What is your assessment of my college list?

College Search & Lists
1

I’m a junior and am currently putting together a list of colleges I think I’ll apply to. I’m interested in what your thoughts are regarding my list as far as feasibility and balance. Feel free to add any information regarding these colleges, or any colleges that you think I should consider.

My stats are as follows: 3.983 unweighted GPA (4.2 weighted), 1390 SAT, 8 APs by the end of high school. Keep in mind that GPA and SAT (and, later, ACT) scores will change and, here’s hoping, improve.
I want to major in physics.

I also understand that some colleges give special consideration to minorities and low-income students. I am technically a minority (Hispanic) and come from an extremely low-income family.

My list, in ascending order of chance of getting in:

University of Chicago
Brown University
Northwestern University
Vanderbilt University
Cornell University
Haverford College
Washington and Lee University
Colby College
Davidson College
Berea College

2

You need some schools that are easier to get into. You have 5 top-20 universities and 4 top-20 liberal arts colleges, plus Berea, which I would guess is not that easy to get into because it charges no tuition (though it does have a work requirement).

On the plus side, your first 9 schools all say they meet demonstrated financial need, so if you got into one there’s a pretty good chance it would be affordable. Some of them also don’t include loans in financial packages, which can help.

Being a minority (are you actually Hispanic or technically Hispanic?) and low income really does help, but only up to a point. Some people might say that at a 1390 SAT your chances at a number of these schools are quite low. (At many of these schools, everyone’s chances are quite low.) This may be true, but you could improve your score, and we don’t know how strong the rest of your application is. I think it definitely could be worth applying to several of these. But probably not all 9, and definitely not without several others on your list.

So I would say add at least one public in-state school, and look at lists of schools that say they meet full need to find at least several that you like and that are easier to get into than what you have.

3

@Wilson98, thank you for the thoughtful answer. To answer some of your questions:
By “technically Hispanic,” I mean that I can legally claim to be Hispanic.
Unfortunately, public state schools aren’t really a possibility. They do not meet full financial need and are therefore unaffordable for us (I am dead serious when I say “extremely low-income by US standards”). Also, keep in mind that, while I am a US citizen, I do not have in-state residency status in any state.
I’ve looked at those full-need-meet colleges for a while, and these are essentially the least competitive ones I could find. Do you have any suggestions in mind?
Hopefully, a good SAT score will help me get in.

4

Have you considered Franklin & Marshall (in PA)? They tend to be good with need based aid and I know at least one Physics major who got into a nice grad school (there may be more, I just personally know of the one). It could be worth it to check into the University of Rochester too - at least run their NPC and see if it looks affordable.

5

These are not the least competitive meet full need schools. Northeastern is less competitive. Boston college has above 30% acceptance rate. Colgate meets full need. UVa meets full need. What about automatic merit schools like Alabama?

Also wouldn’t hurt to run NPCs at schools who don’t have the meet 100% need guarantee and see what they say. My full need was met at Loyola MD, RPI, and Villanova who all don’t claim to meet full need. Just because it isn’t guaranteed doesn’t mean it probably won’t happen.

6

Congratulations on your success in high school!

A couple of things to consider:

–Some schools, including Wash U, place great emphasis on “interest,” particularly visiting and interviewing. It also has a much higher acceptance % in ED. RD applicants who have not visited or otherwise expressed strong interest will have very low acceptance rates.

–Speaking of, Chicago looks like it has been around 2-4% RD acceptance the last couple of years. I like this example: 5 to 6 years ago we visited a tip-top LAC. At info session, they said 70% of applicants were fully qualified in every respect and they expected they would succeed academically and otherwise if accepted. They then accepted 14% So 4 in 5 fully qualified applicants were not accepted. Now change the acceptance rate to 4% and see what that means. The vast majority of fully qualified applicants will not be accepted at the two dozen or so most competitive schools.

–I believe Vanderbilt, Brown, Chicago, and Northwestern have single-digit acceptance rates in RD, Wash U and Cornell are hardly higher. Davidson, W&L, and Haverford are no picnic.

–So, yes, it’s great you are looking at schools that claim to meet full financial need. Keep in mind that a school that makes this claim might come up short. Also, importantly, a school may meet full financial need but also be “need aware,” so admission may be more difficult if you need significant financial aid.

–Nothing wrong with keeping any of these schools on your list. You are a reasonable candidate at all of them. I love Berea on there, and that you are willing to work for your education. I applaud that!!! You just might to find a couple of more match/safety type schools where you could get significant financial aid and/or need-based aid. There are a few schools that are excellent that claim to meet full financial need. I believe Holy Cross makes that claim; it’s academics are as good as anywhere. College of Wooster too. You can google “colleges that meet full financial need.”

I like this merit aid chart from Miami of Ohio:

http://miamioh.edu/admission/merit-grid/

Note aid deadline is earlier than regular deadline (true at some other schools too); this is not guaranteed; and this is just tuition, not food and housing. Good luck!

7

UNC Chapel Hill does as well. It sounds like OP would qualify for the Carolina Covenant program (AGI <$40,320 for a family of 3, $48,600 for a family of 4), which is loan-free financial aid that covers full financial need. It may not be quite as generous as one would get at Harvard, though, and Carolina is a pretty tough admit for out-of-state freshmen.

There is a full list of the loan-free colleges and their eligibility requirements here:

http://www.finaid.org/questions/noloansforlowincome.phtml

Run the EFC calculator for each college of interest to get a sense of what you’d be expected to pay. It’s not unusual for schools all claiming to meet full financial need to offer wildly different financial aid packages.

8

@a20171
I heard Northeastern is stingy with their aid and still leaves a large gap to be filled, even for low-income students. UVA uses loans (I’m only applying to schools that meet 100% need without loans for all admitted students). Boston also uses loans, I believe. Colgate isn’t need-blind, so my exceptional need will likely decrease my chances. For Alabama, the largest merit aid package I qualify for is the UA Scholar, which only gives $19,000 per year. Out of state tuition is $28k. Even with federal grants and work-study, I don’t think I can make up the difference. Of course, I could be wrong. My parent isn’t a US citizen, so we’re pretty blind as to how federal aid works and how much you can get. Any information on this would be appreciated.

9

@TTG
Thank you for the encouragement. I plan on applying EA for most of my schools (and one ED). Hopefully, this will boost my chances by a bit.

10

@warblesrule
I’ll look into that. Thanks.

11

That’s great that you are starting with schools that meet financial need. Your approach is right on. I don’t suggest you remove any or all of your choices. Some, like Brown, are great places to take a shot. I’d just recommend a couple more in the match/safety range. That way you are more likely to have a couple of offers to compare.

Yes, I see F&M, Holy Cross, and also Connecticut College. All of these are excellent, and very nice places. I would consider them match-ish schools (not guaranteed) for you if aid were not an issue. Connecticut College is a member of NESCAC, with other outstanding New England LACs.

Have you looked at Grinnell, Macalester, Oberlin, Reed, and Union, all terrific schools? Union is an LAC with a particularly good reputation in the sciences. I do think these are more in the match range. Maybe someone could recommend some likely safeties.

Also, some of the wealthier schools offer “fly-in” programs, where students can visit without the school footing the bill. You might research some of those. Here’s one from last fall that I found googling “fly-in college admissions programs.”

https://www.conncoll.edu/explore-weekend/

Good luck!

12

@TTG
I’ve looked at some of those schools and yes, they are matches for me. However, I can’t apply to that many universities. My chances for Oberlin and Davidson, for example, are basically the same. I don’t have space for both, so I chose Davidson.
I’ll take a closer look at those colleges again and see if I can make any replacements.

13

Also, I’ve applied to the QuestBridge PrepScholars program. If I get in, I’ll have better chances of college acceptance. Here’s hoping.

14

@TTG
I don’t know about Oberlin. Their net price calculator is giving a price of $13k. That’s after merit aid, grants, loans and work-study.
We can’t afford that.

15

Lawrence (in Wisconsin) is strong in physics, and easier to get into than much of your list.

16

Trying to go to a school that doesn’t expect loans is a good idea, but I think it’s best to consider other possibilities, as that might or might not work out. Looking for my son, I looked at the US News list of schools that say they meet full demonstrated need. There are about 65 of them. (Though some other schools may say on their website they meet full need, or do so for most people.)

Pretty much all the top 20 universities and top 20 LACs are on the list. Here are the other 25 or so schools on it that are not top 20 in US News (though a few are close):

Universities: Boston College, Tufts, UNC-Chapel Hill, Univ. of Southern California, UVa, Wake Forest

LACs: Barnard, Bates, Colorado College, Kenyon, Macalester, Oberlin, Scripps, Univ. of Richmond, Wesleyan, Bryn Mawr, College of the Holy Cross, Connecticut College, Franklin and Marshall, Lafayette, Mount Holyoke, Occidental, Pitzer, Trinity, Union

Some of those schools (mostly a number of the LACs) are easier admissions than the top 9 on your list. So they could be worth looking into. Notice that four are all-women colleges, which may or may not help. You could also look to see for these or any schools if they consider need in admission decisions. Many do, but it only makes things harder, not impossible.

Regarding federal aid: If you are a citizen, you’re eligible for federal loans up to a total of $27,000 over four years. Your parent wouldn’t be eligible for federal parent loans, but you don’t want to do that anyway. I don’t know how federal grants like Pell grants work in such situations.

17

Sounds like you are doing a great job! Good luck with Questbridge!

18

@intparent
Yes, but it isn’t exactly affordable.

19

@TTG
Thank you.

20

If you really need to get into a school that meets need, you should work on your SAT score. Dickinson is a school that meets 99% of need you might look at.