I am a rising high school senior, and at quite a lost for college searching. I have at this moment a 3.64 weighted GPA, it has not yet been recalculated from the end of junior year so it should be around a 3.7 considering the amount of honors classes I took. I know that my GPA is not the best, which was due to really a lack of motivation and laziness my freshman year. My junior year I really picked it up and took all dual-enrollment and honors courses. I will be a first generation college graduate and am Hispanic coming from a low- income single parent household. I live in Connecticut so I have been lookingfor local universities such as: University of Connecticut, Fairfield University, Sacred Heart University and Quinnipiac University, however I am not really sure of my chances outside of these schools. I’m interested in a neurobiology major in the pre-med track. I have been looking at Boston College, Boston U, University of Richmond, all which I believe are reach schools. I also go to a STEM magnet high school. Really asking for some honest opinions/ chances on any schools I mentioned, as well as any schools that any of you might know off the top of your head that I should look into. I live in the poorest city of my state, and there are not many resources available to me to inform myself about college.
ECs: Internship at the International Institute of Connecticut
Internship at local clinic
National Honor Society president
Eco club: vice president, secretary
BuildOn (volunteering club/organization): Communications
Student Council member
Dancer at local dance studio since 8th grade
Dance instructor at same studio
On the committee that organized my city’s first Relay For Life event (walk for Cancer)
100+ community service hours
Junior year grades: (my classes are only a semester long, so I finished some or most of my mandatory classes sophmore year)
UConn English: A
UConn History: A
UConn Calculus I: B-
UConn Statistics: C :((
Honors Chemistry: A+
Magnet Honors Human Physiology: A+
Magnet Honors Biotechnology: A+
Magnet Honors Genetics: A-
I feel like I did pretty well junior year despite the C in college statistics, I took every single college course my school offered at the time. I know that my GPA and EC’s are not solid, so if anyone has already gone through a similar experience, I ask to please give opinions on other schools I have a good chance of getting into (in the northeast preferably, but any and all are welcome) based on what I have. I’ve done some research on my own, but most schools I’ve heardof require an insanely high SAT score/ GPA. Thank you for taking the time to read this
Your junior year looks pretty good, and the upward trend in grades is something the schools like to see, but what is your unweighted GPA? And your SAT score? Do you know how much your parents will be able to contribute to your college expenses? It sounds like you’re interested mainly in universities rather than liberal arts colleges, and mainly in the Northeast, but would you consider smaller schools and other regions? People here will have suggestions, but need more info to go on.
My unweighted GPA is 3.34, I have only taken the SAT one time, and my overall score was a 1600, planning to take it two more times and hopefully raise that to an 1800. I would totally consider smaller liberal arts schools and would love suggestions for those, I’m not informed on many of those types of schools. I would also consider other regions but would preferably want to stay as close to the northeast as possible, I have a mom with health issues and would like to be close in case of anything. In terms of my mom contributing to my college expense, it would not be much, she makes less than $25,000 per year, however, we do qualify for tons of financial aid. I did a net price for some universities I listed and I would have to pay less than $5,000 for a couple. Thanks a lot for your time and response!
What do the net price calculators for the Connecticut public universities tell you?
Eastern Connecticut State University claims to be a more LAC-like school; it has about 4,400 undergraduates. Of course, University of Connecticut is more of a big flagship-type university with over 18,000 undergraduates at the main Storrs campus.
Thanks for the quick response and additional info. I think that it’s great that you want be near your mom, and the northeast has so many schools, that shouldn’t be a problem. Do you know about Collegedata.com? You can look up schools and see their admissions statistics, and lots else too. Sacred Heart looks like a good ‘match’ school; your SAT and GPA are right at their average: http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg02_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=16 At Fairfield your SAT is around the 25th percentile, so that makes it more of a reach. Under the ‘financial’ tab we see that Sacred Heart meets, on average, 59% of financial need, and that Fairfield, a wealthier university, meets 87% of need. Quinnipiac is an admissions match, and meets 64% of need.
BC is too much of a reach, I’m afraid. BU and Richmond are right now as well, though if you’re able to get your ACT to 1800, that would get you to their 25th percentiles. You sound like a serious kid and the first gen/low-income/URM status is a help.
For LACs, there’s a website, Colleges That Change Lives http://www.ctcl.org/ that describes and lists a group of schools which are smaller and focus on providing a personal education, and in admissions are more likely to look beyond your stats to a compelling personal story. Liberal arts colleges often have good financial aid. I looked up Juniata and Ursinus, both in Pennsylvania, which are a bit reachy for you but still possible, and both meet 80%-ish of financial need. None of these are going to be as generous as BC, which meets 100% of need. It’s one of the painful parts of this whole process that if you’re looking for need-based aid, the schools that are easiest to afford are the hardest to get into.
When you look at the results of the net price calculator, distinguish between grants, which you do not need to pay back, and loans. You want to make sure you do not take on loans that would create a significant burden after college. The limit for you to borrow personally is $5,500 per year.
Eastern Connecticut and Central Connecticut State College are safeties and meet about 70% of financial need, with a total instate cost of about $25,000. University of Hartford also is a safety/match - it has a much higher 4 year graduation rate that ECSU and CCSU, but is twice the cost (although they meet sbout 91% of financial need). UConn would be a reach. You can ask schools for a waiver of the application fee.
You should look at Clark University, it is test optional and near other schools in Worcester, the second largest city in New England.
Other Catholic schools to look at would be Siena, St. Michael’s, St. Anselm, Canisius and St. Bonaventure. St. Michael’s is in Burlington, VT so its hard to find a better location than that. St. Anslem is near Portsmouth, NH, really nice seaside town.
@ucbalumnus My net price for University of Connecticut was 10,000 while my net price for Eastern Connecticut state University was 5,000 @hs2015mom No I have not heard of those websites, I will definitely look into them. I will try and attempt for that 1800 score, would like to get into a school with a decent premed program and I know that most require that score to get accepted. I will be on the lookout for those schools with the websites you gave me. Thank you so much for your suggestions and help. @albclemom I have not heard of University of Hartford, I will look into those universities mentioned and my ability to pay them. Thank you for your suggestions and help, it gave me much more clarity and a better direction what to look for in my college search.
@BatesParents2019 Much thanks! I’ll look at those schools later on today, many of them sound familiar. @NASA2014 My junior year C was a total bummer, because I worked so hard in that class but math will just always be my weakest subject. The problem I think is that I’ve gotten a couple of C’s my freshmen year, which really is what has kept my GPA from being way higher, because I have done well after that. Thanks a lot though, I’ll stay optimistic about schools and not be too discouraged about previous grades!
Fairfield is test optional so if you aren’t happy with your final SAT scores then don’t include them with your application. It’s a great school, nice kids, and good location for you!
