Good Schools/ Colleges Similar To....

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi! :)
I'm a junior in high school and currently college shopping, and I have a dillemma, so I'm hoping for some input/ help.
I've been thinking of a few schools such as Duke, University of Alabama, etc but I'm not sold on those (actually I really have more research to do) but I didn't have a lot of options picked out yet. I live in Florida and I really wasn't considering any state colleges, however...</p>

<p>I visited the University of South Florida this weekend and fell in love with it... it's definitely my top pick right now.
Here's what I loved about USF:</p>

<p>~So many opportunities. They are very focused on research and study abroad, and it is very easy to get involved in those things there. The students that I talked to all mentioned the research and study abroad, and I am interested in those things. Also, USF is very known for research, and they were granted $400 mil for it.</p>

<p>~ Multiple students that I talked to said that USF is very personal. Students there are not just a number or statistic, the faculty and staff knows you.</p>

<p>~I loved the Honors College. They have a great living learning community, the dean is wonderful, and the honors students I talked to love their classes and say they are not too hard.</p>

<p>~ This school is financially well within reach. My parents are not going to be able to pay for my college, so I will be relying on federal aid and other scholarships. USF admissions has a good scholarship that I think I could get, and being an in state school I can use the Bright Futures scholarship, as well as federal aid that I will most likely get and some other private scholarships that I will apply for. Even without those things, this school is cheap... the amount they listed for tuition, room and board, and personal expenses was around $15,000- and they said that is inflated to make sure everything's covered!</p>

<p>~ I liked the campus. I've seen prettier ones online, but overall it is nice. It is walkable and not to sprawled out over a big city or anything; students are together.</p>

<p>~ This is a good school education wise, but I would be able to have fun as well. For example, I've somewhat ruled out Harvard, Cornell, etc because I want to have a fun college experience, I feel that I'm not really cut out for that "smart" of a college.</p>

<p>~ In regards to academics as well- this school was not about rote statistics, grades, etc. I think they focus on really learning; with the research and all. They said they want students to not only consume knowledge, but create knowledge. I'm tired of just trying to get good grades and not really retaining information, I want to really learn, and I think I can do that at USF.</p>

<p>So given these things that I love about USF, what are some other colleges that would be similar? Do you agree that I should look at more schools? </p>

<p>I'll give my stats so you know what is in reach:
4.2 weighted GPA (not sure what unweighted is)
All honors classes, one AP so far, two more next year
1960/2400 SAT
1300/1600 SAT (just reading and math)
Will be taking SAT and ACT again, took the ACT but haven't recieved scores yet.</p>

<p>Sorry this post is so long!!</p>

2

<p>bump
…sorry…</p>

3

<p>So I’m guessing you prefer warmer weather, large schools, and fresh new buildings?</p>

4

<p>No, not neccessarily.
I want to stay in the East but the cold isn’t really a factor; I’d be fine with a school up north.
As for large… eh, I don’t know. I’d say somewhere in between. For example, I don’t want to go to UF because it’s too huge.
Don’t really care about the buildings that much either.</p>

5

<p>You need to narrow down what you want in a college
What do you plan to major in? How high do you think you could get your scores? What is your class rank (if available)? Do you know what your EFC is?</p>

<p>Do you want an urban campus or a rural campus? This doesnt necessarily have to be too much of a limiting factor but you dont want complete opposites on your list; you don’t have to have a set in stone preference but you dont want your list to be too polarizing. </p>

<p>What do you really mean by ‘medium’? University of South Florida is the 9th largest university in the US, its by no means medium sized. </p>

<p>How important is it that you are able to do undergraduate research? At a lot big universities, research is limited to graduated students and only the most privileged undergrads. </p>

<p>Here are a few schools you should research as a jumping off point
University of Vermont
Alabama (mom2collegekids or something like that is a frequent poster with 2 kids with big merit aid at Alabama, you should PM her)
University of Maryland
UPitt
Miami University (Ohio)
Union College
University of Rochester
Lehigh University
Delaware</p>

6

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<p>Well, I’m realizing that I’m very ignorant about all this stuff and I don’t even know what I want in a college or where to start looking. Argh.</p>

7

<p>bump… does anyone have any ideas of colleges i should research?</p>