Type of high school: Public (kind of competitive but nothing crazy)
Other special factors: erm
Cost Constraints / Budget: My parents don’t plan to help me pay for college, but I would LOVE to avoid going into a lot of debt, so I’m definitely looking at scholarships. We’re solidly middle class though so I would get a lot of aid from top schools and not much from everywhere else
Intended Major(s): Engineering (not sure what kind but perhaps electrical)
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
Unweighted HS GPA: 4.0
Weighted HS GPA: 4.55
Class Rank: 25/500
ACT/SAT Scores: I got a 34 on the PreACT and a 1440 on the PSAT; I’ve signed up to take the SAT and ACT tho and am taking them soon.
List your HS coursework
English: English 1/2 honors, AP Lang – next year, taking AP Lit
Math: Math 1/2/3 honors, AP Precalc – next year, taking Calc BC
Science: Bio honors, Chem honors, AP Physics 1 (my school doesn’t have C or I would have taken it), APES – next year, taking AP Chem or Bio.
History and social studies: World History honors, AP Gov, APUSH, AP HuGe, Sociology/Psychology – next year, taking whatever the graduation requirement is and maybe AP Macro cuz I love the teacher and it sounds cool.
Language other than English: Spanish 1/2 (not planning to take 3 because I hate how the classes work at my school and it makes me want to throw myself out a window)
Visual or performing arts: Band (highest level, since freshman year)
I applied for Governor’s School in Math and I’ve made it to state level consideration, so if I get in, I suppose I’ll include it on here.
Band Awards (most outstanding woodwind last year, my section won section of the year this year!!!)
Extracurriculars
Science Olympiad: varsity team member, hopefully I’ll be a captain next year, won some medals last year, first comp of this year is in a week so maybe I’ll win even more.
Officer in a club where we promote reading to younger kids.
Wind Ensemble: principal player (not the whole time I’ve been there though), performed at a regional festival as a featured group and got good ratings at MPA.
Catechist at my church, teach a young class the fUnDaMeNTaLs oF cAtHoLiCisM and prepare them for their first communion (there’s a backstory to how I got into this but I’m really not religious).
Random Honors Societies: math, science, and music; tutored chemistry and math, done a lot of music related volunteer things. all of the advisors like me a lot, so I’ll probably be in leadership roles next year.
NHS: I know it’s basic but I want to be president, this is quite literally my biggest goal rn and I’m SO LOCKED IN!!
I do some proofreading for works that go on Project Gutenberg which is random but kind of cool?
Also one of my teachers is doing an AP Euro class after school since the school won’t let the social studies department add anymore electives lol so I’ve been going to that, idk if that counts as an EC but oh well.
Essays/LORs/Other
I’m a pretty good writer (this post does NOT reflect that though so you’ll have to trust me) and I have several teachers that adore me, so I think I’ll be okay? My counselor potentially hates me though…I tried to move up in math classes and this girl would NOT let it happen.
Schools
So, I was really just thinking about NC State, UNC Charlotte, and Western Carolina until one of my favorite teachers told me I was the best student he’d had in years and I should absolutely set my sights higher. Honestly, I don’t know where to start though and google led me here
Your budget is the first step in creating a college list. Most undergrads can take out a max of $27K in federal student loans, starting with $5.5K freshman year. That won’t go far.
Even if your parents are willing to take out loans and/or co-sign for you, or you want to take out non-cosigner required loans with interest rates in the teens, I would caution you against taking more than the $27K in loans.
Run the Net price calculator at some meet-full-need private schools that you might be interested in. Since you are looking at engineering, maybe try Cornell’s and Lehigh’s. That will give us a sense of how much financial aid you might get from meet-full-need schools. You will need your parents’ help with the financial data for the NPCs.
Here’s Cornell’s:
Note the NPCs may not be accurate if your parents are divorced, or own a business or real estate beyond a primary home…are any of those the case for you?
Western Carolina has the NC Tuition Promise program (free/low cost tuition) and consequently would be more affordable for you, but college is very expensive. You would still have to pay for housing and food, books, etc. Tuition is sometimes not the most expensive bit for an in state student.
NC State has a lot of good scholarships to apply for. It’s a good engineering school.
I think with your budget constraints you are really going to have to go where you can afford. Some less prestigious private schools may offer more to a good student like you, but a school like Georgia Tech for example might not. The meets needs schools may not help that much if your parents could afford to pay but are just choosing not to.
As much as I hate them (Go Heels) look at Duke. They have started offering some good scholarships to NC residents.
My parents are not divorced right now and don’t own a business or anything. I ran the NPC, and it said the estimated net price would be $22,832 and my parents would contribute around $13,000 of that.
I should mention that all four of my grandparents left me an inheritance when they died to be used for college, so I have I think around $40,000 from that in addition to loans.
I appreciate what your teacher said but budget matters. You couldn’t take on a lot of debt even if you wanted to. Yiu can only borrow $5500 the first year.
If you want to go out of state and you deliver on the ACT, U of Alabama would be $20kish all in using today’s money and UAH and Miss State a tad less. Fine engineering schools but still not free
WCU has ABET accreditation but in limited majors.
As for being middle class so thinking you’d get a lot of aid, have your folks fill out a few NPCs. I put two below from schools that meet need. Many get more than they think; others get less.
Alternatively you can start at a community college and live home.
It’s the room and board that’s expensive, no matter your school accomplishments.
One of my teachers recommended Western Carolina since a good number of his previous students had gotten full rides there, so that’s why it was on my radar. Thanks for replying!!
Note that free tuition, which is the NC Tuition Promise is NOT a full ride. Do take a look at Duke, too. It is a reach for you probably even though you have excellent grades. They waive tuition of NC residents whose family income is less than $150k annually, but again you’d have to pay for room and board and books and other incidentals.
With your budget constraints it’s worth running the numbers on doing community college and then transferring to a 4 year school. NC State has the C3 program that guarantees admission. Annual household income must be less than $11000. But you can transfer to State from community college w/o the C3 program if that income threshold doesn’t work for your family.
One thing to check into is taking some dual enrollment community college classes next year while you are still in high school. Community college dual enrollment classes are free for high school students through the Career and College Promise program. More info at High School Students - NCCCS . Those credits would transfer to any NC public university. And those are credits in college you don’t have to pay for.
With $40k in the bank, the 27k in student loans and a part time job plus summer jobs, you can likely hit one of the Bama or Miss schools.but you need a 32+ ACT.
You can also get a job at Starbucks and go to Arizona Stare free. They have some engineering like MechE on their list of classes. You can check for ABET but they are through the Fulton School so should be accredited.
Ah, thanks for that. I know someone who works at Starbucks and thought they had told me it was business only, but I must have misremembered. It is an online program only, though.
Again, it is tuition, not any of the other things like housing, food, books, supplies, etc.
And you have to work at Starbucks the whole time. You can get cheap or free tuition to Western Carolina and possibly Duke just by being an NC resident.
If you are undecided on what kind of engineering or are likely to change, your in-state publics with a wider selection of engineering majors are NCSU, NC A&T, and UNC Charlotte.
But note that NCSU has a competitive secondary admission process to declare your major after entering as an undeclared engineering student.
