; if unsure, leave them unclassified)
Central Michigan - EA
Columbia - RD
Colby College - EA
Connecticut College - RD
Cornell - RD
Drew Uni - EA
Georgetown - RD
Florida State U - RD
High Point - EA
NJIT - EA
Penn State - EA
Princeton - RD
Ramapo College - RD
Rowan University - RD
Rutgers NB - EA
Seton Hall - EA
Susquehanna U - EA
TCNJ - RD
GWU - RD
Uni of Alabama - EA
Uni of Delaware - EA
Uni of Michigan - EA
Uni of Vermont - EA

If a scholarship is necessary for affordability, indicate that you are aiming for a scholarship and use the scholarship chance to estimate it into the appropriate group below; also, for colleges that admit by major or division, consider that in chance estimate.

  • Assured (100% chance of admission and affordability):
  • Extremely Likely:
  • Likely:
  • Toss-up:
  • Lower Probability:
  • Low Probability:
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Chance Me Please!

For clarity, “me” is OP’s kid. Responses should be mindful of correct pronouns usage

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Yes. Sorry about that!

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Your student has a LOT of reach schools on this list even if they are able to go test optional. Even kids with perfect GPAs and perfect SAT scores don’t get accepted to Columbia, Cornell, Georgetown, Princeton, University of Michigan.

Georgetown requires submission of all SAT scores. Not sure that one is attainable at all, but the student get accepted if they dont apply…

In addition, you have a number of out of state public universities on this list that won’t meet your price point.

I have to ask…where did this list come from? There so seem to be a couple of realistic for admission colleges on this list. But not that many.

I’m hoping @AustenNut will give their opinions on admission chances at all of the colleges you have listed for your student.

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An uw 4.0 is all A’s, I think you need to recalculate. Many are reaches and many won’t be affordable.

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I hear you on the number of reach schools. If you don’t shoot, you don’t score. :slight_smile:

We ran some NPCs that showed the costs being in the ballpark, so to speak. We’ll see.

Well, our in-state schools are our in-state schools and they’re all safties expect for Princeton, but the others came from researching their International Relations programs, (Internship opportunities as well as study abroad programs) which will most likely be the main point of focus (Seton Hall is a top chice for him). I forgot to add American Uni to the list.

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4.0 out of 4.5. This is what his school uses for some frustrating reason. I found some conversion tools online and this translates to about a 3.6 or so.

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Having been through this process with an IR major, I will observe that only a quarter to a third of the schools on this list are notable for IR.

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Thanks for that. Can you eleborate on which those are? The ones he pointed to in particular were American, Georgetown, GWU, Seton Hall and Drew.

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I wouldn’t put Rutgers NB or TCNJ in the safety category, more if a target. My son actually ED’d to TCNJ due to having a 3.4 UW 30 act. Several of my kids’ friends didn’t get into Rutgers with a 3.5 TO.

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I’ve actually heard the same. We’re classifying them as reach, target or safety based on Collegevine’s chancing tool. That’s all we’ve found to go off of.

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Please don’t rely on College Vine which tends to be overly optimistic, in my opinion.

Look at each schools common data set, and see where your kid fits in.

If your high school uses Scoir or Naviance, look there too.

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Good to know. Is there another similar site that is more reliable? His school uses Scoir.

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Colby does not offer EA.

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My bad. RD for sure. Thx.

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Below are my guesses as to what your son’s chances might be at the schools on your list. I calculated his unweighted GPA as a 3.74.

Extremely Likely (80-99+%)

  • Central Michigan

  • Ramapo

  • Rowan

  • Seton Hall

  • Susquehanna

Likely (60-79%)

  • Drew

  • High Point

  • NJIT

  • U. of Alabama

  • U. of Delaware (closer to a toss-up than extremely likely)

Toss-Up (40-59%)

  • The College of New Jersey

  • U. of Vermont

Lower Probability (20-39%)

  • George Washington

  • Penn State (for main campus freshman year)

  • Rutgers

Low Probability (less than 20%)

  • Connecticut College

  • Florida State

Very Low Probability (less than 5%)

  • Columbia

  • Colby

  • Cornell

  • Georgetown

  • Princeton

  • U. of Michigan

How was your son’s list developed? In looking at it, I’m unclear about what it is that he wants out of his college experience. Some questions that might be helpful to prod a bit more about his thinking are:

  • What size school does he prefer?

  • What size classes does he prefer?

  • Are there area(s) of the country that he prefers or prefers to avoid?

  • How does he feel about urban/suburban/college town/remote campuses?

  • How does he feel about the importance of enthusiasm surrounding intercollegiate sports?

  • How does he feel about Greek life (fraternities/sororities)?

  • Are there any other factors (like politics, religion, percentage of a population, etc) that will influence the college decision?

  • Are there any additional interests that he’s hoping to pursue while in college?

Knowing more about what your son wants can help us to identify schools that might suit him.

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Thanks so much for taking the time to put that together! I’m going to sit down with him and really go over these questions. We have considered some of these for sure, but we’ll do it again today and then reply.

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I don’t see American on here? I’d say toss up to likely TO (unless it’s changed a lot since D19), but you need to demonstrate interest - sign up for emails and read them, visit if you can, make sure to meet with an interviewer if they send one to where you live.

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There’s a wide variety of schools on his list already, and it encompasses an improbable array of campus types and locations. So I would encourage him to reflect on his priorities for campus setting, size and culture to help him focus. Without that framing around school “fit,” I might be hurting rather than helping, but just spitballing on IR, I might suggest:

If he likes big midwestern schools like Michigan, he should also look at Ohio State.

He likes NESCACs like Colby and Conn College, but where are Tufts(!) and Middlebury?

If he does look at Tufts, as any IR major should, he might also check out Boston University, which also has a strong IR program.

He likes Columbia, O.K. But if he likes NYC and wants to major in IR, Fordham and NYU should get a look.

The DC big three are all very good for IR: Georgetown, GWU and American. GWU and American care about demonstrated interest, though, so he should pay attention to that. Just up the road in Baltimore, there’s a leading IR program at Johns Hopkins.

He’s got a good option at FSU, but FIU should also be on the list for an IR applicant looking at Florida publics.

Where’s William & Mary? How about Richmond?

If he wants to look west, University of Denver is famous for IR. UCSD is also very strong. Then there’s Claremont McKenna….

…Again, I am not applying any affordability or fit considerations here, just taking IR.

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I forgot to add American to my original post. As far as demostrated interest, we’ll be there next week for an informational session. My son will also interview with them while he’s there. He opens all their emails and clicks on the links. I found this website and saw that demonstrated interest is very importat to AU. List of Colleges that Track Demonstrated Interest | The College Curators

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