Good colleges for me to start looking at?

College Search & Selection
1

I’m a junior in high school and have started looking and touring different colleges. However all the colleges I have looked at so far are definitely high reaches, and even though I would love to go to some of them, I need to start looking more realistically. I’m really unsure of where to start because I really don’t know what I want.

My GPA right now is 4.6 weighted and I haven’t officially taken the ACT yet (not taking SAT) but have gotten 32-33 consistently on practice ones.
I took all honors freshmen year, all honors + AP Physics 1 sophomore year, all honors + AP Chem and AP US History Junior year, for senior year I will probably have all APs (Calculus AB, Biology, Lang, Psych, Stat) except for Honors Spanish 5.

For extracurriculars I play volleyball (captain senior year) and softball and will play them each for four years all through high school, I volunteer at a local hospital in the pediatric wing, I volunteer in the spring to help teach young girls softball, I volunteer in various different places all the time, mostly all with kids, I’m in key club and the special olympics club at my school. I’m also in PGC, which is a leadership program for mentoring freshmen at my school.

As you can see, I’m a pretty average student, I don’t have anything to really set me apart, thus I think I need to start looking at more matches for me. I’m a white female in New Jersey that goes to a pretty decent public school in a good town. I don’t know how much my family makes, probably between 100-125,000 but we I’d like to only pay 30,000 a year at the most.

The most south I would go would be North Carolina/Tennessee and that would be pushing it. I wouldn’t want to go any north than Boston. However, I do really love California and would love to go to a school like UC Berkley out there (but I know that’s probably too high of a reach). I don’t want gigantic like Penn State, but I definitely don’t want a small school, so I’d probably say middle-large population. I’m thinking of going into either pre-med or education, and I want to be able to travel abroad.

Any ideas for places to start looking? So far I have UC Berkeley, Georgetown, Tufts, Boston College, Holy Cross, and University of Richmond, but I know those are basically all reaches and I need more matches. Which is why I need help, if any of you can help me?

2

How do you define “small school”?

You might look at the following:

Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, which has about 15,000 students.
Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, which has about 4,600 students (and which has a preprofessional program for entrance into some of its professional schools).
Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, which has about 4,000 students.
University of Denver in Denver, Colorado, which has about 5,500 students.
Elon University in Elon, North Carolina, which has about 5,600 students.
Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, which has about 4,800 students.

If you can get your test scores up a bit (perhaps by using a private test preparation service), you might be in a position to get some merit aid.

3

“As you can see, I’m a pretty average student”

You aren’t. Why do posters say this when it’s not the case?

Anyway, for your interest in pre-med, this online list isn’t bad for generating ideas for colleges to research further: “The Experts’ Choice: Colleges with Great Pre-med Programs.”

For education, your search should extend beyond schools with an education major. A common route is to major in your field of interest, then pursue a master’s in education. Minoring in a field such as education studies as an undergraduate will, however, give you valuable early experience.

4

$30,000 is a good number for several catholic, or other private schools with some merit in PA.

Run some net price calculators on college websites once you know the ACT score. Private colleges might give you a merit estimate, but not all.

5

This. For instance UCB is $50K+/year, obviously not in your budget.

6

look at post #10 on this thread. The OP has similar stats and I did some calculators for him to show him possible merit/net price of some schools.

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1825321-i-need-help-finding-some-more-colleges-p1.html

7

I’d say you’re a match for all those schools, with the exception of Berkeley as a reach. Georgetown is probably a high match.

8

<<<
don’t know how much my family makes, probably between 100-125,000 but we I’d like to only pay 30,000 a year at the most.
<<<<

are you guessing that they’ll pay $30k per year? or did they actually say that they’ll pay that much? Unless they have college savings for you, a family with that income could have a hard time paying $30k per year.

9

To see what your options are (and avoid disappointment) you should really find out the budget for your college expenses and determine how much a “name” school matters for you - you usually end up paying more for it.

That said, being from NJ (as are we) you must visit at least

  • Rutgers (big, YES, but cheap and lots of options including perhaps extra $$$ if you raise your stats), consider their “smaller” (4,000) SEBS school (do the open house) for pre-med; the biochem session really impressed us
  • TCNJ: high on a lot of lists for value and no class larger than 45 students (go on an open house day) but they do want you to select a major on the application (the T originally stood for teachers).

Any NY state school is a “budget” choice for out-of-state kids, and the TCNJ equivalent is SUNY Geneseo. Not a state school but Marist (Catholic) also has more reasonable costs.

I’ve always asked my kids what the “added value” of the college you want to is for you - internships, a good foreign study program, lots of chances to do service work, etc; research those features that interest you and compare the colleges that are tops on your list -it may then be easier to make a case to pay more. A school with a lot of those features is Elon in NC, plus a really nice campus. You’ll get at least a $4000 discount off the standard 42k price, and maybe more if you punch in your numbers into their calculator.

I know you don’t want to go that far north, but McGill is an easy trip from North Jersey (closer than NC) and a budget choice especially with the current currency exchange rate - even without that discount, you are likely to pay close to 30-35K max. It is large, but also rated at around 25th in the world, and if you do education (as my daughter is) at least half your classes will be small, and you are likely to enter with advanced status so you will be only in for 4 or the 5 years the program normally is. Just read up on it so you understand some of what might be negatives, but it is a great city to go to school in (Montreal).

good luck!

10

I’d look at UNC Wilmington. It’s within your parameters (no further South than NC/TN, medium-sized university), has great pre-med and education programs, AND is affordable. Fantastic, growing university just five miles away from the beach. Superb campus and scenery. Fantastic weather. You would stand a chance for some very good merit and Honors College admission. There are many OOS students who come from Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey (such as myself), so you shouldn’t have any problems fitting in!

Check out my thread if you have any more questions: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-north-carolina-wilmington/1827864-ask-a-current-uncw-student.html#latest

Best of luck!!

11

@gmccr39 Marist has eliminated its Catholic affiliation.

12

I second gandalf78 list in full!

13

If your parents would let you put any leftover college money to medical school costs, you may want to look into low cost schools and big scholarships.

http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
http://competitivefulltuition.yolasite.com/
http://nmfscholarships.yolasite.com/ (if you make National Merit through the PSAT and other criteria)
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1678964-links-to-popular-threads-on-scholarships-and-lower-cost-colleges.html

14

I’ll second the TCNJ suggestion especially for a NJ resident its a great school and terrific value. HIGHLY underated by those that just assume its some kind of “budget choice”. Total nonsense. The school has many accolades including #1 public in North by USNWR (#3 overall in north), one of the 75 most competitive schools in the entire country as per Barrons, a top #20 accounting program and top 65 business program in entire country, also extremely well respected in STEM. And its #5 for graduating students in four years . Also its #2 for those interested in teaching degree in the entire country. Add one of the the nicest campuses around and it’s certainly worth a look.

15

I’m an average student, you’re well above average.

I’m also from NJ. I was interested in CA schools as well, but the OOS fees do add up. I’m waiting until grad school.

Check out:
-Cal Poly
-Cal State Long Beach*
-CUNYs (My favorite is Hunter)*
-Nazareth College
-Penn State
-Point Loma Nazarene
-San Diego State
-Soka University (Very small)
-St. John Fisher
-St. Mary’s of Maryland
-Temple
-TCNJ
-U Of Maryland
-UMass

*These were some of my favorite schools.

16

tcnj equivalent of b-school is Binghamton.

17

Marist would be a great option for you to start looking at if you have not already. We are not super expensive compared to other private institutions. Its also really easy to change majors if you want to do so at some point in your college career. When you apply to Marist you apply to the school as a whole not one particular program. We have over 80 different clubs and activities to choose from as well as amazing professors who are always there to help you succeed in any way possible.