<p>Hey, my name is Austin Filbin and I am currently on the hunt for a college thats a good fit for me…and one that will accept me.
I am interested in writing and liberal arts studies of that nature. I have played a varsity sport, went to States 4 years in a row in Forensics (competetive speaking), won numerous state-wide writing awards, assistant editor in chief of the school paper (left paper to start my own school magazine) and was involved in diversity groups and movements all throughout my high school career. Other notable awards also.</p>
<p>Here’s the tricky part:
Unweighted GPA: 3.0
Weighted: 3.5
ACT Score: 28</p>
<p>I’m looking at both Universities or small liberal arts colleges. I cannot have a total yearly tuition of over $40,000 a year (that’s including room and board)</p>
<p>All comments, questions and suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks!</p>
<p>As any parent will caution you, you need to get clear with your family what finances are. When they say you can go anywhere that is $40k or less, does that mean they have $40k to pay each year or they think they will be eligible for financial aid or some other possibility? You can use net cost calculators on specific school’s websites to determine your likely cost to attend. </p>
<p>If your family can pay $40k each year total, you are probably looking at a public institution as few full-pay privates are going to be $40k, including room and board, though I am sure other people can suggest some. A 3.0 unweighted is probably not going to qualify for significant merit aid. </p>
<p>Univ of Iowa is famous for its graduate writing program – undergrad admission is based on the RAI – Regents’ Admission Index, which is a formula you can plug into on Iowa’s website and see if you will be accepted. A 3.0 and 28 might be sufficient to get you in, as an out of state student, depending on your class rank and the type of courses (college-prep) you have taken. </p>
<p>An affordable public is Univ Minnesota at Twin Cities, which is under $20k tuition for out of state students, though I don’t know if a 3.0 would be sufficient for admission. We did not look at it, but there is another campus of Univ Minnesota which is a smaller, liberal arts college size, the name of the campus escapes me right now.</p>
<p>LACs that might be on the list could include Beloit, Coe College, Hope, Knox, Kalamazoo and Earlham (Midwest LACs, many of them on the “Colleges that Change Lives” list). We didn’t look at those closely enough for me to know off-hand if the 3.0 unweighted is insufficent for that group. </p>
<p>You can search the Common Data set for a specific school to see where your gpa and test scores fall as compared to admitted students in order to get a sense if you are competitive for admission or not.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>Your scores will qualify you for most of the CTCLs. Most of them care a lot about admissions interviews, EC’s, and essays. Scores are important, but their admissions process isn’t formulaic (though I’ve heard Cornell College is an exception). So show interest, keep being awesome with EC’s, knock out your interview, and write awesome essays!</p>