College selection help?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>College is just around the corner for me, yet I have no clue what school I want to go to, or even what I want to major in. I'm hoping y'all will be able to offer some insight based on my preferences. :) </p>

<p>My SAT score was 2050. Strong in critical reading and writing, weaker in math. My unweighted high school GPA is currently a 3.8. </p>

<p>Cost-wise, I'm going to be very flexible. Obviously I'd like a lower price tag, but I'm not willing to sacrifice what I want out of college just to save a buck. I'm looking to go to school out-of-state (I'm looking to leave Kansas ASAP. Being a liberal gay democrat here sucks. A lot), but also looking for a lot of financial aid, so maybe a private school may suit my cost needs more? I'm not sure.</p>

<p>I'm undecided on a major, but I did narrow down my choices. I'm either going to major in English, Psychology, Social Work, Public Relations (or some other communication related field), Music Performance, or Theater. My ideal school doesn't need to have all of these majors available, but it'd be nice.</p>

<p>Other academic things to consider: I'd like a school with a strong academic reputation. I'd like my degree to mean something to employers. I'd also like accessible professors. I also want my class sizes to be relatively small for the most part (I'm not sure if this translates to small school). </p>

<p>Campus/social life is the MOST important thing to me in choosing a school. First, I'd like a scenic campus. That's not super important to me, but it'd be nice. The following things, however, are EXTREMELY important: I want my school to have a STRONG indie music scene. I'm a musician myself and would love a school with a strong indie music culture. I'd like my school to be located in or near a very large city; but I'd also like it to be close to a place with a lot of outdoor recreation available (VERY VERY IMPORTANT) I'd also like a liberal political climate and an LGBT-friendly school. I'm not looking for a do-over of high school. I'd also like a school with exciting nightlife. I've spent the last 17 years being bored; it's definitely time to have fun.</p>

<p>I'd also love a school with a strong and established study abroad program. </p>

<p>Sorry for the long post and the long list of things I want. I'm an idealistic type, but I am flexible. I'm pretty sure the above school doesn't exist, but I'd love help in finding one that is similar to it! Thanks to all help in advance.</p>

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<p>If you can afford it, the University of Kansas (NOT Kansas State) should be your safety. Lawrence is very different from the rest of Kansas in terms of LGBT acceptance, has a decently strong indie scene, supposedly a scenic campus, and is somewhat close to Kansas City. Fwiw, the gay director of my school’s Hillel (a college Jewish group) loved his time at KU. </p>

<p>I’m biased, but I’d highly encourage you to check out Emory University. It gives good financial aid, has an unusually large gay population, strong programs in sociology, English, and psychology, is extremely well regarded, and has very small class sizes. GA is an excellent state for outdoors activities and Emory’s outdoors club capitalizes on this location with a great deal of hiking, kayaking, backpacking, and other trips. Unfortunately it only accepts about a quarter of applicants making it quite the reach. However, it does have a rigorous albeit less selective, two year LAC located about forty minutes away called Oxford College. Rural locale, with fewer opportunities for independent music shows (students tend to perform on campus) but politically very similar to Emory and better opportunities for outdoors activities. Almost all classes are capped at 33 students, and after one and a half to two years, students move on to Emory’s Atlanta campus (note that this is not akin to transferring).</p>

<p>Here are some other suggestions in suburban or urban locales with large gay populations, decent to excellent financial aid, good outdoors opportunities, and musical opportunities:
-Occidental College
-Reed College
-University of Southern California (big reach)
-Whitman (Walla Walla is not a large city and your dating prospects may be somewhat limited)
-Lewis & Clark College (unsure about the financial aid)
-Macalester College
-Brandeis University (apply early)
-Tufts University (reach)
-Vanderbilt (big reach)
-Tulane
-Skidmore College (unsure about financial aid, and nowhere near a large city)
-Sarah Lawrence College (likely unaffordable)
-Eckerd College (should give you merit, may not be affordable)
-Rhodes College (don’t know about size of gay population)
-Willamette University (may not be affordable)</p>

<p>Many of the reach for everyone schools (think Yale, Chicago, Columbia, Wash U St. Louis, etc) also meet all of your preferences. </p>

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<p>Do you have a price limit determined by talking to your parents about what they will contribute? Have you tried some colleges’ net price calculators to see what need-based financial aid looks like?</p>

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<p>As ucb notes, clarify your financials first. Many private schools are generous with need based aid, but it’s what they think you need, not what you think you need. Ask your parents to run a few net price calculators to make sure you qualify for enough to make it workable.</p>

<p>“In or near a very large city” and “close to a place with a lot of outdoor recreation available” may be contradictory. If you by outdoor recreation you’re visualizing activities that you can only do in the countryside – e.g., hiking, climbing, skiing – then you’ll be looking at a 2 to 3 hour commute from most big cities. Not impossible, plenty of people get away for the weekends, but that may not be what you have in mind.</p>

<p>Or maybe you’re just thinking of cities that have ample public green space like New York’s Central Park or Boston’s Charles River esplanade.</p>

<p>You might be able to achieve both requirements at a rural or small town university with a large and diverse campus, like Cornell. Wesleyan also comes to mind for a strong music scene, accessibility to cities – New York and Boston – as well as to the attractions of rural Connecticut and Massachusetts.</p>

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<p>A safety for you would be Elmhurst (just outside Chicago, gay-friendly - probably merit money).
Vassar (a short train ride to NYC) would be a reach but your coming from Kansas would give you a nudge and you have the basic academics they want (note that your stats would be average there - it’s definitely a reach and all financial aid is need-based.)
Muhlenberg would be a match, but it’s not in/near a city - theater is excellent and it’s within reach of NYC. Not sure about the indie scene, go to the college forums to ask :slight_smile:
I second Macalester - in a city, but plenty of green space and outdoors opportunities nearby (there are actual LAKES in the city!) And, well, the Twin Cities have an awesome music scene, apparently among the best in the country.
More of a match, 45mn away from the Twin Cities, you have St Olaf, and super reach, Carleton. Carleton is more liberal than St Olaf and one of the top colleges in the country; St Olaf is more liberal than most places in KS and gay-friendly (campaigned for marriage equality last year). Northfield has tons of places for performing college musicians and smaller indie venues but I don’t know how “hipster” it’d be, for bigger acts you have the Twin Cities.Your stats probably wouldn’t qualify you for merit money (unless you’re also an excellent classical musician/singer for St Olaf - they have music-based scholarships and a lot of the classical musicians are also involved in bands, hence the music scene.)
St Michael’s is in Vermont’s capital, so very liberal, lots of outdoors opportunities, in a city. A safety (probably merit money).
Run the Net Price Calculators for each of them and bring the results to your parents. Fill out the “request info” on each college’s website to be on their radar (that will also give you a “nudge” in the interest category).</p>

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<p>It’s not even a matter of what the private schools truly think you need. It’s a matter of what they think an average family with your family’s income, assets and liabilities can pay, assuming they are living within their means in an area with an average cost of living. In most cases, schools won’t bend much (if at all) from that formula. The amount they think you should be able to pay is the Expected Family Contribution (EFC), which you can estimate by running the online Net Price Calculator on each school’s site.</p>

<p>So a very important question is this: Can your family cover its EFC at the kinds of schools that interest you? If the answer is “yes”, then you can afford to shop for the ones that cover the highest percentage of demonstrated need (which in many cases also will be the highest-ranking colleges accessible to students with your stats). US News has these figures in the “paying for school” section of each college entry. Here is a list of schools that claim to cover 100% (or close to it):
<a href=“List of Colleges That Meet 100% of Financial Need”>http://www.thecollegesolution.com/list-of-colleges-that-meet-100-of-financial-need/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>If the answer is “no”, then you need to shop for a different kind of school, one with a much lower sticker price (such as a local public school), or else a less selective school that offers big merit scholarships for students with your stats. </p>

7

<p>Midwest and NW small schools that might fit your needs and are within reach for your stats…
Macalester College
U Pugent Sound
Lewis and Clark U
Willamette</p>

<p>You might need to decide what is more important…vibrant local music scene vs small class size. I know for me (30 years ago), the answer was easy, I preferred a vibrant local music scene and chose a research university. I don’t regret is at all. </p>

<p>Many large state universities have large local music scenes and are LGBT-friendly. Ones that come to mind in the midwest…</p>

<p>KU…don’t rule it out.
U Iowa, Iowa City
U Minnesota, Minneapolis…and pretty cheap for OOS students.</p>

<p>You really need to figure your EFC and what you can afford to pay. </p>

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<p>Wow. Thank you guys so much for the responses. They have been so helpful! I wish I could have been more detailed on my finances, but it’s really all up in the air. Again, thanks for the responses!</p>