<p>I have absolutely no idea how to look for colleges. Simple as that. Another thing; due to circumstances throughout my childhood (such as my parents' 4+ year custody battle/divorce hearings) I wasn't/have not been able to be involved in extra-curriculars, even though I definitely wanted/want to. How will colleges look at this? </p>
<p>If any of you are willing to recommend some colleges to me here are the criteria;
-Size: School size doesn't necessarily matter to me, I'm a friendly person and will make friends either way
-Financial aid: I will be needing financial aid for college
-Location: Near a large city preferably, but if the college is good enough, a rural one will suffice.
-"Greek style" college: Preferred, not required
-Quality: Needless to say the quality of the school (not only the appearance, but the atmosphere, faculty, and student body as well) should to be satisfactory.
(Feel free to let me know if I've left out any key factors)</p>
<p>So far I've listed my "safeties" as OSU (Oregon State) and UP (University of Portland) as I reside in Oregon. I'd prefer to be out of state. </p>
<p>tl;dr how do I look for colleges based on my criteria listed above?, Will having almost no EC experience hurt my chances, even if I explain my situation?</p>
<p>Many public schools are pretty numbers driven (GPA and SAT/ACT scores). They dont put a lot of effort into reviewing your ECs. Private schools and more selective schools will be more interested in your ECs. </p>
<p>You might start your search on some of the college search sites. Put in your stats/interests and then review the college options that are flagged.</p>
<p>Thanks for the quick reply! What are some of those sites? And what if I find some private colleges that I really like? Will there be no point in applying to them?</p>
<p>“I wasn’t/have not been able to be involved in extra-curriculars, even though I definitely wanted/want to.”</p>
<p>Just keep in mind that ECs don’t have to be school-related or organized or ‘official’ in some way. Kids who do art, run, garden, cook - I could go on but you get the idea - all have ECs. The point here is to demonstrate that there is more to you than academics. You don’t have to join something in order to show that. The schools just want to know what you like to do with your spare time. And only the very top schools expect you to have ‘achieved’ something with your ECs - like awards or a leadership position.</p>
<p>Hmm, so does that mean that applying to somewhere like UPenn (my dream school) would be out of the question without awards or anything of the sort? I’m doing a summer internship at a research firm next summer, however I doubt that’ll be enough. Thoughts?</p>
<p>What kind of price limit are you looking at? Be aware that if your parents are divorced, many colleges still expect a contribution from both of them when calculating financial aid. If one or both is unable or unwilling to contribute the expected contribution, then need-based aid is unlikely to be sufficient. In that case, you need either colleges with a list price that is low enough, or where you can get large enough merit scholarships.</p>
<p>For need-based aid, run the net price calculator on each college’s web site.</p>
<p>Also, stating your intended or possible major would help others suggest appropriate colleges. If you are undecided, you may want to indicate what general areas you are most interested in.</p>
<p>UPenn is not out of the question without awards, etc… But they will want to know what you’ll contribute to the life of the campus and that you’ll have something interesting to add to the mix. Assuming you have the grades and test scores (and can afford it), then just be clear about how you’ve spent your time - church or other religious engagement, a job, caring for younger siblings, etc…These are all ECs. My point is don’t sell yourself short just because you didn’t have time to participate in school clubs and get to be President of the Honor Society.</p>
<p>Very hard to suggest without statistics (SAT or ACT, GPA). What year of high school are you in? Any idea what you might want to study?</p>
<p>Also… post #6 is very important for you to understand. As unfair as it may seem to you, many colleges (especially private schools or top universities) will expect both parents to contribute. And if one or both parents have remarried, the income from those spouses can also be taken into account. So that can knock the stuffing out of the actual need-based aid you receive, even if one parent will not contibute. You might spend some time on the Financial Aid forum if you want to talk more about this.</p>
<p>Not sure what my limit is as i don’t know how to find that honestly. I’m planning on majoring in biology, apoloies for leaving that out.
ACT composite - 30 (possibly higher)
SAT composite - ~1900 (math is holding me back)
GPA - unsure since I haven’t checked since sophomore year ended. My cumulative probably won’t be too great by the time I graduate (junior currently); a 1.6 freshman cumulative is haunting me wherever I go but last year I got a 3.8 and this year I’m taking multiple AP courses. Not sure if its relevant but I plan on going into the medical field after undergrad college.</p>