Type of high school (or current college for transfers): Public, coed.
Other special factors: Autism (diagnosed by professional aged 5)
Cost Constraints / Budget
Haven’t seriously talked to parents- guess about 30,000/yr after merit aid
Intended Major(s): Physics, Engineering, maybe minor in a social science
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
Unweighted HS GPA: 3.59
Weighted HS GPA: 4.34
Class Rank: N/A
ACT/SAT Scores: PSAT was 1400 total, 740 English, 660 Math; Princeton Review practice tests gave me 32 and 1440, respectively
List your HS coursework
English:
9th/10th Grade: Cambridge IGCSE Higher, 8 in Lang, 5 in Lit
11th: Standard level (wanted AP Lang, but it was full)
Math:
9th/10th: Edexcel IGCSE Higher- 8, on the brink of 9; Edexcel Extended Math Certificate- Distinction
11th: Pre-Calculus Honors
Science:
9th/10th: Edexcel Double Science- 8-7 (in my defense, I took it because I wanted to take more arts classes, and by the time I found out that I sucked at them, it was too late to take Triple instead) Best score in Physics section, worst in Chemistry section
11th: AP Physics 1
History and social studies:
9th/10th: Edexcel History- 3. Learned a lot, but sucked at the essays
11th: Standard
Language other than English:
9th/10th: Edexcel French - 8
11th: French 4. The counselor put me in French 3, and though I would have preferred Honors, anything is better than sophomores
Visual or performing arts:
9th: GCSE Textiles (dropped beginning of years), GCSE Drama (dropped end of year)
Please talk seriously to your parents. Merit aid is not relevant. A cost / budget is.
You may find out you have more or less.
If you only have $30K, you need to remove Rutgers, RPI (unless you qualify for need aid) .and Stevens. Same with Vassar and the UCs (which will be $80K+ in likely all instances)
So in addition to speaking to your parents about budget, find out if you qualify for need aid.
Here’s the Net Price Calculator for Vassar - which has no merit aid. Please have them fill it out - and come back with the findings.
You can only borrow $5500 the first year and you don’t want to be held back by loans.
Most of your list is unreachable unless you qualify for need aid.
That’s why I included the Vassar NPC.
You need to figure out the true budget and whether you qualify for aid before picking schools but based on what you provided, most of those schools won’t work.
You want an LAC with strong science - there’s loads
Or large research schools - with strong science schools - there’s loads
You have to work with your parents on budget first.
So, you’re a junior now, correct? So, there’s time to figure this out, but I think you’re getting ahead of yourself with your list. As others have said, you really need more insight into your financial situation - both what you’re able to spend, and how much need-based financial aid you’re eligible for. I suspect a lot of the schools you listed won’t be affordable (the UC schools, for example, will absolutely not be affordable), but you should have your parents run Net Price Calculators and see.
A school that came to my mind for your parameters is SUNY New Paltz. It offers its Flagship Match rate to CT students, so it would cost the same as UConn minus any merit you might receive. It’s in a truly lovely, walkable small town (not far from Vassar). With about 6000 undergrads, it’s a very manageable size, but big enough to have a good variety of academic programs and more than 200 clubs and organizations. There are a range of autism supports available through the Compass program - completely optional but a good resource to have, and you can pick and choose what might be helpful: SUNY New Paltz | Disability Resource Center The School of Science and Engineering offers both Physics and Engineering (EE, MechE, and CompE), and there are all the usual social sciences majors and minors. It would be a likely admit for you, with a decent chance of some merit money, which could bring the net price into budget (the sticker price of UConn still being a bit above your 30K goal). In my opinion, this is the sort of school that should form the foundation of your list, with acceptance and affordability both likely. Once you have a few schools like this to build on, then you can identify some “long shot” schools that are harder to get into or that might or might not give you enough aid to be affordable, but nail down the ones that aren’t a stretch first.
Why are you going to take community college courses over the summer? The vast majority of college applicants never take summer courses during high school. Might it be a good idea to get a job?
UConn is a fine school.
You need to take the California publics off of your list. They provide little to no financial aid to out of state students. Your costs to attend would be over $75,000 a year.