Class of 2018 here and I really have no good ideas on where I want to go for college. My parents are pressuring me to find some so that we can go on college visits during the summer.
My dream is to work for NASA and towards getting people to Mars. But no aerospace engineering please, it’s the like the only type I don’t like. I love science and math but I am not great at math. I just need ideas of where I can get into and then I can try and branch off from there.
ACT: 31 (working toward a 33 in September)
GPA: 3.1
I’ve taken 7 AP tests including junior year.
I am also going DE next year at my local community college full time.
Oh I’d love to learn Arabic as well so if I school as a minor or major that is a huge plus.
Thanks for any help at all.
With such a low GPA (3.1) you can rule out top 75 colleges.
Budget? Home State?
Regional preference? Size? Religious/Non-Religious?
LAC/private or Public Universities?
GPA of 3.1 weighted or unweighted?
Can you tell us a little more? Will you need financial aid? What is your home state? What is your weighted GPA (many colleges use their own weighting systems)? My son had an unweighted GPA between 3.3-3.4, but his weighted GPA was over 4.0. Do you have strong, interesting extracurriculars? You would appear to be a candidate for more “holistic” liberal arts colleges, where you could find flexible curricula. Check out some of the “Colleges That Change Lives.” Build your list from the bottom up: find some safeties where you think you’d be happy, and then work your way up to reaches. Don’t visit colleges where your chances are slim first. Check out some safeties and matches, and identify what you like and dislike about them. If you fall in love with a “reach” school, figure out what you especially loved about it, and look for some less-selective schools with comparable vibes.
@Gumbymom @woogzmama
My W GPA is 3.27
I don’t want religious but will tolerate it if I must
I live in Minnesota but want to go out of state.
I’m probably not going to get financial aid so any merit aid would be amazing
Don’t care if it is public or private.
EC: Police Explorers, lots of community service
Loyola in Chicago I was thinking as a back up possibly
Your GPA won’t qualify you for any merit aid.
Going out of state will be very expensive, especially at public schools, because your parents aren’t paying another state’s taxes.
If you are weak in math, this will not help you in your work at NASA-like facilities. You might want to look at their career website and see what kinds of degrees and worker-bees they need.
Take a look at Eckerd and Guilford; my son used them as his safeties (Guilford has longstanding ties with his Quaker secondary school), and they offered very generous merit scholarships. His GPA and ECs were stronger than yours (and male applicants have some advantage with smaller, less-prestigious, liberal arts colleges), but you might get something. They are somewhat less expensive than other private colleges. Eckerd has strong Environmental Studies, and Guilford is in Greensboro, NC, which is a fast-growing city. I’m not sure that either college has Arabic, but Guilford has the Quaker tradition of a global perspective.