Feeling hopeless Realistic chances for the rest of my list

Applying to College
1

Hi everyone,

I’ve started getting some decisions back and honestly my confidence is starting to drop a bit. I’m realizing now how delusional I was when choosing my college list but I would also like to state that for all of the LAC’s and free application colleges I applied to them because they were free and didn’t have money to apply elsewhere so thought I might as well add it.

So far my results are:

  • Accepted: Loyola University Chicago

  • Waitlisted: UMass Amherst (Isenberg), Tulane

  • Rejected: Bocconi (all programs)

The Bocconi rejections surprised me a little because I thought I would get into at least one program, even though I probably wouldn’t have attended.

Another thing I didn’t fully consider when making my list was cost. Realistically my family can probably afford about $35k per year, maybe $55k if I really stretch it for a strong program, but a lot of my schools are closer to $80k which now feels unrealistic.

I still have a majority of my decisions left, but I’m starting to wonder what my realistic outcomes might look like and what my backup options should be.

so far I’ve gotten all A’s first quarter of year and 5 A’s and 2 B’s second quarter which was CALC BC and my honors English class.

I also could do the Career Launch program for Isenberg for a semester at Fall River then transfer I also got the offer for the Dublin career launch but now im not seeing it anymore in my letter.

My stats:

Demographics

  • Massachusetts

  • Male

  • First generation

  • Hispanic (Bolivian)

Intended Major
Finance / Economics / Business

Academics

  • UW GPA: ~3.7

  • W GPA: 3.94

  • Rank: ~2nd decile (16–20%) out of ~470

  • SAT: 1470 (710 EBRW, 760 Math)

Coursework

  • AP Calculus BC

  • AP Physics C: Mechanics

  • AP Statistics

  • AP Microeconomics & Macroeconomics

  • 9 Honors classes

Extracurriculars

  • Global Entrepreneurship Study Program in Singapore

  • Founder / Organizer – Fundraising event

  • Founder – Investment Club (planning stage)

  • Independent market analysis & small e-commerce projects

  • Work experience (retail + manual labor)

  • National Honor Society

  • Food pantry volunteer

  • Digital media editor / creator

  • Strength training / fitness

  • Family academic mentor

Essays / LORs

  • Essays: strong (in my opinion)

  • LORs: solid

Remaining schools:

Colby
NYU (Stern)
Notre Dame (Mendoza)
UCLA
USC (Marshall)
UC Berkeley
Washington University in St. Louis (Olin)
Boston College (Carroll)
Bates
Grinnell
University of Miami
Carleton
Villanova (Business)
UC San Diego
Bentley
SMU
Fordham (Gabelli)
Indiana University Bloomington (Kelley)

Given my results so far, I’m wondering:

  1. What are my realistic chances for the rest of this list?

  2. If I get into Indiana Kelley but don’t get good aid, what would my best options realistically be?

  3. Would it be worth applying to Penn State now through rolling admission for Smeal, or is it too late in the cycle for that to make sense?

  4. If things don’t go well with the remaining schools, what are some good finance/business options in the $35–50k range?

Any honest feedback would be really appreciated. I’m trying to get a more realistic view of my situation now.

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Good morning - I’m sorry you feel this way but honestly, for all the schools kids apply to, they can only attend one. That’s it. If you get into 8, guess what - you’re turning down 7.

So you got into Loyola of Chicago, an outstanding school with a fantastic reputation.

I have one question for you - is it affordable? If so, you have nothing to feel hopeless about. That’s a wonderful opportunity that so many in life would love to have and many choose it as it’s top school, like so many others, over higher ranked ones.

If it’s not affordable, then yes, you may need to pivot, but there’s time.

This isn’t uncommon but concerns me. College is a four year financial commitment and I understand wanting to save hundreds of dollars or more in app fees - but that’s a drop in the bucket compared to what college will cost. So I wish kids would pick schools they can afford.

If you can afford Loyola, then great. If not, create a chance me or at least drop in your UW GPA, SAT/ACT, highest level of English, Science, Social Science, Math, and Foreign Language and let’s find some late adds.

Obviously, you are interested in business - what discipline, if any might I ask (finance, marketing, etc.).

But you have an acceptance - so I wouldn’t feel hopeless short of affordability.

If you need more schools, let us know your state of residence and budget as wel..

OK - EDIT, I see you added to your post - even if you can’t afford Loyola, you can definitely find schools you can afford - still.

One example - and there’s many more - look at U of Alabama Culverhouse. Let’s say you were a marketing major. You think - Kelley is top notch. Bama - no way. Well marketing grads at Bama earn $2K more at graduation than Kelley grads. Why do I mention Bama - you get $28K auto merit - so you are low-mid 20s - assured.

Others like Central Michigan, U Kansas and more will hit your budget with automerit. Now some may have deadlines - KU says Dec 1 for scholarship but you can check if that includes automerit - I don’t think so.

And there’s more than these - but you would have to be flexible (perhaps) geographically, etc.

So no need to feel hopeless and no need to attend a school that doesn’t offer a business program - when you have a budget, you need to build a list for the budget. I don’t know if you did NPCs or not but schools like Colby and Grinnell don’t make sense. Others may not make sense (a Bentley as an example) if the NPC didn’t show affordability.

If you end up at Loyola - nothing wrong with that.

So honestly, hopelessness is the last thing I’d be thinking - you have options even if you can’t afford anything on your list.

Sorry - you keep adding so let me address these:

When you build a college list you have to build it based on budget. So applying to IU out of state, Penn State out of state - makes zero sense. And made zero sense when you applied to IU. You are seeking a name. You do not do that when you have a budget. Period end of story. And kids are successful in finance from a host of schools. You also don’t look for a school that’s up to $50K when you say, realistically we can afford $35K.

So this was your mistake. So you likely can’t afford Kelley. If you can afford $55K you can, but can you?

So I’ll give you another stat - finance - since you mentioned it:

Bama - $73,616 starting salary with an 84% knowledge rate (meaning they know on that % of people)

Finance - $83.7K - yes it’s higher (with a 76% knowledge rate so less reporting) but for you, also $125-140K more.

So you need to be realistic - and if you want IB, sure some will do better but likely every school on your list is placing some.

So I wouldn’t feel hopeless and yes, maybe your list wasn’t the best built - but you have an admission - and if not affordable, there’s many more fine schools that would want you and not strain your family!!

So time to start looking into some of those - add Ole Miss, Miss State, WVU, Kansas, Kansas State, Alabama as far as main flagships go. Not sure about schools like Wyoming, U Maine and more - regarding deadlines, etc.

You need to go to assured budget schools - which is the step you missed.

Best of luck.

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I live in Massachusetts Loyola Chicago would be about $40k a year for me right now. I’m not sure if I want to spend that much on a school that doesn’t have a particularly strong finance program, since that’s what I plan to major in. I think Smu would also be a good pick because it’s a semi target for IB but it does have a high cost so if I don’t get good merit it would be out of the picture.

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How much is the net price of Loyola University Chicago?

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Did you apply to IU Kelley RD? Did you complete your Kelley KPI by Feb 15?
I would not count on any merit at IU (they don’t give need based aid to OOS students)

Same here…did you apply RD? Did you run the NPC before applying and it was affordable?

This may be your best option, assuming affordability. Contact admissions and ask what your options are.

For other options in addition to Alabama as noted above you might look at U Dayton and Marist. (you will have to check deadlines)

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40k a year I got a 128k scholarship

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I did apply regular decision for Kelly and I completed the KPI February 12th.

I did not do the NPC for Fordham which was a complete oversight on my part

thank you for your help.

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I would suggest going back to your list of remaining schools, running the NPC’s and see which will be affordable. If it’s not - even if you’re accepted, it doesn’t matter. Then what are you left with for schools?

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I do want to chime in to say that Loyola Chicago is a gem of a school. Chicago has a lot of opportunities for finance grads. If you do become serious about the school, I would recommend a visit to check it out. Right now I would not be caught up in whether or not a school is an IB target or semi-target.

Let us know what U Mass says about your Falls River and Dublin options. I would call or email them today.

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Hey, don’t lose hope over a few early results. Honestly your profile is more competitive than you might think right now.

The Bocconi rejection stings but their admissions process is pretty opaque and doesn’t always correlate with how you’d fare at US schools. I wouldn’t read too much into it.

With a 3.94 W, 1470 SAT, first-gen Hispanic from MA, and a finance/econ focus, here’s how I’d think about your remaining list:

  • Notre Dame Mendoza and USC Marshall are going to be tough but not impossible. Your first-gen status and the entrepreneurial ECs (Singapore program, investment club, fundraising event) tell a solid story. I’d say low reach for both.
  • NYU Stern is probably your steepest climb. Their median SAT is closer to 1530+ and they’re brutal on stats. Still worth the shot though.
  • Colby and Villanova feel much more realistic for you. Colby loves students from smaller or underrepresented backgrounds and your community involvement fits their vibe well.
  • Babson would honestly be a great fit if it’s on your radar at all. They eat up the entrepreneurship angle and your stats are comfortably in range.
  • For UCs, keep in mind they don’t consider first-gen or legacy, it’s very GPA/coursework heavy. UCLA and Berkeley are long shots for OOS business-adjacent majors, but UCSB and UCD could work.

On the cost piece, this is actually really important. At $35-55k, you should be running the Net Price Calculator for every school still on your list. Villanova and Colby both meet a high percentage of demonstrated need. If Loyola Chicago gave you a solid package, that’s a real option you can negotiate with too.

The Isenberg Career Launch path is also genuinely worth considering. I know it feels like a consolation prize but transferring into Isenberg after a semester is very common and the outcomes are basically the same. Kids who do Career Launch still recruit into the same internships.

You’re in a better spot than it feels like right now. The waitlists at UMass and Tulane show you’re on the edge of their admits, not miles away.

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Villanova, Colby and the rest of the highly rejective colleges aren’t going to care about LUC’s merit offer. Typically the only way one can use an aid package to ‘negotiate’ is when the involved schools are peer institutions. So, I would discourage OP, or their parents, from using LUC’s offer when talking with non-peer schools, should things get to that point.

None of these schools will meet OP’s budget, so they aren’t going to be options, if OP does get accepted.

As for running NPCs now, OP can do that so they know what to expect (which might ease the potential bad news should an admit come with an unaffordable offer), but probably not needed now.

Agree, and hopefully OP contacts them today to see if the Dublin option is still on the table.

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Just echoing others.

I personally think you may be underestimating your opportunities at Loyola Chicago. As usual with Jesuit colleges in major cities, that school is incredibly well-networked. I understand it is pushing your budget so you are hoping for other options, and that’s fine. But if that is where you end up, I think you should feel confident you will have every chance to make it work for you.

I don’t know much about that Career Launch program, but I agree that also sounds very promising. See if you can nail it down.

Otherwise, I think for now you have to just wait and see. It is a tough time emotionally, but soon enough you will have clarity on your options.

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I did end up emailing their admissions office regarding an LOCI and a question if the Dublin option was still available. They responded quickly saying that if i check the portal i can still change my options between waitlist and the career launch, but they didn’t mention anything about why the Dublin option disappeared and when i open the portal it still just offers the fall river for career launch.

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Thank you for this insight. I think I was quick to shut down LUC because it’s limited IB positions, but with all of this help, I think it has given me a perspective that it’s okay if I don’t go to a target school and my opportunities will still be plentiful.

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I know at one of my student’s university the overseas alternate option is the first one that fills up, and it’s pretty quick.

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Finance is SO much more than IB.

There are phenomenal careers that most HS kids have never heard of. Get the most rigorous and thorough education that you can possibly get- that’s the key.

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I was thinking that could be what happened, considering there’s not a lot of coverage on their program online, and it’s also possible maybe I imagined it being on my letter, but I didn’t have any recollection of it before I got the letter, and I mentioned it to a friend, so I find that unlikely. However, in the first email, they disregarded the question and said they would take into account my LOCI, and then I followed up repeating the question, and they said, “Check the portal.” Do you think I should email them again or wait a bit?

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I am aware of that i just think my ego is getting in the way and i need to push it aside.

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Colby, NYU, ND, UCLA, USC, UC Berkeley, WashU, Boston College and Carleton are all likely going to be reach schools.

Bates, Grinnell, IU Kelley, Miami and Carleton are likely realistic schools, but could easily become true reach schools - depending on factors outside of your control. Applying RD vs ED will also make things more challenging.

Villanova, UCSD, Bentley, SMU and Fordham should be realistic, target schools.

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Definite reach due to your class rank and all UC (University of California) schools will be unaffordable.

Villanova is tougher than is being portrayed in this thread.

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