(heads up, states aren’t great, I went through a bit of a pickle throughout 3 schools, big move to new country, not great mental health, family issues. I just want to know what’s the best I can do for college, what is reasonable, what is a reach, what is guaranteed.)
Demographics
US permanent resident
Louisiana
Public high school
Household income ~ 100k
Environmental engineering
GPA: 4.0 unweighted
English: I, II honours, AP Lang (no score yet)
Math: Alg I, II, Geometry honours, regular advanced math precalculus
Science: IPC (random freshman combined science), bio honours, regular chem, AP Phy, Data analysis course from LSU partnership
History and social studies: world geo honours, AP Gov (5), APUSH
Language other than English: Spanish I, II, III honours, Bengali native
Visual or performing arts: Guitar I (could’ve gone into variety but no program at new schools)
Other academic courses: Yearbook (1 year), DE Econ
Awards
Mu Alpha Theta honourable mention x2
Texas all state guitar festival ensemble performer
Texas guitar UIL bronze medal
VEX robotics tournament 1st place x1, 2nd place x1 (most probably will win something in states)
Extracurriculars
Clubs: Red Cross (1 year), CFALA (1 year), Mu Alpha Theta (2 years, founder and president), NHS (1.5 years), robotics (1 year)
Volunteer: Red Cross (3 years), Youth coordinator and regional ambassador (1 year)
Programs: NYAS Junior Academy, LSU research internship
Schools
Assured (100% chance of admission and affordability):
Extremely Likely: LSU
Likely: Texas A&M
Toss-up: UT Austin moody college of natural sciences
Lower Probability: UT Austin Cockrell school of engineering
If you haven’t taken the SAT or ACT yet, do you know what your PSAT score was?
Michigan is a reach for everyone, and Austin and A&M can be tough admits for non-residents. We can suggest some good, affordable options for you with some more information.
You may qualify for financial aid at some schools, but not all. What can your parents afford to pay per year for college? Have you tried running any net price calculators yet?
Before you start building a college list, you need to have a conversation with your parents about the college budget. Michigan, for example, will cost $80,000/year.
If you can come back here with your budget, you will get lots of suggestions for safety, match, and reach schools.
Edit: I know I can’t do UMich, I just added it as an example of something not happening. UT Austin is highly unlikely as well, but they have in state tuition if you get a college for 20 hrs/week. My parents would sell their souls for my education but I won’t ask them to. Highest would be 10k, near LSU’s cost and I’ll figure the rest out. It’s not a big deal, I understand if LSU’s the best I can do, it makes sense cause I can save money living at home. And if I get rejected from LSU… uhh then it won’t be the end of the world, I’ll figure it out.
I’m sorry, we didn’t take the PSAT, only pre ACT which was 34 for me. I haven’t talked with my parents but I think they can afford 8-10k because my mom did that for my sister and my dad will help me. Net price calculators ask for financial and tax info and I’m still not comfortable asking about all that.
I had to take regular pre calc because the DE precalc and trig had no space, and its a requirement for AP calc and stats which i’ll take next year. Thank you for your help.
If you’re looking at an $8-10k budget, definitely look into U. of Louisiana - Lafayette. If you were to get a 32+ on the ACT, and with your GPA, you would qualify for their Live Oak Scholarship which will cover room & board for four years along with an additional $3k/year plus an on-campus job (if desired). When combined with TOPS, you’d probably be at a full ride.
If you get a 33+ on the ACT, you’d be looking at the Presidential Scholarship of $9500 from Louisiana Tech, plus TOPS money (source).
Here are the TOPS amounts for SY24-25, which would be $7462.98 for LSU, $5406.96 for ULL, or $5553 at Louisiana Tech. And you’d get an additional $800/year as you should qualify for TOPS Performance.
So, in terms of direct-billed costs (costs paid to the university for tuition, fees, and room and board), using prices from College Navigator (the feds’ website), this is what your costs look like:
LSU: About $27k sticker price - $7462.98 TOPS - $800 Performance = $18,737.02 for tuition & fees plus room & board (but you may well receive additional merit aid from LSU)
ULL: Sticker of about $23k - $5406.96 TOPS - $800 Performance - $3k Live Oak - $11,498 for suite style room & board = $2300, plus you’d be eligible for a campus job of up to $1200/semester.
LA Tech: Sticker of about $20k - $5553 TOPs - $800 Performance - $9500 Presidential = $4147
So although you’re an extremely likely admit for all three schools, only at ULL and LA Tech would I consider them extremely likely to admit you AND to meet budget. LSU is definitely a question mark as to whether it would meet an $8-10k budget.
Ask your parents to complete it for Princeton, which is arguably one of the most generous schools in defining merit. If you do have significant financial need, private schools are likely to be better bets for you than out-of-state public schools (outside of UVA and UNC, the latter of which is not much of an engineering school) if you’re seeking to have those prices met via financial aid (rather than merit aid).
Your stats look excellent. You should definitely be proud of your accomplishments.
Hey, I appreciate the effort you put into this. Thank you so much. I’ll definitely look into this. About my accomplishments, compared to my parents, I’m a couch potato squishmallow, but if any other students’ reading this, where you go to college may be important, but not enough for you to lose your mind over it. Be a good person.
99% of society is a “squishmallow” compared to what you described above.
And where you go to college matters for a few things:
Where is affordable
Who has your major
If you look at most any workplace, there will be people from many ranges of colleges working the same jobs and you will have leaders from lesser known schools like ULL managing people from schools like UT.
It’s not all 100% hierarchical like kids about to go to college think it is.
In the end, the cream rises to the top.
If you’re the cream, you’ll be just fine - whether LSU/ULL or Texas, etc.
UNRELATED to the main post. MORE OF A RANT. Please don’t read if you might get annoyed
Funny you say that. I can’t help but stray from the topic cause the itch’ll stay. My dad was born in a mud house in a village in a third world country with 7 siblings. Mom died at a young age. Dad was a farmer. Went to top college in my country, graduated first in his class, PhD from Cambridge, senior research scientist for a company now. One of his brothers own a stall on the side of the street. He pays for a lot of the kids’ education cuz no schooling is free in my home country. My grandfather did not take women’s education seriously, despite that my mom, Phd from Cambridge, senior professor at an uni at my home country. My aunt is gifted and talented (actually, not that random fake title my school gives students who can’t do algebra) but wasn’t allowed to finish college to get married. I’ll praise them till I die. Sounds like they could easily pay for college for me, but they use their money elsewhere and I don’t want to take more than I already have with no returns. My sister got into UT austin twice, internationally, as a polymathic scholar and then attended in state after a year in UTSA cuz tuition was too high oos. I can tell my dad wants me to go to LSU so that I’ll keep living with him and so tuition is low. I could go on and on about much of my family, but you get the point. Prestige or not, I wasn’t supposed to turn out so weak.
But I understand. Maybe I wasted high school, but because I’m already so privileged there is no way I can truly be stuck unless I literally make zero effort. That’s what they gave me, and their flaws don’t matter after that.
You have definitely not wasted your HS years – in fact, you are quite accomplished. So move forward and be the best “you” that you can be!
Consider a quote I love from Eleanor Roosevelt, “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” Be proud of who you are and your accomplishments. There is no need to compare yourself to others.
Also consider an expression I often say to my kids which is “give yourself grace” – none of us is perfect and it is OK.
Lastly, If you want to leave home for college, look at schools that offer huge merit aid (some mentioned above) for people with your stats.