<p>SurvivorFan - Great list. I would tweak the Texas schools a bit and recommend:</p>
<p>Texas:
Southwestern University (safety)
Trinity College (safety)
Austin College (safety)
SMU (safety)
TCU (safety)
Baylor (safety)
Rice (far reach)</p>
<p>I wouldn’t have UT Austin on there. They have over 50k students!!! :)</p>
<p>Please keep in mind that schools may also want SAT Subject tests from you to further verify your homeschool grades. Make sure you check their requirements for homeschooling applicants once you’ve narrowed down the field of school choices. If you haven’t already, you (or your parents) may want to check out the Well-Trained Minds College Board. </p>
<p><a href=“The College Board - The Well-Trained Mind Community”>The College Board - The Well-Trained Mind Community;
<p>There are many moms on there who have gone through the homeschool college app process and can give advice on transcripts etc… Good Luck!</p>
<p>You might want to also look into Belmont University in Nashville. It is a smallish Christian school. I know they have strong music programs and Nashville is a fun city not too far away for you from Alabama.</p>
<p>You need to get more specifics about what your parents are willing and able to pay, unless you decide just to go after the school that you can get full rides for. Those certainly should be part of your list, and we have a number of such school on the stickies on this board as well as the NMF list should the OP gain that standard. If you want to stop there, then you have your list. </p>
<p>If you are interested in other schools, make sure you look and see if they even have merit money, if they do , if they have any large awards, and what the chances are to get them. FOr instance, none of the ivy League schools give merit money. Duke does but getting a huge award from them is like buying a mega lottery ticket. Can’t count on getting accepted, much less get that award. </p>
<p>Also important is how much your parents will be expected to pay. If you can get income/asset figures, which you will need to apply for financial aid, you can run the EFC estimator. That is the least you can expect to pay and still get government money other than PELL (low income ) grants. Most schools will want you to pay more than that. If your family cannot pay the EFC, you do need to look at merit options unless you can come up with the gap yourself. Run some NPCs for schools when you get some on your list as well.</p>
<p>So, it’s more than a matter of finding schools you like if you need financial aid. Get that straight first so that you don’t have schools on your list with no chance of being to pay for them. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t be terribly worried about the distance from home because unless you will find that unless they are prone to homesickness, many freshmen, even those at schools within a couple of hours drive of their hometowns don’t come back home frequently. They are too busy discovering themselves at college.</p>
<p>Sounds like you’re a liberal arts college type of person. Some of the schools (not necessarily small) that I would recommend are…
Furman
College of Charleston
Belmont Abbey
Agnes Scott College
Wesleyan College (Georgia)
U of Tulsa
Rice U
Ohio Wesleyan U</p>
<p>Keep in mind that a lot of kids change a LOT over the course of senior year. I would consider applying to both some large state flagships where you’re competitive for merit dollars (maybe apply to UA early on so you have at least one affordable option before all the other deadlines are upon you) and some of the terrific LACs already suggested. My son was sure he wanted a small LAC until he visited UA very late in the process (nearly six months after he’d been admitted) and then completely changed his mind about what he wanted. (I’d heard this was not uncommon, but I never thought my kid would be one of them!) It will be nice to have choices come next spring.</p>
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<p>You live in north Alabama and you have high stats. I suspect that you are from the Huntsville area and your parents work in the Cummings Research Park area. I may be wrong, but that area has super–smart STEM parents with high-scoring kids. </p>
<p>If your dad wants you to get a good merit scholarship, then you are not really looking for financial aid, you are looking for large merit that doesnt consider income. Your parents’ income may be too high for much need-based aid. This is typical for the CRP area. </p>
<p>If your parents earn about $100k, then they will be expected to pay about $25k per year…at least. If that isnt affordable to them, then you need to find out how much they will pay and then identify schools who will give you the rest in merit. </p>
<p>You need to ask your parents how much they will pay each year. That answer will largely determine where you should apply. </p>
<p>Berea
<a href=“https://www.berea.edu/”>https://www.berea.edu/</a></p>
<p>Lots of High Stats students went there. It is small and awards full scholarships to high stats students. </p>
<p>^ Berea only works for low income families. I believe @mom2collegekids is probably close to the family income. And colleges that meet need are not going to help this family if they can’t come up with $25-30K/year.</p>
<p>For a family income of ~$100,000, I would think the EFC at most “full need” schools would be somewhat less than $25K (absent unusually high assets for that income.)</p>
<p>For family incomes of $75,001 - $110,000, the following list shows the average net price paid by students receiving Title IV Federal financial aid in 2011-12 to attend several such schools (plus the University of Alabama for comparison). Source: <a href=“Use the Data”>http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/datacenter/Default.aspx</a></p>
<p>$22,816 Rice
$22,223 University of Alabama
$22,023 Washington & Lee
$20,450 Davidson
$19,765 University of Richmond
$14,640 Vanderbilt</p>
<p>Here are average aid amounts by family income levels for one moderately selective “full need” college":
<a href=“http://www.trincoll.edu/AboutTrinity/offices/InstitutionalResearchPlanning/Documents/financialAid.pdf”>http://www.trincoll.edu/AboutTrinity/offices/InstitutionalResearchPlanning/Documents/financialAid.pdf</a>
(For a family income of $90,000 - $119,999, the net COA would be about $22K on average.)</p>
<p>Compare the average net price paid by students receiving Title IV Federal financial aid in 2011-12 (family income $75,001 - $110,000) to attend several less selective schools that do NOT claim to cover 100% of demonstrated need:</p>
<p>$30,491 Belmont
$28,988 SMU
$27,021 Baylor</p>
<p>Two key questions:<br>
<p>If your family is unable/unwilling to cover the EFC (or fairly close to it), then look for large merit scholarship opportunities. Alabama’s Presidential Scholarship covers full tuition. That would leave you with about $9K in room & board costs, assuming no additional aid (<a href=“http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/in_state.html”>http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/in_state.html</a>). To beat even that number, you’d probably have to consider less selective schools (although a handful of very selective schools do offer full ride scholarships to a few students.)</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.thecollegiateblog.org/2012/12/09/national-universities-that-offer-full-ride-scholarship/”>Loading...;
<p>I agree with @BrownParent that the Fiske Guide is a good resource. Maybe see if there’s one you can look at in your local library. I checked and you can pre-order the new 2015 edition on Amazon for $15.17 and it’s supposed to ship July 5, 2014. </p>
<p>Reading this will help you start thinking about what types of schools are out there, and what aspects might be important to you. </p>
<p>You need to do some visits and see how you feel about size. Don’t discount large schools with good honors programs like Univ. of South Carolina and Alabama. At USC you would automatically get a Leiber if you are NMF and probably would get a scholarship with money and an OOS tuition waiver. You get lots of advantages of access to lots of majors and classes, but benefits of LAC like small classes and good housing. I have D here and one at Washington and Lee. One at W&L loves it, but it is small, If you aren’t sure about major not as much flexibility. D found in some areas only one or two professors and if you don’t like them, you’re kind of stuck!</p>
<p>If you want Christian school, your stats would put you at very top of applicant pool of Presbyterian College or Mercer.</p>
<p>Also you need to consider location. There are large schools in cities and countries and small schools in rural and urban areas. That may matter more to you than size of school. </p>
<p>Well I talked to my parents about money. I don’t know much my dad makes but they said they have been saving a long time for this (I’m an only child) and money is not really an object. I’m kind of shocked. They said anywhere I wanted to go they would find a way to make it work, but a merit scholarship would still be really helpful. So I’m happy, but I’m afraid this just makes it even more difficult to narrow it down. :P</p>
<p>I’ve been playing with the college search thing on here and it’s given me some ideas but there are still sooooo many to choose from…</p>
<p>nooooo !!! :(( “we’ll make it work” leads directly to March-April tears=> “we didn’t realize it’d cost this much, we’re sorry but you can’t go to all these wonderful colleges you got admitted to”. You must bring NPC results for different colleges ( your instate flaghip + 1 match, 1 reach, 1 safety at the minimum) and ask for specific numbers based on those results: is there enough money for school x,w,z? Typically if your family’s saved, your flagship should be affordable but they’ll hae sticker shock nevertheless. You don’t need to know how much they make, just what amount they can commit to. Many parents have no idea about the costs of college. When THEY went to college they could attend their public flagship without loans, for instance, with a little job on the side. Prices have gone up with a speed that is incomprehensible to mere mortals (ie., all people who don’t have fun with this community and/or don’t work on college campuses.)</p>
<p>Since you live in Alabama, let’s start with just a few schools. Take a look at them, then pick maybe three and then sit down (literally) in front of the computer with your parents and show them the tuition rates.</p>
<p>Start with these southern schools:
University of Alabama - Tuscaloosa
Birmingham Southern College
Centre College
Millsaps College
Wofford College
Vanderbilt University</p>
<p>This is a good way to start. Go small, at first. Then gradually add more schools until you have a list of between 7 and 10 that you like. Then you can start applying. </p>
<p>MYOS1634 is correct… the cost of college has risen astronomically since your parents went to college. They might not understand the actual costs. Try to show them (or even tell them) the real cost of college. Typically, the cost is a minimum of $10,000 per year for a state school like 'Bama, and goes up to over $40,000 per year for a private school like Vanderbilt. Then add another $10,000 to $13,000 for a dorm room and a meal plan. </p>
<p>If you don’t want to look it up yourself, just mention these numbers to your parents. Vanderbilt is less than two hours away from northern Alabama. Your parents almost certainly have heard of it. So, maybe you could say something like “I am thinking about Vanderbilt. It costs about $62,000 a year total. Is that okay?” Also could show them this: <a href=“Costs: On-Campus or Off-Campus | Office of Financial Aid | Vanderbilt University”>http://www.vanderbilt.edu/financialaid/costs.php</a></p>
<p>Also, I agree with buying a book which lists a lot of colleges. Fiske is good, and so is the Princeton Review. Probably your library has both. These books mostly list only good schools (although they also leave out a lot of good ones). They also list both liberal arts colleges and large universities, state and private.</p>
<p>Fiske Guide - <a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Fiske-Guide-Colleges-2014-Edward/dp/1402260644”>http://www.amazon.com/Fiske-Guide-Colleges-2014-Edward/dp/1402260644</a></p>
<p>Princeton Review - <a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Best-Colleges-College-Admissions-Guides/dp/0307946053/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1399482338&sr=1-1&keywords=princeton+review”>http://www.amazon.com/Best-Colleges-College-Admissions-Guides/dp/0307946053/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1399482338&sr=1-1&keywords=princeton+review</a></p>
<p>:-" </p>
<p>Okay, a few questions I’m having. I’m sorry if these are dumb questions but this is all new to me:</p>
<p>1) How much does it matter how “prestigious” the school I go to is? I mean, I feel like I should shoot high, “ivy league” and all that – but why? Why does it matter? What is the advantage of that? I guess I have a hard time seeing very far ahead so I don’t know how much that matters in the long run. 
I guess, what are the most important questions I should be asking myself about that?</p>
<p>2) Is there any advantage or disadvantage of going to an all-girls’ school? I mean, I’ve been homeschooled all my life so I think being around girls OR boys all the time will be awkward! >.< Why would somebody go to an all-girls’ school? Agnes Scott College keeps coming up on the search thingy – is that good or bad?</p>
<p>3) What are the advantages or disadvantages of a large school? What about a small school? What about rural or urban? What about Christian or non-Christian?</p>
<p>I guess I am still feeling kind of lost. :(</p>
<p>Sapphire,
I don’t think you are lost. You just have all these questions. Good questions. =D> </p>
<p>First, about the Ivy League and its peers. Certainly these are great schools, but nobody should limit themselves to applying only to those kinds of universities. They are extremely competitive to get into. Also, in the long run, an “Ivy” education might not be all that important. Read this article in the today’s Wall Street Journal:
<a href=“http://online.wsj.com/news/article_email/SB10001424052702303417104579544161033770526-lMyQjAxMTA0MDAwNzEwNDcyWj”>http://online.wsj.com/news/article_email/SB10001424052702303417104579544161033770526-lMyQjAxMTA0MDAwNzEwNDcyWj</a></p>
<p>What about all-girls schools? Well, since I am not a girl, perhaps it is not my place to answer that question. Still, I will give it a shot – one advantage and one disadvantage. The one advantage is that the instructors are more used to teaching the way that women learn. This is probably a bit controversial, but some people believe that men and women learn, and think, differently (even when they are learning and thinking about the same thing). The disadvantage is that there simply aren’t that many all girls schools. I think only 47, and if you are not Catholic then you might make that number more like 38 or 39 (by the way, only two schools in America are all guys). So, there are far fewer colleges to choose from, and probably you would only be interested in 3 or 4 of them. And, to the best of my knowledge, all of them are small… next topic.</p>
<p>Large versus small schools… Large schools give you more options for majors, and they usually have bigger reputations too. At small schools, though, you normally will have closer contact with your professors, and sometimes those professors will even invite you for dinner at their home (perhaps many times). Since you are home schooled, a small college might feel more comfortable. Umm… more like home. Socially, large schools let you just be who you are. You can have lots of friends or not very many. You can hang out with Christians, or with athletes. Basically, at large schools you can pick your friends, but at small schools you will not see many new faces and most people will know who you are.</p>
<p>When you go to a college in a rural location, the college is your city… regardless of whether the school is large or small. An urban school gives you more to do, but also can have issues like crime, air pollution, and bad traffic.</p>
<p>Christian and non-Christian is similar to all girls or not. First, their are not that many Christian colleges, and most of them are pretty small. The bigger a school gets the harder to maintain the strength of their faith. Notre Dame is one of the few exceptions. Plus, many Christian schools might be a different kind of Christianity than you are used to. So, like the all girls issue, you might only be interested in 3 or 4 Christian colleges (or maybe less). At non-Christian colleges, especially large universities, you can find plenty of Christian friends.</p>
<p>IMPORTANT POINT: if you start trying to combine a bunch of factors, it makes things harder. For example, if you think that you want to go to a small all girls Christian college in a big city. Well, there might not be any. I don’t know if there are or not. At most maybe only two, I would think. What if you don’t like those two? So combining preferences is very tricky. The solution to this problem is to know your own priorities, and be able to stick with what you consider most important.</p>
<p>Yep, this is a lot of stuff to think about. The good news is that you ARE thinking about it. Many students don’t really do that. You would be surprised how many students go off to college and have no idea what they are getting into.</p>
<p>:)>- </p>
<p>The Alabama net price above is misleading because it assumes modest stats. This student would get a near free ride for stats.</p>