<p>I was wondering if anyone could give advice or suggestions on which schools to apply to. I'm currently a junior at a very well-respected public high school in Dallas, TX with a 3.96 (weighted) GPA and I've been taking as many AP classes available to me for the last two years. I'm also involved in many extracurricular activities. As far as test scores go I'm expecting a 27-30 on my ACT and an 1800-2000 on my SAT though these could vary due to how much prep I take. Also because of the 10% rule in Texas, my school only ranks the top 10, so I'm not ranked. My criteria for college is:
1. liberal student body- I'm one of a handful of democrats in my extremely rich and conservative school, in my extremely rich and conservative neighborhood, in my extremely conservative state. I'm not saying I want to attend the most left-winged commune of a college in America, but a liberal majority would be preferable.
2. mid-sized- I'd like the school to be between 4,000 and 25,000 people but I'm not too picky about schools being too big. I would like to avoid small schools though.
3. college town- not a deal killer but it would be nice. Especially a good music scene(i play guitar and violin)
4. right amount of school spirit- I want there to be some school spirit but I don't want my life to be based around football and march madness (though I do love both of them). I want some individuality and time to break away from the crowd. Also not too preppy, since I'm definitely not the one to go to vineyard vines.
5. cost- my parents are pretty well-off so I'm not very concerned about this but I do have a younger brother and sister who need to be able to afford college too. Aid would be nice if possible.
6. diversity- My high school is about as white as it can get so it would be nice to have some diversity, both racially and economically. Also, I'm hispanic.
7. study abroad- over spring break, I served as student ambassador to Taiwan and I loved it and would love to do it again. Unfortunately, languages are not my strong-suit.
8. wide range of subjects- My favorite subjects are history and social studies but I'm also very good at math, so I'd like a college that offers degrees in these areas. I probably won't go into engineering and definitely can't be a doctor. I'm considering Law and polisci right now. A little bit of a liberal arts feel would be nice.
9. religion- I was raised a catholic but I'm pretty secular now, though I do enjoy learning about the many different kinds of religion. I don't want to be required to go to church services, though I could probably bare a required theology class now and then.
10. party school- can't be a party everyday but I like to have fun when ever I can. I may choose to join a frat but it depends on the college and how preppy they are:P
here are the colleges I'm considering as of now in no particular order:
1. UT (will apply)
2. U of Washington (will apply)
3. Boston U (probably will apply)
4. Michigan ( a counselor told me to have a school thats a stretch)
5. NYU (stretch)
6. William & Mary (stretch)
7. Tufts (stretch)
8. George Washington
9. American
10. Villanova
11. Miami (FL)
12. Wisconsin
13. UGA
14. Indiana
15. Ohio St
16. Oregon
17. Syracuse
18. College of Charleston
19. South Carolina
any suggestions? schools i should look into that aren't listed?</p>
<p>I would recommend you specifically ask your parents what they can afford to put toward your college costs. NYU costs $60K/year. Even for well off families that’s a lot of money.</p>
<p>Pretty much any college will be able to offer history, social studies and math. I noticed many of your schools are much larger than your stated size preference. What about Ohio U instead of Ohio State?</p>
<p>You will want to get a feel for whether it is important to you to have a residential campus (and what that means) George Washington does not feel like a residential campus, and I’m guessing neither do NYC or BU. Indiana certainly is a residential campus.</p>
<p>Thats part of the problem I’m having. It’s hard finding schools in that size range that I feel confident about or that I want to go to. I’ve found that schools in the Midwest have met most of my criteria, but most of them are bigger then what I want but I’d rather the school be bigger then smaller.</p>
<p>My friend, who is a freshmen at Ohio U, told me that it’s pretty conservative since it’s on the border with west Virginia and a lot of people who attend are from West Virginia. I’m not sure if this is true or not.</p>
<p>What do you mean by residential? I’d like to live in a dorm on campus if that is possible but I don’t know how much that would affect my decision. I’d probably prefer to live in a more urban or suburban setting though. I stayed at George Washington last summer for a week and I was surprised by all the business people walking around who I assumed had nothing to do with the campus. Because it was the middle of summer I wasn’t sure if it would be different or not when school was in session.</p>
<p>The thing about cost is that I’m not really sure where my parents stand on it. My parents might be able to budge on a school like NYU, since it’s highly respected but it is very expensive compared to other schools of it’s caliber. Boston U is also very expensive.</p>
<p>Have you considered the University of North Texas? It would be much more affordable than the private schools you’ve listed. To the best of my knowledge, it is also one of the most liberal schools in Texas.</p>
<p>I’ve also noticed that your listed criteria almost perfectly fits Appalachian State University in Boone, NC. I’m a little biased because several of my siblings have attended it and I’m also looking into possibly going there. The only problem is that it isn’t very diverse. Maybe you would like to look into it, though.</p>
<p>If you want to do law I wouldn’t bother paying so much for NYU or BU.</p>
<p>I would love to go to UNT but it’s about 20 min from where I live and neither me nor my parents want me that close. I’ve heard of Appalachian State but I’ve never looked into. Never heard of University of Boone but I’m not that familiar with NC.</p>
<p>I’m not completely sure I want to do law and when it finally comes down to choosing colleges, I don’t think it’s going to be NYU unless I absolutely love it for some reason. BU on the other hand is one of my top choices but I’m still concerned about the cost, so I could definitely be persuaded not to apply.</p>
<p>Sorry for the confusion; there is no University of Boone. Appalachian State is located in the town of Boone.</p>
<p>If you want more of a liberal arts environment, how about James Madison University? Its campus is beautiful and its student body is predominantly liberal. The only downside is the lack of racial diversity.</p>
<p>it’s pretty liberal up in the NC mountains…as is UNC Asheville…but I don’t think the OP should go and pay OOS money for App State or UNC Asheville.</p>
<p>I’m sorry, I thought you said university of Boone. I’ve looked at James Madison a little. It seems like it might be a good match.</p>
<p>I’ve also looked into UNC Ashville but I don’t think my parents liked it that much.</p>
<p>One of my fears for schools like these though is that it would limit my ability to get jobs in other parts of the country.</p>
<p>How do you really feel about UT-Austin though? Based on everything you’ve said so far, I think it might be your best bet.</p>
<p>^I get the sense OP wants to go out of state based on that school list. </p>
<p>Beware with those big state schools though, if you want a predominately liberal student body, you’re going to get more of a 50/50 at most of them. Which, IMO, is healthy for a vibrant campus</p>
<p>edit: UT Austin is his #1 choice, never mind. That big OOS list looks like it means otherwise.</p>
<p>UT is my number 1 choice. In Texas though it’s become very selective, because they will automatically accept you if you’re in the top 7% of your class. If you’re not atleast in the top 10 it gets pretty hard to get in. This year was especially bad, so I’ve heard that next year they’ll probably accept more people so that people continue applying.</p>
<p>Yeah I figured they’d be pretty in the middle, which is better than most the schools in Texas, which undoubtedly will lean right no matter what.</p>
<p>You are kind of right Etuck. Unless you get into UT or Texas A&M, most the people I know leave the state. The difference is they go to schools in the south. Some of them settle for Texas Tech and some can afford Baylor or TCU but otherwise the education system in Texas isn’t that great</p>