Match me please (especially for early round/ED!) (AL resident, 4.0 u/w, 36 ACT, applying as econ/polsci) [<$18k, prefer <$10k]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Demographics

  • US domestic (US citizen or permanent resident) or international student: US citizen, domestic
  • State/Location of residency: AL
  • Type of high school (current college for transfers): Public
  • Gender/Race/Ethnicity (optional): Male, wasian
  • Other special factors (first generation to college, legacy, athlete, etc.): n/a

Intended Major(s)
Economics or political science, possibly applied math
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 4.0
  • Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): 4.4 (honors=4.5, AP=5, block schedule)
  • College GPA (for transfers): 4.0/4.0
  • Class Rank: 9/270
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 36 ACT

Coursework
(AP/IB/Dual Enrollment classes, AP/IB scores for high school; also include level of math and foreign language reached and any unusual academic electives; for transfers, describe your college courses and preparation for your intended major(s))
APs: Calc AB+BC (5), chemistry (4), physics 1 (4), lang (5), lit (senior yr), gov (senior yr)
DE: Microeconomics, US history, discrete math, real analysis (senior year), linear algebra (senior year)
Awards
First prize at an international music competition
Top 100ish peak ranked nationwide in my debate event
Top 30 at fairly large national debate tournament
State champions for a math tournament
State champions for another math tournament

Extracurriculars
(Include leadership, summer activities, competitions, volunteering, and work experience)

Board of directors at a well-known debate nonprofit, national impact

Founded debate tutoring organization specifically for national competition for my event (changes a lot about the event) that also does a lot of well received resources, got students without school debate programs to finals of national tournaments and qualifications to the biggest national tournament in the US.

Debate (competing)

Korean language tutor for younger aged kids

Math team captain

Personal/solo music performance mostly for competitions

Essays/LORs/Other
(Optionally, guess how strong these are and include any other relevant information or circumstances.)
Essays: aiming to revise until at least 9/10, preferably 10/10 but unsure
LORs: ranging from around 6/10-10/10

Cost Constraints / Budget
(High school students: please get a budget from your parents and use the Net Price Calculators on the web sites of colleges of interest.)
Preferably under 10k net price yearly but can go as high as about 17-18k (AGI about 115k)

Other Useful Info
Not a hard requirement by any means but having either an established collegiate policy debate program or one nearby would be nice (NDT/CEDA)

Err grade inflation but I’m fine with whatever, I’m considering law school

All regions are fine, but I would prefer east coast whether its New England or the Southeast

I’m fine with most locations minus remote to the degree of Cornell

For size I’d prefer around or under 10k undergraduate enrollment

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Based on your academic interests, you may benefit from researching colleges with an available major in public policy, which relies on fields such as political science and economics for a foundation. For specific suggestions, this site may be of helpful:

A major in data science, through which you could choose a social science as an “applied domain,” also may be suitable for you.

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Any size preferences? 30,000 vs 2,000 would be good to know.

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Here’s the link to the OP’s original chance me with their initial college list: Chance Me: AL resident, 4.0/36 ACT for math/econ 2025 at Brown ED and others [<$20k on parent income $110k]

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Probably midsize-ish, I’d prefer around or under 10k undergraduate enrollment

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Has your family run the Net Price Calculators (NPCs) at any schools? We need to know if the NPC at schools that only offer need-based aid are coming back affordable. Looking at your previous thread it seemed that your family did run the NPCs, but the budget was in the $20-25k range. Are those schools still affordable with the lower budget?

Your previous thread had schools like Amherst and Macalester on it. Are schools of about 2k undergrads okay, or are you trying to stay closer to 10k students?

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So your biggest issue will be budget. It sounds like the NPCs at some of the top schools you’re considering will work.

And you have solid in state options that will hit cost. You might say - well I want better - but they have the allure that your hard work in school has allowed you to afford these!!

In this end, you need to find a meets need school that will give you enough (do their NPCs) and use your in state schools - even if too big - as the financial safety. With a 36 and 4.0, you

PRESIDENTIAL ELITE

A student with a 4.0+ GPA and 36 ACT OR 1600 SAT will be selected as a Presidential Elite Scholar and will receive:

  • Value of tuition for up to four years or eight semesters for degree-seeking undergraduate and graduate or law studies
  • First year of on-campus housing at regular room rate (based on assignment by Housing and Residential Communities)
  • $1,000 per year supplemental scholarship for four years
  • $2,000 one-time allowance for use in summer research or international study (after completing one year of study at UA)
  • $500 per year Supe Store book scholarship for four years

After that, there are some great schools on the meets need list - but you have to see given your $115K AGI, if they’ll give you enough.

The Ivies will be tough admits - but there are some “easier” admits - but I don’t know if they’ll hit - a U of Miami or Davidson (staying in the SE), Lafayette (NE) or F&M or Union (also NE) and maybe a few in the MW like a Denison, Kenyon. See what the NPCs look like - they meet need but their formulas may not be as aggressive as the Ivies.

With fantastic safety options in state, you are in a nice position. And for law school, the where you go won’t matter!! And we know you’re a great test taker so that LSAT will be strong too most likely - and that will be what matters.

Best of luck.

Here’s Every College That Offers 100% Financial Aid (prepscholar.com)

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With the budget concern, I had some bad information that upped the net price considerably. Schools that offer need based aid only are now looking affordable. For reference, net price at Harvard is ~9k and Princeton is ~3.5k.

On size, I am fine with lower enrollment, its just an upper cap

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FYI per the OP’s other thread.

The OP also indicated they will be eligible for the grandparent waiver in FL so plan to apply with FSU and FL.

@inkyb1 is this still accurate? Any other details you can share to help guide posters to help you?

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The grandparent waiver isn’t an automatic - so if they can get it, it’s FANTASTIC.

In the end, they need an affordable school - if it’s a Florida school…great.

If it’s a meet needs schools they can get in to and it’s affordable (I listed some less competitive admissions wise ones above but who knows if they meet the budget), then great.

If OP strikes out on all else, then they have to consider the options. For the in state flagship, it’s mostly out of state students. And btw - I got to both the Panhandle and Alabama for work - and there’s not a difference amongst the culture.

The OP will have a choice to make if that happens (no affordable, admits to reach schools and no grandparent waiver) - and certainly needs an assured affordable in their back pocket - but that’s up to them how they get there. There’s an easy option.

Best of luck to them in their reach list and getting a grandparent waiver. Check each school for the GP waiver - I think early bird may get the worm at some.

But they should have Plan C if neither happen - but that’s up to them.

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I was simply sharing the OP’s preferences (for those who haven’t seen the other thread) so that posters could take that into consideration when offering advice.

That said, since the OP has lived in both FL and AL I expect they are very familiar with any cultural differences, especially if they lived in south Florida.

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Agreed - noted the Panhandle because I saw FSU mentioned.

I’m glad you shared - it’s too hard to go back and forth between posts.

I just OP has plan C for if a reach or Florida with grandparent don’t work out…

Always need a plan, just in case. btw - it’s a bit too small and rural but W&L and its Johnson might be worth a flyer. Same with SMU and the Presidential. I know there are some others too - but those have a good quantity of winners.

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The waiver is still accurate, we have the required info and I’ll be applying for it basically as soon as the application is open

As for other information, I’m not sure, but I can give whatever information is necessary based on what posters need

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The first part of the list that we need to focus on are the sure things. The ones that are extremely likely to accept you, be affordable, and that you would be happy to enroll in and attend for four years. You need at least one, and preferably at least two, on your college list.

I’d get very familiar with the schools on this thread. Many of them are larger than you want, but nearly all of the “too big” schools will have honors colleges that are the size that you want. So you get the variety and advantages of a big school, but with the advantages of a smaller school.

One school that would give you a full ride and meets your size preferences (8800 undergrads) is U. of Idaho. But it’s in a more remote location and in the western half of the U.S.

U. of Houston is way larger than you want, but it’s in the eastern half of the U.S. and NMF would cover tuition & fees, leaving about $11k for room & board. There are about 38k undergrads here. Houston is a major airline hub, so frequent and inexpensive flights should be available to get home.

U. of Texas - Dallas reportedly has a more academic vibe and has about 22k undergrads. National Merit finalists receive free tuition & fees plus $3k/year for on-campus housing plus $8k/year stipend plus other bonuses for study abroad and summer research. Dallas is a major airline hub, so frequent and inexpensive flights should be available to get home.

Oklahoma State: NMF covers tuition, $6500/year toward housing, about another $4k/year in stipends, and an additional $3k for the first year. Essentially, this comes very close to a full ride. Stillwater has gotten props as a good college town and it’s about one hour from both Oklahoma City and Tulsa. There are about 21k undergrads here and I’d call this pretty much the center of the country in terms of east/west.

I’d research these and see if any of them appeal to you. Look into their honors colleges, opportunities for NMF students, extracurriculars, living learning communities, etc. Going to college for free, or nearly so, is an amazing opportunity, and free or nearly so fits within your budget!

Once you find some sure things that you like (and I’ll continue to look for you as well), then you can find additional schools that aren’t guaranteed options, but for which you have a shot.

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I’ve been looking into safeties recently and so far I’ve found the University of Oklahoma as checking pretty much all of my boxes, as well as being fairly generous with scholarships. Is this legitimately a safety or is Google lying to me? If Google isn’t, safeties should be fine.

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It’s great that you’ve been looking for some sure things. I think that U. of Oklahoma is an extremely likely admit for you. It has a rather complex NMF award, but essentially it looks like you’d pay about $8k/year for tuition (it’s $2k off of in-state tuition) and all years would get a reduction of $5500/year for room & board & books, which would bring the costs down to about $16k/year. But the first year there’s an additional $5k for housing and there’s an additional cash stipend (average of about $1250/year) and first year NMFs get an additional $1k. So it won’t be the least expensive NMF offer, but it would fall within the $17-18k stretch budget, but not the preferred sub-$10k budget. So the question is whether you would prefer OU at $10-16k/year or OSU or UTD would come in closer to free.

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Got it. I’ve checked out the national merit award and it would be a bit tough on its own, but it also has automatic merit scholarships that would bring the cost down to ~2k/yr.

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Which scholarships are you referring to? I read this on the webpage, bolding the section about students not receiving more than one merit-based award.

Non-Resident Freshman Scholarships

This list represents some of the general, university-centralized freshman scholarships for fall 2024, but is not all-inclusive. Admitted students will be offered the highest scholarship listed in the chart below based on their qualifications. Test-optional applicants will also be considered for scholarships based on a holistic review of their application. Students cannot receive more than one of these merit-based awards. Students may also qualify for additional need-based financial resources and are encouraged to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

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Oh, I didn’t see this. Thanks for pointing this out. In that case, I’ll keep it on the backburner but keep looking for cheaper options.

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OU is a safety - but are you NMF?

Direct costs (tuition, room, and board) are $46,633.

NMSF get $16K a year. NMF gets what’s attached.

So if direct costs (next year) are let’s say $185K - and you get $130K - although it’s not all a discount - some, for example, is a research stipend - but that would be $55K-ish over four years - so that would hit budget. You’d need to look deeper.

OU will be floeded with kids from the Dallas area.

If you’re not NMF, it would not be affordable to you. I didn’t get the sense you were from your write up - but perhaps I missed it.

NMpackage_2023_Non-Resident.pdf (ou.edu)