Is my college list good and are there any schools I should add/ take away? [FL resident, 3.75 GPA, 29 ACT]

College Search & Lists
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I’m a rising senior and my mom made me make a presentation “pitching” her all the schools I wanted to apply to then gave me an application budget of 600 dollars. So I can apply anywhere I want but it has to fall within that budget and I can’t change too many of the schools.

I have a 3.75 uw GPA and 4.3 w GPA and a 29 ACT without studying but I’m retaking in July with extensive studying and my goal is a 34. I’ve been a school news reporter for 2 years, done speech and debate for two years, and model UN and mock trial junior year. I’ve also won a few poetry competitions including the America Library of poetry contest and the creative communications poetic power contest 3 times in HS. I’m currently doing an internship with a local politician in which I will be canvassing and actively helping with the newsletter as well as well as other tasks. Next year I plan to start I civic leaders of America chapter at my high school. Currently I’m signed up for every poli sci contest under the sun including essay contests and things like the legaleaglebee court case competition… so hopefully I win one of those before November. I’m planning on majoring in Poli sci.

I’m getting my associate’s while in hs from Valencia college so through DirectConnect it would be an automatic acceptance to UCF and I’d have bright futures and wouldn’t have to dorm or anything.

That being said UCF is my only safety because it’s a given and I wouldn’t go anywhere else that is not a top school or out of state and in a cool area because it wouldn’t be as free as UCF, plus it is a pretty okay school. I know my GPA and ECs aren’t very strong but I’m not going to waste time applying to multiple safeties if I know for certain that if I don’t get into a top school I’m just going to UCF.

I’m looking for schools that are great for poli sci and prelaw in preferably cold areas, pretty historical looking campuses with at least some prestige, and that are at least mildly queer-friendly.

Here is my list:

  1. Amherst

  2. Brown

  3. Cornell (ED, ILR school/major)

  4. FSU

  5. Rollins (My one other target but very expensive)

  6. Swarthmore

  7. UCF (Safety)

  8. UF (My mom won’t let me take this one off)

  9. Vassar

  10. Wellesley

  11. William & Mary

  12. Williams College (on the fence about this one)

  13. Yale (My dream school even though I know there’s no way of me getting in.

  14. Georgetown

Right now it’s a bit over $600 but my mom says that’s okay. I feel like this is a really short list and I feel like I’m missing some factors even though I did a lot of research on each school and made sure most of them were ranked good when it comes to pre law and being feeders as well as in poli sci.

I don’t know if I’m going to be able to get good financial aid from any of these schools as I’m middle class and my mom is scared to let me use those financial aid calculators because she thinks the schools steal data. (you can see why I desperately want to go out of state)

But anyways if there’s anything else that you think I might not be considering about any of the schools or any suggestions you have it would be really appreciated.

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Do you know where your GPA places you in the context of your class?

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Could you please do a chance me/match me thread and answer all of the questions completely on that template? You have given us a snippet of what you have for your college applications.

But…we don’t really know what courses you have taken, and what your college annual budget is. Do you qualify for need based aid? Has your family run the net price calculators for each college (if your parents are divorced, own a business, or own real estate other than your primary residence, they might not be accurate).

Do you want additional suggestions for colleges?

I will say, right now, your ACT needs to come up significantly for many of the colleges on your list. But you already know that.

And you do have a sure thing for admission that is affordable.

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Adding…does your mom know how much some of these colleges cost per year? It would be very helpful for her to know estimated net costs, to see if these colleges will be affordable.

And to get financial aid from any college, you will need to complete the financial aid application forms. The CSS Profile looks very much more in depth than any net price calculator. Will your mom complete those forms!

You don’t mention your other parent. If your parents are divorced, some of these colleges will want your non-custodial parent to complete the non-custodial parent Profile. Does this apply to you…or are your parents married?

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She will need to run the NPCs, she can do that anonymously and not enter her email (or yours) or any other personal information. She could also run the NPCs in a browser using incognito mode.

It makes no sense to have schools on your list that wouldn’t come within your budget. Do you know what your family can contribute per year to college?

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Most of the private colleges on this list are a remote possibility even for straight A students. As a example, my GS with a perfect 36 ACT, straight A’s, a rigorous high school curriculum, and lots of extracurriculars was rejected from a number of schools on your list:

Amherst
Brown
Williams
Yale

Overall, I think that your list needs to have more schools to which you have a realistic chance of being accepted. Any college where the acceptance rate is less than 20% is a reach for everyone.

I just want to add that 3.75 is a strong gpa; it’s just not super strong. When you talk about top schools, I have to ask , “Tops for what?” There may be schools out there that are a great fit for you and also offer a good chance of acceptance, but as Thumper said, we need more information.

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If you’re starting a club your senior year, it’s unlikely to make much of a difference in the admissions process.

Colleges value sustained commitment and depth of involvement.

Your GPA seems low for the highly competitive schools unless it’s near the the top of your class.

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Perhaps consider revisiting your list when you have a real ACT score. As others have said, this is a top heavy list, and when you have your ACT scores (since some of the schools will no longer be test optional) you can look at how your numbers compare to previous applicants. Can we assume you have looked at the school’s common data sets to get a preliminary idea?

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The thing about law school…the deciding factors are your LSAT score and GPA, and LOR. The ranking of your undergrad school isn’t likely to be a factor…

And I’m not sure what you mean by “being feeders in poli sci” because that could be a LOT of fields that are not related to law school at all.

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Can you clarify please how many times you have taken the practice ACT? You said you have studied extensively but is 29 The highest score you have gotten on practice tests? Since the test date is coming up in two weeks, trying to achieve a 34 if the highest you’ve gotten so far is a 29, while not impossible, is a lofty goal.

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I’m moving schools my senior year and so I was top 20ish throughout junior year (it fluctuated a lot). But I was told by my college and career counselor there that because the current high school has very high performing students that my rank would go up when I transfer. Also yeah I was on the fence about starting a club for that exact reason. I’ll focus my efforts elsewhere. Thank you.

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Oh whoops I reversed it I ment pre law feeders. But yeah I have heard this sentiment a lot that law school doesn’t take undergrad into account. I just would like to go to a school that is known for having good results in that sense.

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I have in fact looked at a lot of common data sets and average scores. You’re right I probably should revisit the list after the score comes out it’s just that all those timelines say to have it done by late June. But yeah I’m also not going to stop retaking until I get the score I want. I have until around October but I hope by August I’ll have it.

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Yeah I think I posted this too preemptively. I don’t want to do a chance me or anything until after the summer when my stats are more solidified. I just wanted to know more about certain schools. I only added in some info about my stats because when I posted something similar elsewhere someone advised me to. Thank you for your advice reagardless.

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My first question was going to be whether or not UCF is really a safety. I will take your word for it that it is a safety. If so, then given how very good UCF is, you are in good shape. I would not be surprised at all if it is your only acceptance, or more likely one of your two acceptances (from the list that you gave us). However, you can only attend one university at a time, and this is a very good one.

FSU looks likely to me, and I might say the same things about it that I just said about UCF.

UF looks like it might be a reach, or a mild reach. That is okay, you have one or two others, and UF is a very good university. Someone I know pretty well graduated from UF, and he certainly makes the school look very good by being an alumni.

I agree that Yale is very unlikely. If it is your dream you might as well apply. Your intended major makes me wonder if law school is a possible future path. If so, then Yale will still be there at the point that you are applying to law schools.

I do not know Rollins at all. If it is too expensive, and if you have any form of graduate school in your intended future, then I wonder if you should just drop it from the list. Have you or a parent run the NPC for Rollins? If your parents are separated or divorced or own a small business then the NPC might be inaccurate and is likely to be too optimistic. Otherwise at least in our experience the NPC’s seem to be relatively accurate (although some do not predict merit aid for schools that offer merit aid).

Otherwise you have a long list of reaches. I am wondering if you should decide which two or three are your top choices, and just drop the rest from your list.

I think that there is a pretty good chance that you will need to wait until after you get your bachelor’s degree before you move out of state. Employers and graduate programs and law schools outside of Florida will know how good your in-state schools are.

If you are really set on doing your undergrad outside of Florida, then you are going to need to apply to schools outside of Florida for which admissions is more likely.

Also, if you are serious about law school, then make sure that you budget for a full 7 years of university. To stick with a reasonable budget, you might need to stick with in-state public schools, or schools that give very good merit aid and that are not reaches, for your undergrad.

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But note that all college courses, including those taken while in high school, count toward your college GPA for law school application purposes.

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Actually 14 schools is a somewhat long list. One daughter applied to 5 universities. My other daughter applied to 7 or 8 universities (both of these numbers are for undergraduate schools). These are probably relatively common numbers of schools to apply to.

One issue is that some schools, often including the most famous and highly ranked, can require a number of essays. For the highly ranked reach schools you would be best off if you understand why each school is a good fit for you. One way or another this is likely to come across in your essays. However, this requires learning a fair amount about each school, and also requires that essays often need to be written or at least modified for each school that you apply to.

I ran multiple NPCs when my daughters were applying to universities. I do not recall ever entering my name, my daughter’s name, or any other identifying information. It did at least give us some sense of what sort of aid was likely and what the costs were likely to be.

You will want to know what your budget is, and get a sense regarding whether or not any particular school is likely to be affordable. In some cases whether a school is affordable might partly depend upon whether any particular student has a major that is likely to lead to a good career with just a bachelor’s degree, or if they are thinking of likely getting some sort of graduate degree.

Realistically, a university is only a safety if you are close to certain to get accepted, and also close to certain to be able to afford to attend. Your budget is a big part of this.

If you are 20 miles from home, and living on campus, it will still feel like almost a different world compared to living at home with your parents.

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Does this mean you would be commuting from home? If you are hoping to move out of your family home, you might want to research other options.

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OP, your ACT score will likely be an important determinant of your strategy. If UCF is indeed a sure thing that is affordable and that you would be happy with, it’s fine to load up on reaches. If, however, you can’t get your score up meaningfully, drop all the reaches that aren’t TO. It’s too bad you can’t run the NPC so that you could also spare yourself the trouble of applying to anything unaffordable.

To me, Georgetown and Swarthmore look like ouliers in terms of fit/vibe. Bryn Mawr might be a good swap for Swat.

Your strategy of leaning into your writing and political activity as you package yourself seems smart. Whether many of those other prizes will move the needle at these schools is questionable, but there’s no harm in pursuing them IF they aren’t taking you away from test prep and activities that demonstrate where your interest lies. Focus on test prep for now.

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Seconding swapping out Swarthmore for Bryn Mawr.
Why Georgetown vs. GWU?
See if you can add Mount Holyoke, too.
Then, American University (its usnwr rank is a misnomer sort of, since it’s topnotch for foreign affairs, poli sci, government, business - with one day a week dedicated to DC externships) and Dickinson (also excellent for poli sci, prelaw…) all three are more prestigious than UCF and get you out of FL (which makes sense if you want a queer-friendlier state) while not being lottery schools like Yale and Georgetown.

UCF has an excellent honors college (they use it to try and “poach” FSU-admitted students, their national merit scholar package is excellent in particular.)

Run the NPCs Incognito mode. No identifying information will be asked and no other information (cookies) will be stored.
Can you do that for UCF, Mount Holyoke, Yale, American University and Georgetown then give us the net cost of each?

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