When choosing a college, a lot of the regular things don’t concern me. I could care less about location, climate, town size, or school size. The things I care about are (in no particular order):
Getting the best education possible
School prestige
Cost
My parents won’t be able to contribute anything to my college education, so I will need some sort of financial aid. I’d prefer not to have much debt following college.
So everyone can try to determine merit based aid, here are my stats:
ACT: 31 (33 E, 31 M, 33 R, 28 S)
GPA: 4.0 Unweighted (my high school doesn’t weigh or have AP’s, Honors, etc.)
Plenty of just regular ECs (varsity soccer, NHS, Scholar Bowl, see previous post for more)
I don’t have any sort of preference in terms of a major, but I do have interest in sports management, business, and medicine (possibly). If anyone could suggest some schools to me that have good prestige, give a good education, and offer financial aid (merit or need based) I would appreciate it! Have a great day!
How much does school prestige matter to you? You don’t have the ACT stats for an Ivy or high reach prestigious school like Johns Hopkins, and you say that your parents can’t contribute to your college. Even though Ivies and high endowed schools that carry the prestige have the best value (give the most money), there’s a small chance you can actually get in. You might be able to make the cut for places like Washington and Lee. You should look into some LAC’s (liberal arts colleges) that have you in the percentile range.
If you don’t want to do that, you could definitely choose in-state/public schools or private schools where your 31 is golden to them. There are nothing wrong with having safeties and they are definitely financially doable. What state are you from? Judging by your username, I can assume you’re from the Midwest but you know what people say happens when you assume.
@TheDidactic I’m from Missouri (parents from Nebraska). Which is the problem with state schools; Missouri State is just an ok school, and Mizzou is bad at everything but journalism.
Your stats might get you some merit aid at Syracuse, which has an excellent sports management program. On another topic, I take issue with @Conrnhuskerfan49 regarding Mizzou “being bad at everything.” Mizzou has good programs, besides journalism.
Don’t get hung up on “prestige”. Your undergraduate education is worth mostly what you put into it. Rather, your concern should be affording the education in such a way that the financial pressure won’t impact your academic performance.
I would argue that most schools don’t have worthwhile undergraduate business/sports management programs. If you are set on those two fields, they severely limit your option. For business, the best ones would be either UPenn Wharton or Cornell AEM, but many undergrads interested in business major ins something else like economics or applied mathematics (or both).
So let me get this straight; you want a cheap, prestigious school? Hint… might want to look for “affordable with a decent program in your intended area” not just “prestigious.”
Thanks everyone for the responses! In response to some of the replies: @intparent no, no chance @MSMDAD Thanks for the suggestion about Syracuse. And, as a Nebraska Cornhusker fan, I guess I’m a little biased! @puzzled123 I don’t know if I can get in though!
@xraymancs sound advice
Could you take the ACT again? With a little effort (think test taking strategies), you could raise your science section and your composite making you more competitive for merit scholarships. SMU in Dallas has a great business school and offers a lot of merit.
