<p>Hello, I am currently a sophomore in high school. I've recently been researching colleges and would like to know what advice anyone may have on college search regarding programs for my major and minor (with an emphasis on Japanese language and culture).
I am in South Carolina and have not found many good programs for my intended fields of study. I currently attend one of the highest esteemed programs in my school county that allows students to take college classes at the university in conjunction with advanced placement and honors courses. We begin taking classes at the university during the first semester of our freshmen year, if that counts as rigor.
My one strong preference in terms of college is to attend a university that is not located up north. I don't particularly like extremely cold weather.
My current college list is: Georgia Tech, UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC Irvine, Stanford, Clemson, and U South Carolina.
Do you guys have any suggestions? I do not come from a wealthy family so even if I get into any of the UC's, the out of state is terrifying unless I can load up on scholarships.
If this helps, I am currently the President of my school's Technology Club, Treasurer of World Culture Club, and an aspiring writer who is (hopefully) getting published in the University's literary magazine if I can pass the last round of judging in the spring. I overcame hardships my freshman year (my grades were bad that year but I at least passed my AP GOV exam) if that will help on the essays. Currently, my weighted GPA is over 4.5 (it was 4.8 something first semester of my sophomore year) and I am taking AP World History along with several college classes and pre-aps such as Precal and English 2 in order to make my junior and senior schedules solely AP and college classes with the exception of a summer web design class.
Thank you guys and if you have any suggestions on how to possibly find scholarships for some of the UC's, I'd appreciate it. </p>
<p>Give me some context. You say your grades were bad freshman year, but your cumulative weighted GPA is a 4.5? What’s your unweighted? As someone who used to work for professors at UCI, I will say that even if you could afford the OOS tuition, the school isn’t worth it. Fantastic place to do Asian studies, but not the most dynamic school. However, you can’t afford the place, so it’s off the table. </p>
<p>Here are some possibilities, ranked in order of competitiveness for admission:
-Rice University
-Duke University
-Harvey Mudd (Pomona and Claremont McKenna have strong Asian studies programs)
-University of Southern California
-University of Virginia
-Tulane
-George Washington University
-University of Hawaii at Manoa (good merit scholarships, but travel costs are killer and a large portion of students commute)
-University of Alabama (not exactly an ideal place to study Asian culture and the program is nowhere near as comprehensive as UCLA or Irvine’s is, but it does give good merit)</p>
<p>If you consider colder places, you’ll have a number of other options open up to you. </p>
<p>you should look at Caltech. the only thing, I’m not sure if they have a minor( or something similar) for Japanese. and I agree with @whenhen, if you decide to look up north, you have the options to study at MIT, RPI, WPI, Olin and WIT, just to name a few. </p>
<p>My freshmen year included two C’s (82 and 80, they may be B’s in other states), a handful of B’s, and some A’s. I don’t know the exact GPA. As for this year, I got a B in German (88) but everything else is an A (so unweighted would be 3.83 out of 4.0). Also, do colleges calculate GPA by letter or number?
Thank you for the feedback. I’m guessing the UC’s aren’t worth it in that case? </p>
<p>I must have glossed over the Japanese part when I was reading the OP’s criteria. In that case, some of the schools I suggested may not work (IIRC, some of them might not have Japanese). To the OP, can you already speak some Japanese or is this more of a linguistic curiosity? If your level of Japanese is already high, some of the smaller schools with limited courses in the subject might not work. For a beginning speaker, that shouldn’t matter, especially since most foreign language minors seem to study abroad for at least a semester.</p>
<p>Here’s a chart from the CollegeBoard which shows how to convert a 100 point scale into a 4.0 scale.</p>
<p>I’m a beginner in Japanese though my goal is to work on it more over the summer. The university canceled its Japanese program right before I was going to take it so I’ll either self study or do online AP Japanese (if it is offered). After looking over that collegeboard chart, my GPA for the year is still 3.83 (hoping to bring it up over the course of this year, I just can’t judge by current GPA well because we haven’t taken any tests ect. to be able to determine my standing, which is why I just place it at 4.5+ for now). </p>
<p>If this helps, my current GPA (from everything I’ve done this year) is 4.89 weighted but many of my second semester classes literally just started so I don’t know how it will change over time, my goal is to retain straight A’s. </p>
<p>Most state universities are not too generous with need-based aid for out-of-state students. A few (like Alabama) do have guaranteed merit scholarships for students who meet their criteria. However, those schools aren’t necessarily your best choices for Asian Studies + CS (they may not be both better and cheaper than your in-state options).</p>
<p>Decent CS programs are easy to find. Good Asian Studies programs are not as common (especially for languages/areas other than Chinese). Look first for low sticker prices and schools that meet 100% of demonstrated need (or close to it), then look for strong Asian Studies programs among them. Finally, rule out any with weak CS programs.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2013/09/18/colleges-that-claim-to-meet-full-financial-need-2014”>http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2013/09/18/colleges-that-claim-to-meet-full-financial-need-2014</a></p>
<p>Do get over your aversion to cold. A high-need prospective Asian Studies major needs to cast a wide net. </p>
<p>Thank you for the advice. I honestly do want to go to Cali one day which is why I’ve been aiming for the UC’s but that means either tons of loans or attempting to get scholarships. I’ll try to be better about up north though I’ve been thinking about getting a BA at Clemson or USC and then going to Caltech or a UC for my masters after I have enough money.
I qualify for the majority, if not all, in state scholarships so I guess it’d be a shame to give up a full ride. Most people from my school stay in state solely due to the full ride the majority of us are able to receive. </p>