<p>I've been on here before with posts about my sister and her college decision. I'm trying to help her out. I'm posting again because she took the ACT for the 1st time and just got her score back. She will retake it.</p>
<p>GPA: 3.7
ACT Composite: 21 (24 in Math, 18 in Reading, 22 in English, 20 in Science, 22 in Writing)
1st gen
Pro-life club at school, tennis, National Honor Society
She's taken a few AP courses and plans to take more
Her passions consist of guns, trucks, white people, cooking/eating meat, and bashing liberals</p>
<p>Looking for a school in the Midwest, home state is Michigan.</p>
<p>She's a junior, interested in engineering. I don't know if this will actually work out though, because her ACT Math score wasn't outstanding.</p>
<p>She's extremely conservative (I have a <em>really</em> hard time accepting this) but I don't think she's super religious. *I DESPERATELY want her to go to a liberal school because I think she needs a total life adjustment.</p>
<p>Any suggestions? We would qualify for need-based aid.</p>
<p>*Again, I have a HUGE problem with projecting my interests onto hers. We're polar opposites and we don't get along at all. I want her to be happy, but I also want her to become more open-minded.</p>
<p>She sounds just as conservative as I am (except for the whole white supremacy part, which I assume was a joke), so I think that I can help find schools that are accepting to conservatives but have good debate.</p>
<p>I don’t know that much about midwestern LACs, but I would say that most selective schools in the South will be more accepting of Conservative students while still having moderate and liberal factions. If it helps, here is where I looked and applied:</p>
<p>Duke (ED)- rejected
Vanderbilt
Richmond
Penn
Davidson
Tulane
Bucknell
Alabama
Oklahoma
South Carolina
Miami
Probably either Rhodes or Franklin & Marshall</p>
<p>Other possible fits that I looked at:
Wake Forest
Emory
Washington & Lee
possibly William & Mary, though it may be too far left</p>
<p>Others to maybe consider:
Centre College (KY)
Rice</p>
<p>However, most of these schools will require higher test scores. If she is not scoring that high on the ACT (especially with her good GPA- but is it weighted), she could try the SAT. I know little about the Midwest (I am a Mid-Atlantic and South guy) or engineering, but I do know about the college search from the perspective of a diehard conservative (I have 40-some extreme right wing posters on my wall).</p>
<p>Now, also, Duke is not considered super Conservative, but I felt as if it was an environment where my beliefs would still be appreciated. Plus, much of my family went there (but no one donated, perhaps leading to my rejection).</p>
<p>1) As you noted you had multiple earlier threads where you got a ton of suggestions. At that time your sister was taking an active role in choosing schools she was interested in. Don’t overpower her in this process
2) Let her take the ACT one more time to see if there is improvement
3) She should consider test optional schools if the ACT doesn’t improve [SAT/ACT</a> Optional 4-Year Universities | FairTest](<a href=“http://www.fairtest.org/university/optional]SAT/ACT”>ACT/SAT Optional List - Fairtest)
4) If you really want to help your sister you must respect her belief system and not try to change it simply to align with yours - she is her own person. It is OK for family members to not agree on issues and still love one another. If she wants a conservative colleges and you want to help then you need to help her find conservative colleges. And others may disagree but I didn’t find what your wrote as her passions to be very amusing, it was rather offensive
5) Get your hands on some good college guide books or look at the USNRW list of schools (LAC and perhaps universities as well as a mid sized university could work) as a starting point<br>
6)Engineering could still sense as math was her highest ACT section score. If she wants to start in an engineering program you should be encouraging that.</p>
<p>You need to understand that there really are people that far right (the only offensive part was saying that her hobbies include white people), and I am one of them.</p>
<p>OP, you really had my attention when you said pro-life club. I wish my school had that!</p>
<p>SurvivorFan, the only schools on your list that will likely admit her and offer engineering are the University of Alabama, University of Oklahoma, and the University of South Carolina. </p>
<p>To the OP, as I’ve said before, at most public schools there are opportunities to get exposed to contrary viewpoints. Frankly, you sound like the stereotypical “college liberal” which is about as annoying as someone who believes complex political issues with various economic, cultural, and social forces at play can be reduced to sayings on a poster. </p>
<p>Some of non-flagship Michigan schools, including Central Michigan, GVSU, and Michigan Tech offer full engineering degrees. Both CMU and GVSU offer a wide variety of non-technical options should your sister decide that engineering isn’t a viable option.</p>
<p>Before she re-takes the ACT, she should investigate the possible causes of her low scores. Three to start with:
Test-induced anxiety
Poor test-taking strategies
Undiagnosed learning issues such as a dyslexia or slow processing </p>
<p>Each of this has its own work-around, and each should be dealt with before college because they can and will make college difficult.</p>
<p>Your sister will be starting college soon, so she’ll be in charge of her life not you. If guns and trucks excite her, well good for her. Its her life.
Since you guys are in Michigan, has she thought of applying to UMich Ann Arbor? Great school overall and I’m sure their engineering school is great too.</p>
<p>@SurvivorFan - yes “white people” was the part I thought was strange along with “bashing liberals”. But I just didn’t like that the brother (who is trying to help? or trying to change his sister?) seemed to put his sister’s interests in a sarcastic and almost condescending manner to the point where I could not tell if they were really her interests or if he was making fun of her conservatism.</p>
<p>I was not being sarcastic. She asked for a gun for her 16th birthday, bashes me for being a vegetarian and rubs it in my face, and coined the term “liberal logic,” mocking liberalism. She really does not like people who are not white. Her reasoning is that “I just don’t like them.” She Googled all-white universities in the US, and apparently there are three. She refuses to go to any public place where there may be non-white people and she can’t live a day without making some derogatory racial remark. I think she needs counseling. She’s extremely judgmental. If someone has hair dye, tattoos, piercings, she takes offense.</p>
<p>She also bashes people on Welfare and immigrants. I can’t tolerate it!</p>
<p>She also prayed at an abortion clinic with her club and sent me a 30-minute video that compared abortion to the Holocaust, trying to prove why I’m wrong.</p>
<p>All we’ve done this whole break is fight. My friends suggested that she may just want to separate herself from me, the “older sister.” I’m being mean when I call those things her “passions,” but it’s true. She obsesses over guns and trucks. She watches TV like it’s her job. She can’t live without meat. She does well in her classes, but she doesn’t gush over them. She doesn’t talk about school, she talks about liberals. She doesn’t even talk about engineering. I don’t know where her heart is. Even when I was at school, according to Mom all she talked about was liberals. It’s not just because I’m here on break.</p>
<p>I am not handling this well at all. I have been trying to change her views because I honestly believe that she is <em>wrong</em>. That’s my problem. I can’t change her.</p>
<p>Also, would there be any schools that have little or no core?</p>
<p>I’m trying to be accepting of her beliefs, but it’s so hard when she downright hates other people. I have to accept her, or what does that make me? A hypocrite. Yes, I admit to being one as much as I deny it.</p>
<p>I followed the OP’s first several threads about her sister with some interest. I consider myself a political and social conservative (hopefully, a thoughtful one) and am seeking a college where my views will be welcomed. (As a side note, I was rather offended my the OP’s description of her sister… while I understand the OP is not talking about all conservatives, saying the girl is pro-life and “extremely conservative”, then further describing her as racist, judgmental, and obsessed with meat/guns/trucks was perhaps not the most tactful wording.)</p>
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<p>Honestly, I think you need to take a step back. It is evident from your posts that you and your sister do not get along well at all-- she bashes you, you try to change her views. That’s a recipe for disaster. You have made several previous threads which had lots of great suggestions, but in the interest of family harmony (or at least civility) it may be best for you to let her go her own way for now. More pushing, and she will likely push back and ignore all your suggestions.</p>
<p>Have you considered the possibility that some of her more extreme statements are in reaction to your own overbearing attempts to tell her how to think? Do you really think that everyone in the world who doesn’t agree with your opinions is <em>wrong</em>?</p>
<p>You seriously need to back off and let her find her own schools. Has she asked you to please help her find a school? Why on earth would she let you guide her when she so strongly disagrees with you on practically everything, according to your own statements. I’d say the same thing if you were her parent but honestly, you are only a sibling and have no skin in her game other than wanting to win some silly ideology war.</p>
<p>You are right about one thing: this is “your” problem.</p>
<p>Is Calvin on her list? She is most likely to find her tribe at evangelical colleges. Oral Roberts is another with engineering.</p>
<p>You may just have to learn to accept your sisters political bent. Researchers have found they can predict adult conservatism when they are babies. Newborns who are easily startled, who have a hyper response to changes in their environment, are most likely to be conservative as adults.</p>
<p>I agree with Joblue – You need to step away and let your sister and your parents search for schools that will be right for HER. With your different value systems and constant bickering you will not be the one she goes to for advice. Just be there to support her decision whatever it is.</p>
<p>RB…many kids this age have extreme political beliefs either way. Let it go. As she ages, she’ll see that being so extreme (one way or the other) doesn’t really work well. You may find out the same thing …lol </p>
<p>Seriously though, her ACT is a huge issue if paying for college is an issue. She can only go three ways…instate cheap…or private test optional…or the military.</p>
<p>I doubt that she can afford those few “all white” schools (good heavens, what are those??? )</p>
<p>If she is religious, try Messiah College in Pa. It has engineering but it also has students of color and the student body seems to be accepting rather than judgmental.</p>
<p>If the OPs sister posted this whole experience from her point of view, I’m certain we would have a completely different story. Why OP thinks they know how to live their sister’s life better than their sister says a lot more about OP than it does the sister. Sounds like they are two sides of the same coin.</p>
<p>The sister already has a master’s in pushing OPs buttons and if OP wants to maintain any relationship in the future, they should back off and out of this decision right now.</p>
<p>I would not suggest anything to her at all. If there are problems/issues or whatever in a college you have suggested she may blame you. I would let her make her own decisions however much you agree or disagree with them.</p>
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