<p>I don't even know where to begin my college search. It's so overwhelming. I don't know what I'm looking for or what I'd like to major in. Possibly directions include economics and engineering but i really have no idea.</p>
<p>I have very high standards for myself but am very limited financially. It's more a question of who would really help pay for me, rather than a question of who will accept me. Unfortunately even my expected family contribution (10k/year i think) is far more than my family can pay.</p>
<p>Is it too ambitious to apply to schools like Stanford, Caltech, UPenn, and Duke? Is there any chance that they'd really contribute money to a student like me or am I needing to lower my standards? What schools SHOULD I be applying to? What caliber of school would be a safety college for me, where I can basically be guaranteed a (near) full ride? I live in Texas, if that changes things.</p>
<p>Brief outline:
SAT Math+Reading- 1410, 2070 overall. Retaking soon.
SAT II- Mathemetics II 800, US History 720 (planning to take Lit and Chemistry)
ACT 34 composite
Ranked 3/700
12 advanced placement classes
National Honor Society officer
Varsity athletics
Plenty of community service hours
blahblahblah </p>
<p>Side question: Would it be better to only submit my ACT score since is is more impressive than my SAT?</p>
<p>Thaaanks in advance. In dire need of advice!</p>
<p>First, try to relax and have a little fun with this. Your qualifications are excellent. You appear to qualify for significant financial aid. If an EFC of $10K is more than your family can afford, you should be able to make up the difference with a combination of summer jobs, campus employment, and loans. Some work-study and loans may already be part of your aid package, but you can aim for schools that will minimize loans if not campus employment.</p>
<p>If you are a Texas resident interested in engineering, then you are lucky. UT-Austin is a fine school with some of the best engineering programs in the country. With your rank and scores it should be an admissions safety for you. Others will have to weigh in on whether it is a financial safety. If not, you could pick one school that is within commuting distance, then as a last resort live at home for the first year or two to save costs.</p>
<p>You shouldn’t have to do that (assuming you don’t want to). Apply to some private match and reach schools that are generous with aid. You could shoot for a couple of tip-top schools like Stanford or Princeton, which are very generous with aid, but admissions is always a crap shoot to these schools regardless of stats. Your chances would be better at Rice, which has good aid and solid engineering programs. Other possibilities include Cornell, Northwestern, and Carnegie Mellon. Also check out Cooper Union ( tuition-free for all students) and Olin (half-tuition scholarships for all students. Less selective schools that seem to have good engineering include George Washington, Rose Hullman, and Villanova.</p>
<p>If you’d possibly like a smaller school, check out Harvey Mudd College and Swarthmore (reaches), or Lehigh, Trinity (Hartford), and Bucknell (matches). These are all, like Rice, small universities or liberal arts colleges with engineering programs.</p>
<p>Many out of state public universities (Purdue etc) have good engineering but I don’t see much point in your applying, because few if any are both as good and as cheap as Texas for a Texas resident. Private schools may look more expensive, even compared to OOS public rates, but they typically have better aid (unless you pick a much less selective public school where you’d be among the most competitive applicants).</p>
<p>tk’s advice is sound, IMHO. The schools you cite are reachy for just about everyone, but you would appear to be a realistic candidate. Also consider some schools like Swarthmore (a top LAC with engineering), Bucknell, Lehigh, Rice.</p>
<p>In addition to UT, you will need to apply to some private deep-pockets schools that genuinely meet need without significant loans, as well as some merit aid schools. An OOS school you might strongly consider is Pitt, which has some really excellent merit money for OOS students and a good honors college. (It’s hard to find an OOS public school that gives significant money to OOS students.)</p>
<p>In addition to UT-Austin and Rice in Texas, you have Baylor, A&M and Trinity University in San Antonio.</p>
<p>Big and urban=UT-Austin (public)
Big, in a smaller community=A&M (public)</p>
<p>Medium in a smaller community= Baylor (private, religious)</p>
<p>Smaller in a city=Rice and Trinity (private, not religious)</p>
<p>Of these, Rice and Trinity have the highest SAT/ACT scores and both give merit.</p>
<p>Each has a different culture that you would have to study, but each would also provide you with a wonderful education in engineering, depending on which area you want to go.</p>
<p>All are in your home state, making it easier for you to get home, if that will be important.</p>
<p>Trinity is in the middle of a $100 million building of new engineering/science facilities.</p>