Chance me: TN Male PolySci/Gov Major (35 ACT, 4.0 UW GPA) Need High Financial Aid [<$10k]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Demographics: White, Male, Tennessee Resident, Mid-Sized City, Somewhat Competitive Public High School, no major hooks (legacy, first-gen, athelete, etc.)

Cost Constraints / Budget
Lower Middle Class Income <70k, Hoping to Spend under 10k a year so need schools with generous need based aid or attainable scholarships

Intended Major(s): Political Science/Government (possibly double major in Econ, Public Policy, or Philosophy)

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 4.0/4.0
  • Weighted HS GPA: My school does not weight our GPA
  • Class Rank: Our School Doesn’t Officially Rank so colleges won’t see but for context around 5/200
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 35.0 Composite ACT, (35 Eng, 34 Math, 35 Read, 36 Sci)

List your HS coursework

IB Diploma Candidate

Fours HLs and Two SLs plus TOK
Took Full Honors Course load 9th and 10th year
I don’t take exams until end of senior year

Awards

  • 1st Place in Statewide Civics Essay Contest ($500 Prize)
  • Outstanding Delegate at YMCA YIG
  • Most Improved Track Athlete
  • NHS
  • Attended Governor’s School for three weeks (sub 20% acceptance)
  • Nominated and Attended Boy’s State on behalf of the school
  • School Moral Character Award
  • MUN Country Rhetoric Award
  • National Merit Commended

Extracurriculars

  • Varsity XC and T&F Athlete - earned two consecutive team state championships and co team captain senior year
  • Youth in Government - Passed bills 9th and 10th year, Elected to an officer position for junior year and now serving in 2nd highest position at the conference of nearly 800 students
  • Political Campaign Volunteer - Canvassed over 250 doors for a state legislative campaign, devised strategies to reach young voters, wrote post cards, and phone banked for other candidates in the area
  • Founder of a Youth Voter Turnout Organization - created a digital campaign to inform voters about candidates, policies, election dates, and how to register; worked with campaigns across the area and state to reach young voters, interviewed multiple candidates running for office, contacted mayor’s office and school board to set up voter registration drives for students
  • Member of Local City Youth Council - highly competitive cohort to advise mayor and other city officials on issues affecting youth, networked with city leaders, and worked alongside peers to address issues in the city
  • Volunteer at Juvenile Court - served in youth court proceedings, interviewed kids on trial as well as parents to advocate in a trial led by high schoolers, served various roles such as bailiff and clerk
  • Mock Trial - was a witness my first year and switched to attorney and team captain of the B team and alternate for the state qualifying team, attorney on varsity team currently
  • Beta Club - helped organize various volunteer opportunities and served as president during junior year
  • Student Council - elected class secretary this year
  • Model UN - participated as delegate in various committees, selected to be on security council last year
  • Concert Band - played trumpet in concert band for two years then quit

Essays/LORs/Other
currently drafting, relatively strong but not earth shattering (at least not yet)

Schools
I’m only certain that UTK and Bama will be affordable based off of automatic scholarships and in-state discounts. Everything else is not a safety (in terms of affording it)

  • Assured (100% chance of admission and affordability): UTK, Alabama
  • Likely: UGA, UF, Pitt
  • Toss-up: UIUC, UW - Madison
  • Lower Probability: UVA, UNC-CH, UMICH
  • Low Probability: Vandy, Duke, Georgetown

I also plan on trying for honors colleges at all of the public schools that have them, although idk how competitive those are relative to general admission (especially OOS). I am open to other suggestions but want to try to keep the search within a days drive to TN. I also am nominated for both Morehead Cain and Jefferson but realize those are hyper-competitive. I don’t plan on doing ED anywhere but EA at every school that offers it. If there are others that would seem perfect that are far I would possibly consider them. My school typically admits 3-5 to T20 schools.

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Might you be Questbridge eligible?

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With an income like this (unless your family has unexpectedly high assets such as property, savings, a business etc.) you should qualify for full cost-of-attendance need based aid at many top private universities and LACs. However most OOS publics don’t give need based aid. So I think you should seriously consider adding more top privates. It’s true they are big reaches, and outside of your preferred geographic area, but if you get in they may be your cheapest option.

You might try running the Net Price Calculator at schools such as Princeton and Williams that give generous need-based aid and see what price they give you.

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Try the NPCs for UVA, UNC and Michigan.

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A public policy major, by itself, relies on the fields of political science, economics and philosophy for a foundation. For your stated interests, then, public policy may represent an ideal major. For ideas for colleges to include on your list, this site may be helpful:

If you might like to pursue a public policy major along with a second major in a related field, that would be possible as well.

I concur that you may benefit if you were to include more private colleges on your list.

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Seems to me Bama will be $20k so not affordable. Miss State will be a tad less. But still more than $10k all in. Look at Troy - link below - shows a full ride but contact them to see if automatic and if OOS students qualify

Have you looked at UTC. Or are you commutable distance to a Tenn Tech, ETSU, MTSU, Memphis, etc. w Carolina is $5k tuition so may be less than $20k all in. Another to look at.

There are many meets needs schools. Using UTK as a back stop, you might run the net price calculators.

To me, UGA, UF, and Pitt are throw away apps. An FSU is still too pricey but with an ACT waiver, will be just over half the price of UF. UIUC and UW are not toss ups. High reaches. You’ll get into both but no way to pay.

UNC and UVA are the only publics who promise to meet need (as they determine it).

Since you have Vandy, Gtown, etc why not apply to other meets need schools like Miami, Rice and easier to get into Lafayette, Lehigh, and Rochester. And you can try Hail Mary full ride opportunities like W&L, SMU.

Check the NPC of each (have your parents do it) for each. Here’s one as an example.

Don’t forget loans need to be paid back.

Best of luck.

https://npc.collegeboard.org/app/lehigh

Western Carolina University - Phil and Connie Haire Institute for Public Policy.

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Congratulations on building such a strong profile in high school!

With a budget of less than $10k, I am not a big fan of some of the schools on your list. I don’t think there’s a possible way for UIUC, UW-Madison, or UMich to hit your budget, and I’m doubtful about UGA as well. Because room & board at all the schools are likely to be at least around $15k/year, you would need a full tuition scholarship plus additional merit to help towards R&B. I don’t think those schools have that as an option for you.

It seems you like the big state schools. You might consider IU and/or Ohio State as possible replacements, as those do have some full ride scholarships available.

I agree with the others that you may want to include more highly rejective schools with very generous need-based aid. Looking at the other schools on your list, you might want to consider Northwestern or U. of Notre Dame.

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Throwing in a note about Georgetown - Georgetown does not offer any merit scholarships, rather they meet “100% financial need.” This means that your total cost is at the discretion of their financial aid office and what number they calculate - they do not offer named scholarships.

I would recommend running the Net Price Calculator for Georgetown and see what it puts out.

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JHU is a “meets need, no loans” school with easy transit to DC for internships.

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As others are saying, I think to get on budget you really should consider more private colleges.

However, I am not sure they all need to be super-reachy. The most popular colleges do tend to be among the wealthiest colleges and so there is some correlation between reachy and generous financial aid. But while other privates might not get you on budget with only need aid, with your numbers maybe they could get you there by adding a bit of merit aid–which is correlated with LESS popular/reachy.

Like I am not sure what you consider a day’s drive, but another poster mentioned Rochester, which is about a 12 hour drive from TN, give or take. Rochester has a lot of virtues including it is a great place for combining lots of different interests at whatever level you end up picking.

So you could try running the NPC at Rochester, and my guess is it may not quite be on budget. But that is not necessarily the end of the story because Rochester also has a robust merit program, and I think with your numbers they may well be quite interested in using some of it on you.

As others observed you seem to have a lot of large publics, but then you did mention some mid-size privates. So I am wonder if you would in fact consider some liberal arts colleges.

Like, with your interests another great option to consider would be Grinnell, about 11 hours drive, which is actually a wealthy LAC and yet ALSO has merit (basically because that is what it takes to attract a national audience to rural Iowa). In fact with Grinnell I think it is quite likely you would get on budget. But to be fair, it is pretty reachy–although for a very high numbers kid, maybe a little less so than academic peers in more popular locations.

Anyway, a little less reachy, with your interest I would think you might consider Kenyon, like 7-8 hours. Again, like with Rochester I am not sure they will get you there just with need (although you could check). But with your numbers and their merit program, maybe!

In the end it is up to you. But big picture, my point is with your numbers and interests, there are likely some academically great private universities and colleges that could get you on budget, but because they are not in the most desirable of locations and generally are not among the most famous, they might be a little easier for admissions (or admissions + merit as relevant).

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I agree with the idea of considering LACs. Male applicants tend to have an admission advantage at LACs, and they are not quite as reachy while still offering excellent education and alumni networks. Many offer domestic or study-abroad semesters in big cities, which can make the school feel bigger for those who would have preferred a bigger school.

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University of Michigan does not guarantee to meet full need for OOS students…but this family’s income level might get them a decent need based award.

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It looks like they meet need for residents of Michigan and not for non residents.

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But if your family’s AGI is less than $75K, you can go to any UT campus tuition free - hence why UTK is a great back stop for the OP to pivot to any other school of interest. While some seem silly to apply to on paper (UM, as an example), you never know. If you can afford the apps, then knowing you have very solid UTK in the bag, in theory anything else doesn’t matter (like a UM that is near impossible to get to cost). But it still makes little sense to apply anywhere that you know up front can’t or is highly unlikely to meet cost.

Still $10K, even at a U of Tenn campus, won’t buy you room and board.

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Agree with the general theme to find the no-loan schools with generous need aid.

If 14hr is considered a days drive, you could likely get a full ride or at least full tuition to SUNY Stony Brook. Maybe a safety? They have some strong programs in quantitative fields though I’m not sure about Econ specifically. You’re a train ride to NYC and airports

My S18 was OOS and offered full tuition with 35 ACT and 99 GPA unhooked.

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Look into LACs. A LOT will meet need and are need blind. a few to check out:

Amherst
Bowdoin
Hamilton
Williams
Wesleyan
Vassar
Haverford
Swarthmore
Middlebury
Bates
Colby
Connecticut College (not sure how they are with need- but good with merit)

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But just a reminder for any meets need you need to have your folks fill out the net price calculator. Make sure the schools will meet your financial needs.

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Perhaps it would help @golden706 if you gave some additional information about what kind of a college experience you’d like to have. You’ve told us about your budget (essential!) and your preference to be within a day’s drive of Tennessee (is this eastern, middle, or western Tennessee…it’s a wide state and it’s over a 7-hour drive from Memphis to Bristol, so knowing which part of the state you’re in can help in offering suggestions within a day’s drive).

In looking at your list I thought you were interested in medium to large schools with a good bit of athletic enthusiasm in an area with a good bit of population density (i.e. more like a city) and preferably a high U.S. News ranking, but that was just supposition on my part.

Some questions that you may want to reflect upon and share with posters include:

  • How do you feel about significant enthusiasm for intercollegiate athletics?
  • How do you feel about Greek life (fraternities/sororities)?
  • What size school do you prefer?
  • What size classes do you prefer?
  • Are there any particular interests you want to pursue outside of your major interests?
  • Which area(s) are you more willing to compromise on and which are more of a must-have? Are there certain minimums (i.e. you prefer 6k+ but you’re willing to down to 2k undergrads, or…you’d prefer within a day’s drive, but if there’s a direct flight to your home airport, you’d consider it, or…)
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Have you considered W&L? (Shameless plug)

W&L has a lot of money to throw around at students, and you’d probably be a good contender for the Johnson scholarship. Plus, W&L has some pretty good alumni connections, and a strong Politics major.

The Williams School : Washington and Lee University (wlu.edu)
The Johnson Program in Leadership and Integrity : Washington and Lee University (wlu.edu)
Politics Department : Washington and Lee University (wlu.edu)

Every 4 years/presidential cycle W&L hosts Mock-Con where they act as the out-of-power national convention and nominate who they think will be the out-of-power party’s candidate for the presidency. It may be of interest considering your ECs in Political Campaigns and Youth in Government.
The 28th Washington and Lee University Mock Convention

If at all, please try and answer what AustenNut wrote - those will help us narrow down/identify schools that may work for you.

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I haven’t ruled out looking at LACs (especially if they offer good need based aid) but I prefer larger universities with a higher population >5k students. Having decent athletics is great but more of a minor factor for me. I don’t plan on Greek Life but hope to get very involved in clubs and orgs on campus. I come from East Tennessee so I am closer to to drive to East Coast schools rather than Plains/midwest. I do prefer to be close to a big city or cool college town when on campus rather than rural small town LACs. Student pop size isn’t as important as how the school feels (small fewer clubs/opportunities vs larger amount of student orgs or programs). That’s mostly why I’ve stuck with well respected state schools.

I would put more privates on my list as they give great need based aid on my list but many have extremely low acceptance rates such as Ivys etc. If I felt more confident about my stats, ecs, essay I would place higher emphasis on Ivys or Ivy-Like private universities. I’ve also been considering WashU as it gives good aid and is a drivable distance but without ED chances are slim. Currently the top three for me are Georgetown, UNC, and UVA which seem friendlier money-wise.

Another big factor is whether outside scholarships are counted towards the need based aid I would already receive or first cover the student-parent contribution. If the latter, then many more schools are attainable. Unfortunately, it seems most state schools only give need aid to in-state residents rather than OOS. I probably won’t expand my list unless colleges will provide fee waivers if I ask (I’m not on free lunch or pell grant eligible).

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