Chance Me! (T-20s Econ/Business schools) [NY resident, 3.8 GPA, <$1k]

Chance Me / Match Me
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  • NYC
  • Rising Junior
  • I only take AP classes
  • Charter School
  • low income
  • female
  • afro-latina

Cost Constraints / Budget

  • Must go free or very lowk cost $1k>

Intended Major(s)

  • Econ
  • Business
  • Public policy
  • international relations

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.8/4.0
  • Weighted HS GPA: School doesnt do unweighted
  • Class Rank: No class rank
  • ACT/SAT Scores: took a practice SAT and got a 1200, taking my first real one in august

HS coursework (so far)

  • English: AP Lang (4), AP Lit (Predicated 5)
  • Math: AP Pre-Calc (4), Calc BC (Predicated 5)
  • Science: AP Biology (4), AP Chem (Predicated 4)
  • History and social studies: AP Macro (Predicated 5), AP Art History (5), AP World History (5) APUSH (Predicated 5).
  • Visual or performing arts: Photography, Theatre
  • Other academic courses: DE Psychology, DE Data Science

Awards

  • AP Scholar with Distinction
  • Deans list (x2)
  • Won schools excellence in stem award
  • Top AP Bio student (gpa) freshman year

Extracurriculars
**
Yearbook Committee Editor (9-10th Grade) → Managing Editor (11th grade) **
Edited submissions and designed layouts, helping produce 4 themed yearbooks, each with a unique concept, collaborating with staff

**Culture Club Memeber (9th grade) → Social Media Manager (10th grade) → Co- President (11th grade) **
Promoted cultural programs and volunteer events through social media (500+ attendees), increasing attendance and engagement; help connect Caribbean-identifying students with leadership and service opportunities.

Volunteer, VISIONS Service Adventures Fellowship - Cajamarca,Peru ( Grade 10 Break, 9hr/wk, 1wk/yr)

Built 3 irrigation canals with Quechua community members in Peru; learned basic Quechua while devoting 20+ hours to improving water access

Participant, UW-Madison Badger Pre-College Fellowship ( Grade 11, Break, 30hr/wk, 2wk/yr) Created and developed my own business through case studies and projects; studied entrepreneurship, marketing, finance, and strategy.

Economic Research Assistant (Economist Howard Chernick )

Assisted in the data collection and storage of property taxes across NYC; helped Prof. Chernick build NYC comptroller financial report from the years of 2022-2025

Tutor, AP Language and Macro Teaching Assistant

Supported freshman in improving reading comprehension and macro analysis; edited 100+ FRQ’s and guided class discussions.

Intern, Mortgage Company

Closed 5 mortgage loans by introducing a new communication software, verifying documentation, and assisting with administrative and lending processes.

Essays/LORs/Other
I think im gonna get a strong LOR from my calc teacher and my macro teacher

Schools

  1. Columbia

  2. UC Berkeley

  3. Cornell (Dyson)

  4. UCLA

  5. Vanderbilt

  6. NYU

  7. Northeastern

  8. Boston University

  9. USC

  10. University of Washington

  11. UC Santa Barbara

  12. Rutgers New Brunswick

  13. SUNY Binghamton

  14. University of Connecticut

  15. Temple University

Match NYC Rising Junior 3.8 GPA, 1510 SAT for Econ & Public Policy or IR [need full ride]
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So this is going to be an issue - and I don’t know what your need profile shows.

First, you mention top 20 business schools, but list many more. And some, like Vandy, don’t have business (although they have a mini program).

So your parents will need to fill out the net price calculators for each school. Here’s two for you - if they show you having to pay more than $1K, then they are not for you. Also, know that there are travel costs, etc.

Now, your SAT will be a huge issue - but the UCs and U Wash are test blind. But the UCs are $80K+ and UW is $60K+ and you are from out of state, so they are not going to support you. Rutgers, Uconn, and Temple also are unlikely to work. NY does have programs for low income - the Excelsior Scholarship. And if your parents make $65K or less, you might look into Questbridge, which would give you 15 chances at a full ride. You’d likely need to raise your SAT significantly.

Hopefully your school will have counseling but I assume a CUNY with the Excelsior Program might end up your best bet.

Best of luck.

Cost Calculators | Columbia Undergraduate Admissions

Net Price Calculator | Financial Aid | Vanderbilt University

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Thank you for your advice! I thought a lot of schools gave full rides if you make under a certain amount?

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They have tables - that also say - dependent upon assets.

I don’t know your family’s income - but you also have to get into those schools. With a 1200 SAT, you won’t be close at many.

There are also schools that are need blind and need aware. Need blind means - they don’t look at your finances in deciding to admit you. Need aware means they could factor your finances into admission decisions.

For publics, only UNC and UVA meet need for all students - so the publics you picked, they are unlikely to meet need.

Here is a list of meets need schools - third party, so you’d have to look at them. And it’s a few years old.

But for schools not test optional, your SAT will likely be a hinderance.

And again, look at www.questbridge.org should your family income be $65K or less.

Here’s Every College That Offers 100% Financial Aid · PrepScholar

QuestBridge

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I got a 1200 on a practice test that my school makes us take before placing us in a SAT class during our junior year. I think I’m probably going to get somewhere between a 1450-1500 by the time i apply to schools. Also ty for the questbridge link!

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Good luck.

Adding - this might be good for you during Junior Year.

College Prep Scholars Program | QuestBridge

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You may be a fit for QuestBridge. Are you familiar? Believe the application is due end of September? While there is no SAT cutoff, getting that up a bit would be a plus for the program IMO.

Just read other posts where it has been mentioned already. Do you agree it would be worthwhile?

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OP is a rising Junior - so in the post before yours, I put in the College Prep Scholars program link, which would likely be helpful for this student ahead of applications, if they’re able to qualify.

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How did you do on each section of the SAT? Were you stronger in math or English?

By “rising junior” do you mean you will be a junior in the fall or a senior in the fall?

I would consider looking at some top liberal arts colleges, as they often give generous aid (do the net price calculators) and seek out low income students

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I’ll be a junior in the fall! I got a 610 on the reading section i think and a 590 on the math

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If you are a rising Junior, that means that you are now a Sophomore, and your grade 10 break is this coming summer. Even if you are a rising senior, the second hasn’t happened yet, since your grade 11 break hasn’t happened yet.

In general, you have added stuff that you have not yet accomplished. While I think that it is great to have aspirations, it is not helpful if you want to be “chanced”.

In general, however, asking about your chances when you are just finishing your second year of high school is not at all useful for you. The most important thing for college admissions is, at the end, your grades, and nobody here, including you, knows what your grades will be at the end of your Junior year. You don’t know what the end results will be from our internships and activities either.

Just as important, you don’t know what your interests will be a year and a half from now, when you actually start applying to colleges.

My recommendation is that you stop focusing on whether specific colleges will accept you, IF you have all of these accomplishments that you hope to have in another year and and a half. This is neither helpful, nor is it useful.

Your focus should be on doing well at high school, accomplishing what you hope to accomplish, and having some time for yourself. When thinking about colleges, the ONLY things that you should think about should be A, what type of college will be the best for YOU, and B, what are the high school classes that are required by colleges of these types (how many years and what levels of math, English, foreign languages, etc).

Seriously, one of the worst possible uses for your time and emotional energy is doing what you’re doing now - asking strangers on the internet hypothetical questions like “if I do these things, will these colleges want me?”.

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I think I mightve formatted this incorrectly… I put my activites listed (11th grade) to what im doing this summer… But all the activites i have listed are not pre-determinations, I have done or am doing them. I appreciate your comment about not focusing on colleges acceptions but I am kind of stressed out because my school starts CAP classes (College Application Prepardness) my junior year, and I don’t want to be getting my hopes up before my CAP counsleors tell me how it is.

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Your AP scores are all predicted - but one or two.

Take a look at the Questbridge Scholars I listed - it’s for Juniors.

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OP- you’re ambitious, hard-working and smart. You’re going to have a bright future, whether or not you end up at one of the schools you think you want to attend or not.

It’s FINE to wait until your official meeting with your counselor to develop a list. You are not behind!

The money is going to be an issue, so keep in mind that if you leave the NY Metro area (counting NJ, upstate/long Island, etc.) you won’t be taking a train, but will typically need to fly. So going across the country is going to make the finances very, very tight.

For business, take a look at Fordham and Baruch. For Econ, check out these three of the SUNY’s– Binghamton, Buffalo, Albany. Look at the website for Macauley Honors- some of the strongest students in NYC end up there and you will have a peer group, terrific support, and depending on what the net price calculators tell you- the price could work.

You need a budget of $1K per year, correct? Run the NPC’s on a couple of colleges and let us know what they are telling you. Keep in mind that they are for this year (which is not you) but if a college thinks your family contribution should be 15K, that number likely won’t go down meaningfully in two years….

And keep in mind that the California public U’s- as wonderful as they are- are set up to provide an affordable education for California residents, which is not you. You will find the costs (tuition, living, room and board) prohibitive when it’s all said and done, and that won’t include flying there and back. So check them out- but I can’t imagine ANY of the UC’s will be within your budget.

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Please don’t make assumptions about costs for universities. Full rides are almost nonexistent. The few schools, that do offer full rides, are extremely competitive. There are no guarantees that you will get a full ride anywhere. Programs, like Questbridge, are options for you, but you need to fully understand the program and requirements, and you also need a backup, in case something falls through.

Also, you need to post what you have done. I agree with @MWolf, if you want people to honestly chance you, then you need to be straightforward about what you have actually completed. Even if you’ve already made future plans, it has not been completed. The posters, on this website, are very experienced. They have seen many issues occur with students who want to be chanced, but don’t list exactly what has been actually completed.

There are students who have made errors completing their college applications, listing things that they weren’t able to complete. Once it’s submitted, you can’t change it. The admissions officers are really sharp. If something sounds off, then they wonder what the rest of the application has and what the student is willing to do to get in.

FWIW: Going back, to a home country, for a couple of weeks a year, to perform a community service, isn’t really considered highly by colleges. Admissions officers see this commonly.

(A number of American students do pay to go to a Third World country and “volunteer” for a couple of weeks (or a month) to add something to their high school resume.)

What most students don’t realize is that a part-time job is respected and considered more reputable because it shows discipline, punctuality and commitment to learning about a work balance, economic issues, and working with the public. Plus, you need cash for college, especially if you’re low income. I believe the FAFSA application asks about student income. Universities want to know that the student have “skin in the game”.

A lot of universities are public.

That means that their state’s taxpayers are funding the universities through their state taxes.

Example: The Universities of California (UCs) were created for the resident students of California. Their parents pay extremely high taxes to support those universities. If you don’t live in California, then you pay something called, “out of state (OOS)” fees, now at ~$80k per year. These universities cannot afford to give funding to students who don’t reside in the state. It doesn’t matter that you’re low income for public universities. If you don’t live there, you pay non resident fees.

If you reside in New York State, then your parents pay for the State University of New York (SUNY) schools. You need to apply to schools that are affordable just in case something falls through.

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So which is it weighted or unweighted?
Errors occur frequently. Case in point:

If I were an admissions officer, this would be considered for rejection. It doesn’t add up.

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If your family’s income is $125,000 or less, you qualify for the Excelsior Scholarship, which means you wouldn’t have to pay for tuition at any of the SUNY or CUNY schools.

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i mustve made a mistake writing this out than :sweat_smile: i got 4’s on Pre calc, Bio, and Lang and 5s on World and Art History

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I may have misread.

Nonetheless, you’re on a good path - so keep up the great grades, get training to move up your SAT, etc. and then you can look at Questbridge - and a CUNY as a back up (live at home). In addition to QB, you can look at other meets need schools. If you have CUNY and living at home in your back pocket, you’d be “assured” of having a college to attend.

Keep up the great work.

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It’s good to know about Excelsior if you’re in NY State, but the way they present it as “tuition free” really bugs me because it’s misleading.

The average person, the man on the street, looks at that and thinks “That’s 50% of the cost.” That person is thinking that the other half is room & board. But here’s the reality. Using Binghamton as an example, the cost of tuition, fees, room & board for 2026-27 without including books & other miscellaneous expenses is $30,800. Tuition is only $7100 of that! In other words, your “full tuition” scholarship covers only 23% of your bill. “Fees” is a number equal 49% of tuition. So, after your your full tuition scholarship, a student from a lower income family is still going to have to come up with $23, 700 + books and other expenses. Even with a summer job + work study, where is that money going to come from for a family who makes $75.000?

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