Can someone just point me in the right direction?Sophomore looking for safeties matches and reaches.

College Search & Selection
1

I’m a high school sophomore at a small charter school in New Jersey, and I have very little idea about where I want to apply for college. I’m interested in 3 main possible majors: Biology(especially Biomedicine), Psychology, and International Relations. (I know, very spread out :"> !) There are some schools I am interested in, namely Stanford, Brown, Dartmouth, UCAL-Berkeley, Swarthmore, Rensselaer, BU, NYU, USC, Case Western Reserve, and University of Denver.
(After 9th grade I had to transfer as my school (a Catholic high school) was closing)
Grades: Overall GPA of ~4.6 weighted and ~4.0 unweighted.
9th Grade:
Honors Global History 1: A+
Honors Biology:A+
Honors Algebra 1: A
Honors English 1: A
Religion 9: A+
Spanish 2:A+
Health:A+

10th Grade(so far):
Honors US History 1: A+
AP Biology: A
Honors Chemistry:A
Honors American Literature:A+
Honors Geometry:A
Computer Programming 1:A+
Journalism & Media Studies: A+
Driver’s Ed:A+
Self studying AP Environmental Science

–will take Algebra 2 and PreCalculus over the summer–

11th Grade(projected)
AP US History
Honors Physics
AP Language/Literature–Not sure which one
AP Calculus AB
AP Chemistry
Health
AP Psychology
Spanish 3
Self studying one of the AP Physics, AP Comparative Gov, AP US Gov, and possibly AP Computer Science.

12th Grade(projected)
AP World History
Genetics&DNA Technology
Anatomy&Physiology
AP Literature/Language–Whichever one I dont take in 11th grade
Spanish 4
Health
An Art class (Possibly AP Studio Art Drawing)
Life and Leadership Skills/ Economic Literacy
Self Studying AP European History, another AP Physics, AP Macroeconomics, AP Spanish Language/Culture, and AP Statistics.

EC’s–Because I don’t have a ride home, it has been hard for me to participate in as many EC’s in sophomore year.
Science Club 9th Grade
Art Club 9th Grade
Student Council Grade Delegate 9th Grade
Student Activities Committee Member 9th Grade
Volunteer/Tutor at Elementary School 9th Grade (about 200 hrs.)
Volunteer Counselor In Training at Local Summer Camp Summers Before 9th and 10th Grade(over `1000 hours)
Volunteer “Buddy” in program playing Soccer with disabled children 10th Grade(~20 hours)
Volunteer “Reading Buddy” in program with young children at local library Summers Before 9th and 10th grade(~20 hrs)
NHS 10th Grade
Possible forthcoming volunteer at local hospital.
Possible summer research internship.
Possible summer college courses/leadership forums

Test scores:
PSAT Composite of 192 (Not great, but I didn’t know about the test prior)
SAT Practice Test scores in the high 1900s and low to mid 2000s, but can and will improve

College Preferences: I really don’t care about size, but I’d probably prefer a large university for the wealth of opportunities it offers. I’d like a college that has majors pertaining to my fields of interest. In terms of location, preferably northeastern or western, and if not, near a large city.
Thanks for any and all suggestions!

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You don’t need to pick colleges right now. Look and learn, dig deeper into what the curriculum is like at the ones you are looking at, find ‘similar’ match schools. Fiske Guide is helpful. Bio and psych are core offerings of any college. Ones known for IR are a little less obvious. Talk to your parents about what is affordable.

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Right now, tour a few of the colleges that are closer to you in order to get a better idea of what you’re looking for. Make sure to look at Rutgers, as well (it’s the NJ state flagship).

University of Rochester and University of Pittsburgh may also be good schools to consider. Definitely Pitt, I would say.

I’d recommend touring at least Rutgers and NYU over the summer, as those should be relatively close by. That will give you a better idea of what it would be like to go to a larger university, as well as one that’s more urban.

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If you are interested in International Relations and want to add another LAC, I suggest Macalester. Also, try to keep math for all 4 years.

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@Cosmological‌ Macalester has sent me multiple e-mails and brochures. One question about Macalester: do they offer many different opportunities for undergraduates? Because in my experiences, it is usually larger research universities that have the most different opportunities, with, IMO, LAC’s being somewhat lacking in this area. Are you an alumnus?I’d be extremely interested in hearing more about Macalester.
@hungryteenager‌ Rutgers has always been that ever-present school there (The main campus is literally 5 minutes from my house) and I think that’s why I’ve never really been super-interested in Rutgers. An astronomical amount of older friends, people at my school, etc, have gone to Rutgers, and I don’t want to simply replicate that. I would also love to get out-of-state for college, as New Jersey does get dull. I will keep Rutgers in my mind,though. I will most likely take you up on your advice to tour Rutgers and NYU, and to look into Rochester and Pitt.
@BrownParent‌ Yes, I know. I think it’s partly a result of my school. It’s a ‘college prep’ school, every classroom is named after a college, etc. Recently, our guidance counselor told us to use collegeboard.org to generate a list of our ‘top colleges’, all in a 40 minute period. I guess it’s gotten me a bit paranoid about colleges and nervous about college admissions…I will try to relax and use my time in High school wisely to broaden my horizon. My parents are weird about money, but I’ll try to talk to them about it.

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Your PSAT is pretty good for a sophomore. They are changing the PSAT next year, but start hunting for practice materials for that and the SAT and there’s a possibility you could raise that PSAT score high enough to get National Merit Semifinalist. It is hard in New Jersy - the cutoff is about the highest of all the states in the nation - but if 192 was a cold score, study may improve that. You could get some good scholarships through NMSC - check it out.

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@bbbaaa784 No, I’m just a senior in high school who almost applied to Macalester, lol. What I do know is that it’s in Minneapolis-St. Paul, so you could have lots of access to things in the city, as well as possibly working with researchers at the University of Minnesota.

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@bbbaaa784‌

Yeah, I can see how being 5 minutes from home could be a turn off for Rutgers.

Also, Case Western may be a better fit than Rensselaer RPI is a fantastic STEM (especially Engineering) school, but doesn’t round out its offerings as much as Case does, which is great for kids who really want to do STEMSTEMSTEM and more STEM (like I do), but may not mesh with kids who want to explore non-STEM (or business, the business school is also very good) fields. You should definitely tour (not necessarily this year, but maybe after junior year) and make sure that you’re okay with its curricular offerings. Frankly, you should do the same with every school you’re looking at.

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Professors at LACs are hired because they can/will involve undergraduates in their research so opportunities shouldn’t be hard to come by. Macalester is located in an awesome neighborhood, in a city filled with Fortune 500 companies, museums, cultural venues for concerts, and pro sports, plus lots of lakes and parks within easy access.
I also second Case Western - same idea, although the city is less exciting, but the neighborhood is cool with lots of opportunities.

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It is a typical classroom exercise in college prep oriented high school programs to ask freshmen and sophomore students to begin to research colleges and universities. It is not the intent of that activity to get you all freaked out about the process, but rather to kick-start the interest of students who need a bit more of a push so that they are more likely to stay on task through high school as to grades and course selection.

Unfortunately, few classroom teachers or guidance counselors think to tell the students to go home and ask their parents about how college will be paid for. So do that. Ask your parents to run the Net Price Calculator on the Rutgers website, and on the websites of two or three other places that appeal to you right now. That will give all of you a starting point for thinking through any money issues that present themselves.

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@MYOS1634‌ really? I was under the impression that LAC’s didn’t incorporate much research…guess I was wrong. Thanks for that!

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All professors must do research regardless of the type of university they teach at and top LACs have excellent research being done. Of course they don’t have as many research grants, but for an undergraduate there’s plenty to do. If you move into Top 100-125 rather than top 50 (and the further away from Top 50), the less research professors do, but within the top 100 you should have opportunities (and even outside of the top 100 - top Eckerd students can start as research “aides” first semester freshman year before they move on to more important roles, for instance. The topic being researched and the grants which allow the freshmen to be selected and hired are published ahead of time. College of Wooster ranks at the top of the national list - they always joke “along with Princeton”- for student research. Lawrence has a R1 program in the sciences, where their undergrads do research on campus but are also paired with a mentor at a big research university; Hendrix has the Odyssey, with an exceptional rate of students doing research…)
Regional universities will have a bit less research because professors have a greater teaching load and less access to grant money but, again, that depends on the rankings and the university’s mission.

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You can definitely get research experience at most LACs. The profs all do research, and they have no grad students competing for their attention. Macalester is a nice school (I used to live near it, and D2 applied and was accepted with merit aid a couple of years ago). But don’t favor a school just because they are mailing to you. Do your own research.

Visit some different types of schools to see what you like. Try to attend a class, go on a tour, eat in a cafeteria.

One thing you need to focus in on sooner rather than later is finances. Each school has a net price calculator available through the financial aid website page. Lots of NJ students end up at Rutgers because of cost, honestly. Better for you to understand whether you are eligible for need based aid or not, whether your parents can meet the expected cost of attendance at the schools you are considering, and whether you need to look for merit aid. If you do need merit aid to leave NJ, then you will want to focus in on schools where your stats are on the higher end and they offer enough merit to make it affordable.

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@MYOS1634‌ Wow, that’s really cool! Just about all of the LACs that have looked interesting (Williams, Swarthmore, Carleton, Oberlin, Macalester, Kenyon) are in the top 50. That’s good, because I had honestly always instinctively pictured a trade-off between personal attention and research oppurtunities. Thanks for the enlightenment :wink:
@intparent‌ The visiting part is the hardest. My parents most likely won’t allow me to run all over the country to visit USC, Macalester, Berkely, or DU, among many others. You bring up a good point about finances. We’re like middle class, so I’m unsure how much financial aid I’d get, especially at an OOS public college. And yes, of course it is a top priority to leave NJ for college, so I will of course apply to schools where I can get good merit aid.

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@bbbaaa784‌

Also, see if schools consider merit aid as part of the overall package. Let’s say that the cost of Quendelton State University is $60,000 a year. JoBob has an EFC of $20,000, and has received a $20,000 a year scholarship to QSU. Depending on its policy, QSU may give JoBob the merit scholarship in addition to the $40,000 a year to meet his EFC, leaving Jobob with free college. Or, QSU can give JoBob the merit aid and only $20,000 in need based aid, leaving JoBob with a bill of $20,000 a year. See which policy your schools use. Does that make sense?

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@hungryteenager‌ Yeah, that actually makes a lot of sense.Thanks!

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Have your parents run the NPC on the various schools’ websites to get an idea of how much your family will have to pay.

At Berkeley, you’ll be full pay…about $55k per year.

Have them run Duke (is that your DU?), USC, and some others.

Many families are shocked to find out that schools will expect them to pay a lot more than they can afford.

Do either of your parents own a business? Do they own property other than their home?

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@mom2collegekids‌ Actually no, DU is the University of Denver.That’s how they denote themselves & I didn’t think of possible confusion. That financial situation at Berkeley looks horrid… ~X( , But no, neither own a business or any non-home property, besides our cars. Thanks! =D>

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That is called stacking aid if they allow you to use merit aid without reducing your need based aid. However… many (most) of the schools you are listing so far do not stack aid. So getting a bunch of outside scholarships, or even merit from the college itself (where most merit is awarded) may not reduce your cost of attendance.

You need to start working with your parents to figure out if you are eligible for need based aid. Running a few net price calculators is your best bet for this. They will need to help you, but it will go a long ways toward helping you find appropriate colleges. There is no point in research a lot of schools the schools on your list if either (1) you aren’t eligible for need based aid, or (2) your parents can’t or won’t pay the cost of attendance that the college net price calculator shows. You also will need to start thinking about your appetite for loans. You can take out a total of $5,500 freshman year, $6,500 soph year, and $7,500 junior and senior year in federal loans. After that you need your parents or another adult to cosign for loans. None of your majors are high paying, honestly… I certainly wouldn’t go beyond the federal loan limit if I were you, and you need to consider if you even want to go that far. However, you would limit your choices considerably if you won’t take out loans. You have a start on nice stats, but cost is the driving factor for many, many students these days. The sooner you start looking at it, the more realistic your list can be.

And if you parents say after running the NPCs that they think they can cover you cost of attendance at some of these schools, all great! Ask away for recommendations. You are right that OOS publics may not be the best bet (although UVA meetings needs for OOS students, and I think U of Michigan has improved their OOS aid just this past year…not sure all the way to meets need, I just don’t know).

I would suggest that you study hard for the PSAT prior to taking it next year. You have strong grades, you may be capable of a very good score and possible national merit finalist status, which opens up a few possibilities (eg, U of Alabama pretty much free, for example). However, the cutoff for NMSF in NJ is very high (I think 224 in 2013, not sure this past year), so you would have to really crack down on studying prior to next fall. Even if you don’t get NMF, the studying will help when you actually take the SAT.

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@bbbaaa784‌ since you say your parents are ‘weird’ about money, I suspect they are like many of us parents, looking at the cost/benefit of various schools.

Your best bet is to continue to do well in school and in standardized testing. Since your interests are diverse, you may be seeking a large college. I agree about touring those in your area. You then may have ideas on the specific schools out of your area to look at.

You can subscribe to US News ‘Best Colleges’. They come out with a print edition every year and in the back lists a short stat paragraph on each college alphabetically by state. They have various lists on ‘Best Colleges’ - national u, national liberal arts, regional u, regional college, historically black college, engineering schools, and informative articles. It may help you discover some options. Print edition comes out in the fall (late sept/early oct) and says to stay on news stand through the following Jan. Maybe your GC office has related material. You school may be on ‘Naviance’ so there are lots of ways to explore through that resource.

There are a number of threads on CC that have best for OOS merit (public universities), best merit, and other criteria. If you do get to NM, consider those schools that reward that.

If you are looking to continue studies beyond UG, spread your resources accordingly.

Pay attention to the evaluation process older students at your school use (what juniors and seniors are looking at, and where they end up committing to and the reasons) in choosing schools to apply to and what their results are - maybe that will give you some insight.

Your parents may have a number in mind for what they will pay towards college. You have to figure what the room and board is as a basic for most. Easy to find out all the ballpark cost info for schools on their web sites.Then see what amount your parents are willing to contribute? Most schools have tuition and maybe other costs going up yearly, so that has to also be considered.

H and I are also ‘weird’ about money. We plan to ‘retire with dignity’ with a paid for house and retirement savings.Our two kids are in great in-state public schools; they had merit. We had a commuter option if our finances couldn’t handle room/board.

Good luck with the process.