<p>Hi, I'm 17 and just finishing up my junior year of HS, and I know I need to start thinking about picking a college. But I'm totally lost and don't even know where to start! I get good grades and am getting tons of mail from schools and it's just so overwhelming. :( I know people probably ask this question all the time but what should I do? How can I start narrowing it down?</p>
<p>Start by asking what you would like in a school. It can be anything- size, a major, location, an underwater basket weaving club… whatever. Then take it from there. We can help if you tell us a little bit about yourself. Stats, passions, whatever you feel is important for us to know to start recommending places.</p>
<p>Have you taken the SAT/PSAT?</p>
<p>Try the SuperMatch tool on the left side of this page…you’ll be able to sort for the factors that matter most to you.</p>
<p>Hmmm… well… I don’t think I want something huge (?) I mean I’m not a huge people person so if I went somepace where there were a ton of people I would want to be a part of some smaller group so I wouldn’t get overwhelmed! Location – I live in North Alabama. I’ve never lived away from home before, so I think I want to move away, but not so far away that I can’t come home sometimes. Major – I really haven’t decided yet. 
I like English, history, languages, art… I haven’t really thought about what I want to do with any of that though.</p>
<p>About me: Yes, I took the PSAT and SAT and ACT. Here are my scores:
PSAT: 220
SAT: 2150
ACT: 34</p>
<p>Oh and I’m homeschooled. I’m a Christian but I don’t have to go to a Christian school (I’m not opposed to that either though). My passions: gosh I’ve got way too many 
Reading, art, history, antiques, travel, cooking, languages, dance, music, fashion… Yeah so you see why I have a hard time narrowing things down!</p>
<p>First start by talking to your parents about budget matters. As you search, run the Net Price Calculator on the college website.</p>
<p>A lot of experienced parents here recommend starting with your safety schools. Looking at schools where you know you will get admitted and can afford. Often your public options.</p>
<p>Before school is out for the summer you might do some visits to nearby colleges, even if you aren’t considering them particularly, you can learn about what certain colleges offer that may appeal to you. You might look at large medium and small colleges to notice the differences and develop a preference.</p>
<p>You can get a book like Fiske Guide to browse.</p>
<p>What role will need-based financial aid play in your college choice? Are you looking for merit aid?</p>
<p>Hmmm financial aid will probably be immportant. My parents have always encouraged me to get good grades so I could get scholarships. We’re not loaded or anything so I know my dad would really appreciate it if I got a full ride somewhere! So yes, merit aid would be very helpful and very important.</p>
<p>Please look at the National Merit forum on this site. I think you will be a National Merit Finalist. There are some very generous scholarships you will probably qualify for at schools which will be begging you to attend.</p>
<p>Right off the bat you seem like a good LAC candidate. Great advice here so far, especially about price. Make sure to keep money in mind when selecting schools.</p>
<p>You should probably include on here your school info (GPA (weighted and unweighted if possible, course rigor in addition to GPA if not both types), rank if reported, class level available).</p>
<p>Check out Wheaton College in Illinois (Christian LAC) and also Fairfield University in CT. The latter offered my daughter $26k in merit aid and her stats were not as impressive as yours. Good luck!</p>
<p>Alabama… think you would get a full tuition scholarship based on ACT or NMF… Emory and Vanderbilt are prestigious schools you could consider in the reach range that are still driving distance from you. Sewanee, Rhodes, Wofford, Furman, Davidson, and Oxford college (into Emory) are some options for liberal arts colleges that aren’t too far away.</p>
<p>You will very likely be a NMSF, and a likely NMF.</p>
<p>what is your major.</p>
<p>How much will your parents pay each year?</p>
<p>Colleges to look at in AL and nearby states:</p>
<p>Florida-
Miami
Florida</p>
<p>Georgia-
Emory
Mercer</p>
<p>Alabama-
Alabama
Auburn
Maybe UAB</p>
<p>Louisiana-
Tulane</p>
<p>Texas-
Baylor
Rice
UT-Austin</p>
<p>Tennessee-
Vanderbilt
Rhodes</p>
<p>South Carolina-
USC
Wofford</p>
<p>North Carolina-
Duke
UNC
Wake Forest
Elon
Davidson</p>
<p>Virginia-
UVA
William & Mary
Richmond</p>
<p>That should give you a good start, with a list including reaches, matches, and safeties.</p>
<p>Thanks! Wow, that is exciting! Thank you everybody!</p>
<p>My unweighted GPA is 4.0. I’m not sure about weighted. I tried to figure it out just now but it just got weird.</p>
<p>I’m not really sure about major, but I think something liberal artsy would be good.</p>
<p>I’d second Centre, Sewanee and Rhodes and add Hendrix–all of these could be a good fit and offer you significant merit aid. You shouldn’t be sad at all–you are going to have some awesome choices.</p>
<p>Another place to look is the college board website, that’s where I began my search and it gives you options to plug in everything you want in a school (size, location, major options, etc.) which gives you a really good start, and then if you plug in your stats to your profile it will show you how you compare to their middle 50 stats. Hope this helps, good luck!</p>
<p>Haha, thank you. The sad part is that having a lot of choices is overwhelming, though! This is a huge decision!</p>
<p>You definitely seem to be a good fit for a small liberal arts college. Wofford and Centre have already been mentioned. I think that University of The South-Sewanee, up in Tennessee, has also been mentioned, and is highly recommended. Also consider Eckerd College down in Florida, and Berry College over in Georgia. Most of these have 2,000 or fewer students. Very few liberal arts colleges have fewer than 1,000 students.</p>
<p>You might also consider some medium size schools such as Wake Forest University, which has only about 7,500 students (about a fourth the size of University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa).</p>
<p>My recommendation is to try to find some schools which are easy to visit this summer. Sewanee, for example, is close enough that you can go and be back in one day.</p>
<p>Eventually, try to make a list of about 20 colleges that seem interesting to you. Explore them online and in person, then apply to your favorite six or seven. As others have mentioned, pay attention to tuition and other costs.</p>
<p>Schools in the South and Midwest that claim to meet 100% of demonstrated need:
Carleton, Davidson, Duke, Grinnell, Macalester, Rice, St. Olaf, Notre Dame, U Richmond, Vanderbilt, Washington & Lee.</p>
<p>A possible list:</p>
<p>Washington & Lee, Davidson, Rice, Vanderbilt (reaches)
Richmond (high match)
St. Olaf (low match)
University of Alabama (safety, good possibility of significant merit aid)</p>
<p>These are small to mid-sized schools (except for UA); all offer good need-based or merit aid; all are in the South or Midwest; none are extremely liberal; they cover your safety-match-reach bases. </p>
<p>If you want more match schools, consider Wheaton (Illinois), Centre College, and Rhodes. These are LACs in the South/Midwest that cover about 80%-90% of demonstrated financial need on average and also offer merit scholarships.</p>