Also, U of Nebraska has a terrific business program. Lincoln is a really nice small city for college students, and the OOS cost of attendance is more reasonable than most flagships. UNL is still accepting applications until May 1st, and there are a number of great merit-aid opportunities with extended deadlines because of COVID-19. https://admissions.unl.edu/cost/#scholarships/O
OP: Also consider contacting ASU (Arizona State University). Not sure, but I believe that ASU has rolling admissions. The business school & the Honors College at ASU consistently receive high ratings. Lots of merit awards as well.
Seconding University of Nebraska. You would be eligible for a $20,000 scholarship per year. Remaining costs for tuition/fees, room and board would be under $20,000.
In addition to what everyone else said, have your school/guidance counselor call the schools that put you on the waitlist (or at least your top school) have the counselor tell that school it is your first choice and you will attend if accepted.
What’s your EFC?
You’re quite likely top 9% statewide (check with your guidance counselor). It means that if UC Merced is affordable, you can go there. It’s a UC, they’ve got management&Business Economics (as well as Public Health, a major I’m guessing is going to be useful, especially if you can pair it with a minor in biostatistics or statistics or applied math or informatics or or data science.)
They have special, UCM-only scholarships:
https://financialaid.ucmerced.edu/institutionalscholarships
Is there any college (public or private) you can commute to?
Email Admissions offices at whatever college is commutable for you: St Mary’s (Moraga), U San Diego, U San Francisco, Occidental; contact also Whitman, UPortland, Lewis&Clark, UPugetSound.
(As for a major, state you’re currently undecided, which is true).
Indicate that due to changed circumstances, you must apply last minute to colleges (that are commutable/that are currently out of state). State your GPA (unweighted and weighted), your SAT score, the APs you took. Is the college still accepting applications?
UNebraska-L is a great suggestion, as is ASU Honors.
Look into Montana State too.
University of New Mexico has a top 25 honors program that you would be auto admitted into. And with the Amigo scholarship (out of state tuition waiver) costs are only around 17,000 a year for oos, which is amazing! The app is easy, and cheap, with a quick turnaround. The Amigo deadline was the 30th, but in the past they have extended it as long as funding is available.
^ great idea!
Check to see if you can still apply to University of Texas at Dallas
“You don’t know what you want do.”
That’s not a big issue in and of itself, undecided or undeclared is one of the most popular majors in freshman applications. And colleges know that a significant percentage of students change majors, and many of them actually recommend taking the gen ed requirements so you get a sense of what you might want to major in down the road.
“Now I’m wondering, is it is wise to just tell the WL that I really want to go to their college, and would be willing to change my major to just Undecided?”
I wouldn’t do that, as others have also suggested, in some colleges, undeclared is harder to get into than some majors. Here’s the thing, most of the colleges on the waitlist have yields from 25-30%, which is low given their selectivity. I think you may have a good chance that you’ll get one of them.
My EFC is 042113. I know that I messed up a lot on this entire application process. Although my parents have master degrees, they did not go to college in US. So a lot of things I’ve been really confused on and I really regret not researching more. Thank you so much for the help!
I totally agree. I rushed into the entire process too fast. That aside, I was wondering where you were able to find the info on the waitlist yields? Thanks for answering!
Thank you for such a in-depth reply! I know that gap year is a possible path. However, with the whole virus situation on hand, my parents are even more nervous than before and are pushing me towards going to a college. To be honest, they never anticipated this either and never really wanted for me to go to CC (even though I kinda think that’s the better thing to do right now because I really don’t even know what I want).
“That aside, I was wondering where you were able to find the info on the waitlist yields?”
I was just giving you the overall yield, I don’t think colleges give a waitlist yield, only the overall one. Some colleges give information on how many get off the waitlist, but not how many of those now accepted attend (which is the definition of waitlist yield). Seach for the CDS of each college to find out. I will say that colleges that have early decision have even lower yields than the overall yield they publish.
I think yield numbers are going to be wonky this year, anyway. We will have to see what happens. If I had to guess, I would say that private colleges where a lot of students full-pay, and where a lot of students come from outside the college’s region, may see yield drop. Whereas public U’s may see their yield among in-state students go up. But we don’t really know, and we also don’t know which colleges adjusted their projections and changed their strategies before releasing decisions.
With a budget of $20,000 per year, you would probably have found most of the schools on your list unaffordable even if you had been accepted. Finding a school that fits your budget is just as important as finding schools that would be safeties for you.
At this point there is still a chance that UCI might come through from the waitlist. If it does not, schools that fit your budget probably are (i) Community college for two years, then transfer to a UC or CSU; (ii) Take a gap year, and apply to CSUs and some of the other UCs. Given the uncertainty related to the pandemic, it would not shock me if waitlist results are in some sense “different” from normal years, but whether this is good news or bad I do not know.
“Otherwise, I would have to do it by myself.”
I am not sure if I totally understand this comment. Do you mean that you have to get into a “good school” even to have the $20k budget, and that otherwise you have to pay the full thing? If you are paying the full cost yourself, then probably two years at community college followed by a CSU or UC might always have been the only realistic choice. On the other hand, if you did end up getting into UCI then I would personally argue that it definitely qualifies as a “good school”.
It is not at all clear to me whether schools will even be opening in September. Most likely this will depend upon the state of the pandemic, which I do not think any of us can accurately predict.
Life is not a race. You will figure this out. Taking a gap year is not a bad thing to do.
However, typical gap year activities like working may be less available than in most years. Stores that sell groceries may be hiring, but there will be lots of unemployed people seeking those jobs.
Post #29 – OP said EFC is $43k. Not likely to get FA at many state schools. OP, know that any loans larger than the Stafford limits will need your parents to co-sign. It’s past time to have a discussion about how much they can really afford. Then you can decide on schools.