class of 2019 chance me!

Chance Me / Match Me
1

UW GPA: 3.42
Weighted: unknown as my school doesn’t release that
Rank: unknown and the only thing released is our deciles (im in the top 25%)
Test scores: 30 ACT and 1360 SAT with plans to take over the summer and fall again
Classes: All Honors and AP (we can only start AP classes junior year with a max of three) with 4 years of English, 4 years of science (Bio,chem, Physics, anatomy, and Ap Bio), years of math through Calculus, 3 years of history/social sciences. I have mandatory religion classes (Catholic School) but those have no levels
APs I have taken/plan to take senior year: Bio, Lang, Lit, and US History
Extracurriculars (most since sophomore year): Debate (co-captain 18-19), Mock Trial, Robotics, Literary Magzine, Campus Ministry Student Assistant (very selective as it’s only open to 12 seniors total but 30+ applied), Big Brother/Big Sister (selective, open to junior and seniors only and I’m doing both years), Freshman Academy leader (also selective, open to juniors and seniors only and I’m doing both years), Tutoring (open to NHS members only, doing both years), NHS member, helped at local elementary schools with a arts based STEM program over the spring (12 hours total) and hope to do it again
Hobbies (if this would matter for anything lol): casual programming (Visual Basic and learning Java), Photograhy (frequent poster on Viewbug), Writing (Quora)
Circumstances: resides in northeast, African American female who has gone through homelessness and poverty, qualifying for near max amount of Pell Grant, will definitely need some sort of financial aid

Possible majors: Public Health, Political Science, Health Sciences, ( thinking pre-law or pre med but leaning towards law )

Schools I’m interested in: basically a medium or big sized, urban university with research going on or a heavy focus on internships and co-ops but i could be flexible

Northeastern (my top school, as much as a reach it is. people with my stats from my school have both gotten in and gotten rejected from here according to naviance so

2

The problem with your possible majors is that you must need to pick quickly on what you want to do. Premed and prelaw are very different in terms of majoring. You have very hard classes so it may make up depending on your major. Northeastern is very selective and has high expectations for students and applicants. Your GPA is low and is hard to bring it up. However, you have such an important story to tell that would help boost your application. From an academic standpoint it is hard to get in and is very difficult. Good luck and remember that God has a plan for us all and trust Him. He has a plan and it may not always be what we want it to be. From a fellow Catholic, I am praying for you! Good luck!

3

I think after looking into law and what it would really be like, I don’t think it’s for me but thank you!

4

If you are in MA, UMass Amherst has a really good undergraduate public health program. Also (whether you’re a MA resident or not), the 5-college Consortium has a certificate program in Culture, Health, and Science https://www.fivecolleges.edu/chs/ that can be accessed from any of the colleges. You’d be a strong candidate for Mt. Holyoke and possibly for Smith too, and the financial aid at either would probably be very good. (Are you running Net Price Calculators on the schools you’re considering?)

Northeastern is a tough admit, but it sounds like your school has a good track record so, fingers crossed! Another great urban co-op school that, unlike NU, has an undergrad public health program is Drexel http://drexel.edu/dornsife/academics/degrees/undergraduate-public-health-program/bs-public-health/ It’s not as tough of an admit as NU, but it’s also not a school that guarantees it will meet full financial need (it averages around 80%) so it’s hard to say whether it would end up working financially, but it would be great in terms of hands-on experience. (And if you got private scholarships, which seems like a strong possibility, that could help bridge any FA gap.)

University of Rochester is a fantastic school all around, meets something like 96% of financial need on average, and is great for pre-med and undergrad public health. https://www.sas.rochester.edu/ph/
Tulane could be a great option as well (also meets around 96% of need): https://sph.tulane.edu/bsph/undergraduate-public-health

University of Richmond https://hcs.richmond.edu/major-minor/index.html meets full need, as does Case Western Reserve U (no specific major jumps out at me but it’s a great school with overall very strong pre-health). Both are mid-sized universities in mid-sized cities. Macalester is also a great urban liberal arts college that meets full need. https://www.macalester.edu/cgh/

I feel like you would be an excellent scholarship candidate for Agnes Scott College in Atlanta. It’s a women’s college that is very focused on leadership and very holistic; your EC’s and life experiences would be very compelling to them, and your stats are close to 75th percentile for accepted students. While this is a small women’s college, which isn’t what you say you’re looking for, their Public Health major utilizes cross-registration with Emory University, and offers great opportunities with the CDC headquarters in Atlanta. Public health students can not only cross-register for undergrad classes at Emory, but can also take graduate classes their senior year, giving them a head start towards an MPH. https://www.agnesscott.edu/publichealth/

I’m not throwing all these ideas at you out of specific pessimism about Northeastern - I just know that the admissions decision there could go either way, and furthermore while they say they meet full financial need, their definition is not the most generous and I have seen quite a few accepted students decide to go elsewhere because the money just didn’t add up. And if their calculation of your need is stingy, outside scholarships will get absorbed into your aid package and won’t end up helping. (Overall, less than 20% of accepted students end up attending, and while for many it’s because NU wasn’t their first choice, there are many others who walk away because of money.) I think there’s a real chance that NU will work out for you, but it’s important to look at a lot of options and cast a wide net. For the time being, definitely run their Net Price Calculator if you haven’t already https://npc.collegeboard.org/student/app/northeastern and make sure that what their algorithm says you can pay is aligned with what you can pay in real life.

Hope something in there is helpful :slight_smile:

5

What state are you in? Aside from generous private universities listed by aquapt, in state public universities offer decent aid for their low income students. How much do you like programming? Not many people pick it up for fun like you did unless they’re interested and have an aptitude.

I agree with others that NU is a reach. You have a solid academic background in terms of classes taken and your act score confirms that you gave a strong academic aptitude. You can combine public health with statistics and computing, giving you an edge.

6

Thank you so much, that was actually really helpful and I decided to add Tulane on my list! I’m not interested in a woman’s college, I just feel like I would feel almost out of place. Zoomass is a string safety and even though I’m an in state student, I haven’t heard of the best financial aid packages coming out from there.

7

I’m from Massachusetts and I wouldn’t say I love programming, just moreso dabble in it. I was thinking of adding Stats as either a double major or a minor though depending on what major I ended up sticking with.

8

@daja01 Yes, state schools do not have the best fin aid out there. I would encourage you to have a strong stats background in college since that will differentiate you from most public health majors and you have a strong math aptitude to begin with (I’m a math prof, btw).

You have a good list from aquapt. Are you eligible to apply for the questbridge program? Have you looked into it? In addition to UMass-Amherst, just be sure to add a supersafety like your nearby commuter state school (like Bridgwater state or something of that ilk that’s close to you).

9

@momprof9904 I am eligible for the quest bridge program but I applied for their college scholars prep program last year and got rejected so I don’t think I have the strongest chances for the program. Would you say that UMass Boston or URI counts as a super safety?

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@daja01 If you are an MA resident, URI would be OOS (unless there is some special arrangement) - so it would not be a financial safety, most likely. UMass Boston would be a supersafety only if you’re within commuting distance and/or they give large merit. Otherwise, its costs would be comparable to UMass- Amherst. Since you are max Pell grant eligible, you would need a lot of aid. I am tagging @MYOS1634 , a longtime poster on this forum who may have some very good ideas for you. You are a solid student who would thrive in many places. It is unfortunate that the system is structured with financial uncertainty until acceptance. A safety needs to be both something you can afford and some place you can get in with your stats .

I know you said are not interested in the women’s colleges, but it seems they may offer a lot of aid for someone like you. It can’t hurt to check them out. See if you can email the diversity office for Mt. Holyoke or Smith. Sometimes, they may even pay for the visit. Also reach out to UMass Amerst - you may have to do some digging as to who/what that office would be. They have scholarships for low income students (called flagship scholarship), and you can find out more from their website.

Questbridge has another program for seniors called College Match. It is independent of the other program, so you can try again.
Here is the profile of finalists. Your gpa is lower than average but your ACT is in range.
https://www.questbridge.org/high-school-students/national-college-match/finalist-profile

Here are the details:
https://www.questbridge.org/high-school-students/national-college-match

11

@momprof9904 I did not know that scholarship for UMass Amherst so thanks for that! Also I did the net price calculator for UMass Boston and think that it can definitely be considered my supersafety school.

12

@daja01 Thanks for checking in. Here are a couple of links about UMass Amherst for more info. I think you should follow up with the diversity office for visits:
https://www.umass.edu/admissions/diversity

And the scholarship links are here:
https://www.umass.edu/umfa/scholarship/umass-admission-scholarships
and
https://www.umass.edu/umfa/scholarship

I googled to find these pages- it’s faster than navigating through a college’s website.

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions. I am a college prof, btw.