Chance Me!

Colleges and Universities A-Z Juniata College
1

<p>I would put this under the "What Are My Chances?" section, but that's mostly used for the Ivies and other top schools. Most people also have never heard of Juniata, so I hope to get a better response here. Here are my stats:</p>

<p>GPA: Freshman and Sophomore Year-3.8 UW
Junior Year-Most likely 4.0 UW</p>

<p>Top 10% of my class weighted*</p>

<p>AP Classes: World History, US History, Calculus AB, English, Spanish V*
All other classes G/T, except Honors Chemistry. More AP classes to come Senior Year.</p>

<p>Ethnicity: African American
Gender: Female</p>

<p>Major: Special Education</p>

<p>Extra-Curriculars:*
•President of Future Educators' Association since seventh grade
•Teach Special Ed since seventh grade
•Tutor elementary schoolers since seventh grade*
•Member of Best Buddies club since eighth grade
•Reporter for the school newspaper since ninth grade
•Member of the Book of the Month Club since ninth grade
•Member of Key Club since ninth grade*</p>

<p>SAT:<em>2070</em>Math+CR= 1310
Critical Reading: 700
Math: 610
Writing: 760</p>

<p>Honors: I'm not really sure what would go in this section, but I guess these would be honors:
•Questbridge College Prep Scholar
•National Merit Commended Scholar
•Likely National Achievement Scholar</p>

<p>Essay: Already written. I used it to win a scholarship, so I hope it's good enough.</p>

<p>Interview: I believe my campus tour includes an interview. Any tips from Juniata students, other than generic Internet tips would be appreciated.</p>

<p>Thanks in advance!!</p>

2

<p>Grammargirl - If you are with questbridge, are nt you trying the 4 or 5 top 10 schools as part of questbridge?</p>

3

<p>I did Questbridge for the college prep program for juniors, but I’m not doing it for the national college match as a senior because none of the partner colleges have special education as a major.</p>

4

<p>Is nt special education a better major at graduate level?</p>

5

<p>Well, I would be able to teach with a bachelor’s after taking the Praxis exams. I feel I would get more experience and more knowledge in my field after majoring in special ed as an undergrad because I would have classes geared toward it starting in my freshman year. Also, colleges like Juniata give classroom experience all four years of college, which I feel would be a great asset because I would work alongside experienced spec ed teachers. I think it would be a waste if time to major in something like general ed as an undergrad and then spec ed in graduate school because teaching spec ed is a whole different ball park. It’s not just general ed that just happens to have physically and mentally disabled students. I would miss out on four years of learning about all of the disabilities and bettering myself as a teacher by not pursuing spec ed as an undergrad, when I have the opportunity to do so.</p>

6

<p>I dont know anything about this college but my view is that you are settling too early. I suspect you can get into some of the elite colleges that can offer you much more and also probably have a curriculum which would address what you want to study without calling it special ed.</p>

7

<p>Grammargirl – Please listen seriously to what texaspg is saying. Yes, stop everything you are doing and listen to texaspg.</p>

<p>As part of Questbridge, you are being invited to the most amazing banquet that you can imagine. Every kind of food in the world is being offered to you, all prepared by the greatest chefs and cooks in the world. And you are looking at it all and saying, “What I really want is peanut butter and jelly, and I don’t see it on the menu, so I’m not going to attend this banquet.”</p>

<p>Well, it’s okay to want peanut butter and jelly. But what you may not realize is that it doesn’t matter what is on the menu. If you go to this banquet, you can ask for peanut butter and jelly, and the greatest chefs and cooks in the world will fall all over themselves to create the best peanut butter and jelly sandwich you ever ate. Even though it’s not on the menu. They will create a special order just for you!</p>

<p>Do you understand my little story? You are being offered the greatest education in the world. And for some reason you don’t believe that any of the greatest colleges in the world have the major you are looking for. If that’s what you have found to be true, then you have not talked to the right people. If you get into a great college, the people there will create the exact program that you want, even if you don’t see it on their website or their catalog.</p>

<p>Please, please, please. I’m sure it’s not too late. Get back into the Questbridge program. You have been given a golden ticket that very few people will ever get. Even if you think it’s too late, go talk to your counselors, teachers, advisors, parents, and fight your way back in. </p>

<p>As for Juniata. I love everything I have ever read about it. Yes, I think you have a great chance to get in. Yes, you will get a great education. Yes, many opportunities will still be open to you. </p>

<p>But you have been chosen for something special and completely different. Get back into the Questbridge program, and demand that they show you colleges that will create the program you want.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

8

<p>It’s not too late for me to apply for the Questbridge college match–that’s not until the fall. I understand it’s an amazing opportunity, and I would love to be able to continue to be a part of it. My question to the both of you is how would I be able to attend a college that doesn’t have spec ed as a major? Do I contact the partner colleges that have a general education major and ask what they can do for me so that I would be certified in spec ed?</p>

9

<p>I don’t know how Questbridge works, but I am guessing that you have a couselor or advisor or perhaps many people at Questbridge who know you. I would start by talking with them.</p>

<p>I am just guessing, but have you come to your conclusions about the major from just looking at lists on websites or catalogs? If so, then I would suggest that you start talking with people. Often there are special programs that you may not be able to find easily on a website. As a general rule, from now on in your life, you will need to talk to people and ask endless questions to get exactly what you want.</p>

<p>Start with the Questbridge people, then the people at your school, and if you still don’t have an answer, start calling the partner colleges. Basically, you will want to ask questions, and keep asking until you find the person who gives you the answer you want. Don’t accept “No” for an answer.</p>

10

<p>Btw - I have never ever gotten a vote of confidence this strong and I want to assure you grammargirl GregDashway is not my alter ego since he seems to have only 6 posts at this point (thank you sir, whoever you are!).</p>

<p>I have tried to look for top rated education schools but unfortunately google seems to think i am looking for undergraduate education and I dont know if USNWR actually rated them. The real question I think you should address is that if you are good at school, why are you settling for an undergrad followed by work? If you are serious about special ed, you should go right through undergrad all the way to a Ph.D. and make a difference in a much larger scale than settle for impacting a small pool of children at one school. Let us say you go to a much bigger school than Juanita college (I still dont know much about it but I suspect they would be lucky to have you) which has a medical school on campus like UPENN or Brown where they let you take classes as an undergrad, you may get more access to psychiatry, psychology, physiotherapy etc that may help you with the special ed side.</p>

11

<p>Thank you both for your help. @texaspg I never said I wouldn’t attend graduate school, I would just get my bachelor’s and start teaching and then I would attend graduate school. Grad school isn’t free, after all! Also, I’m not settling by teaching at one school. I’ve always wanted to be a teacher, and I doubt anything will change that.</p>

12

<p>If you dont work with Questbridge, is Juanita going to fulfill your complete financial needs? If you have to take loans to go to undergrad, is nt it better make that decision at grad level?</p>

<p>Going through questbridge will give you a free and clear undergrad degree. I suggest you follow both sides simultaneously until you figure out what it would cost you to go to Juanita college. You can avoid applying to ED schools in Questbridge so you can wait until next May to make your choices. I do know at least a few people locally who got into MIT through questbridge but ended up at Yale and Harvard through RD for the same fully paid FA and outside of Questbridge.</p>

13

<p>You may also want to check out this link which has some interesting inputs from parents and links.</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/india/1143511-my-parents-dont-approve-my-career-choice.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/india/1143511-my-parents-dont-approve-my-career-choice.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

14

<p>I won’t have to take loans for undergrad at Juniata. If I am a National Achievement Scholar, I can go there for free. If not, I have done the personal cost estimator on their website, and my parents and I would be able to afford it. I will discuss this with the financial aid advisor officially when I visit in July, and financial aid packages are given out with acceptance letters. I prefer not to start my adult life tens of thousands of dollars in debt, when I can wait a few years and attend grad school debt free. </p>

<p>According to the Questbridge website, only MIT, Notre Dame, Princeton, Stanford, and Yale are non-binding through the college match process. Is regular decision with Questbridge just using their app to apply to the partner colleges, and not actually the college match process? (I’m not saying I wouldn’t do the RD; I was just wondering if I would actually just be applying with a slight chance of a full scholarship, but not through Questbridge, but through the actual college.)</p>

15

<p>My parents wholeheartedly approve of and support me becoming a spec ed teacher. Coming from a family of seven with an income less than $60,000, my parents don’t pressure me about money or prestige. I know I can live comfortably as a teacher.</p>

16

<p>I concur w/ Greg and Tex. You’re a slam dunk, **** of the walk lock @ Juniata, with a ton of FA promised your way. Yours would be scholarship. Theirs is a decent education program, w/ a special ed add-on. Ok, but not stellar at all. Frankly, if that is your career choice, Slippery Rock has a far superior special ed program, Penn State’s is very good but very large. My point is this … IF you really want to pursue a special education program, there are any, many number of programs in and around PA that are vastly stronger and where like JC, you’d be the star player, or at least among the top flyers. I’m not sure how you’ve come to this conclusion, and in any case it’d not be a total disaster. But w/ your profile and capabilities, it seems like a very odd match</p>

<p>P.S. I LOVE your career choice. Spectacular opportunities for top notch folks in this field. And an undergrad focus on special ed can lead in many fascinating directions in the therapies, LD, speech/hearing areas, OT, PT, and on and on. And btw …there are MANY places where a strong undergrad performance and focus will lead you to a “free” graduate education in major institution(s). Guaranteed.</p>

17

<p>It is just not about making money, it is also how much difference you may be able to make when people take your credentials seriously. Not everyone going to elite schools starts off by making money. One of Yale parents mentioned that her D graduating from Yale this year is joining Americorps. I met a young lady on college night in the local high school last fall who said she is working as a counselor or volunteer teacher at a local high school as part of Americorps after graduating from Columbia. One of the reasons Ivy league schools claim for their generosity in fully funding students who can’t afford it is to allow these students to be able to go into public service and not aim for money just to pay off student loans.</p>

<p>The five choices you have are all great choices (MIT may or may not be right for education but you seem to be doing fine with Math). The early match is a great opportunity through questbridge because if you did early application, you can not apply to three of the schools (you are limited to either Yale, Princeton or Stanford) or you could apply early to both MIT and Notre Dame as open EAs. So only Questbridge is providing this unique opportunity to let you apply early to YPS at once and let you actually know the result by dec 1st which means you have a whole month to try out RD for all the other schools on your list.</p>

<p>You will get your FA at any of these schools with a direct admission in RD + a whole bunch of other ED schools in RD round anyway. You just have to get in. If these schools are willing to provide full funding, your parents should be able to use the money on your siblings.</p>

18

<p>Thanks, Whistle Pig. I was actually looking at Slippery Rock and Penn State earlier today. Slippery Rock is on my short list; my only deterrent is that it’s a university and I’m looking at liberal arts colleges. I agree with you about Penn State. It is much too large for me.</p>

19

<p>Thank you for having this long discussion with me, texaspg. I’m definitely looking for the most generous (preferably free) financial aid packages, especially because I have four siblings aged 15-20, and I’m a twin.</p>

<p>Obviously, an Ivy degree would hold the most prestige, but wouldn’t I still have credentials that can be taken seriously just by having a degree?</p>

20

<p>Thanks texaspg. I’m nobody. I’m the father of a daughter who will be a senior in high school this year. I’m actually interested in learning more about Juniata, and I was reading some of the posts for more information, when I came across this thread. </p>

<p>Grammargirl, I think you need more information, too. I keep getting the feeling that you are reading about your options, and asking on this forum, when you should be talking with the people you know at Questbridge. Don’t guess. Find out from the people who really know.</p>

<p>You may think that no one will listen to a student, but you need to know that at this point in your life, and with your Questbridge connection, you have incredible power. You can call your contacts at Questbridge. You can call the national office of Questbridge, wherever that is. And you can also call any college in the country and ask them what you want to know. I would guess you would start with the admissions offices. But you could also call, for instance, Columbia University’s school of education, or Harvard’s school of education, and tell them you want to find out how you would go about becoming a special education teacher, or even a special education expert. Talk to the faculty. Keep asking until you find someone who takes an interest in you. Talk to some of the top special education teachers in the country and find out what their daily lives are like and how they ended up where they are now. Get lots and lots of information.
But talk to the people who really know. </p>

<p>Don’t guess. Go to the source.</p>