Hello, Guys!
I am honestly completely lost when it comes to my college list. I have absolutely no idea where I’d want to go!
I know that the there are so many possibilities, and I would like to take full advantage of all the wonderful campuses out there.
I think I’d like to study Political Science, specifically Political Theory. I also like sociology and the like, so basically a liberal arts education.
I think I would like to go to law school after undergrad.
As for the campus:
I can’t decide what I like better, rural or urban, I think I would go with urban, though.
I wouldn’t mind a small school population but for the most part, I probably prefer medium to large.
I think a liberal is the way to go, I’m gay and I’m not very conservative or religous.
I love the west coast vibe honestly; UC Berkely is where I’d fit in perfectly, it’s too expensive and UC’s are terribly difficult to get into. Anyways, I think I would settle for anywhere, location does not matter, besides, I would love to explore the country.
Money:
I would not be $0 EFC, my parents make between 100-120k a year. They could help a bit, but there is no way they would pay for it all. It would be my responsibility to pay either through loans or scholarships.
Stats:
I have a 29 ACT and I’m aiming for 30-32 for the next test. Anything within the 30-32 range would be perfect!
4.0 GPA
I hope that the information I have provided is sufficient, if you all need more info, I would be happy to supply!
Thank you so much!
Have you tried using CCs SuperMatch? I wouldn’t say its the only resource to use, but it should be a good start. Here’s a link: http://www.collegeconfidential.com/college_search/
I think it would be helpful if you could find a few on there that fit you. Then other viewers can give you feedback on what to add or cut.
Happy searching!
Hmm, I used it, and it gave me the usual suspects: HYP. I don’t think I am competitive enough to be admitted into those schools.
I got UChicago, Georgetown, and Cornell on that list. I like the urbanness of UChicago. I like that Georgetown is in DC; the religious thing kind of freaks me out. I think Cornell is absolutely beautiful, but I’m not sure I’m competitive enough for that school.
@liberalguy97 I wouldn’t worry too much about Georgetown. After the mandatory baptism, you are home free except for saying grace at every meal. At Notre Dame, they do exorcisms during orientation. It’s much worse there. 
Have your parents do the NPCs on the school sites.
You can’t borrow your way thru college. YOU can only borrow:
5500 frosh
6500 soph
7500 jr
7500 sr
as you can see, that’s not much. many of the schools you’re looking at won’t give you scholarships. Outside scholarships aren’t going to help with 4 years of college.
You need to be careful, otherwise you could end up with unaffordable schools.
Are you going to take the SAT too?
Agreeing with you the Supermatch wasn’t a lot of help; I’m afraid that your ACT score, even with a little improvement, makes the schools you mentioned mega-reaches. Do you have strong ECs?
That particular family income bracket is a tough one, not needy enough for the less-wealthy schools, and the ones that have the right kind of need-based aid are so hard to get into. I know that you mentioned a preference for urban and larger, but as a male applying to liberal arts colleges, mostly smaller and more rural or suburban, you’d get a boost because their application pools skew female. Is that something you’d consider? Grinnell, to take one example, is very liberal and has great need-based aid. Kenyon is another with great aid. Macalester may have the vibe you’re looking for, and it’s the rare LAC that’s actually in a city.
If you’d consider those, run the NPCs and see if the numbers that come out would be workable for your family. @mom2collegekids is right; you’re in a place both financially and stats-wise where you need to choose carefully, or you could end up without affordable acceptances.
But there are tons of options out there, and as we get more info from you it’ll be easier to make suggestions on next steps. It would help if you could get a figure, or a range, from your parents, on what they can contribute.