... dont know where to start in college search

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I don't even know what school I want to go into! Can you pleaseee help me? I live in Texas and I have no money saved up for college, my parents arent willing to help me much but neither are they poor to qualify for financial aid.. </p>

<p>Here are my stats:</p>

<p>Prospective Major/Profession: Psychology, Nutrition, Journalism..</p>

<p>GPA:~4.1 Rank: 41 out of 565 last semester, should have gone up by 5-10
PSAT as sophomore: 176</p>

<p>Classes Freshman Year:
ROTC 1
Biology Pre-IB
English Pre-IB
French Regulars
Geometry Pre-IB
Health
World Geography Pre-IB
Theatre</p>

<p>Sophomore:
ROTC 2
Chemistry Pre-IB
World History AP
English Pre-IB
French 2 Pre-IB
Algebra 2 Pre-IB
Independent Research and Design Honors
Webmastering</p>

<p>Junior (going to be next year)
Track/Cross Country
History of the Americas IB
English IB
Economics IB
Physics IB
French 3 IB
Pre-Calculus IB</p>

<p>ECS:
ROTC for 2 years.. was platoon sergeant sophomore year (in charge of 20 ppl) - did physical training and won several awards as well as non - PT awards.
Student Council for 2 years.. vice president sophomore year.
FBLA for 2 years.. won 1st regionals and 3rd state in business plan
LASER 10th grade.. was social officer - participated in science fair w/out success.
WRITERS CLUB for 2 years - won 3rd place in school in a writing competition.
STAND officer 9th grade
member of NHS
editor in chief and founder of the school newspaper
tutoring 1 hour a week 9th grade and 3 hours a week 10th grade, in math
volunteer of the american cancer society
fluent in three languages other than english, learning the fourth one</p>

<p>SUMMERS:
9th grade year I did an ROTC NCO school for a week, tennis classes at the Y, recreational running, and 12 hours a week of babysitting
10th grade year I am interning at a pediatricts office for 9 hours a week, 6 weeks.</p>

<p>FAMILY INCOME ETC:
80k a year dad in computer science and mother does not work, can give me up to 10k for college and of course i can work and stuff but no college fund, but both of my parents dropped out of college before getting a degree... if that counts for anything</p>

<p>i am thinking texas A&M, ut in austin, and rice (reach) .. but i am not sure and i havent even visited! i am very lost in the college admission process...</p>

2

<p>Try the princeton review college counselor o matic for a rough idea.</p>

3

<p>Is the 10% rule still in effect in Texas? If so, you should be all set for UT, and I don't know how much in-state tuition is, but it might be in your range already.</p>

4

<p>If you enjoyed ROTC while in HS, look at a ROTC scholarship. It will pay a great dealt and there are many good schools to choose from.</p>

5

<p>Relax, as a sophomore you have plenty of time to figure things out. Not only that, but your ideas about what you are looking for are likely to change over the next year and a half. </p>

<p>However, now is a good time to start thinking about what type of school would best fit a person like you. (Again, this is all subject to change). Here are some questions to think about over the summer:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Do you want to stay in Texas, or are you open to other parts of the country? If you are willing to consider other parts of the country, are there any parts you'd prefer or not want to live in? How do you feel about cold weather? Being far from home? Let yourself dream a little: is there a part of the country you've always wanted to live in? Where?</p></li>
<li><p>Name your favorite classes at school. What makes them your favorites? I'm not talking about subject, I'm talking about what do you like about these classes in terms of how the teacher presents the material, the level of challenge they provide, the other people in the class, etc. Are they mostly discussion based classes? Classes where you do a lot of research? Classes where there are interesting lectures?
Classes where you have to write a lot of papers?</p></li>
<li><p>Do the same with your least favorite classes. Then, think about what type of class format you'd prefer in college. Large lectures, discussion-based classes, etc. </p></li>
<li><p>What do you like best and least about your high school? Consider size, the overall social feel, course requirements, administrative problems that bug you, etc. Then, ask yourself "Would I feel most comfortable in a college/university that's pretty much the same, or do I want something completely different?" Try to pin down what you want to stay the same and to be different.</p></li>
<li><p>How would you describe yourself to someone who didn't know you? How would your best friend describe you to someone who didn't know you? What type of college would fit that type of person?</p></li>
<li><p>Describe your group of friends. Are they preppy, nerdy, goths, conservative, religious, liberal, partiers, diverse in terms of race/economics, etc. Would you feel most comfortable being surrounded by the same types of people in college or would you rather be surrounded by something entirely different? Or maybe a mix of the two?</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Start with these questions, but jot down other things about yourself that might influence your college experience too. Be honest. </p>

<p>You have great grades, and should do well on the SATs next year with some prep. You have lots and lots of options: the best way to figure out which options are right for you is to start by thinking about college in broad terms like these, and then start looking for schools that fit, plus be financially affordable. After you've gotten done this preliminary thinking, try to visit at least one large university (UT Austin would be a good choice), a small liberal arts college (Southwestern U is close to Austin, or try Trinity U in San Antonio), and a medium sized private university (Rice). If you can't make it to any of these schools, find similar schools closer to home to visit. At this point, don't even worry if any of these schools will be on your final list, just see how the size and type of school feels to you. </p>

<p>After that, you should have a very clear picture of what you do and don't want and you can start gathering some specific names of colleges, based on other factors such as financial aid, possible merit scholarships (VERY possible with your grades if you make your list carefully), and your possible majors.</p>

<p>Hope this helps! I promise you that you will find an excellent list of schools if you take the time to do all of the above over the next 6-8 months.</p>

6

<p>carolyn,
thank you soooo much for everything that you recommended! i will def . do those visits on weekends and think about these questions. thank you soooo much.. i dont feel as lost.</p>

7

<p>You sound like you will do fine. But, do start at the beginning because once you figure out what you are looking for, the search process becomes much easier and you will also tend to do better in the long run in admissions because you will be able to tell schools exactly why they are a fit for you. Good luck - feel free to PM if you have more questions after you figure out what you want, I'd be happy to help.</p>

8

<p>Don't assume that you can not get financial aid because your parents are not poor. Briefly, need-based financial aid works as follows:</p>

<p>Each college has its own COA (Cost of Attendance) that includes tuition, room and board, books, fees, and misc. </p>

<p>The college's financial aid office will calculate your EFC (Estimated Family Contribution) based on information that your parents enter on a FAFSA government form. This is the money that the school expects you or your family to contribute towards your education. The EFC is primarily based on income, but part of it also comes from assets. However, retirement funds, equity in the family home, and cars do not count as assets in calculating the EFC. The EFC also depends on the cost of living in your state and the size of your family, especially if more than one child is in college at the same time.</p>

<p>Using the COA for that college and your EFC, each college will calculate your NEED by subtracting EFC from COA. Your NEED is how much money you need to have in order to attend that college and that you don't have. The college will then try to meet the NEED with grants (free money), loans, and part-time jobs on campus.</p>

<p>If the COA of an expensive school is $45K per year and your EFC is $10K per year, then they may give you a $30K grant and a $5K loan. If the COA of a cheaper school is $15K, then they may give you no grant and a $5K loan. In this way, the expensive school and the cheaper school would cost you the same amount. Sometimes the cheaper school can even be more expensive to you.</p>

<p>Your parents should go to an EFC estimator such as the one at <a href="http://www.collegeboard.com%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.collegeboard.com&lt;/a> and find out what it will be when they actually apply for financial aid. </p>

<p>The down side to all of this is that the amount of the EFC can be a real shocker. Also, there is no guarantee that a college will meet all of your NEED.</p>

<p>The EFC for a family making a combined income of $70K a year is about $18K. This is a lot of money and families normally have to take out home equity loans or get the money some other way. However, if you go to an expensive school with a COA of $43K, you might get a $20K grant each year. The EFC for a family making a combined income of over $110K a year is probably so high that it pretty much eliminates the possibility of any financial aid from the college since the EFC exceeds the COA for most colleges.</p>

<p>Don't give up on financial aid. Talk to your parents and ask them to go through the EFC estimator at <a href="http://www.collegeboard.com%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.collegeboard.com&lt;/a> and see where you stand.</p>