Match Me: SC resident, 3.8 WGPA 3.3 UGPA, psychology major, good ECs

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Demographics

  • US domestic

  • State/Location of residency: SC

  • High ranked high school

Cost Constraints / Budget

Definitely can’t afford their regular tuition, but I qualify for their Beacon program by a lot. (One of the main reasons I want to go!)

Intended Major(s)

Psychology, Sociology

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.3

  • Weighted HS GPA: 3.8

  • Haven’t taken the SAT yet, but when I do I’ll put my score here. Im shooting for 1400, got 1200 on PSAT.

List your HS coursework

  • English: 3 honors, 1 AP so far

  • Math: everything up to precalculus

  • Science: physical science, biology, chemistry honors

  • History and social studies: 2 honors 1 AP (euro)

  • Language other than English: German 1,2 and 3 honors (should I do 4?)

  • Visual or performing arts: Guitar 1 and 2 honors

  • Other academic courses: JROTC 3 years, Culinary Arts double blocked class 2 years

Awards

National Society of Daughters of 1812 award (2025)

Swim Team regional comps (won a lot of events)

Extracurriculars

Swim team 7 years won regional awards

DECA went to regional comp

JROTC lots of stuff (flight commander, color guard commander, seriously ask me about this one its so much stuff)

Shatter the Myth 6 years (drug and alchohol awareness, in line with my career dreams!)

Model UN went to regional comp

Mental Health Club social media manager

Kitty Hawk Air Society

Color Guard commander/ president

Flight Commander (essentially I teach a class of JROTC)

Middle Color Guard commander/ president

JROTC recruitment secretary 2 yrs

40+ verifiable community service hours

50+ verifiable Leadership Development Requirment (LDR, ask about what this is) hours.

Ringing of bells Salvation Army 2 yrs

Irmp park community cultural festival 4 yrs

Food drive Scare Hunger 3 years (raised over 4,000 lbs of food this year with my unit)

Adopt a Highway 4 yrs (cleaning up trash, twice a year on a highly littered highway)

Boy Scouts of Americansuperbowl food drive 4 yrs

Veterans Day parade 4 yrs

Schools
Bryn Mawr ED1

Holyoke

Reed

Smith

USC

Agnes Scott

Rhodes

Syracuse

Wofford

These schools are really competitive for me, so thats the main reason I need to find some more schools that are a better match for me. My ideal school has:

  • Great financial aid/ free tuition for under 110k income
  • A pretty campus (i know its superficial!!)
  • On the east coast, preferred in the north east. (i want to get out of SC..)
  • A good psychology program, specifically Mental Health counselling. I want to be an LPC in the future.
  • Near a large city

Thank you! I’ve done a lot of research and I reeeeeally like Bryn Mawr the best so far, but I’m aware my chances are pretty slim.

2

Do you know what you can afford per year for the total cost of attendance to university? Do you know what you can afford without taking on debt? Psychology and Sociology are not high paying fields, so it would be best to minimize college debt as much as you can.

I am assuming that this means the University of South Carolina, and specifically not Southern California. U. South Carolina is likely to be relatively affordable for you being in-state. Whether it will be affordable enough I do not know and would expect that your guidance counselor and/or the school’s NPC would know better than I. It is definitely a school that you should be applying to and it might end up being your best fit. You can move out of state after getting your bachelor’s degree.

Your chances for admissions are probably pretty good for U.Maine, UNH, and U.Mass Lowell. I am however not sure whether any of them will end up being affordable for you. Again you do not want to run up college debt just to get out of state.

It does look like a reach for you. If it is your top choice then certainly apply, but you need to also apply to schools where admissions is way more likely.

Best wishes.

3

Are you fast enough to be recruited? That might help with some of your reachier schools. I agree with the previous poster that if you’re planning ROTC the financial piece will look very different. Do you have any interest in the academies?

4

Note that this poster already has a chance me. This thread is specifically asking for suggestions for matches. TIA