Upcoming High School Senior here in dirt town Arizona. Tiny high school with little prospects, and virtually no outreach in terms of scholarship funding. I am in the top 10% of my class (I may get to top 7 at the end of this year), and I currently have a 3.83 GPA, unweighted (School refuses to weigh GPA’s despite the fact that almost all my classes are taken via dual enrollment at the community college). The aim of the citizens of Maricopa, AZ is very menial, they want us to graduate high school early, and get an associate’s degree and enter the work force as soon as possible, or transfer to in-state. I wouldn’t mind by I want to major in Food Science, possibly doubling with Horticulture Sciences, which aren’t offered as a Masters at any of the colleges here in Arizona. My question to you all is to please help me organize my situation as to which colleges are a reach, safety, or match, and which you think will provide the most financial aid. Thank you so much. Any scholarship advice would help too.
Specs:
3.83 GPA Unweighted, around 4.5 Weighted
29 on ACT, 29E, 28M, 31R, 29 S (plan on retaking)
1360 on PSAT
Most all my classes since junior year are college-level dual enrollment.
African-American
130,000 yr. Family Income
Lots of volunteer service, and more to be completed this year.
An active member in church volunteer staff.
Founding member of AquaPonics club in freshman year.
(EDIT: Also neither of my parents received a degree from college, although my father almost received his bachelors’s)
Colleges in Question:
University of Florida (Dream college)
Ohio State University
Cornell University (I know this one is a long shot)
Alabama A&M
Texas A&M
UCLA-Davis
Deleware State University
University of Kentucky (Last resort choice, but if it helps me this college is in the city and state I was born and raised in, til we moved in 2012)
Once again thank you for any positive or constructive input, I certainly need all the help I can get.
Check each college website. Many schools will re-calculate your GPA and will weight your Dual Enrollment classes, so in some cases your GPA may be higher than you think.
All public universities are going to be very expensive as an out of state student. You need to run NPCs (net price calculators) on each college so you can get an idea of how much it will cost your family. As an OOS student, you are not likely to get any financial aid.
Your ACT is decent, so do a lot of practice and aim for a higher score. Then you might be competitive for merit awards at some private universities. Also look at LACs which might be more generous with merit aid. LACs really like diversity and can be surprisingly generous.
If you are thinking of getting a masters, you will possibly end up doing that at a different university than where you do undergrad. Look at what courses are required at an undergrad level. There are probably other colleges that will allow you to fulfill those requirements that will be cheaper than going OOS. Look at your instate options first, becasue money will possibly be an issue for you. Good luck.
UC’s calculate their own GPA based on a-g course requirements taken in 10-11th grade. Since you are OOS, you only get the extra Honors points in the calculation for AP/IB or DE courses (not HS Honors courses).
UCLA will be a tough admit with current test scores. UC Davis is within Reach.
Make sure you run the Net price calculators as mentioned in the previous threads. UCLA/UCD do not give financial aid to OOS students, so expect to pay close to $60K/year to attend.
So I shall have a look at these NPC’s. Thanks. As for @simba9 I wasn’t interested in nutrition studies, as those are more if the health science aspect. I am more interested in the molecular compositions of these foods, and how we can utilize these facts to better the future, through creating more efficient foods, or new foods altogether. Two different studies.
Look at CPP in California. However I don’t know if they offer merit aid.
A truly outstanding program can be found in CFANS at UMN Twin Cities (100% job placement, paid internships during schooling, lots of major companies recruit there…) They have merit scholarships for high scores and a well-rounded profile.
Another outstanding program but don’t know whether they have merit aid is McGill (McDonald campus) in Montreal.
Cornell (CALS) is definitely a good choice. They meet need, so you run the NPC and if your parents say net price is within their means, apply ED?
Interesting… After grants and scholarships (automatically factored ones)
Ohio State has me paying $30,000
University of Florida has me paying $28,000
Cornell has me paying $21,000???
UC-Davis has me paying 58,000 (24 of it is from out of state fee, so I don’t think that is happening…)
Delaware State has me down for 17,400
Alabama A&M 22,000 (but they have a full-ride scholarship for USDA African Americans I will apply for)
Be sure to make sure tuition and room & board for both semesters are included in those results, and make sure you’ve properly indicated your out of state ststus where appropriate.
Cornell meets need and is pretty generous. Get your ACT up, and you’d have a shot.
I’m thinking about taking a crack at the Ivy League! I have evaluated my options and will retake the ACT this September, and apply for Cornell ED, U of F, and Delaware State thanks and wish me the best!
I would strongly recommend you apply to the CFANS program too because it’s one of the best in the country. You can apply to these schools in the Fall, complete scholarship essays/applications by Nov 1st, and keep your fingers crossed.
Applying to 4-5 colleges is pretty typical, and being able to compare net cost is pretty important.
Most state schools are content with the quality of out-of-state students they get, and don’t offer them much financial aid. However, some schools are eager to improve the quality of students they attract, and accomplish this through significant merit scholarships to out-of-state students. If you want your best financial deal, you need to find the ones in this second group. Check out Texas Tech, Florida State, Iowa State, Nebraska, Oklahoma State.