Type of high school (or current college for transfers): Public
Cost Constraints / Budget: $70k/yr
Intended Major(s): Political Science
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
Unweighted HS GPA: 3.94
Weighted HS GPA: 4.43
Class Rank: Top 8%
ACT Score: 34 super; 33 single-sitting
List your HS coursework: Through Junior Year - 3 APs / 6 IBs / tons of Honors classes
Awards: On track for IB diploma and seal of biliteracy in French
Extracurriculars
Multi-year baseball captain (All-American honorable mention but not playing in college); National Honor Society; Humane Society volunteer; Peer Court
Essays/LORs/Other: Guessing these are average?
Schools
Obviously open to more suggestions here, but I like a big campus feel and energy. Michigan, Wisconsin, Penn State, Alabama, Tulane are all on my short list. Prefer to leave Utah.
Your grades and scores and rank are competitive. Your ECs sound light to me. Even with good grades and scores, some schools would still be a reach just based on their overall low acceptance rate…such as Tulane and Michigan…which are also are over budget unless you qualify for aid? But you should have good choices and merit at Alabama. Good luck.
Maybe Ohio State? Big school energy, strong political science, not an easy admit but should be a solid target for someone with strong stats. A lot of state schools have significantly lower OOS acceptance rates that could make them tough but you are a strong student so you have a shot…Georgia, Florida, USF…I think all come in under $70K. UT Austin and UNC would be great as well but would be a big reach just because of very low OOS acceptance rate. (UVA also a huge reach and it would be out of budget)
Tulane is a difficult admit if not doing ED and with your budget - unless you run their NPC and it shows less than $70K - it’s unlikely to be affordable. If you’ll qualify for need based aid that gets you down to the $70K and it’s REALLY on your short list it might be worth the ED slot but don’t do that unless it checks all your boxes.
Thanks for that feedback. My high school has had a number of students go to Tulane in past years with good merit money at the EA round. Hoping that could possibly get it under $70k.
It’s already on your list, but I just want to second Wisconsin as a great fit for you. Definitely a big-school culture, lively campus, beautiful setting (both the city and its natural setting amid Madison’s lakes), and a great place to study poli sci, with excellent academics and lots of opportunities afforded by living in the state capital. Along those lines, you might also consider the University of Minnesota and the University of Denver (where merit money could get you under budget, but I’m not sure).
As to Tulane, yes, it has a lower admit rate, but it’s much higher for men than for women (this is one of those schools that seeks to correct a lopsided male/female ratio).
Are you looking to do anything international with Poli Sci - i.e. French. If so, that would impact the list.
At $70K, unless you have need, you should remove Michigan. It’s well over $80K (given annual increases and the last two years are currently $4K higher.
Now the question becomes (to me), if you get into Wisconsin and Penn State - approaching $60K (is $60K at Wisconsin) - and Bama is low $20s for you - does that matter?
So does $150K delta over four years matter?
If so, then don’t apply PSU and Wisconsin - because you’ll be low 20s with automerit at Bama and you’ll be full pay at PSU and Wisconsin.
If you want like names that will be good but cheaper - for Penn State, you can try Ohio State and given it’s Poli Sci - Indiana is a home run school but not much less than PSU but you’ll get some merit. If you want French, they are fantastic for language too.
If you like the South and Bama, you can also look at UGA and UF (which will be double the cost of Bama for you but cheaper than PSU and Wisconsin). UTK is another strong in French.
If you like Tulane which won’t hit without merit, check out College of Charleston. You may be like my daughter - she was in the Charleston Fellows and International Scholars program (she double majored in Intl Studies and Poli Sci) - so it’s a group within Honors - as your #s are well above. Big scholarships if you land in that program as well as a study away included. You might find U Denver works for you as well - strong in International politics. American, too, is another that could work.
Have you run NPC’s at various schools you are considering? If you qualify for FA, a lot of more generous private schools will come in under $70k. So, I ran the NPC for Notre Dame for you assuming HH income of $200k with $200k in assets, the family contribution is only $55,600
Obviously run the NPC’s based on your family’s numbers. My only point is that many large privates my be cheaper than many publics for OSS. Having a sibling already in college will affect the calculation.
The numbers don’t tell the whole story. We don’t know how the credentials of the make and female students compared. I have to think that Tulane would like to achieve better gender balance and that they look favorably on well qualified male applicants. This linked article shows that it is a topic of discussion on campus:
You’re right - there is no underlying information published that they accept Males with GPA’s lower than Females (or lower scored SAT/ACT’s). Is there a male that got in with a 3.6 when a female got declined with a 3.9? Absolutely - but it’s wholistic admissions review and I would respectfully disagree that when we’re talking about thousands of applications the qualifications of the males is statistically different than the females.