<p>Hi I'm a white male from Montana at the end of my junior with a 4.0 GPA, ranked top in my class, have taken all honors and ap classes where available, got a 203 on the psat, and 33 on the ACT, I am VP of Spanish club, in academic club, history bowl, tennis. Its hard for me to get a grasp on what colleges I should be looking at because my parents think I can go to top schools, but my peers with similar stats are very unwilling to look at these kinds of schools. I've looked at all sorts of schools but really don't know if I'd have a chance at these schools, please help me by suggesting schools I should be looking at.</p>
<p>Have you spoken with your hs guidance counselor at all about this? In general,even the “best of the best” students will have a good list of reach,match,and safety colleges to apply to. Getting admitted to top colleges like the Ivy league is very highly competitive and there are never any guarantees. Many students with stellar GPA’s,test scores,and EC’s are rejected or waitlisted from these schools all the time. If you want to consider Harvard,Yale,etc. do something that is very unique and will set you apart from other applicants,provided you have the great academics as well. Another thing to consider is that lots of A students go to less prestigious schools and have great college lives. It’s all what you make of it. You might want to visit a few schools this summer that you know you’d be interested in and take a tour. That way you get a feel for the campus,the kids that go there,and student life. Finally,make sure not to forget about finances and if you’ll be able to afford top schools if admitted. Good Luck! I’m sure you’ll find the school that’s best for you when all is said and done!</p>
<p>As a student from Montana, if you apply to the Midwest, South, and Northeast you’ll have one advantage in that you’ll bring geographic diversity.
With a 4.0, all Honors/AP classes available, and 33 on the ACT, you meet the basic academic requirements for all schools in the country.
Do you think you could be NMSF for Montana?
However, to get into Top 25 universities and LACs, you need to have done something pretty extraordinary - do you have that? You could be doing research at the university’s labs, or be a rodeo champion, or a million other things that show extraordinary ability, dedication, and recognition. The nice thing is that it can be anything you’re passionate about - now… rank nationally in it (or at least regionally.)
Another issue is financial: have you talked with your parents about their budget? How much can they afford? Have you run a Net Price Calculator on college websites and discussed your results?
If not, pick a handful of colleges from the list below and bring them the results: are they willing to pay a certain amount for some but another amount for others? What’s their maximum?</p>
<p>There’s no problem with dreaming big and aiming for schools your classmates won’t consider as long as you cover all your bases.</p>
<p>What type of school do you want - with big D1 spectator sports? With artsy crowds? where you can skip class and nobody notices - or where you can interact with your classmates and be well-known to your professors?</p>
<p>Get Fiske Guide and/or Insider’s Guide to the Colleges and/or Princeton Review’s Best Colleges from your school library. See if they have the book “Colleges that Change Lives” ( if they don’t have the book, check out the website, ctcl.org). Keep a notebook or a spreadsheet with colleges you read about.</p>
<p>Are you a first generation or lower-income student? Look into Questbridge.</p>
<p>Will you need merit aid? Financial aid?</p>
<p>To create your list:
You should establish what your safeties will be. One among Montana Tech, Montana State, UM… with their Honors Programs would be a likely safety - You’d qualify for Presidential Scholar at UM if you apply early in the Fall. In addition, another college that you like and is affordable would be a safety. That other college doesn’t have to be in Montana, by the way. It could be South Dakota School of Mines, Lewis&Clark, ASU Barrett, Wisconsin-Superior, UMN-Twin Cities Honors, SUNY Buffalo, etc. Right now, you qualify for Admission, Honors College, Honors Dorm, Full tuition scholarship at UAlabama, for instance. Explore those. Request information from the websites.
Once you have 2 safeties, find between 5 and 12 schools that admit at least 30% students and whose average ACT is around 30-31: that would be your matches. Run the net price calculators and keep the “affordable” ones (if they don’t ask questions about GPA, they only gave you an idea about need-based aid: look under “scholarship” or “merit aid” to see if you’d qualify for some non-need based scholarships on top of the rest.) Cut the schools that aren’t affordable either through financial aid or merit aid. Fill out the “request info” form on their website.
Depending on what interests you, look into a varieyt of schools - here’s a list with very different colleges for you to look into: USC, Macalester, Skidmore, Rice, Tulane, Grinnell, Dickinson, American University, GWU, William&Mary, Reed, Kenyon, Colgate, Northeastern…
Once you have 2 safeties and 3-5 matches you like and can afford, you can add as many reaches and dream schools as you wish (or can afford to apply to).</p>
<p>I think you’re a qualified candidate for any school in the country. That doesn’t mean you will gain admission but don’t allow yourself to be discouraged by your classmates. It seems like you have done the best with the opportunities that have been provided and that what the best schools are looking for. Hey admissions is hard for everybody at the top schools but someone gets in. As a parent of 3 all who have or are attending consensus top 10 schools, be yourself tell your story. You’ll also find that most of the kids at these schools are just like you. I mean to say they didn’t discover a cure for some disease or been published. Good luck</p>
<p>The advice given above is pretty good, but I’ll add a twist. I think you’re starting off wrong. </p>
<p>The first question shouldn’t be “where can I be admitted.” It ought to be “what type(s) of colleges are right for me?” You have posted not one word about what you want in college. Large city or rural area? Big school or small school? Large classes or small classes? Are you looking for strong advising? Are you interested in the greek system? Attending a school with big-time sports? Have an interest in a specialty area such as engineering or theatre? Not all of these are equally important, but the point is nobody can suggest schools that are a fit for you without some idea of what you are looking for.</p>
<p>Which circles around, because like many HS students you may not have given much thought to what you are looking for. So my suggestion is to start by getting a good book about admissions like “Admission Matters” which will discuss the types of colleges out there, what to look for on a college visit, etc. Start by visiting colleges of various types in your area to get a general sense of what it would be like to be a student. Maybe not so easy in Montana, but still worth doing. </p>
<p>Once you have an idea of what type(s) are right for you, the next thing is to have a talk with your parents about finances. Again, admission books will explain it. There is no sense spending a lot of time looking into schools if they are not affordable. </p>
<p>Only when you have an idea of what colleges are a fit and what you can afford should you be asking “where can I be admitted”. IMHO, anyway.</p>
<p>You should definitely read the post by “MYOS1634” more than once. A lot of good information there.</p>
<p>I will make my post slightly shorter, but similar. All schools should be classified as either a “reach,” a “match,” or a “safety.” Each of those has a academic aspect (can you get in?) and a financial aspect (can you afford to pay for it?). Your parents’ definition of a “top” school is likely ones we would call a “reach.” Make sure that you talk to them about the cost of attending such schools. The larger the reach, the LESS likely you are to get merit scholarships. In order to optimize your chances of getting merit scholarships, you should focus on schools where you would be in the top 20% of freshman. Your ACT score is probably the best way to measure this, at least right now, because that information is easy to find for any college.</p>
<p>Personally, I recommend that you apply to at least seven colleges; probably more since you are in Montana and have the option of going East or West. At most, two of those seven schools should be a “reach.” You only need two “safety” schools. So, that leaves about three or four which should be “match” schools.</p>
<p>Here are some of my recommendations:</p>
<p>safety:
University of Alabama (great out of state scholarships; free tuition with your ACT score)
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
University of Puget Sound (great small college in Tacoma, Washington)</p>
<p>match:
Colorado College (not U.Colorado.Boulder) is the best small college between Minnesota and California
Tulane University
Reed College in Portland, Oregon
Boston University
University of Rochester
Johns Hopkins University
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor</p>
<p>reach:
Duke University
Stanford University
Vanderbilt University
Princeton University
Columbia University
plus the rest of the Ivy League
(you might get into one of these, so apply if you want, but make sure you can afford tuition too)</p>
<p>If you are interested in engineering or hard science then you should consider Georgia Tech, a truly great STEM university which is only a hair lower than Stanford, MIT, Berkeley, UCLA, for science, engineering, and technology. It is a match for you, and the others aren’t. </p>
<p>Hey thanks for all the info guys, I forgot to mention I’m aiming toward being a physics major if that changes anything</p>
<p>Physics major?!</p>
<p>Then definitely check out Georgia Tech, University of Rochester, and Reed College (which has its own nuclear reactor – run by undergraduates! <a href=“http://reactor.reed.edu/”>http://reactor.reed.edu/</a>)</p>
<p>It depends on whether Wildlifefan has a family who can pay 45K a year since Georgia Tech would be an OOS public and it doesn’t offer financial aid.
I second URochester and Reed. Look into HarveyMudd and Pomona, Grinnell, Dickinson, Carleton, Bowdoin, Lawrence (these offer different levels of competitivity).</p>
<p>Georgia Tech does offer some scholarships for OOS students.
<a href=“Blow the Whistle! (404 error: page not found) | Financial Aid”>Blow the Whistle! (404 error: page not found) | Financial Aid;
See the Provost’s Scholarship in particular which is targeted for OOS students. However, yes, it is typical for private colleges to be more generous that public colleges. About one third of students at GT are out of state.</p>
<p>@Wildlifeman
Since your parents think that you should consider top schools, you might want to offer to apply to one, just one, college which they choose. This is your college search, but I always think that it is reasonable for parents to pick one school (again only one). By doing this, you show that you are willing to listen to them, and respect their input, while keeping this your search. They could give you a list, from which you pick one, or they could simply pick one themselves.</p>
<p>By way of reiteration, it is never a good idea to ONLY apply to top schools. You absolutely must apply to at least two schools which you know you can get into AND can afford. These will not be “top” schools, but they certainly can be good schools. For example, University of Alabama is good, but not “top.” You definitely would be accepted and definitely would get a full tuition scholarship.
<a href=“http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out_of_state.html”>http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out_of_state.html</a></p>