Applying to college

Croven

certified genius
is a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Past SPL Champion
DPL Champion
GatoDelFuego

first, just want to thank all of you for replying. since you asked for it, i'll give you what i know on class rank / school etc. our school doesn't do class ranks so i'm not exactly sure where i am, but from talking to friends and my general knowledge, i'm in the top 5% of my school, 2% if a bit lucky (probably not 1%). my class has around 500 students. the reason i say i have few EC's is because most of the students at my level in the school have been doing clubs like science olympiad since middle school and some already have leadership positions in their clubs. granted, none that i've talked to has a varsity sport, let alone 3 years, so hopefully that'll balance out somewhat. again not sure about school competitiveness, but we typically have 1 student a year get accepted into each ivy / top school (barring stanford, which has only accepted swimming recruits from our school). for example, 3 seniors i know this year have been accepted into CMU, princeton, and harvard. they don't accept more than one student from our school, from what i know. I live in New Jersey (side note: i can get in-state tuition at UT austin due to a parent living there, so that's at the top of my safety schools)

regarding why i want to do physics/comp sci: i've always been interested in science, so i was trending towards that general area for as long as i can remember (also knew i didnt want to do med or law). messed around with a lot as a kid (paleontology, geology, lord knows what else) but settled on astronomy since i was 8. helps that my cousin is an astrophysics professor, that probably influenced me. high school physics courses made me realize i like physics as a whole, and yes im somewhat aware of what the degree entails. ap physics 2, which im doing now, starts to move away from general newtonian mechanics and to pressure, thermo, and modern physics. also reading what i can find on my own, so interest in physics is pretty set in stone.

not gonna lie, i just picked up programming this school year; our school has 3 courses, compprog 1, 2, and ap comp sci, most of which focus on java with a little python. (i did html css and a little javascript maybe 4ish years ago, but html and css aren't really coding languages and didnt much with them either way) i'm doing fairly well in the classes, and really enjoy programming, especially the logic and thinking that comes with difficult projects - i do side projects at home whenever i'm bored and get an idea - but ur right, i know just about nothing of what the degree has. mostly i was considering it due to recent interest and knowing it has a lot of career options. also comp sci has a lot of use in physics, but its more likely similar to how you use programming in engineering, or at least it's not necessary to do a double major. still unsure.

lastly, yeah i wasn't going to go by the ranking of colleges, i've read this thread enough to do away with that idea. i just didnt really know where to start looking based on my stats; prior to this, i only knew the names of ivies and other top rated colleges (stanford, mit). very grateful for Electrolyte , boltsandbombers , Omicron and especially eaglehawk for showing me colleges i hadn't heard of and giving me a basis to start from, so thank you all for that! hope this post illuminates some things that were unclear before for you, gato.
 
GatoDelFuego

first, just want to thank all of you for replying. since you asked for it, i'll give you what i know on class rank / school etc. our school doesn't do class ranks so i'm not exactly sure where i am, but from talking to friends and my general knowledge, i'm in the top 5% of my school, 2% if a bit lucky (probably not 1%). my class has around 500 students. the reason i say i have few EC's is because most of the students at my level in the school have been doing clubs like science olympiad since middle school and some already have leadership positions in their clubs. granted, none that i've talked to has a varsity sport, let alone 3 years, so hopefully that'll balance out somewhat. again not sure about school competitiveness, but we typically have 1 student a year get accepted into each ivy / top school (barring stanford, which has only accepted swimming recruits from our school). for example, 3 seniors i know this year have been accepted into CMU, princeton, and harvard. they don't accept more than one student from our school, from what i know. I live in New Jersey (side note: i can get in-state tuition at UT austin due to a parent living there, so that's at the top of my safety schools)

regarding why i want to do physics/comp sci: i've always been interested in science, so i was trending towards that general area for as long as i can remember (also knew i didnt want to do med or law). messed around with a lot as a kid (paleontology, geology, lord knows what else) but settled on astronomy since i was 8. helps that my cousin is an astrophysics professor, that probably influenced me. high school physics courses made me realize i like physics as a whole, and yes im somewhat aware of what the degree entails. ap physics 2, which im doing now, starts to move away from general newtonian mechanics and to pressure, thermo, and modern physics. also reading what i can find on my own, so interest in physics is pretty set in stone.

not gonna lie, i just picked up programming this school year; our school has 3 courses, compprog 1, 2, and ap comp sci, most of which focus on java with a little python. (i did html css and a little javascript maybe 4ish years ago, but html and css aren't really coding languages and didnt much with them either way) i'm doing fairly well in the classes, and really enjoy programming, especially the logic and thinking that comes with difficult projects - i do side projects at home whenever i'm bored and get an idea - but ur right, i know just about nothing of what the degree has. mostly i was considering it due to recent interest and knowing it has a lot of career options. also comp sci has a lot of use in physics, but its more likely similar to how you use programming in engineering, or at least it's not necessary to do a double major. still unsure.

lastly, yeah i wasn't going to go by the ranking of colleges, i've read this thread enough to do away with that idea. i just didnt really know where to start looking based on my stats; prior to this, i only knew the names of ivies and other top rated colleges (stanford, mit). very grateful for Electrolyte , boltsandbombers , Omicron and especially eaglehawk for showing me colleges i hadn't heard of and giving me a basis to start from, so thank you all for that! hope this post illuminates some things that were unclear before for you, gato.
o boy New Jersey. I would recommend Rutgers, but as a fellow New Jerseyan, I would almost always recommend Maryland over Rutgers since they end up giving out more money to top students.

Assuming you're a guy, tennis season starts soon, and since you're a Junior, you can talk to your coach about recruiting. I don't know what your specific stats are, but it can definitely help you get to Division II and Division III schools (i.e. Johns Hopkins, Wash. U., even MIT if you're lucky). You should start talking to college coaches soon if you're interested in playing. I know a lot of students tend to shy away from varsity athletics. I personally believe that you should at least get your foot through the door with athletics and then decide if you want to continue that or not. I know one or two of my track and field teammates in high school went to UPenn for D1 football and pole vaulting. One dropped varsity athletics after his freshman year and the other his senior year. Most importantly, they get to stay enrolled at UPenn and, because Ivies don't do athletic scholarships, not lose any financial aid/scholarship because of it.

Also, I have a general idea as to which school you're currently at, but it's not ranked very high in the state or nationally (assuming that I made the correct assumption). In that case, I think your reaches might be a bit harder now, but don't fret. Again, I strongly urge you to try to get yourself involved in research if possible. Even if you don't make it to the competition level, your primary investigator (the professor you work under) will write a strong recommendation (mostly) if you do hard work there.
 

GatoDelFuego

The Antimonymph of the Internet
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnusis a Top Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
GatoDelFuego

first, just want to thank all of you for replying. since you asked for it, i'll give you what i know on class rank / school etc. our school doesn't do class ranks so i'm not exactly sure where i am, but from talking to friends and my general knowledge, i'm in the top 5% of my school, 2% if a bit lucky (probably not 1%). my class has around 500 students. the reason i say i have few EC's is because most of the students at my level in the school have been doing clubs like science olympiad since middle school and some already have leadership positions in their clubs. granted, none that i've talked to has a varsity sport, let alone 3 years, so hopefully that'll balance out somewhat. again not sure about school competitiveness, but we typically have 1 student a year get accepted into each ivy / top school (barring stanford, which has only accepted swimming recruits from our school). for example, 3 seniors i know this year have been accepted into CMU, princeton, and harvard. they don't accept more than one student from our school, from what i know. I live in New Jersey (side note: i can get in-state tuition at UT austin due to a parent living there, so that's at the top of my safety schools)

regarding why i want to do physics/comp sci: i've always been interested in science, so i was trending towards that general area for as long as i can remember (also knew i didnt want to do med or law). messed around with a lot as a kid (paleontology, geology, lord knows what else) but settled on astronomy since i was 8. helps that my cousin is an astrophysics professor, that probably influenced me. high school physics courses made me realize i like physics as a whole, and yes im somewhat aware of what the degree entails. ap physics 2, which im doing now, starts to move away from general newtonian mechanics and to pressure, thermo, and modern physics. also reading what i can find on my own, so interest in physics is pretty set in stone.

not gonna lie, i just picked up programming this school year; our school has 3 courses, compprog 1, 2, and ap comp sci, most of which focus on java with a little python. (i did html css and a little javascript maybe 4ish years ago, but html and css aren't really coding languages and didnt much with them either way) i'm doing fairly well in the classes, and really enjoy programming, especially the logic and thinking that comes with difficult projects - i do side projects at home whenever i'm bored and get an idea - but ur right, i know just about nothing of what the degree has. mostly i was considering it due to recent interest and knowing it has a lot of career options. also comp sci has a lot of use in physics, but its more likely similar to how you use programming in engineering, or at least it's not necessary to do a double major. still unsure.

lastly, yeah i wasn't going to go by the ranking of colleges, i've read this thread enough to do away with that idea. i just didnt really know where to start looking based on my stats; prior to this, i only knew the names of ivies and other top rated colleges (stanford, mit). very grateful for Electrolyte , boltsandbombers , Omicron and especially eaglehawk for showing me colleges i hadn't heard of and giving me a basis to start from, so thank you all for that! hope this post illuminates some things that were unclear before for you, gato.
You will definitely be able to get into any non-"ivy" school with that kind of resume, so check out some stuff in eaglehawk's "range" for sure. Just based on your placement in the US, touring MIT/ivy schools will be simple. I'd definitely make a trip to UT Austin so you can see how you like the school as your top fallback (if you haven't already), and I would recommend you go down the east coast and check out some stuff (NC state-Raleigh is a space grant university and is not in the middle of a city, though fairly close to one, as well as Maryland-college park). Purdue and UIC are also good ones to visit, being in Literally The Middle Of Corn Fields (which was a dealbreaker for me, but might be different for you). Based on a couple trips you can start to see what it is you're "looking for" in a college.



You can also go to the university of Alabama. Tuition for yourself would be completely zero thanks to your SAT! Scholarships are definitely something you should be looking at once you find a campus you like.
 
I don't know if this is helpful for you, but part of my own thought process when choosing a college was going off what I pictured as a college campus before I even was thinking about college. Basically, what I thought was ideal. IMO this part is near the end of the college process: i.e. if the college has your major, surrounding area, student life, dorm sizes and quality, tuition costs, campus size, private vs public, technical school? (if you want that). Should be easier on you if you already have some idea on a major/field of interest. Good luck with your search!

Always check dorms; some can be bad
 
This is what confuses me.

I get bumfucked by my school (TX public magnet) so my unweighted GPA is sub3.3 (I don't really show a huge upward trend or anything), but my test scores (2250+ sat, 7/9 5s on APs, 800s on math 2/bio, 750+ physics subject tests, etc) show that my grades don't reflect how much I really know about a subject; I feel like the automatic reaction from an admissions officer to this scenario is "damn this kid is lazy" rather than "damn that school is hard." Is there any way I can let them know that it's mostly the latter?
Many classes (lit, precalc, physics, chem) are structured so that only like 5 people get As, so everyone that doesn't run on coffee is a straight-B student. My recs are probably going to be average as shit since I'm pretty average at school, but I would say my essays would be pretty decent compared to what people post on r/applyingtocollege. Guidance counselors don't have any connections and are 90 years old so anyone they would have known are dead already. To top it all off, I live in Texas, and my class size is about 165 kids, so top 7% for auto-admit to UT is like 11 kids (and UT rarely accepts non-auto kids). Sure, I'm probably prepared for college now blah blah whatever; I'd rather have a higher GPA.

Anyway, I want to do EE/compE, but I'm not entirely sure where else to apply. (already applied to UT and TAMU, got into UH (go coogs!!!!!!)). Out of state public schools are not an option since money is an issue. Good private schools with engineering are beyond me bc GPA is way too low. I'm applying to a few liberal arts colleges because I feel like they will be much more holistic (and also like having Asian males) and will major in physics there. Any schools that you guys could recommend even though it's so late in the process?
Have you considered applying to UMass Amherst? I have/had similar stats to your and I got a 12k$ scholarship out of it. My GPA was a tad less than yours as well/UMass Amherst has decent acceptance rate, a solid EE/ECE program(very rigorous though) and with reasonable recommendations you probably will accepted to be honest. I understand the worry though, my school had really difficult classes above the AP level with credits that didn't convert directly, so I'm sure if not anything else my application also gave the impression of an extremely lazy student. Also in all fairness most recommendations are nothing spectacularly out there. Afaik you can still apply to umass amherst till like march through the common app, definitely take a look imo.

Maybe if you actually learned something in college you wouldn't have written a post so embarrassing. Holier than thou attitudes "spewing" from my post? I'm guessing you're in engineering.
EDIT: I had something insulting to say about you looking down on engineering majors, but I didn't really look at from your point of view. Everyone makes their own decision on what path to follow, it's not my place to judge you. I don't agree with your preconceived notions about the inherent impurity of engineering as a discipline, but that again is just an opinion from me. Stand by the fact that dumping 160k on an intellectual pursuit isn't a luxury all of us have. Apologies.
 
Last edited:

toshimelonhead

Honey Badger don't care.
is a Tiering Contributor
Have you considered applying to UMass Amherst? I have/had similar stats to your and I got a 12k$ scholarship out of it. My GPA was a tad less than yours as well/UMass Amherst has decent acceptance rate, a solid EE/ECE program(very rigorous though) and with reasonable recommendations you probably will accepted to be honest. I understand the worry though, my school had really difficult classes above the AP level with credits that didn't convert directly, so I'm sure if not anything else my application also gave the impression of an extremely lazy student. Also in all fairness most recommendations are nothing spectacularly out there. Afaik you can still apply to umass amherst till like march through the common app, definitely take a look imo.



EDIT: I had something insulting to say about you looking down on engineering majors, but I didn't really look at from your point of view. Everyone makes their own decision on what path to follow, it's not my place to judge you. I don't agree with your preconceived notions about the inherent impurity of engineering as a discipline, but that again is just an opinion from me. Apologies.
Ok let's go through these claims one by one:

Out of state public schools are not an option since money is an issue.

A lot of southern public schools will throw money at students with profiles like yours. Oklahoma gives craploads of money for National Merit Scholarships (a good friend went there), and you can go to Oklahoma State for the equivalent of in-state tuition. Just looked it up.
Good private schools with engineering are beyond me bc GPA is way too low.

Good private schools with engineering are used to students with profiles like yours because engineering is known to beat up GPAs of aspiring engineers. Adcoms are not dumb, except those in Texas where they are handcuffed by Texas legislature.
I'm applying to a few liberal arts colleges because I feel like they will be much more holistic (and also like having Asian males) and will major in physics there.

Probably your best bet. Also, look for schools with separate honors colleges (public and private). A good honors program can match the quality of a flagship state school and provide more individual attention.

Any schools that you guys could recommend even though it's so late in the process?

Get your Texas backups ready to go, find private liberal art schools that can throw money your way, and find neighboring out of state publics who get your situation because of a stupid law prohibiting you from getting into Texas. Don't fuss about it, make sure your school sends its school profile along with your app, and good luck.

Oh and BTW GPA rigor might matter in high school, but it does not matter as much in college. Don't do the same thing again and expect employers to be nice to you. #Lessonlearnedthehardway
 
Ok let's go through these claims one by one:

Out of state public schools are not an option since money is an issue.

A lot of southern public schools will throw money at students with profiles like yours. Oklahoma gives craploads of money for National Merit Scholarships (a good friend went there), and you can go to Oklahoma State for the equivalent of in-state tuition. Just looked it up.
Good private schools with engineering are beyond me bc GPA is way too low.

Good private schools with engineering are used to students with profiles like yours because engineering is known to beat up GPAs of aspiring engineers. Adcoms are not dumb, except those in Texas where they are handcuffed by Texas legislature.
I'm applying to a few liberal arts colleges because I feel like they will be much more holistic (and also like having Asian males) and will major in physics there.

Probably your best bet. Also, look for schools with separate honors colleges (public and private). A good honors program can match the quality of a flagship state school and provide more individual attention.

Any schools that you guys could recommend even though it's so late in the process?

Get your Texas backups ready to go, find private liberal art schools that can throw money your way, and find neighboring out of state publics who get your situation because of a stupid law prohibiting you from getting into Texas. Don't fuss about it, make sure your school sends its school profile along with your app, and good luck.

Oh and BTW GPA rigor might matter in high school, but it does not matter as much in college. Don't do the same thing again and expect employers to be nice to you. #Lessonlearnedthehardway
Is it that top 7% of the class rule?
 
askin on someone else's behalf who is in a v weird place, lets call em john

john has a 3.43 uw gpa and attended one of the best high schools in ma. He has a 35 act (superscore) and pretty good reccs from two very reputable teachers (if that helps). He got bumfucked freshman year by bad teachers and then picked it up to average a gpa of 3.7 for both next years.

john took the hardest courseload possible, 10 APs and self studied subject SATs (math and chem, 800 and 800)

John also swam for 3 years and completed a sanskrit course that bestows the gift of being able to understand sanskirt and is working on his BA rn

john is asian male

john gardens and donates food to food bank regularly

john has a paper and worked at broad institute for 2 yrs on lung cancer

john applied to umass biochem (50% scholarship), wisconsin biomed (in), cornell bio (reject), michigan biochem (defer), northeastern (defer)

john applied to:

BU, Brown, Swarthmore, Drexel, Oberlin, USC, UNC, CMU, GT, Rice, Case Western, UPitt, Renesselaer, WashU, Rochester, UConn, NYU

john doesnt know where he can get in (applied to all for biochem)

Where can he feasibly get in? Where should he go?

John would most likely end up at med school ftr, if that helps

I realize im probably being a dick by askin this but its really weird and its hard to think about this lol

thanks to anyone that helps, much appreciated!
 
askin on someone else's behalf who is in a v weird place, lets call em john

john has a 3.43 uw gpa and attended one of the best high schools in ma. He has a 35 act (superscore) and pretty good reccs from two very reputable teachers (if that helps). He got bumfucked freshman year by bad teachers and then picked it up to average a gpa of 3.7 for both next years.

john took the hardest courseload possible, 10 APs and self studied subject SATs (math and chem, 800 and 800)

John also swam for 3 years and completed a sanskrit course that bestows the gift of being able to understand sanskirt and is working on his BA rn

john is asian male

john gardens and donates food to food bank regularly

john has a paper and worked at broad institute for 2 yrs on lung cancer

john applied to umass biochem (50% scholarship), wisconsin biomed (in), cornell bio (reject), michigan biochem (defer), northeastern (defer)

john applied to:

BU, Brown, Swarthmore, Drexel, Oberlin, USC, UNC, CMU, GT, Rice, Case Western, UPitt, Renesselaer, WashU, Rochester, UConn, NYU

john doesnt know where he can get in (applied to all for biochem)

Where can he feasibly get in? Where should he go?

John would most likely end up at med school ftr, if that helps

I realize im probably being a dick by askin this but its really weird and its hard to think about this lol

thanks to anyone that helps, much appreciated!
Comments/Questions on "John":
- "Pretty good recs" from reputable teachers isn't really enough to justify that they wrote a good letter for him personally, and given that he most likely waived his right to see his teacher's recommendation, there's no way to judge the quality of the recommendation. A strong barometer of how good of a recommendation a teacher wrote for you is participation in the classroom and interaction with professors outside of the classroom.

- What are his AP scores? 4's and 5's would be a strong indicator of a strong contestant for an admission spot.

- The UW 3.43 really kills him when measured against the top-tier schools (esp. Michigan and Cornell).

- A more precise definition of "one of the best high schools in MA" would be nice (general range of ranking i.e. top 5, top 10, top 15, etc.)

- Did he ask for his PI (primary investigator) for a letter of recommendation? Those can carry a large amount of weight, especially since he did research for 2 years on lung cancer.

- Was he good at swimming on his team or was he "just there"? If he was good enough to compete in County championships, then he's somewhere near NCAA Division III. Not that it matters anymore, since rarely will a team have any open spots come time for regular decision (unless you really sweet talk the coach into putting in a good word for you).

- Yeah, Northeastern really has stepped up their admissions profile in recent years.

- Did he submit his academic paper as a supplement for his application? I know a couple of schools like seeing the fruit of a student's research.

- Most importantly, I don't really know the quality of his essays. For some schools, it's a big game changer; for others, it's a facade. That's one factor I can't really help with.

Comments on acceptance:
Boston University: 66%
- Definitely exceeds testing standards, class rank puts everything up in the air. The deferment from Northeastern makes me hesitant to put out a higher percentage.

Brown University: 2.8%
- Test-wise, he's above the 75th percentile, but given the Cornell rejection, which I'd assume is ED, he doesn't stand too tall in class rank

Swarthmore College: 11%
- Swarthmore is built on Quaker values, which means they're big on volunteering. However, donating to a food bank =/= volunteering at a food bank. This number is an optimistic estimate. Also, it's a bit hard to find profile data to measure against for you, but it seems like that unweighted GPA is gonna be an anchor for your friend

Drexel University: 89%
- I'd almost push it to a high 90% chance
- Although he's below the avg. unweighted GPA (3.56), he has taken classes that are more rigorous and will be looked upon favorably by admissions.
- ACT 35 is practically at the 85th - 95th percentile of Drexel applicants.

Oberlin College: 42%
- His UW GPA is well under Oberlin's average (3.7), but his AP courseload and mastery in subject tests should help him in admissions. Also, the avg. weighted GPA of Oberlin admits is a solid 4.0. If his school does 4.0+ and he has that, then the unweighted situation isn't as big of an issue.
- 35 is above middle 50% (30 - 33).
- Based on his credentials so far, he seems like a solid middle-of-the-pack applicant to Oberlin.

University of Southern California: 37%
- UW GPA well below both applicant and admitted GPAs (3.57 and 3.82, respectively)
- ACT score a bit above middle 50% (31 - 34)
- Your friend is competing against California schools (one of the best public education systems in the U.S.)
- Personally, I wouldn't recommend USC because you're paying Ivy League tuition for a curriculum you could get down the road at UCLA (or Boston / Northeastern)
- Asian hunnies down at USC are ratchet af (personal experience)

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill: 39%
- ACT is above top end of middle 50% by two points
- Frankly speaking, I really don't know how to actually describe UNC since I rarely work with students who apply there (or who think of applying there but end up axing the school from their final pool altogether)
- Good portion of admits are at the top 10% of their class (78%). Assuming that 3.43 UW means that he probably isn't, that means that his GPA will be the hole in the armor.

Carnegie Mellon University: 32%
- Why did he apply to CMU if he's probably going bio track? These assumptions are based off of Mellon College of Science (since most of the college he applied to were for biology)
- Above ACT avg. by one point
- Well below CMU's unweighted GPA (3.87)
- Not a preferred choice imo

This is as far as I will go. I know that these percentages seem largely arbitrary, but these are my betting odds based on his admissions, deferments, and rejections. If you want an in-depth estimate similar to the ones above (or more), please PM me Drangonn.
 
Got into my first choice, UNC-Chapel Hill! Now just waitin to see if I get into East Carolina's Honors College before making a decision. I can't leave all that money on the table if I get in.
I'll be frank with you. Even if East Carolina gives you a full ride, the UNC-Chapel Hill degree carries a much larger weight when applying to jobs (better networks, better connections). Some schools like Eastern Carolina will throw large amounts of money for students well above their standard deviation to attract them, even if it's an Honors College. In my honest opinion, you're better off sticking with UNC-Chapel Hill, even if it costs you a little more out of pocket.

Furthermore, assuming that you're a U.S. citizen, you can apply for Federal financial aid, which can kick up quite a bit of money depending on your family's income bracket. Also, since you're going into the second semester of your senior year, you undoubtedly will start feeling "senioritis", where most of your second semester grades don't really matter anymore. Frankly speaking, that free time you have can be used to apply to outside scholarships. Although some scholarships may only offer $500-$1,000 for a single academic year, the more you apply to, the higher chance of you racking in more than one funding source. I'd assume that if you have the credentials to get into UNC, you undoubtedly will have a very good chance at racking in scholarship money from external sources.
 
I'll be frank with you. Even if East Carolina gives you a full ride, the UNC-Chapel Hill degree carries a much larger weight when applying to jobs (better networks, better connections). Some schools like Eastern Carolina will throw large amounts of money for students well above their standard deviation to attract them, even if it's an Honors College. In my honest opinion, you're better off sticking with UNC-Chapel Hill, even if it costs you a little more out of pocket.

Furthermore, assuming that you're a U.S. citizen, you can apply for Federal financial aid, which can kick up quite a bit of money depending on your family's income bracket. Also, since you're going into the second semester of your senior year, you undoubtedly will start feeling "senioritis", where most of your second semester grades don't really matter anymore. Frankly speaking, that free time you have can be used to apply to outside scholarships. Although some scholarships may only offer $500-$1,000 for a single academic year, the more you apply to, the higher chance of you racking in more than one funding source. I'd assume that if you have the credentials to get into UNC, you undoubtedly will have a very good chance at racking in scholarship money from external sources.
Yea, honestly I really want to go to UNC, but my mother doesn't want me to be burdened with too much debt down the line and is very eager to jump at any chance I can get at receiving large amounts of aid. My family income is in what I'd guess you'd call a sweet spot, where we aren't upper class but we don't make enough to qualify for a huge amount of aid.

I also don't mind applying for loans, but I don't quite understand how they work. I'm just very paranoid I wouldn't be able to pay them on time or something like that. Could you please explain to me how they work, I'm assuming there are different types and they all function differently?

I'm majoring in Nursing, if that gives you a better grasp of how well I'd be able to pay off debt.
 
Last edited:
Yea, honestly I really want to go to UNC, but my mother doesn't want me to be burdened with too much debt down the line and is very eager to jump at any chance I can get at receiving large amounts of aid. My family income is in what I'd guess you'd call a sweet spot, where we aren't upper class but we don't make enough to qualify for a huge amount of aid.

I also don't mind applying for loans, but I don't quite understand how they work. I'm just very paranoid I wouldn't be able to pay them on time or something like that. Could you please explain to me how they work, I'm assuming there are different types and they all function differently?

I'm majoring in Nursing, if that gives you a better grasp of how well I'd be able to pay off debt.
https://fafsa.ed.gov/

The website is pretty straightforward. It's a step-by-step forms that your parents will also have to fill out their tax information. They've streamlined it in recent years where your parents only need to input their Social Security number and the site will cross-reference it for their tax returns.

The government provides two different types of loans: unsubsidized and subsidized. One will accrue interest over time, while the other doesn't (think of it as a scholarship). Furthermore, income isn't the sole determining factor for financial aid awards. Other factors, such as number of dependents, geographical region, etc. also factor in when determining the optimal amount of money for you.
 
Have you considered applying to UMass Amherst? I have/had similar stats to your and I got a 12k$ scholarship out of it. My GPA was a tad less than yours as well/UMass Amherst has decent acceptance rate, a solid EE/ECE program(very rigorous though) and with reasonable recommendations you probably will accepted to be honest. I understand the worry though, my school had really difficult classes above the AP level with credits that didn't convert directly, so I'm sure if not anything else my application also gave the impression of an extremely lazy student. Also in all fairness most recommendations are nothing spectacularly out there. Afaik you can still apply to umass amherst till like march through the common app, definitely take a look imo.



EDIT: I had something insulting to say about you looking down on engineering majors, but I didn't really look at from your point of view. Everyone makes their own decision on what path to follow, it's not my place to judge you. I don't agree with your preconceived notions about the inherent impurity of engineering as a discipline, but that again is just an opinion from me. Stand by the fact that dumping 160k on an intellectual pursuit isn't a luxury all of us have. Apologies.
askin on someone else's behalf who is in a v weird place, lets call em john

john has a 3.43 uw gpa and attended one of the best high schools in ma. He has a 35 act (superscore) and pretty good reccs from two very reputable teachers (if that helps). He got bumfucked freshman year by bad teachers and then picked it up to average a gpa of 3.7 for both next years.

john took the hardest courseload possible, 10 APs and self studied subject SATs (math and chem, 800 and 800)

John also swam for 3 years and completed a sanskrit course that bestows the gift of being able to understand sanskirt and is working on his BA rn

john is asian male

john gardens and donates food to food bank regularly

john has a paper and worked at broad institute for 2 yrs on lung cancer

john applied to umass biochem (50% scholarship), wisconsin biomed (in), cornell bio (reject), michigan biochem (defer), northeastern (defer)

john applied to:

BU, Brown, Swarthmore, Drexel, Oberlin, USC, UNC, CMU, GT, Rice, Case Western, UPitt, Renesselaer, WashU, Rochester, UConn, NYU

john doesnt know where he can get in (applied to all for biochem)

Where can he feasibly get in? Where should he go?

John would most likely end up at med school ftr, if that helps

I realize im probably being a dick by askin this but its really weird and its hard to think about this lol

thanks to anyone that helps, much appreciated!
I'd say Case is probably the answer for both, or at least worth a closer look. They put much more emphasis on test scores than GPA, and their scholarships to my knowledge don't really discern between in-state and out-of-state.
 

hyw

Banned deucer.
Hello everybody!

I was accepted to the University of Edinburgh for Biochemistry today and am wondering whether anyone has any insight regarding schools in the UK. I am from New York and applied to a number of schools through UCAS without having truly understood what life is like for people who travel abroad from the US to study at schools in Europe.

As of now, I am waiting to hear back from schools in the US and am taking a closer look at schools of foreign lands in the meantime, hence my post here.

If anyone is familiar with this path, I would love to hear your experiences or thoughts. Thanks! xD
 
Last edited:

brightobject

there like moonlight
is a Top Artistis a Community Contributoris a Smogon Media Contributoris a Forum Moderator Alumnus
Brown interview tomorrow, wondering if anyone could give me some helpful tidbits on the school that might make me look well '.' i chose history as my top concentration and environmental science as my second
 
Brown interview tomorrow, wondering if anyone could give me some helpful tidbits on the school that might make me look well '.' i chose history as my top concentration and environmental science as my second
Hey

Brown asks a crapload of questions on personality (i.e. what do you do w/ friends, free time, etc), and a few questions on why brown and why your major. Most important is be honest and don't be boring. Also mention pretty campus and diversity.
 
Congrats! If you happen to attend there then I think you'll enjoy it. One of my friends is a freshman there and she's loving it. Hopefully the price is reasonable for you; UW and similar schools are often 50K a year which is nuts.

I was fortunate enough to get accepted to all the UC schools I applied to: San Diego, Santa Barbara, Irvine, and Los Angeles. I also got regent scholarships at UCI and UCSB. I'm leaning towards those but UCLA would be fantastic if it's affordable. Otherwise I'm waiting to hear from Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford but I really don't expect to get in there. I have other options in small private schools but most are so expensive that even with my award of their maximum merit-based scholarships they aren't looking optimal.

When it comes to receiving "need-based" scholarships, apparently life's not all that easy for the blonde-haired, blue-eyed, middle class, stable household, non-refugee/cancer survivor/rape victim, straight white male. There must be something inherently wrong with my skin color/sexual identity/etc to not be considered for finiancial aid, but try explaining that to the "tolerant" folk who give scholarships to everyone that looks different than me since I'm "privileged". A lot of kids do have serious need, and sadly the kids at my school who have no real issues but are a minority in some way receive the same rewards. Ultimately the money that they "need" (I personally know plenty that don't) comes from my pocket since my tuition is raised to cover for them. This is sort of a rant but I'm not mad, just disappointed that some people still consider social prejudice as much as actual quality. All I want is a fair chance.

Edit: Some of those make it easy to get scholarships, but they all make it easier to get admitted in the first place. It's messed up. Also, UW, U of Oregon, Colorado Boulder, U of Arizona, U of Alabama are all at least 50K for out-of-state applicants unless scholarships are given; I've had this confirmed several times. Even with academic scholarships I would have had to pay 40K or higher for U of Arizona.

If anyone here is freaking out about acceptance, trust me you aren't alone. A lot of my friends, and most of my senior class, is in a panic since their letters/emails are taking forever to come and have been denied from many of their top choices. There's also a lot of pressure from parents (especially those of a few ethnicities) since many have a "UC or we disown you" attitude which is really hard on kids. The reality is that if you work hard and make good connections via friends/businesses/clients/etc, life tends work out. There's always a place in the world for someone that is motivated, organized, and dedicated. My advice is to keep your hope up and try not to stress too much.
 
Last edited:

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 0)

Top