Floating Aimlessly Through College Selection

College Search & Selection
1

<p>So, before I get to asking my question, I'm going to give a bit of HS background. I'm currently a Junior at a pretty good private school in Chicago, and am utterly lost as to how to begin my college search. I've been on the school's Chess Team for the past three years, co-captain this year, and captain next year. I'm also in the higher level band (all 4 years), and have done WYSE and JETS for the past two years. In terms of my GPA, it's somewhere around the 3.7 unweighted, 4.28 weighted area. This semester is shaping up to be hopefully my best one. I've taken all honors level courses, and the following AP classes:</p>

<p>AP Comp Sci - 5
AP US History - [Test is in a week]
AP Calculus BC - <a href="Next%20Year">Test is in a week</a> AP Chemistry</p>

<p>Since I'm in Calc as a Junior, next year I'm going to be taking what they call at my school 'Math Five', which is Differential Equations. I've taken German for 3 years, and will do it next year as well. Senior year is going to be relatively easy, with only 1 AP and notoriously easy teachers.</p>

<p>Standardized Test Scores:</p>

<p>SAT (2400 w/writing): 690 Reading, 760 Math, 630 Writing, 2080 Total
ACT (w/writing): 34 Math, 32 Reading, 32 Science, 25 English (Yuck!), 31 Composite</p>

<p>Overall I'm pleased with my test scores and my GPA, but I just have no clue what I'm looking for in terms of college. The majors I'm interested in are Chemistry/ChemEng, Electronics Engineering, Mathematics, Atmospheric Sciences/Meteorology, and Linguistics.</p>

<p>So far, my list of schools is pretty basic. I'm going to visit U of I in May, so we'll see how that goes...</p>

<p>U of Illinois, Urbana-Champagne
U of Michigan, Ann Arbor
U of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Indiana University, Bloomington
Case Western Reserve University
UC Berkeley (REACH as heck, a couple of kids with like perfect GPA's and 35's applied from my school and got denied)</p>

<p>The only reason those schools are on my list is because they are close and good schools, minus UCB. Any thoughts on those schools, or other schools I should look into would be much appreciated! Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Wisconsin is as good or better in most of those areas–especially chem/chemE, math, and most especially atmospheric sciences as any school on the list except UCB. </p>

<p>[UW-Madison</a> Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences](<a href=“http://www.aos.wisc.edu/index.htm]UW-Madison”>http://www.aos.wisc.edu/index.htm)</p>

3

<p>I’ve heard that about Wisconsin. My uncle tells me the campus is very nice, thanks for the suggestion!</p>

4

<p>Especially if you need financial aid, you may want to consider a few more private universities. Possibilities (from more to less selective):
Northwestern, Cornell, Johns Hopkins, WUSTL
Lehigh, Carnegie Mellon
University of Rochester, Lafayette</p>

<p>Engineering at some large public universities may be as good as (or better than) any of the above, but aid will tend to be much better at private schools than at OOS publics.</p>

5

<p>Also maybe RPI (NY) and Penn State. Best of luck!</p>

6

<p>I really haven’t considered private schools at all. Could someone outline the major differences between public and private, other than, of course, the source of their funding?</p>

7

<p>What does everyone think of Michigan Tech? I love the setting, small town, medium size school, and it has very good programs and research.</p>

8

<p>With those stats, it does seem to make sense to look at both public and private and a variety of sizes. Lehigh, for example, has only about 5000 students and Wisconsin must be 25,000. You should try to visit a smaller place to see how it feels. It doesn’t have engineering, but you might want to consider U. Chicago. If you’re willing to go farther away, you could consider Rice.</p>

9

<p>What about Purdue? IU has chemistry, but no engineering.</p>

10

<p>UW may be large but the department if pretty small with about 20 faculty and a similar number of undergrads graduating per year. Does this info for prospective undergrads sound like a big impersonal place?</p>

<p>[UW-Madison</a> Department of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences](<a href=“http://www.meteor.wisc.edu/education/undergrad/prospective.html]UW-Madison”>http://www.meteor.wisc.edu/education/undergrad/prospective.html)</p>

11

<p>I should have probably also put in my first post that I’m leaning towards being a teacher, and am also really interested in schools that allow double majors. I’m thinking Math and Chem with minors in German and Linguistics.</p>

<p>Anyways, thanks for all of the input everyone. It helps me see I have a long way to go yet in the college search.</p>

12

<p>[Areas</a> of Study](<a href=“http://union.edu/academic/areas-of-study/index.php]Areas”>Academic Programs | Union College)</p>

<p>Union College (NY) is a small private with your desired areas of study.</p>

13

<p>Check out Valparaiso University. It has amazing meteorology department, very easy to double major and has decent merit aid that may make the place more affordable than many of the publics on your list. It is also close enough to visit home, but not close enough that you will feel like you are missing that “leaving home” experience.</p>

14

<p>

</p>

<p>I’ll address my description of these differences to public and private schools in the USNWR top 50 or so. The following are generalizations, but I believe they apply fairly consistently to the so-called “national” universities and LACs in USNWR’s lists.</p>

<p>History and Mission
Public universities answer to the needs of state taxpayers. They originated after the Civil War to meet the country’s growing need for technical knowledge. The historic focus was on how to do a better job of tilling soil, laying rails, and other practical applications. Many private schools are older (pre Civil War) and have religious origins. They originally existed to train lawyers and ministers. </p>

<p>Curriculum
Public universities offer a broad range of pre-professional training in agriculture, business, engineering, journalism/communications, etc., as well as the liberal arts & sciences. Top 50 private schools usually emphasize the liberal arts and sciences exclusively (sometimes with relatively limited offerings in engineering, architecture, or business). There are major exceptions (MIT of course has diverse engineering programs; Georgetown has nursing). </p>

<p>The leading public universities tend to have more course offerings and majors, but larger average class sizes, than the most selective private schools.</p>

<p>Demographics
75-90% of state university students will be residents of that state, compared to maybe 25% at private national universities and liberal arts colleges (which usually draw students from all over the country.)</p>

<p>Costs
The full cost to attend a public flagships as a residential in-state student typically is about half the cost (or less) to attend a selective private school. However, private schools often have better aid, especially for OOS students. The top private schools are usually “need blind” in admission and claim to meet 100% of “demonstrated need”. </p>

<p>Admissions
State universities tend to have numbers-driven admission policies. If you meet the class rank and SAT standards, you’re in. If you don’t, you’re out. Admission standards for out-of-state students usually are higher than for in-state students.</p>

<p>Most private national universities and LACs have “holistic” admission policies. The top 20 universities and top 20 LACs, by USNWR “rank” and by selectivity, are all private. These schools all have higher average SATs, and in some cases higher average GPAs, than the top public universities. However, they also seek students with strong extracurriculars, evidence of leadership ability, and “passion”. Academic admission standards for students from distant states, or with other non-academic “hooks”, may be slightly relaxed.</p>

15

<p>Thanks for that really excellent reply. I shall continue my search!</p>

16

<p>If you decide that engineering isn’t for you, then you might want to check out a few Liberal Arts Colleges (LACs). Most of the top ones have strong science and math programs, small classes and you will be exposed to teaching and faculty mentoring at its best - that’s what liberal arts colleges excel at. Faculty receive tenure primarily on the basis of teaching and contribution to the life of the school, rather than on research, which is the case at most non-LACs.</p>

<p>Some top LACs in the mid-west: Grinnell, Carleton, Macalester, Oberlin</p>

<p>Grinnell offers merit aid and has especially strong sciences. S is a biochem major there and can’t say enough good things about the school and the academics (which are rigorous).</p>

17

<p>Regarding top schools, if you’re interested, you’ll probably need to show more rigor in your Senior year class choices. </p>

<p>I’d also add Purdue to your list along with UIUC. . . and if money is an issue, keep in mind that out-of-state costs for state schools can be really high, with little aid available to out-of-state students. (Although, if they really want you, they might throw some scholarship money your way.)</p>

18

<p>Can you clarify if you want to teach in a k-12 setting or a college setting?</p>

19

<p>Probably K-12, specifically high school. But again, I’m not entirely sure.</p>

<p>Another question: with the University of Minnesota’s Chemical Engineering program being one of the best in the country for undergrads, and their very, VERY low OOS cost, are my stats good enough to get into the CSE program? Twin Cities is pretty much my first choice after Illinois, mainly because of cost.</p>

<p>Thanks again for all the replies!</p>