College Suggestions for a Completely Clueless Student

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi! I'm entering senior year, but I'm completely lost searching for colleges. I know this is a problem and that I shouldn't be relying on the wonderful folk of College Confidential for answers, but I've used a lot of college search tools and I still haven't found the "right" college for me. I won't be able to visit any colleges anytime soon, so I won't be able to "feel" the college out before I apply. </p>

<p>Problem is, I have absolutely no idea what to major in, or what to do with my life. Because of this, I would like a more structured core curriculum (like University of Chicago or Columbia, but I've ruled out the latter), someplace with more guidance (MAYBE a liberal arts college, but I'm still unsure about that), and a college where switching majors wouldn't be a problem. </p>

<p>I'm okay academically:</p>

<p>GPA: 4.00/4.67 (Class rank #1, but I doubt that'll stay the same this upcoming semester). </p>

<p>APs: Four 5's and one 4</p>

<p>SAT: Reading 760, Math 770, Writing 670</p>

<p>SAT II: Biology M 730, Math II 720, USH 700/730</p>

<p>Extracurriculars are kind of lacking:
-Piano since 2007
-marching band for three years
-Key Club (joined junior year, not really an active member)
-Book Club
-Teen Library Council (only about 1.5 years)
-Private tutor (one summer)
-Library page (senior year)</p>

<p>My writing skills are actually okay, but I have no idea what to write my essays about (basically, I'm really lost about everything...oops.)</p>

<p>I've been considering colleges like University of Chicago, Washington University in St. Louis, UC Berkeley, UCLA, Stanford, and Pomona. Those are all obviously reach schools, but I'm not actually sure about them. I'm afraid I'm aiming for UC Berkeley, UCLA, and Stanford just because of their prestige. I'm also used to suburban-small cities (which is a problem for Berkeley, LA, Pomona, U Chicago, and Wash U), and I'm used to Californian weather (so I'd probably find Chicago/Wash U winters shockingly brutal). Basically, even though they're on my reach list, I'm not actually sure if I'd be happy at these schools. I'm not sure what should be on my match/safety list. </p>

<p>In summary, what I'm looking for in a college: major/life guidance, nice weather, suburban/small city, not an overly large/small population. This is also really picky, but I would like to go to a college with a nice, "traditional"-looking campus - I'm not overly fond of Pomona/UC campuses. </p>

<p>I would greatly appreciate any suggestions for match/safety/other reach schools. Please forgive my cluelessness, and thank you in advance!</p>

2

<p>SCU might be a safety. Their campus is really nice, at least (if you know your way around. I had a debate tournament there once, and my friend took us on a 15 minute detour trying to find a place that was 1 minute away). I’m not sure about much else there, though. I always thought switching majors would be hard at a UC, but I know nothing. UCSD is in a nice town (La Jolla is realy, really nice), and it might be a low match. If you apply to the wrong college, though, the core will kill you.</p>

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<p>If you’re really undecided about what you want to do, I feel like you migh actually enjoy a place without a strong core curriculum or even no core curriculum. That allows you to explore a bunch of different interests and will allow you to settle on a major eventually. Also choose a college that doesn’t require you to declare your major until at least the end of sophomore year. </p>

4

<p>Reed College is a West Coast school with a fairly structured curriculum, excellent academics, and traditional collegiate architecture. <a href=“Reed College - Wikipedia”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reed_College&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Have you considered costs?
Can you afford the Expected Family Contribution at schools you’re considering?</p>

5

<p>Yes, your financial situation is a key item here that we need more info on before giving recommendations. Do you know about the Net Price Calculators on the school websites (look on the financial aid page)? They are pretty accurate unless your parents are divorced, own a small business, or own rental real estate. </p>

<p>If you haven’t yet, check out a copy of the Fiske Guide to Colleges. Ask your HS guidance counselor or check if a local library has it. It is okay if the copy is a couple of years old, it can help you get an idea of places to consider. A couple hours with Fiske and a pack of post-it notes is well spent. :)</p>

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<p>Thank you all for your suggestions! </p>

<p>topaz - I was actually also considering UCSD, thank you. I think that SCU is too close to home, but I agree that the weather and academics are very nice. </p>

<p>Ranza - I can understand why no curriculum might benefit me, but I personally prefer structure and having some direction; I feel like I would be overwhelmed with so many choices (kind of like I am now). </p>

<p>tk - Thank you for that suggestion, I’ll look into it. </p>

<p>intparent - I’ve tried looking at some college guide books. I haven’t really found them particularly helpful, but I’ll keep searching. </p>

<p>Realistically speaking, I can’t afford some of those schools without significant financial aid. I can probably pay about $15K-20K per year, which make UCs ideal - however, I’m not overly fond of their campuses/large cities and I’m concerned by the large student population/lack of undergrad focus. </p>

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<p>Have you looked specifically at Fiske? It isn’t just facts and statistics (although they have some key ones). Our copy is dogeared, and I often refer to it when people have questions out here.</p>

<p>Also, your financial information makes running the net price calculator a critical part of your search process.</p>

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<p>Okay, I’ll try to find a copy!</p>

<p>And I’m sorry, I completely miscalculated - it turns out we can afford about $40K. This is a rough estimate - I know I definitely need to take into account our financial situation, but right now, I’m more focused on figuring out where to apply. </p>

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<p>Are you sure you don’t have time to visit campuses? Not even some California schools, maybe on a weekend? At the very least, you should figure out whether you prefer large or small campuses – there will be a big difference in “feel” between UCSD and Pomona, for instance. </p>

<p>My daughter originally was in the same “I don’t really know what I like” mindset as you are in, and my feeling back then was that if she really had no preferences, she should just stick with the UCs – they offer a great education, they’re economical for CA residents, and even the lower-ranked UCs have good name recognition in CA, so she’d never have to have the “I’ve never heard of that school” conversation with anyone. However, she foiled me by deciding, upon visiting the Claremont colleges, that she actually did prefer small LACs. This is why I think you really need to go on some campus tours – you may find out when it’s too late that you actually do have a preference. But if you really, seriously don’t care, then stick with the UCs. You’re bound to get into one of the half-dozen top-ranked campuses, and unless you suddenly decide that you want to major in an impacted field like engineering (which sounds unlikely from your post), you can change majors if you want to.</p>

<p>(edit: upon rereading, I probably shouldn’t say you’re “bound to” get in anywhere, though in fact I think you’re probably a pretty sure bet at least for UCSC, if not for UCSB and Irvine as well. But there are no guarantees, yada yada yada covering my ass.)</p>

<p>I don’t know anything about Wash U., but as a U of Chicago alum, I wouldn’t advise anyone to go there who was as half-hearted about it as you sound. It’s not a school for everyone, and you’re right about the weather.</p>

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<p>@intparent is right you can’t go further without clarifying your family’s financial situation. Ask your parents to use the net price calculators of a few of your targeted schools. This will give you an idea of how much need-based aid you can expect to receive and whether your estimated family contribution falls within the $40K that you think would be workable. Do this first before you even think about adding more private colleges to your list.</p>

<p>If it appears that need-based aid will be workable, or that your parents are able to assume a debt, then you can build a wide list. If it’s not enough you need to be looking at colleges that give merit aid. These are often different from those that are generous with need-based aid.</p>

<p>Don’t worry so much about being undecided on your major and overall life direction. You’re a high school student. Of course you don’t know exactly what you want to study and what your life’s vocation will be. The whole point of a liberal arts education – whether at a large, medium or small sized college – is exposure to a wide range of disciplines. In most cases you won’t have to declare your major until the end of your sophomore year, so you’ll have some time to experiment.</p>

<p>The middle road between a core curriculum and a completely open curriculum is a curriculum with distribution requirements. This is probably the most common system in the liberal arts. Students are required to take 2 or 3 courses from loose groupings like arts/humanities, math/science, social studies. On top of the distribution requirements many colleges require language proficiency and courses in other general areas like world cultures, quantitative reasoning etc. etc. </p>

<p>I can understand that the whole college application process can be bewildering at first. Think of it as ever narrowing concentric circles – you start with a wide wide list and as you zoom in on attributes that you like, you find others in the same category that are hopefully less selective.</p>

<p>But the first step is always the money: find out whether need based aid works for you then go from there.</p>

<p>Some small to medium colleges that are in temperate climates and that offer merit aid are Rhodes, Emory, Davidson. If you’re open to cold weather Grinnell, Macalester, Kenyon, Carleton, Colby, Skidmore are also merit friendly.</p>

<p>If you can get by with need based aid and accept the full four seasons treatment then you should look at some of the selective colleges in the Northeast like Swarthmore, Amherst, Dartmouth, Princeton, Brown, Tufts. Williams, Hamilton, Middlebury are more remotely located. Williams is especially interested in students with music ECs.</p>

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<p>Carleton is not “merit friendly”. They only merit they offer is a small amount to NMFs.</p>

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<p>Thanks, intparent, I get the Midwestern LACs confused on finances.</p>

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<p>Is there any broad area that you are most interested in? E.g. visual arts, performing arts, humanities, social studies, biological science, physical science, math/statistics/CS? Also, do more applied pre-professional subjects like engineering or business interest you? That may affect what schools are appropriate for you.</p>

<p>Bigger schools may have more subjects offered, but less guidance.</p>

<p>Note that some majors, like the sciences, engineering, and foreign-language-based majors, do require starting the prerequisites early in order to avoid delaying graduation, due to long prerequisite sequences. Some majors may have large numbers of required courses, which can make on-time graduation difficult if you start late on their required courses. So if such majors are under consideration, they may be higher priority to you to start early on, at least to see if you like them.</p>

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<p>dustypig - It’s unlikely that I’ll be able to visit many campuses until after I apply, but thank you for your comment on Chicago. </p>

<p>momrath - Thank you so much for the list of colleges, I’ll make sure to look into them!</p>

<p>ucbalumnus - While I don’t dislike any of my classes, I haven’t found a particular subject/area that I’m drawn to - at least, not one that I’d consider spending 4+ years studying. Your comment on prerequisites is one of the reasons why I’m so concerned by my lack of passions - while I know that many students switch majors a few times in college, I would rather not delay graduation. </p>

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<p>Rice University in Texas, while not California weather by any means, is definitely worth looking into if you really want to avoid snowy winters. The campus is traditional and the school is fairly prestigious (especially in the region). Houston is a sprawling city, but Rice’s campus feels much smaller and the area immediately around it (Rice Village) is quite charming/nice, in my opinion. The school has an undergraduate focus and an undergraduate student body of under 4,000. Granted, the school’s core requirements are pretty lax, but if you want to experiment with different areas of study, this may be an advantage, and the school would surely have the resources to support whatever you want to pursue. Plus it’s often ranked among the “happiest” schools, but as always to each his/her own. :slight_smile: Good luck with your college search!</p>

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<p>Gap year? I mean if you really have no idea what you want to be in college for …</p>

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<p>Take a look at Emory.</p>