<p>Hello everyone! I am new here (although I have been reading a lot of posts during the last few days). I am currently junior in high school in Wisconsin. My question is what are some good colleges for me to apply to if I am still very undecided about a major. I am interested in chemistry, history/political science, and possibly higher level teaching. I have found a few that I am interested in (UW-Madison, Boston College, Notre Dame), but I am worried about not being set on a major before going to college and limiting my options.</p>
<p>My stats:</p>
<p>ACT: 34 (E:35 M:34 R:35 S:30)</p>
<p>SAT: Don't plan to take</p>
<p>GPA: W 4.2, don't know/have access to unweighted</p>
<p>Rank: at least top 10, don't know exactly</p>
<p>Classes: My high school was recently ranked as the top public high school in Wisconsin.
I have taken the highest classes possible, with 6 AP classes (Human Geography, Government, US history, Chemistry, Language, Calc BC) and more senior year. </p>
<p>Other: Many Music related EC, heavy church involvement, 200+ community service hours</p>
<p>Secure financially, don't know income (med-high middle class)</p>
<p>Caucasian Male</p>
<p>Thanks for any replies! Let me know if anything should be added or if I should post this somewhere else.</p>
<p>You will want to ask your parents for a very specific figure - what can they contribute each year? If they say $65K per year is not an issue, then you will have a LOT of choices. If they give you a lower number, then you will still have a lot of choices but that info will help narrow your list.</p>
<p>Offhand I feel like “undecided” is a fine place to be and very welcome at many LACs. The schools you list so far are fairly large though, do you have a preference about size, location, rural/urban, etc?</p>
<p>Thanks for replying! I will ask them a specific amount soon here. In terms of size I like larger colleges (minimum about 8000 people). I am mainly looking for a college that has access to some larger cities, but isn’t in the middle of one. I liked Boston College in particular because of the suburban feel with access to a awesome city.</p>
<p>being undecided, you will have lots of company in college. college is a time for exploration of and introduction to a host of ideas and fields. enjoy doing that and you will become a good student in whatever field you choose. learning to combine interests in several fields makes your focus on one field that much more interesting and stimulating intellectually. What might you find your interests in history, politics, chemistry, teaching, music, religion, and community service can do for your interest in any one of these? Undecided is good.</p>
<p>You have good stats, but finding the right college, esp. for a student of medium-high income family, is often a product of knowing what your family can afford and what the schools will expect them to pay. Often there is a large difference between ability and expectation that must be resolved by selecting schools that will help you narrow the gap. So OHMomof2’s response is right on. Take your choices above and run the net price calculators for each school. Show the Expected Family Contribution to your parents to start a conversation about how much they will be able to offer you each year. The sooner the better.</p>
<p>I will definitely ask very soon for the specific amount of money my parents are willing to provide. Do you know of any colleges that seem to be a good fit for my interests, disregarding money? Also I have seem the Net Price Calculator mentioned several times here, but I am unsure what it exactly is. Is there a specific website?</p>
<p>Every college has a net price calculator on its own website that will estimate costs for that specific school. Besides just knowing what your parents are willing to contribute, look at the NPCs with them and have them figure out the income/investments/etc. so that you can get the most accurate number.</p>
<p>OP, there is no “disregarding money.” If we were to do that, we’d have to list hundreds of schools where you might fit. no instant gratification available today.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info. I will definitely look into tufts and use the calculator.</p>
<p>@jkeil911 sorry if I said something wrong with “disregarding money”. I thought I had given enough information about size/environment/scores for people to give recommendations with focusing solely on money</p>
<p>And to answer your initial question don’t worry about going to college undecided. One admission officer told a group I was in that 50% of students apply undecided and of the group that applies with a major, half of them eventually change their minds. You are applying to large enough schools that you won’t be limited.</p>
<p>And yes, do pay attention to finances. If you need merit aid, with your excellent stats you can look into schools where you are in the top group and might qualify for scholarships (ex. Fordham in NYC as just one example)</p>
<p>OP, as I said, we could respond but what good would it do? you’d have a list of schools you don’t know if you can afford. you’d be wasting your time and ours and you still wouldn’t know if those were the only schools to apply to. This is not a pick-the-first-college-name-that-comes-into-your-head exercise You want help. We want to give it.</p>
<p>For a student who is undecided between many majors, consider giving some preference to schools where those majors are not capacity-limited or impacted. When majors are capacity-limited or impacted, students need to maintain a higher GPA than needed to stay in good academic standing, or apply to a competitive admission process, in order to declare the major.</p>
<p>OP, as others have said, in the end money drives the decisions for a very large number of students. Be aware when you run net price calculators that if you have divorced parents, or if your parents own a small business or rental real estate the calculators will likely show you getting more financial aid than you will really get.</p>
<p>If they aren’t up for paying $60,000+ per year, you might consider U of MN - Twin Cities, where you would get in-state tuition. Madison is going to be a stronger choice, but U of MN has some good qualities as well, and is going to give you another inexpensive option.</p>
<p>University of Minnesota also offers merit scholarships, unlike Madison. I’m also a Wisconsinite, but I was actually far more impressed with U of M than UW-Madison - at least for undergrad. Madison is great for grad school, but when visiting they didn’t seem to emphasize undergrads much at all. I really wanted to like it, but I didn’t. MN ended up being one of my top choices, even though I ultimately went elsewhere. (Also, MN and Madison both have really top notch chem programs, if you end up choosing that direction.)</p>
<p>It isn’t a problem to not have decided on a major. If you have a shot at prestigious schools like Notre Dame or Boston College, you’ll be able to find the major you want as you navigate your freshman year. I would suggest one of these smaller elite schools than a big state school where you could get lost in the mix. </p>
You want help. We want to give it.</p>