Match me- Autistic girl from CT (3.6 GPA, 1400 PSAT) [<$30k?, physics or engineering]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Demographics

  • US citizen, spent 8th-10th grade in England
  • State/Location of residency: CT
  • 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)
    • 11th: Photography 1 (second semester)
  • Other academic courses:
    • 9th/10th: AQA GCSE Geography - 6; OCR GCSE Computer Science- also 6
    • 11th: Journalism

Awards
N/A

Extracurriculars
Volunteering for Women In Stem Club- running science classes at intermediate (3rd-5th grade) school

Schools
Safety (>70% acceptance): UConn, Rutgers

Match (: Rensselear, Stevens Institute of Technology, McGill

Reach(<30%): Vassar, UC Irvine or Davis

Other considerations:

Looking for research universities + LACs w/strong science programs

Prefer walkable towns/small cities

Nowhere south of Virginia, also open to Canadian schools

Would prefer dorms with kitchens

Good disability support + lots of student clubs

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Thanks for posting.

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.

Also, do you plan to take calc next year?

Thanks

Welcome | Net Price Calculator

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Financial: very basic guesstimate, no idea whether grandparents are going to contribute, and resigned to taking out loans

I definitely am planning to take Calc AB next year, as well as community college courses over the summer.

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Ask your parents to use the net price calculator on each college web site.

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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.

Even UCONN is $36K in state.