Got a 36 on ACT- Need Help on Next Step

College Search & Lists
21

Aw, geez. No one should jump the gun about admit possibilities when all you know is stats and a little about ECs- and URM. It takes work to form a compelling app/supp for a tippy top.

But of course OP can pick a reach target of interest, speed learn everything about it, try for a bullseye app/supp, and see.

Don’t assume anything based on anecdotes about Europeans who spend a generation or two in S America. Not for tippy tops.

OP, nothing wrong with loving Boise St or UTK, if the price is right. We know little about your interests. None of the ECs hint what major.

22

Don’t choose a school just because of its football team.

Equally, don’t apply to a school just because it is part of some “elite” athletic conference or ranking list.

There are many tools/sites that can help identify potential schools based on your many interests - major/area of study, geographic preferences, school size, available activities, etc. Major college football can even be a consideration. But think about long-term priorities.

I would advise you to ignore specific school recommendation or “apply to Ivies” without even knowing your interests. Your profile will certainly be attractive to many schools, so it’s certainly worth investigations. At the same time, Boise or Tennessee may be perfect.

If you’re a Senior, it may also be time to think hard about a potential major. Pre-law isn’t really a major anymore, and History/English/Math/Science covers a huge range of potential majors.

23

Note that the OP stated he is “definitely more of an English and history guy.”

24
  1. Apply for History, English as a second choice major. Top colleges love these applicants when they have strong stats to back it up.
  2. NESCACs and the Ivy League will likely come in cheaper than UAlabama or UTK. All in, their package will likely cover full tuition, half of room&board, leaving you with transportation costs, books, incidentals. They are very generous and their package will remain the same all 4 years unless your parents win the lottery or get a high paying job - $10,000 to $15,000 is the most likely final cost, all included. Many of these colleges don’t even require loans, it’d be all grants plus a small part-time job for 8-10 hours a week.

Remember to look at the NET COST, not the amount of scholarship. An 18K scholarship for a 38K school still leaves you with 20K to pay, for instance. And compare apples to apples: to calculate net cost, calculate (tuition, room, board, fees) - (scholarships, grants) = … Now if you add the estimate cost of books, travel, and incidentals (allocate the same amount for incidentals) are various colleges within the same range?

Just run the NPC right now (or MyinTuition) on every college among: Bowdoin, Bates, Colby, Middlebury, Haverford, Wesleyan, Hamilton, Davidson, Holy Cross, Amherst, Williams, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Brown, UPenn, Vanderbilt, Emory. One by one. Report here which are the 6-8 cheapest so we can describe them in more detail for “vibe” and you can pick your favorites.
For someone who likes English and History, I think NESCAC and Davidson would be no-brainers. No big football but… at worst, pick Haverford ED2 and cheer for the Eagles (or the Flyers).

After we help you narrow this down to 6-8, join their mailing list, start “visiting” the campuses virtually and try to see if there’s one you like best.

ED2 is typically Jan 1 or 2. It means that if the financial aid package is good, you promise to attend. In exchange, you have priority and get a boost for admission compared to other applicants who apply “regular”.

Definitely apply to UAlabama though. Better than UTK and likely cheaper. So that, if NESCAC and the Ivy League don’t pan out, you have a solid, inexpensive choice.
That 36/4.0 is very valuable. :slight_smile:

25

In terms of big merit scholarships, there are also flagships in Arizona and New Mexico.

26

Thanks all for the info. I think I’m leaning more towards the Alabama route considering that scholarship although I am a little hesitant about going there considering the area. It’s not exactly what I had in mind as the weather doesn’t appear too radically different than where I live and the crime rate is kind of high, but it’s hard to pass up that opportunity. I’m going to apply to Duke and maybe Brown and Cornell to see if I can get a high scholarship. I appreciate all the help!

27

Brown (where I attend) has a strong liberal arts college feel (especially in literary arts/English, since many of the upper-level classes are capped to 20 students,) but the Open Curriculum makes it extremely easy to study nothing but what you’re interested in, as opposed to other schools where you’d have to study a bit of everything like in HS.

28

What are your parents telling you about how they expect you to pay for college? Have you run the Net Price Calculators at the places you are thinking about?

If money is an issue, pop over to the Financial Aid Forum to get good ideas about places where your stats will bring automatic merit aid, and places where you might get enough need-based aid so as to be affordable.

29

“I’m going to apply to Duke and maybe Brown and Cornell to see if I can get a high scholarship. I appreciate all the help!”

If you’re dependent on FA as most students are and want to compare aid packages, not sure ED2 is the right path, but it is worth considering if you seriously considered ED. UVa might be something to consider - football/athletics, good for pre-law, large university. It’s definitely tough for out of state, but it does have many things you’re looking for. Duke and maybe Miami (Fl) would be smaller colleges but you don’t want to add many reaches at this point. Good luck!

30

With a 36 / 4.0 it looks like you qualify for Alabama’s Presidential Elite scholarship which will give you:

Value of tuition for up to four years for degree-seeking undergraduate and graduate or law studies
One year of on-campus housing at regular room rate
$1,000 per year stipend for four years
$2,000 one-time allowance for use in summer research or international study (after completing one year of study at UA)
$2,000 book scholarship ($500 per year for four years)

https://scholarships.ua.edu/freshman/out-of-state/#:~:text=A%20student%20with%20a%204.0,year%20stipend%20for%20four%20years

At Bama, also apply for Blount Liberal Arts, a residential program focused on reading, writing and small discussion based classes. You all live together in first year.

https://blount.as.ua.edu/about/description/

However, I concur with @MYOS1634 to apply to some reach schools as she listed/ as you prefer BUT run the Net Price Calculator before you do so to make sure they are affordable!

This will give you a good selection of safety, match and reach schools and hopefully you will have choices come the spring.

How much will your parents pay for college?

31

There’s no “in case I get a big scholarship” at meet-need colleges: you run something called the NPC, net price calculator. Each colleges looks at things differently: your parents’ income, whether they own a home and how much they have in equity, how many kids would be in college (even at a California Community College)… You enter the information, they tell you what you can expect to pay. Done.

Please don’t just apply to Duke, Brown, and Cornell.
Do run the NPC on the colleges I listed (also called “little ivies” because they’re smaller but as prestigious in elite circles). Try to do what I indicated in#23: for these colleges, you need to understand “fit” etc. to have the best chances so we can provide you with an overview. In addition, they provide VERY different financial aid, so you need to run the NPC (Vanderbilt v. Duke will be interesting, because they don’t use equity the same way, for instance.)
For English, you really want to look at the NESCAC colleges I listed like Bowdoin, Colby, Wesleyan, Amherst, Williams or Bates. If you want to be near a big city and near big sports, Haverford should definitely be a consideration.
(“NESCAC” is like “Ivy League”: the sports league’s name. But it ended up meaning more. I know the name “Ivy League” is known on the West Coast and NESCAC probably not, but on the East Coast, people who hire know that group extremely well.)

For instance, what do you like, specifically, about Brown, Duke, and Cornell? What are their main differences as far as you know?
(This type of information is crucial for your application and from your anwers we can help you figure out whatyou have and you’re missing that would sink your chances, so that you have the best odds of success.)

Apply to UAlabama, its Honors College, and the Blount program.

You can send your essays to me and I’m guessing other “senior members” will be willing to look at them.

Is your HS big or small? Rural? How many students attend a 4-year college? Have you seen the School Profile, if not can you ask your GC?
Have you completed a “brag sheet” for your teachers? Have they written recommendations for highly selective colleges before?
Does your GC know you? Can you meet quickly (zoom or other virtual systems OK)?

Is your current list
Boise State
U Alabama
UTK
Duke
Cornell
Brown

In case your GC didn’t provide you with this type of information, the typical list for a high achieving student would include:

  • two affordable safeties
    for you, that’d be UAlabama and another university your parents can afford, UTK perhaps (not sure their scholarship would be sufficient considering your parents’ income); look into Montana State or UMontana if you like Boise State. (Boise State is not a good pick for someone who wants to get out of the West and wants to major in English).
  • 3-5 matches. In your case, it'd be national liberal arts colleges and national universities where you've run the NPC and figured out the best "fit": cross referencing fit+cost, you end up with 3-5 of them. They'd have a 25-40% acceptance rate.
  • reaches: as many as you wish or can afford to apply to. For you, they'd be any university with a sub-25% acceptance rate. These will likely be "meet need" universities but because the formula vary so much, run the NPC before you apply and only apply to affordable ones.

What have your parents said about your budget?

32

Have to say it again, repeating what everyone else is saying – talk to your parents about budget and run the net price calculator on each college of interest.

In a typical California high school with students going to four year colleges (neither elite nor very low performing), a (possibly overworked) counselor is likely to be most familiar with UCs and CSUs, which might not help the OP if the OP does not want to attend any of them.

33

My daughter was similar to you, with her scores (34 ACT Superscore), Hispanic, from California, and wanting to go to a school with sports teams, but you’re definitely a step up with a 36 ACT. It hasn’t worked out well this year with sports and COVID, but I imagine by next year we could be back to normal.

If you are Hispanic male with your grades and scores, you are set. Of URMs, a Hispanic male has a huge advantage, even over females. You should be able to write your own ticket.

I would apply to top schools like Duke and Vanderbilt, and also places like UVA and UNC and see what they throw your way in terms of a scholarship. You might also want to add in some Ivies.

But I would also look at the Honors Colleges at Univ of Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, Miami of Ohio, ASU, and Arizona. These are all great programs that throw money around. My daughter got a full OOS tuition ride at ASU and that’s where she is attending.

Do you have anything else going for you like National Hispanic Recognition Program (PSAT based), National Merit Semifinalist/Finalist, etc?

34

Another school you should consider is Wisconsin. They have a great scholarship program with full tuition for URMs. Fantastic school with of course Big 10 football and sports!

https://cspks.wisc.edu/about/

35

I don’t think you realize that schools like Harvard, Princeton, Yale, really, any of the Ivies, are very likely to take you and might very well give you a full ride. You’re going to get better financial aid at highly competitive schools with big endowments than at any other schools. Do not sell yourself short! If you don’t want to be in a remote, rural area, cross Cornell and Dartmouth off your list. If you don’t want to be in a big city, cross Columbia off. Princeton is in a suburban area, on commuter rails to NYC and Philadelphia. Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Brown are all older campuses in inner city areas. All have football/basketball, and there’s plenty of school spirit around Ivy league games - just not same level as Big Ten schools. Please don’t choose a school based upon sports teams! This is like choosing a car because it’s red, and the one you saw in a really cool movie when you were eight years old. Do you realize that if you want to apply to graduate school, like law school, they’re gonna take a Harvard grad over an Alabama grad?

Most people with stats like yours have been discussing their schools list with their Ivy-educated parents all through high school. You don’t come from that background. You need to listen to what everyone here is telling you. Think bigger! Sky’s the limit for you. Most kids come on here asking whether they’re gonna get into Harvard with a 32 and a 3.5 GPA, and are not an URM. Most people are being told that even with a 4.0 and a 36, it’s a crap shoot. But for an URM male with your stats, it’s not. You have a decent shot at ANY school you apply to, and many of the top schools are need-blind, committed to giving generous fin aid to middle class and poorer students.

36

What @parentologist says is mostly true, but make sure to apply to safeties and matches like any other application, as admissions can be unpredictable, to say the least. You can still get into a top law school from Alabama, it’s just that the top-tier schools tend to have a higher % of students go to these top schools, given their resources. You can still find these opportunities at Alabama and other schools, just be prepared to work a bit harder for them (which I’m sure you do :smile: ): Alabama has a strong Honors program, for example, and I believe the Blount Scholars program? which was really cool when I took a look at it. So don’t discount your matches and safeties, as they might be a better fit for you than a more “prestigious school.”

An advantage of applying RD is that you’ll be able to choose from all your decisions, rather than preemptively committing yourself to a school if you get in.

37

And remember, despite your great stats and being URM, for the reach schools being suggested, you still need to put together solid applications with very strong essays. Since this is a little late in the game, it might be better to put together 5 very strong applications to reach schools (in addition to your safeties) with well thought out and revised essays than 10 applications to reach schools that are just thrown together. Best of luck! You will get a lot of good advice here if you continue updating.

1 Like
38

Regarding URM status - you don’t really seem to consider yourself Hispanic (at least until other posters here convinced you it’s your ticket to a dream school). What race have you listed in your file with the school district? If you are not listed as Hispanic with your school, it may appear odd to list it on an application to selective colleges.

Our district lists the student’s race on the transcript, so if that doesn’t match up, it will be red flagged by admissions officers. At the very least, the colleges might contact your counselor to find out whether you’re lying. You might check on that.

Of course, if your parents have listed you as Hispanic, then definitely apply with that status. It can only help!

39

@wgunzueta , you’ve had some good advice here. I’d especially pay close attention to @MYOS1634 , who definitely knows what she is talking about.

@lookingforward also makes good points. Make sure your essays are written with care. Remember that they serve to give admissions officers insight into you. The topic of the essays is really you, by and large. Do a bit of research to see what those colleges are looking for. Read their mission/vision statements. Tippy top schools will have a lot of very strong applicants, and they will want to see that you fit what they are looking for.

If rahrah sports matter to you, I honestly think you can look at Stanford, Duke and USC. If you want a school with a lot of school pride, there will be more choices. The Ivies and NESCAC’s have plenty of that, along with some nice rivalries and popular sports teams.

There are a ton of other schools with a lot of school pride and D1 sports. Clemson, Ohio State, Penn State, Syracuse and a bunch of others will probably roll out the red carpet for you. You would likely be admitted to the Honors Colleges at those schools.

With your stats, I’d aim pretty high and go for 6 or 7 tippy top colleges of interest, but make sure you have safeties and matches you can afford and would be happy to attend. Application fees add up. Ask your GC at school if you qualify for app fee waivers.

40

@wgunzueta, my twin daughters are freshmen at The University of Alabama and are both part of the Blount Scholars program and the Honors program. They absolutely love UA and the Blount program. We live in the Midwest and UA is about 9 hours away. There are many out of state students who choose UA. I would be happy to answer any questions you have or connect you to my daughters to get their perspective on life/studies at UA. Best of luck in your search!