I am currently researching potential colleges to apply to next year when I’m a senior (I’m homeschooled). Here are my basic academic stats:
-4.0 unweighted GPA (includes joint enrollment courses in math and science)
-1430 SAT (10th grade score, I will be retaking soon)
-31 ACT (first try)
Current Joint Enrollment Courses
Calculus II
University Physics I
I am not sure exactly what I want to major in, but I am interested in theoretical computer science (computability and computational complexity), math, and physics. Below are some topics in these fields that I am currently studying.
Computer Science:
Computability
Computational Complexity
Quantum Computation
Information Theory
Math:
Abstract Algebra (lately I've been interested in Lie algebras in particular)
Calculus of Variations (useful for my physics work)
Real Analysis (currently just refreshing my basic theoretical understanding, but I want to eventually study manifolds and functional analysis)
Topology (just learning basics right now)
Physics:
Quantum Mechanics (I'm using online resources to fill in gaps from when I was working on the basics of quantum computation; I'm also interested in learning about more advanced topics in physics such as quantum field theory, condensed matter, and string theory)
I will be paying the entire cost of college myself (minus whatever is granted me through the FAFSA and the colleges’ generosity), so it will be quite tricky for me to make the finances work, but it’s not impossible. Obviously my test scores are fairly weak compared to other members on this site (I never did well in such conditions), but my grades are decent (not saying much since the difficulty of my classes is minimal). Job-wise I am interested in research work (it doesn’t have to be academic though). Right now I just need to consider some matches; I hardly stand a chance at very selective schools (such as UVA for example).
Have you searched for any threads that might discuss good college options for home school students? In any case, you’ll need to research schools that offer good merit aid or automatic scholarships. Also, consider the environment you want for your college experience (distance from home, region within the country, city/suburban/rural). What is your state school? Just off hand, RIT and UNH come to mind but if you post some additional details perhaps folks can weigh in with other options…
the ivies are definitely good to try for, i would personally recommend carnegie mellon for computer science and they are generally good for CS and science related, whereas the ivies are good overall and each of them has its own strength while being very similar (ex.Penn is great at business while cornell is great at engineering)
Not yet but I don’t expect the fact that I’m homeschooled to affect college admissions/the search process much. I mainly mentioned it to explain my rather unusual course load. Merit aid is of course a good thing but in most cases you need to meet some non-academic criteria as well (usually some kind of URM, such as a female majoring in STEM). It’s much more difficult for me to find this kind of aid due to my non-URM status (although thankfully some such aid exists). In terms of experience/secondary criteria I don’t really have any. Opportunities to study through research are attractive to me but I can’t exactly afford to be picky in regards to college (due to financial constraints and my academic ability).
I’m from Virginia so some good schools I’m considering are Virginia Tech and GMU (although I’d have to be creative with the major because I was less than impressed with their CS offering).
There are probably more $$ threads out there. If you get yours scores up just a bit you will find some great options, and with college credits (I assume you’ll earn more next year) you may be able to graduate in 3 years. You don’t have to be URM or female studying STEM to receive merit. You definitely need to put some time into doing some research about schools/honors programs/research opportunities.
Thanks for the information. I am hoping to raise my SAT and ACT scores somewhat as my practice test scores were far higher than the actual ones, so I know I’m capable of improving. My grades unfortunately are impossible to improve as they are perfect and I am taking the most difficult (which is not very) courses available. I will try my best but I highly doubt I will succeed as the high school applicant pool is very strong.
It is true you don’t have to be a URM for some merit aid but with the college cost crisis and increasing competition among students unable to afford college themselves we are heading in that direction.
Are you on your own paying for it because of being part of a low income family (aka low EFC when you run a FAFSA) or because your parents can’t (or won’t) pay their EFC? It makes a huge difference in schools that get recommended. With the first you can look at several “meets needs” schools. With the latter you really do need to focus on merit.
Being homeschooled shouldn’t be a problem. Two of mine homeschooled their high school years and did just fine - merit aid and all - both WASP males. We paid less for them to go to school than their ps brother, but they also had better scores than he did. I don’t think the schooling choice mattered TBH.
Each college has a net price calculator (NPC) on their website where you plug in you family’s finances and get an idea of what that school may give you in terms of aid. You should run those right away on any college you think you may want to apply to.
Homeschool students are often asked to submit SAT subject test scores to show proficiency beyond the regular standardized tests.
Your comment in where merit is heading seems like more of a grievance politics statement than something that fits the facts. I’ve noticed no trends in merit aid in this direction (it is no different than it has been for many years, and very little merit funnels more to URM and women in STEM). If you aren’t eligible for enough need based aid based on the NPCs, you will need to focus on merit aid. University of Alabama - Huntsville might be a good match for your interests with guaranteed merit.
Since that score is your sophomore testing score, I expect it’ll be much higher in May (1500s). If necessary, retake in August.
Then, apply to UVA and W&M as well as VTech.
Comb the undergraduate/graduate school offerings for all VA public universities then once you’ve found 2-3 with decent offerings beside the three above, check out the Honors College conditions and deadlines.
Apply as soon as you’re able to (meaning: prepare starting about now).
Next, talk about costs with your parents: what do they expect to be able to pay for you from income and savings?
Does that match their EFC? (It rarely does).
Run the NPC on a few colleges suggested on this thread.
What are your EC’s? What do you do when you’re not studying?
What math classes are you scheduled to take this summer and next year?
What other classes have you taken? Will you have completed 4 years of English and Social Science/History, foreign language through level 3 or 4, bio and chem in addition to college physics?
Have you been involved in any STEM competition?
Can you enroll in Discrete Math and Linear Algebra through Joint Enrollment? Those would be important for your future major.
For math, look into Northwestern (special track for advanced students) and HarveyMudd (same thing). Both are reaches for everyone obviously. Look UChicago, Williams, Wesleyan, Carnegie Mellon, Stanford - all have different vibes.
The difficulty will be finding matches - those are likely UVA/W&M/VTech so these are the ones to beat.
If you can get a 1500+ or 34 ACT and start considering reaches I think Princeton fits in well with what you are interested in. Top Math and Physics department and the CS is more theoretical than other top CS programs. It’ll have the highest need-based aid available which might make it possible but you haven’t mentioned finances really.
Stanford has it’s Mathematical and Computational Science major which would also fit into your interest.
Thanks everyone for the information. @Creekland, the reason why I will be paying for it myself is due to the mismatch between EFC and my parents’ finances (we are middle class for the area we live in but due to the high cost of living my family would be viewed as ‘rich’ according to standard metrics for financial aid calculation purposes).
@MYOS1634, I largely spend my time outside of mundane school studying subjects that interest me on my own, some of which I have already listed. Besides that I play piano, chess, and enjoy running long distance (>6 mile runs). Next year I will be taking Calculus III, Differential Equations, and University Physics II (basically almost the entire curriculum for math and physics offered at the local community college). I’ve already taken the standard high school curriculum (which I started in middle school); at this point my grade school years are merely being prolonged.
@Dolemite, I’ve been trying to raise my standardized test scores. Unfortunately, I’ve been scoring significantly worse on actual tests than practice tests (around 1500 SAT practice consistently but only 1430 on the actual test; 32-33 ACT practice but only 31 on the actual test). I know it’s going to be difficult to improve due to diminishing returns in the higher score ranges.