School Type: Oddly Competitive Public School
Location: Indiana
Race/Gender: White with a little native American, Male
SAT: 1500
ACT: 35
GPA: 3.45 UW/3.77 W
Rank: Top 10%!!
6 AP Classes, All 4’s and 5’s
All others, except requirements, are honors
Current course load = 4 AP classes and a Dual credit class, then a school program that allows for me to leave early every day.
EC’s
Apprentice Woodworker and Art Salesman (12+ hrs/wk since 6th grade)
Retail clerk job 12hrs/wk (at the place that I played mtg [tied it into essay]) 11
Community service, worked on 1883 schoolhouse and earned historical restoration award 10+hrs/wk 25wks/yr 11,12
Developed innovative Virtual Reality program for charter high school (for in-class use). 40+hrs/wk for 6wks (during summer)
Zoo Volunteer 200+hrs during 9,10 summer
Extremely active in local community for ‘Magic the Gathering’ for 6+ yrs. Won regional tournaments etc 10+hrs/wk
Tutor for middle school/elementary students with disabilities 2hrs/wk 10,11,12
We the People competition pending state tournament 12
NHS Member - including the random crap they do 12
Started and developed collectible card game club during freshman yr, 2hrs/wk during school yr
At this point, I know that my extra-curriculars are unusual, which makes it very difficult for me to figure out exactly how they compare.
Awards
National Merit Commended
Best in School AMC test
AP Scholar w/ distinction
Essays/Recommendations
Essays are pretty good, not exactly superb, but reasonable. I wrote about my experience with the card game and the community that accepted me after a rough time around my peers. Some basic stuff about adversity and things of the like and how I overcame them. Of course this can be changed before the next deadline, but I feel fairly confident.
Recommendations are fine, but mostly unremarkable.
Anywayssss. I’m curious what the community would peg me at in regards to where I can get into. I’ve done a lot of different things in high school, but they weren’t the typical activities and my time wasn’t spent doing homework.
Do you have blood papers? Official tribal membership?
What are your parents saying about how much they’ll spend each year on college? If you don’t know for sure, ask them. Their answer will largely determine where you should apply.
What is your major and career goal??
Your uw GPA will probably be an issue at top schools.
It’ll probably come down to grandparents if anything for college, but generally gonna be down to as low as possible. Parents make about 100k, but they’re housepoor and in debt.
I’m not geographically constrained at all, I’ll go anywhere, but due to financial constraints I’ll probably have to stay in Indiana.
For the few applications I’ve already completed (Uchi Purdue IU Bowling Green AriSU) I selected economics, but I do have an interest in engineering related majors.
Career goal is hard to say, really anything. Entrepreneurship is just as likely as a desk job honestly.
I’d like to go to a coast if I leave the state, I loved Boston as well as California.
California public schools (UC’s and CSU’s) do not fund OOS students. There is no financial aid for non-residents. You could try the private universities in California: USC, Santa Clara, Chapman, USD, etc.
Also with no real ties to your tribe, it would be really hard to claim Native american link.
No blood papers, then colleges will ignore any American Indian claims
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No blood papers or tribe membership.
It’ll probably come down to grandparents if anything for college, but generally gonna be down to as low as possible. Parents make about 100k, but they’re housepoor and in debt.
I’m not geographically constrained at all, I’ll go anywhere, but due to financial constraints I’ll probably have to stay in Indiana.
For the few applications I’ve already completed (Uchi Purdue IU Bowling Green AriSU) I selected economics, but I do have an interest in engineering related majors.
Career goal is hard to say, really anything. Entrepreneurship is just as likely as a desk job honestly.
I’d like to go to a coast if I leave the state, I loved Boston as well as California.
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You need a better app list. Forget Calif schools…the uc’s won’t give you anything, USC will be too expensive, and your GPA will be an issue anyway.
You need a better strategy. Find out ASAP if your grandparents will help pay for college…find out how much each year they’ll pay.
Please identify at least 2-3 schools that will give you huge, huge merit for your stats.
I think you should take a look through the Fiske guide and the Colleges That Change Lives website. Also run a search, because the Fiske Guide is only 300 schools. Only look at private colleges and in-state publics. Find out your EFC from the FAFSA and discuss with your parents and grandparents how much they can actually afford. Run Net Price Calculators for a bunch of schools. Also read about merit awards at schools of interest. There might be a lot of good private colleges that would make themselves affordable to you. Look into Knox College; it sounded very interesting but is outside our region - and in yours. Your ACT might be very attractive to them, and you sound like the right kind of person for the school, as best I can guess. I’m sure there are many other possibilities; that’s just one that came to mind. Any college will want to know that you will do your homework, though. Good luck!
Less well-known state universities in less well-known states could make attractive tuition deals to someone with your test scores. Examples:
Alabama-Huntsville is a small nerdy state school in far northern Alabama. Not a typical “southern” school; they have an engineering orientation and play ice hockey instead of football.
Your stats would qualify for the Amigo Scholarship at University of New Mexico. You would effectively pay the resident tuition rate, which is around $7,500 per year. Probably cheaper than in-state tuition in Indiana.
Your stats would qualify for the Utah State Freshman Non-Resident Dean's Scholarship. This would give a 90% discount on non-resident tuition as a freshman. It's easy to qualify as a Utah resident after one year, so you get 90% off resident tuition as a sophomore. After that, you would pay full resident tuition, which is still cheap at $6400/year.
$100k. How many siblings in school or college? Have a look at some schools that meet full need. You might be pleasantly surprised, at least financially.