Advise a Junior With the College Selection Process

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I'm currently a junior that's trying to gain some insight on the college admissions/search process. I'm not going to embellish my resume, or add things that I "think" I'll get or anything like that, I'm just going to put down what I have, and hopefully some of you will offer some advice. My parents' mantra has been "study hard and things will come to you", but I think it's time I took some initiative and started researching on my own. I'll post my profile and ask insight on what colleges I should consider. </p>

<p>School Type: Public High School Residential Early Entrance College Program
<em>look at the following links for more information</em>
TAMS</a> Home, University of North Texas
Early</a> college entrance program - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Location: Texas
Race/Gender: South Asian Male
Unweighted GPA: 4.0/4.0
Weighted GPA: School does not weight courses due to nature of program
Rank: School does not rank due to nature of program</p>

<p>*SAT I Scores: *
Total (single sitting): 2340
SAT I CR: 800
SAT I Math: 740
SAT I Writing: 800</p>

<p>SAT II Scores:
None</p>

<p>EC's/Awards</p>

<p>Misc:
Academic Championship/WhizQuiz (9,10,11) - Team Captain - National Qualifier Junior
Future Business Leaders of America (9,10,11) - Freshman State Finalist Economics
National Forensics League Team (Debate) (10) -** Vice President** - District Alternate to Nationals Tournament, Texas Forensics Association State Tournament Qualifier
Academy Players (Theater) - (9,10,11) - Lead Role Junior
Habitat for Humanity (10, 11) - help build houses in disadvantaged communities, consistent for two years.
National Merit Semifinalist (Score of 236, expected)
National Honors Society (10) - Secretary - helped organize clothing drives</p>

<p>Science Oriented:
US Department of Energy Science Bowl Team (11) - Regional Semifinalists
JETS (Junior Engineering Technical Society) (11) - organize science demonstrations for underprivileged kids in poor schools to spark interest in mathematics/science
Computational Chemistry Research (11) - using Ab Initio/GAUSSIAN methods to calculate reaction complexes in chemical compounds - The</a> Wilson Research Group: Research</p>

<p>While I understand my EC's/Awards are weak, I plan on developing some of them further. You'll notice that a few of my EC's were broken up in the 10th/11th grade, this is because the school I go to is a 11th/12th school, so I kind of had to start over most of my student organizations/clubs other than the ones that were present in both my 9/10 school and 11/12 school. I especially plan to develop my FBLA Business pursuits as well as enter into various Research Competitions - though no results are guaranteed.</p>

<p>In terms of major/school, I'm actually willing to attend a diverse array of schools due to my interests. At a technical/pre-professional school, I'd like to pursue Engineering or Business, while at a more Private/LAC school I would most likely want to study Economics. In terms of criteria, I really like an urban setting - but I am content with college towns as well. Big campuses preferable, medium alright, but small colleges are a definite no. </p>

<p>Could some of you suggest colleges that I have a realistic chance of making? A couple of colleges that I would have to work to get into, reasonable matches, and others that are shoe-ins.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Awesome stats!!!</p>

<p>You can apply anywhere! The ivies, the other elites, etc. </p>

<p>You gave a lot of info, but to summarize…</p>

<p>Super stats
Attends a residential early entrance college program
Likely NMF
Likely major - Engineering or business
Likes big campuses (doesn’t like small campuses)</p>

<p>Are finances an issue? Will your parents pay for you to go anywhere you want? Do you know how much they’ll contribute each year for your education? </p>

<p>If you’ll need financial aid, you’ll need to know what your EFC is and whether your parents can pay it. [FinAid</a> | Calculators | Expected Family Contribution (EFC) and Financial Aid](<a href=“http://www.finaid.org/calculators/finaidestimate.phtml]FinAid”>http://www.finaid.org/calculators/finaidestimate.phtml) If your parents EFC is high and they can’t afford it, then you’ll need to strategize to get your costs covered.</p>

<p>Ivies are the most generous, but also are the hardest to get admitted to (they even turn down kids with your stats. yikes!)</p>

<p>The problem is that recommendations for schools will vary widely depending on whether you major in engineering or business. Recommendations will also vary depending on finances.</p>

<p>For instance…for a match/safety for engineering, we might recommend Georgia Tech or Purdue, but we might not recommend those schools for business and/or if you need financial aid.</p>

3

<p>Reasonable matches would be Emory, Rice, Northwestern… Lower ivies might be high matches and the top Ivies would be reaches (maybe low reach)</p>

4

<p>Gotcha mom2collegekids. So you’re saying that first I did to figure out my parents EFC in order to know how to finance college properly, and then I ought to properly settle down on a specific major of my choice?</p>

<p>Then people would be able to offer more advice right?</p>

<p>Thanks a million!</p>

5

<p>Yes…because some ivies wouldn’t be best for engineering, but would be great for a business major.</p>

<p>And…if your parents’ EFC is highish, but they can’t/won’t pay it, then your strategy will have to include some schools that will give you a great merit scholarship. (Ivies don’t give merit scholarships.) So, it’s important to know their approx EFC and what how much your parents are willing to pay.</p>

<p>If your parents say…we’ll pay $55k+ a year, then you don’t have to worry about your EFC at all. :)</p>

6

<p>With your interest in business, have you considered applying ED to Wharton (University of Pennsylvania)? I believe that you would have a great chance of admission.</p>

7

<p>So your stats are great and your ECs are good but not distinctive (unless your research has resulted in something you’ve published and your lab director raves about it/you). So it’s going to come down to your essays and letters of rec with, perhaps, a boost for geographic diversity, if you apply outside of your region-unless you need a lot of financial aid, which will mean that you have to apply to schools where you are in the top 25% of the class to ensure good FA/merit money.</p>

<p>Assuming money isn’t an issue, HYPMS are reaches for everyone-you have a shot at it if your rec and essays stand out. LACs are out if you don’t want a small school. You can get the rest of the list off USNWR, by looking at all the other top schools. They all have engineering, business and/or economics. Read a few college guides to get feel for these places. If you give us more info about the kind of culture you want, geographic preferences, etc…we can probably give you a better list.</p>