Can you help me choose schools?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi everyone, I am currently in the process of deciding which colleges to apply to in fall 2012, and I'm having a hard time, so I'd really appreciate your help. :)</p>

<p>I am currently a senior (I'll be graduating in a few days!) at a large, pretty average public high school in Texas. I would be a junior, but I'm graduating early so I can be a foreign exchange student next year. My stats are as follows:</p>

<p>Ranking: 7/574
Weighted GPA: 4.53/4.0
Fairly rigorous course schedule-- mostly pre-APs and APs
APs: Calculus AB (5 as a sophomore), World History (5 as a sophomore), Spanish (expected 4 or 5; I also took this class and got a 100 average without ever taking a Spanish class before this year), Japanese (expected 4 or 5), English Literature (expected 4 or 5)
SAT: 2250
SAT subject tests: 800 literature, 750 math II, 740 Spanish (are the math and Spanish scores good enough to send to top schools? I'm planning on taking Japanese this fall, but I don't know if I should hide the other scores)
ACT: 35
National Merit Finalist</p>

<p>Extra-curriculars:
Nothing spectacular here
I've been a Girl Scout since I was 6 and have gotten the Bronze and Silver awards for community service
5 years of guitar lessons; scores of 1 in UIL solo and ensemble and my school district's solo and ensemble contest
2 years of viola lessons
some sporadic volunteering at a hospital and medical clinic
math club president at my school
I was on the Japan Bowl team at my school in my freshman year, and we placed 6th at nationals</p>

<p>Awards:
I've won several local essay contest with my city's newspaper, etc., and I've been published in a few teen literary magazines
I don't know if these count, but in 8th grade, my school's math team (which I was on) earned 2nd place at the state Mathcounts competition, and I also placed 6th in the HoustonPBS spelling bee (the winner went to nationals)
In 9th grade, I spent 3 weeks in Japan on a study abroad scholarship through the program YFU
In 10th grade, I went to Korea for 2 weeks on another scholarship through CIEE
This upcoming school year, I'm going to Korea on a government scholarship through the NSLI-Y exchange program
I placed 1st and 2nd in the city Japanese speech contest last year and the year before</p>

<p>Anyhow, I think my stats are pretty good for the schools I'm looking into, but since you never know, I need to ensure I include some safeties. My parents are also worried about money-- we can afford to pay up to about $20,000, but I think we'll be ok because most of the schools I'm looking into seem to be good with financial aid.</p>

<p>Schools I'm most interested in: UC Berkeley, Brown, Stanford, Rice
Also considering: Barnard, NYU</p>

<p>I'm also going to apply to UT Austin as a back-up plan. However, this is only 5 schools. Is it enough? I may apply to another Ivy, but I don't know which one to choose. I'm also interested in liberal arts schools and women's colleges, but I don't know how to pick amongst them.</p>

<p>I'm very interested in languages (esp. Asian languages) and linguistics, and I want to go to a school that will have decent offerings in this area. I'm also hoping for a diverse student body. However, I think I would really like the environment of a small liberal arts school, and such schools don't usually offer much in the way of Asian languages or diversity. So, what do you think of my choices so far? Any more suggestions? Thanks!</p>

2

<p>You should be a competitive applicant for all the schools you listed. For a super safety, look at Earlham College. It’s a small liberal arts college in Indiana that is known for its strength in Japanese.</p>

3

<p>Check out University of Southern California–they give 1/2 tuition to National Merit Finalists who are accepted. It may seem like a “large” school on paper but from what I’ve heard it really does provide a smaller school feeling with the intimacy of classes. Also, since we’re on the subject of money, take off UC Berkley. They won’t give you money because you’re out of state.</p>

<p>Also check out the Claremont Colleges (specifically Pomona and Claremont McKenna). Pomona’s language classes are known to be amazing. Also Middlebury, a small LAC in Vermont is known for its exceptional language classes.</p>

4

<p>Berkeley out of state and NYU are not that likely to be affordable if you can only afford $20,000 per year. Run the net price calculator on each school’s web site.</p>

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<p>^ Agreed with UCBalumnus. Those will not be affordable. Here is a list of good NMF scholarship schools: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/649276-nmf-scholarships-updated-compilation.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/649276-nmf-scholarships-updated-compilation.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>If you are graduating early and going to be a foreign exchange student for a year are those considered HS or college classes? If college you may be considered a transfer which brings a host of other issues.</p>

6

<p>Emory and perhaps UVA are pretty generous w/ merit and your stats make you likely to receive some scholarship from either one or both.</p>

7

<p>Also look at Oberlin, which is very strong in Asian languages.</p>

8

<p>Tufts!
It has Arabic, Chinese, German, Hebrew, Japanese, Russian, and Swahili. The Department is also closely connected to various interdepartmental programs: Africa in the New World (ANW), Asian Studies, Communication and Media Studies (CMS), International Relations (IR), International Literary and Visual Studies (ILVS), Judaic Studies, and Middle Eastern Studies.</p>

<p>How about George Washington Univ.?</p>

<p>I think you might need a few more target schools? Also, since you are such as strong student you can look for schools that are also generous with merit aid.</p>

<p>I echo the suggestion of running the EFC numbers. Schools that are generous with financial aid won’t be of much help if they don’t think you NEED financial aid.</p>

9

<p>Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. Regarding financial aid, I was under the (perhaps mistaken) impression that most of the schools I am looking into pledge to meet your financial need (I know that NYU and UC-Berkeley won’t, but I was thinking the others generally would). My parents are divorced, and my custodial parent is my father, who makes about $50,000/year. Will Berkeley not give much financial aid even for an income that’s barely equal to the total cost of tuition, room and board for the year?</p>

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<p>^ No. Someone correct me if I’m wrong but the general rule with out of state “flagship” publics is that you’re very likely to be paying $30k+ a year (with a few exceptions like U Minnesota). The UC schools are having budget issues and are taking a liking to full-pay out of state students. You’re very unlikely to get a generous financial aid package from a UC school.</p>

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<p>I did the financial aid estimator for Berkeley (sorry I’m hung up on this one school…it was my top choice other than Brown, and I had a better chance of getting in, too) and it expected my family to take out $35,000 in loans for just the first year…does that seem right? It just seems like a ridiculously high amount.</p>

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<p>“which colleges to apply to in fall 2012”
do you mean fall of 2013?? I sure hope so.
If so, then apply to U of Chicago, Tufts, Oberlin and give Stanford a try too. USC would offer you $$ but their foreign language programs are not a strength. But you would be wasting your time applying to any UC- they are admitting full pay OOS students in order to help pay for in state Calif students.</p>

13

<p>menloparkmom, I will be apply this fall, but I will be entering as a freshman in 2013. :slight_smile:
Also, Erin’s dad, I will be a high school exchange student in South Korea… I’m assuming that since I have already graduated, colleges will not care about my grades from my Korean high school, right? I’m going more to learn the language than anything else, and I don’t expect to be able to participate in class that much at first, anyway, since I don’t know much Korean yet.</p>

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<p>The Berkeley estimator is absolutely correct. UC schools are subsidized by CA taxpayers for CA taxpayers’ children. If a student whose family hasn’t paid CA taxes wants to come, fine, but it doesn’t make sense for the CA taxpayers to subsidize them with financial aid. UC financial aid is for CA students. I wouldn’t suggest that you apply, because you won’t be able to afford it.</p>

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<p>Also, be aware that schools that meet need tend to look at the income of non-custodial parents as well. They will look at the income and assets of the combined larger family unit (including step-parents).</p>

16

<p>You should look at Reed College (in Portland, Oregon) if you like small liberal arts colleges. Reed’s a small liberal arts college, and Reed meets full need. Pitzer College (in California) also meets full need and is a liberal arts college. </p>

<p>You should have a look at Emory University, which also meets full need. They have a program where you do your first 2 years at a small liberal arts college about 40 minutes away from the main campus – the campus at the liberal arts branch (Oxford College of Emory University) is incredibly diverse, and Emory (where you spend the last 2 years, and receive a degree from) has great language programs. Emory’s main campus still has a low student to faculty ratio, especially in the upper-level classes you’d be taking by the time you moved on to the main campus, so an increase in class sizes shouldn’t be a worry. I’d definitely consider Emory, especially the Oxford pathway. </p>

<p>I’d take NYU off your list though… It gives terrible aid and is nothing like a small liberal arts college.</p>

17

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<p>That is no surprise, since Berkeley appears not to give financial aid grants against the additional non-resident tuition.</p>

<p>There are merit scholarships, but large ones are rare and hard to get (Drake full ride for mechanical engineering majors only; don’t know if Regents’ for non-residents with financial need will cover any part of non-resident additional tuition).</p>

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<p>OP, unfortunately, you need to cross Berkeley off your list. You will get no financial aid, and Cost of Attendance for non-residents was $55K last year. You can go to almost any private school in the country for that amount of money, and you won’t run into the problems that UC students have – overcrowded classes, long wait lists, program cutbacks, double-digit tuition hikes, etc. Higher education in California isn’t a pretty picture these days.</p>

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<p>"Higher education in California isn’t a pretty picture these days. "</p>

<p>PUBLIC higher education in Calif has lots of problems. PRIVATE higher education is doing just fine.</p>

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<p>OP, I just read that you’re custodial parent makes 50k. Your non custodial parent will be part of this equation too.</p>