I will just preface this by saying that I apologize if my application seems vague; I don’t want to dox myself. I have understated most of the information here as well as muddled some details for this purpose as well, but everything listed is at the bare minimum comparable to what I did. Thanks for understanding.
Demographics
US Citizen (born and raised in Florida)
Type of high school: competitive public school
Other special factors: immigrant parents, no legacy, southeast Asian and European, nothing I believe stands out to colleges
Cost Constraints / Budget
I have 100% BrightFutures (public Florida schools are free for bachelors degree)
Parents have saved up money but we are currently undergoing financial difficulties (layoffs and federal funding hits affected us significantly), but we do not qualify for significant need-based aid (maybe conversation with AO could change this, but not a guarantee)
Middle-class
I really don’t intend to go out of state unless I get a reasonable offer (sub 75k for 4 years, may push budget if there is a significant reason to)
Intended Major(s)
To be honest, I really am mixed about what I want to go into so for each college it’ll be different. However, I want to go into STEM for my undergrad and pursue a Juris Doctor afterwards. I do have around 2-3 years of college credits (from AP exams and dual enrollment), if that changes anything. As such, I would likely apply for Engineering, Computer Science, or any variants/connected majors.
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
Unweighted HS GPA: 3.87/4
Weighted HS GPA: 5.32 (AP/AICE/IB/DE worth 6 points, honors worth 4.5, regular worth 4 on the weighted scale)
Class Rank: 17/332
ACT/SAT Scores: 35 ACT (35 M/ 35E/ 34 R/ 35 S)
List your HS coursework
English: AP Lang, Lit, AICE English
Math: AP Calc to Calc 3 (AP Precalc was not out when I took Precalc)
Science: AP Physics 1,2, Chem
History and social studies: AP World, Gov, Comp Gov, US History, Euro
Language other than English: Spanish II (only took 2 years of Spanish, I know it may be held against me)
Other academic courses: Okay so by the end of this year, I will have taken 20 APs. I have not gotten anything lower than a 4 yet, and 5’s are what I have gotten on the majority of the exams I currently have taken. Everything listed above I earned a 5, but there are a few like CSA, CSP, Psych, Human Geo, etc. which I have not listed and earned 5s.
I will say as well, I mostly get As, but I have had 2-3 Bs over the years as well as one C which has dropped my UW GPA.
Awards
Extracurriculars (Include leadership, summer activities, competitions, volunteering, and work experience)
Volunteer at local museum
Won numerous national engineering competitions over the years
Won ~15 national FBLA competitions over the years
Ran/led an SAT/ACT tutoring club for 3 years
Lead our schools FBLA chapter, engineering chapter, aerospace club, bookworm club (basically a hangout where we discuss what we read)
Participated extensively in NHS, did MAO but didn’t win anything
I have won numerous local and state competitions as well
Won 2nd place in a national competition against other corporations for a federal and local grant
Participated in a prestigious internship with an ivy league/mit (it was a job essentially, I did not pay to attend the program)
Am going to continue working (in a fully paid capacity) with said school to conduct further research.
Some other awards:
National Merit Semifinalist
Honor Roll
AP Scholar w/ Distinction
Perfect score on numerous Florida state and national exams
Essays/LORs/Other
I think my essays are good (reviewed with an English and History teacher who both used to be college admissions officers/counselors)
LORs - I have one from my teacher/club sponsor and we have a great relationship. I have another from my club sponsor and we also have a great relationship but he hasn’t taught me at all. I have a third from my history teacher who knows me well but probably wrote an average letter. I have a fourth from the internship w/ the MIT/Ivy internship as well (probably above average, but nowhere near as strong as the first two). Again, all teachers/recommenders know me well.
Schools
Carnegie University
Columbia University
Cornell University
Dartmouth College
Florida State University
Florida Atlantic University
Georgia Institute of Technology
Harvard University
Palm Beach State College
Princeton University
Stanford University
UT Austin
UCF
UF
Yale
+other top 20 schools if I have the time to finish their supplementals.
General info:
My safety is FAU and PBSC
In terms of everything else, it is technically considered a reach, but I feel as though UF or FSU is attainable, and as such, my goal would be to get UF or FSU at the bare minimum.
I will be applying early action to UF and FSU and other Florida schools but no early decisions or REA.
I get that this is a list of top colleges and it is unrealistic to expect to go there. Realistically, my goal is UF because BrightFutures covers tuition for the next 4 years and I also have a 40k scholarship to all Florida schools. UF is already a good school, so for me to go out of state when a great option is available close to home, it would require an even better university with a reasonable expected payment. Again, we don’t want to spend any more than 75k unless its a great offer, as my parents would likely be only able to pay 50k (I’ll take a loan out for the extra). Due to my SE Asian + European ethnicity and religion, I cannot expect to get much more scholarships than I already have.
Sorry if I am wordy, I did try to condense it as much as I could and slashed at my profile/achievements, even at the cost of a lot of my other things. Thanks everyone for your help!
It’s great that you have bright futures and all those AP credits! I would strongly encourage you to stay instate for your undergrad and use your budget for grad school! UF is a fabulous school! In the top 10 for public schools! You have wonderful options in FL!
The cost of attendance at the Ivies on your list are up to $90K+/year. They only give need based aid. You can have your parents run the net price calculator to see if they’ll meet your budget. You as a student won’t be able to take out student loans to make up the difference.
Also don’t forget that applying to these schools is a ton of work. There will be supplemental essays for each of these reach schools that will need to be answered with care, and most won’t be reusable.
You said you don’t want to go out of state. You also said you won’t qualify for need.
then you listed OOS colleges that are near $100k a year.
You have Bright Futures. You want to go to law school.
Top law school students come from anywhere. Top 8 Harvard, Penn and UVA are represented by kids from 100+ schools in the first year class alone. Penn shows over 200 schools represented through the entire law school.
Run the NPCs but if you don’t qualify for aid, you can apply to UF, where you’ll get in, FSU or you noted UCF as a back up, and if you want smaller and more individualized, FAU Wilkes and be done.
NMSF makes Tulsa near free (you pay food) and if you move to NMF, Bama is your best deal - 5 years tuition so covers part of law school - especially if you go in with credits - maybe all of law school. You get four years housing and $3k a year too so it’s better for you than UF and the Bama law school is higher ranked 31 vs 38, not that it matters).
You really have a simple task here that you are overcomplicating.
Have your dad run the NPCs on the high level. Assuming they don’t hit your cost, don’t bother.
I have already written a lot of the supplementals required, and as I am applying regular, I do believe I can do them properly. I already do intend to go to UF at the end of the day, but from my perspective, if I get a better offer anywhere else for a reasonable rate, I am totally down to go. Out of state isn’t an issue.
Some of my upperclassmen have gone on to numerous Ivies, but they had all told me they were able to get the high sticker price down to something much more manageable (most of them are paying 40k total and seem to be in a similar financial situation to me). As such, I am interested in seeing if it is possible to go somewhere better than UF, but at the end of the day, I am totally chill with UF.
While I do intend on going to law school, I have a strong passion for STEM. It is entirely likely that 4 years down the line, depending on the job market, I pursue engineering or computer science for a masters over law.
I guess what I am asking is, would I have a strong shot at any of these schools? If so, would they be negotiable for aid?
Sticker price comes down at the Ivies ONLY based on financial need. Their Net Price Calculators tend to be accurate if your parents aren’t divorced and they don’t own their own business. Sit down with your parents to run the NPC at a couple of the Ivies on your list. If the NPC is affordable you are good to apply. If not, there is no negotiating of aid.
I think you are a viable candidate for any school on your list but no one has a “strong shot” at schools with sub 10% acceptance rates.
I really appreciate the advice! Would a parent not having a job (for months) be considered as need for an ivy, regardless of being middle class with some saved money? While we did run calculations a few months back (we got around 150k), I don’t believe our financial situation was really taken into account through the calculator, as my parents both had jobs at the time.
Have your parents saved $400K for your undergraduate education?
The government has reduced funding to a number of universities. Money is tight and the universities may not be able to fund everyone who needs aid.
You need to target affordable schools.
What high school students don’t understand, is that a lot of the Ivies (a sports conference) are small in size. The top 10 schools are already full. They are filled with Top athletic recruits (olympians), URMs, children of billionaires (who can donate buildings), children of celebrities, internationally known students (Greta, Malala, etc.), talented musicians, artists and students with perfect SAT’s/GPA’s.
Redo the NPCs if you don’t think they are accurate.
It’s not just about your current income. It’s about your family’s assets. The schools can argue that you can sell those assets to pay for school.
I don’t think you are “totally chill” with it. It seems to appear that you are on a prestige hunt. None of those schools are the same. They are in really different areas, different themes and weather, environment, everything, and especially different costs. What can you tell us about Dartmouth vs. Stanford?
Remember that there are about 95K valedictorians in the US and all of them seem to apply to the top 20’s.
Law school will be another $400K and your family may not be able to qualify for those types of loans. Where will you get the money?
Find some affordable schools.
Don’t apply to the UC’s because you are not a resident. Most of the countries’ public universities fund their residents only and not out of state students. I wouldn’t add an additional 20 schools. You have to fit the school’s needs, not the other way around.
Do you plan on going into patent law if you do the JD route? If so, you may want to look up the educational prerequisites in section III of https://www.uspto.gov/sites/default/files/documents/OED_GRB.pdf . ABET accredited majors qualify, but non-ABET accredited CS majors may require additional course work in natural sciences to qualify.
You may want to recalculate with the UF method (AP/AICE/IB/DE is +1 rather than +2, honors is +0.5) so that you can compare to GPA ranges at Florida public universities.
Schools will want to wait to see if your parent gets another job, so they won’t adjust income based on job loss right away. You can try the NPCs using income from 2024 and then using what your parents expect will be income in 2025. That will give you some idea of the package you’ll probably get, as well as the package you might possibly get (no guarantees) if a school takes the job loss into consideration. But realize that your parent will likely get another job in the future, and your aid would be reduced accordingly.
While they could hear a story aid is looking two years back. So 26 grads show 24 taxes.
You’d be asking for something unrealistic but you can try. UF/FSU and Wilkes are all top schools and will get you to the same law school. You need to pay for that too.
If you are NMF you can save all for law school and even go maybe for free (tuition)at Bama.
If the parents are struggling, these are things to consider.
I was thinking to go somewhere in the ballpark of corporate law or something cybersecurity law related, with patent law being a strong possibility. I don’t believe there are many CS informed lawyers, something that may be helpful for future cases likely revolving around CS or software/privacy. It really does depend on the market around then, but I don’t want to lock myself into doing something that I would regret 10 years down the line. I really do appreciate the information though, as it is helpful to know in advance to put up a foundation for whatever I choose to do. Thanks again for posting, I really do find it useful.
Would you know if UF has a seat quota per Florida school? If so, would that number be further split up for competitive majors? (I believe STEM would be considered quite competitive)
I appreciate that. Do you believe a downward trend monetarily (significant monetary downtrend) would be recognized for returns I display and change the ballpark price I am expected to pay? Besides this, would any of the schools I listed be more open to negotiation within a sub 75k range with a strong monetary downtrend and my general profile? Such as GT giving in-state pricing.
It’s certainly possible that a school could work with you, but GT is not likely to be one of those schools. Public schools have pretty hard & fast rules to follow. They might reassess income based on current situation, but that’s about it. A private school where you are a very top applicant would be more likely to find money for you if they really want you to attend. It’s best to be sure you have a couple schools you know you can afford & where you know you’ll be accepted, and then concentrate on a few schools you really want to attend that show an affordable amount on the NPC using current income.