Help a guy out?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hey guys, I know this is a very general request, but if you feel like helping thank you!</p>

<p>I am currently a senior in high school, and a bit behind on where i should be in terms of colleges, especially considering what i see on cc. I have been kicking it into overdrive however, and am learning about it quickly. The thing is, I don't really know what kind of schools i can get into or should be thinking i can get into. Or what are reaches, what are matches to me, especially considering in-state/out-of-state stuff. Here are my stats:</p>

<p>Small Public High School in New York, class of 125ish. The school sends many students to top universities, particularly from what I see to Cornell, especially considering our size. We had 6 students accepted to said university last year according to naviance, and similar in earlier years.</p>

<p>GPA: ~92.2 unweighted, my school does not weight grades</p>

<p>3rd decile rank (missed 2nd by .4 gpa points.. also kids that only take music theory ush junior year being above me ranking wise... hopefully colleges will catch on this doesn't matter much here)</p>

<p>SAT: 780 Math, 790 CR, 700 writing, my best scores, all from one test (2nd and last try)</p>

<p>SATII: 800 Physics, 800 Chem (one try each). I will be taking the math II in October, i will be surprised if I get less than a 750 based on a 650 initial barrons practice + my current reviewing. I'll also take the Math I in case, because why not</p>

<p>AP Courses: Junior year Chemistry (5) and Lang+Comp (4), Senior year I am currently taking AP Physics and AP Calculus</p>

<p>Regular Courses: More or less normal, environment+biology+chemistry+physics, Spanish 1-4 (dropped this year), Mandarin I (replaced spanish), normal history classes, normal english aside from last year's honors-turned-AP. Aside from APs, these are the hardest classes in said subjects offered that I could take. As well, I am taking/have taken electives intro to psychology and protests+revolutions</p>

<p>Teacher Recs: got two teacher recommendations, one from my chem/APchem teacher whom was enthusiastic, another from my 9th and 11th grade history teacher who was less enthusiastic (but no less than anyone else whom is getting a recommendation from him), but i know that i was one of the only kids whom he liked in my class. He also thinks i'm a genius as i performed VERY well in his class both in scores and discussion, so i'm hoping it will be good.</p>

<p>Counselor Rec: hopefully very good, we filled out an autobiography thing and it should be moto bene.</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
9th cross country
9th-10th wrestling (stopped due to a combination of very negative coaching + a mystery illness i will elaborate on further down)
10th FBLA (aka selling discount cards and cookies all the time, so did not continue)
11th-12th snowboarding club
pre9th-12th guitar, though nothing significant (like an award or something) has come of it)
11th-12th NHS (as much as is offered at my school), running for president and will find out if successful soon
National Merit Semifinalist (and probably finalist)</p>

<p>Work/Service:
I have life guarded the past two summers, at a different place each summer
Kids Wrestling (instructing+supervising)
Midnight Run (bringing food to the city to feed homeless)
Tutoring
Helping special needs children in the classroom (teacher's assistant of sorts), have done since 10th grade 5-10 times with the same children</p>

<p>Aside from the last, hours add up to ~25 (our minimum). I have to submit the forms for the helping-teaching service hours and hours will also be added due to NHS tutoring+activities occurring this year</p>

<p>Essay: I think i have a good topic, and am working on how to utilize it the most. This topic is, I have a recurring mystery illness. It would recur rarely since i was 13 or so. When it hits me, after an attack of pink eye which persists I get mouth and throat ulcers, making it hard to eat, drink or speak. In winter of 10th grade I had an extremely bad recurrence. At first I could only eat during the peak of the percocets prescribed to me, and it only got worst. When I was admitted to the hospital, I was very dehydrated and they had to stick the IV into my upper arm, and had a hard time there. For a little over a week I could not eat, drink, or speak from the pain, even with the IV morphine given to me. I saw just about every specialist in the hospital, whom in bafflement suggested things from liver failure to leukemia. When it finally went away, I was understandably very weak. I had 9% body fat going into wrestling season, which only went down, and my lowest wrestling weight, the weight i was when lowest in fat and had just lost a pound or two via sweat, was 119. At my next checkup after the hospital, after eating and drinking a full meal I weighed in at 113. Despite this and my weakness, I built myself back up and became a lifeguard, caught up with and did very well in my classes, passing struggles yada you get it. Not gonna make this a sob story, but more to demonstrate my personality and such. Oh, and if ya care, we think this mystery illness turns out to be an allergy to sodium lauryl sulfate, found in many toothpastes and such... contributing to my fascination about brains+substances+thebody. If you guys know anyone with similar, tell them to try switching to remembrandt toothpaste, which has none of the chemical.</p>

<p>My prospective schools right now are varying a lot as i look into them more, some which I will be shooting for as match-reaches are UVA and UNC. I consider UF to be a safety-ish school that sounds great. SUNY Binghamton would be a good safety-ish as well, but i'm hoping for somewhere hotter and nicer. In terms of reaches, I plan on applying for cornell, and would be amazingly happy about Duke, UPenn or Brown, but I don't really think I can get in there unless my essay turns out phenomenal. Sound about right?</p>

<p>Hoping I'm not forgetting anything... thanks in advance!</p>

<p>PS:
In terms of college, i am really looking for somewhere with warm+nice weather, and a good college experience. I like to party. I also, however, need somewhere with good academics, preferably somewhere whose sciences are on the cutting edge, and it would be great to be somewhere that encourages undergraduate research. I plan to major in chemistry or engineering or something in between/around, or if offered neuroscience is fascinating to me. I plan to go to school beyond my BA/BS, maybe even med school. If you have any suggestions PLEASE send them at me!</p>

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<p>your SAT’s are BEAST!! what is it? 2270?! BEAST</p>

3

<p>i wouldn’t say UVA and UNC are “match-reaches”. i think you’re most likely in those schools.</p>

<p>if you’re looking for good weather you should check out the california schools. you should definitely apply to some of the claremonts, stanford, and USC. if finances aren’t a concern you should consider applying UCLA and UC Berkeley.</p>

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<p>@nervusbreakdown, thanks man! Actually 2290, my writing score is 720, not the 700 above. If you’re worried about it, just study up! I improved it from a 2080 by taking 7 or 8 practice tests from the collegeboard book and Direct Hits vocab</p>

<p>@josebiwasabi, thanks, that makes me feel a lot better! I was worried about their low out-of-state acceptances. I absolutely love Cali, and would love to go to school there, but me and my family aren’t sure if it would be worth having to take a plane in order to come home, in regards to both time and money. I will look further into it though</p>

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<p>Check out the usual southern suspects: Rice, Wash U, Vanderbilt and Emory-all have solid sciences with cutting edge research, warm/moderate weather, and a good, but not over-the-top party scene. Your interest in engineering cuts out most LACs. If engineering wasn’t on the table, then Davidson and Pomona would be worth a look.</p>

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<p>If you really are thinking about engineering, then you need to know that UNC does not offer it. The best option for engineering in the southeast is Georgia Tech.</p>

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<p>However, if money is what you need, then don’t overlook VaTech, NCState. Engineering is a tough major. </p>

<p>Its a myth that kids with uber SAT stats all go to the top 25 schools. Many students with uber high SATs also go to top 100 schools, and many do so for money and some for just a better fit with their personalities. </p>

<p>My kid is at Fordham and you would be surprised how many kids are there with perfect 1600 SATs. </p>

<p>GaTech is a wonderful school. I am partial to VaTech because of its setting, its gorgeous campus, superb sports, just good solid kids there, highly respected engineering program (I know a couple of PhD’s from there). </p>

<p>Good luck to you.</p>

8

<p>My son has the same allergy. He just gets canker sores though, not the pink-eye. Has been fine on Biotene Dry Mouth toothpaste or the Rembrandt one that has no sodium lauryl sulfate. Most other toothpastes have it, even Tom’s and other “natural” brands. Seems like Duke and Vandy are good reach/matches for you. Lehigh would be a good safety. All the schools you are already considering are good, too.</p>

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<p>Thanks for all the responses guys! I was afraid my long post would scare away some people, but I guess i’m too used to the rest of the internet; i mean this is cc</p>

<p>@M’s Mom: thanks for the suggestions! I was suggested Emory and WashU today actually, on the basis that they are good schools that may also award me some money for my SAT/PSAT scores. Vanderbilt and Rice i’ve heard of and looked at briefly, but kind of dismissed earlier. However, my mind is constantly changing about colleges now that i’ve started REALLY looking at where i will go so i will look back into them! </p>

<p>@Cltdad: thanks for the info, i actually did not realize (duh!). Georgia Tech seems like a great school, but a little lacking in the general social scene and, more importantly, girls. I am looking at the combo program at Emory where one can attain a degree there as well as an engineering degree at GT, or a master’s at GT, trying to see if it would kill me or not… Thinking chemistry at emory (they have proximity to the center of diseases, so i’m under the impression said program is a good one) and engineering at GT</p>

<p>@ghostbuster: VaTech seems good, however as written above i am wary that it would be lacking in social life and girls, considering its ratio. I am more and more looking at money (in a way it brings me comfort that, if i am getting a great deal, i don’t have to go to the most prestigious university like used to be ingrained in me)</p>

<p>@ricegal: good (though unfortunate of course!) to see another person with the same thing. It is unfortunate that almost NO doctor seems to know about this. The only reason I found out about switching toothpastes was that my mother decided to confide in a coworker about my condition (which could seem embarassing, as without explaining it is an allergy people think mouth ulcers and stuff -> STD) and said coworker had a son who had the same thing. Vandy i will be looking into, and thanks for the support about Duke! I will also look into Lehigh.</p>

<p>Also, I am pretty clueless about financial aid except at certain schools… my mother is unemployed (laid off) re-educating as an artist, my father makes a good amount of money. They are divorced, though. I’ve heard state universities and such may only look at my mom’s side in terms of salary, leading to better financial aid, is this true? Also, does anyone know if any schools in particular are good engineering and/or chemistry schools that give good scholarships or aid based on PSATs. SATs or my (probable) national merit finalist status?</p>

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<p>“Also, I am pretty clueless about financial aid except at certain schools… my mother is unemployed (laid off) re-educating as an artist, my father makes a good amount of money. They are divorced, though. I’ve heard state universities and such may only look at my mom’s side in terms of salary, leading to better financial aid, is this true? Also, does anyone know if any schools in particular are good engineering and/or chemistry schools that give good scholarships or aid based on PSATs. SATs or my (probable) national merit finalist status?”</p>

<p>You, and probably your mom as well, need to spend sometime reading through the threads in the Financial Aid Forum. Yes, there are engineering programs that would give you a big scholarship because of your SAT and probably NMSF status. Here are three threads you two should read through:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/148852-what-ive-learned-about-full-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/148852-what-ive-learned-about-full-ride-scholarships.html&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/291483-update-what-i-learned-about-free-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/291483-update-what-i-learned-about-free-ride-scholarships.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Your mother also needs to sit down and run her financial information through the EFC calculators at [FinAid</a>! Financial Aid, College Scholarships and Student Loans](<a href=“http://www.finaid.org%5DFinAid”>http://www.finaid.org) and at [College</a> Calculators - savings calculators - college costs, loans](<a href=“College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools”>Calculate Your Cost – BigFuture | College Board) As long as you apply to colleges/universities that only use the FAFSA for financial aid determination, your Dad’s income won’t enter into consideration. Many (but not all) colleges/universities that use the CSS Profile will want your Dad’s financial information. If he’s not prepared to chip in, then don’t apply anywhere that his information would be necessary.</p>

<p>Wishing you all the best.</p>

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<p>BIG PROBLEM…</p>

<p>OOS publics do usually only look at custodial parents income BUT most don’t give you money to pay the high costs. </p>

<p>** For instance…UF is not a safety for you because they won’t help you with costs and will expect you to pay for most costs** The only OOS publics that could be a safety for you are schools that YOU KNOW would give you lots of ASSURED merit scholarships (not UF, not Georgia Tech, not many OOS publics give big merit scholarships)</p>

<p>How much will your dad contribute? If not much, then schools like Cornell won’t work because his income will count. </p>

<p>If you don’t know how much your dad will pay, then ask. YOU NEED to know that. </p>

<p>Your financial situation is going to be very critical to where you should apply.</p>

<p>Since I’m ADD, I have to condense…LOL</p>

<p>*Small Public High School in New York, class of 125ish. </p>

<p>GPA: ~92.2 unweighted, my school does not weight grades</p>

<p>SAT: 780 Math, 790 CR, 700 writing, my best scores, all from one test (2nd and last try)</p>

<p>SATII: 800 Physics, 800 Chem (one try each). I will be taking the math II in October,*</p>

<p>*My prospective schools right now are varying a lot as i look into them more, some which I will be shooting for as match-reaches are UVA and UNC.</p>

<p>I consider UF to be a safety-ish school that sounds great. <a href=“NOT%20A%20SAFETY%20because%20cost%20may%20be%20too%20much%20-%20little%20aid,%20no%20merit”>B</a>**</p>

<p>SUNY Binghamton would be a good safety-ish as well, but i’m hoping for somewhere hotter and nicer. <a href=“There%20are%20better%20schools%20that%20would%20give%20you%20more%20money%20and%20are%20warmer!”>B</a>**</p>

<p>In terms of reaches, I plan on applying for cornell, and would be amazingly happy about Duke, UPenn or Brown,
PS:</p>

<p>In terms of college, i am really looking for somewhere with warm+nice weather, </p>

<p>and a good college experience. I like to party. </p>

<p>good academics, … sciences are on the cutting edge, </p>

<p>undergraduate research. </p>

<p>I plan to major in chemistry or engineering</p>

<p>I plan to go to school beyond my BA/BS, maybe even med school. </p>

<p>*</p>

<p>Check out that link for auto scholarships for stats. There are good schools (better than SUNY Bing) that would give you full tuition and more for merit scholarships for your stats. Those can be your financial safety schools.</p>

<p>Your best financial safeties will be a school that…</p>

<p>1) you get a big merit scholarship (such as free tuition or more). When combined with Pell (which you may qualify for), perhaps some money from dad, and at most a small student loan, you’ll have all costs covered. :)</p>

<p>2) great academics</p>

<p>3) fun atmosphere</p>

<p>4) warm weather</p>

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<p>Want to clear up a possible misconception: my dad will help pay for college, especially if it were a bigger name. We would probably be able to make it work for me at just about any university/college. However, if I could find a school in which I would be happy, would offer good academics, and would give us a good amount of money, that would be a great thing. I still plan on getting a great education. I plan to continue to graduate school, or maybe even med school, afterwards (i am completely not sure whether i will be attending med school, it isn’t more than a “hmm maybe” at the moment).</p>

<p>@happymomof1: thanks for the links and info! I’m checking them out right now, i’m learning a lott.</p>

<p>@mom2collegekids: as above, my dad will help pay as much as is needed in the end (though he might not help as much for a no-namer, he is big on name value). He cares about my education quite a lot. Hmm here I thought UF would probably help me out a bit… shows how much research i still have to do. I completely agree with that assessment, by the way. I have a hard time wording things like that and that about summed it up. I’m also looking through your PM, i’ll be sending you a response soon!</p>

<p>PS to everybody: honors programs have been interesting me… are honors programs at lower tier schools comparable to the regular curriculum of more prestigious ones? I know it is usually on a case by case basis, but if anyone has info on that please let me know.</p>

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<p>Lower tier schools put together honors programs so that they can draw students who are academically qualified for higher tier schools. Usually they attract these students by offering big money. Most often the students find that their experience is challenging and fulfilling. Sometimes they are unhappy, and move out of the honors program, or transfer universities entirely. Here is one thread written on the topic by a happy honors program grad: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/905843-top-student-3rd-tier-school-four-years-later.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/905843-top-student-3rd-tier-school-four-years-later.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>You can get a good education just about anywhere, because most of what you get out of your college years is up to you.</p>

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<p>*my dad will help pay as much as is needed in the end (though he might not help as much for a no-namer, he is big on name value). He cares about my education quite a lot. *</p>

<p>I would STILL ask him if he’ll pay - say $55k per year for a top private like Duke. Your dad may be like many parents who have NO IDEA that schools cost that much. </p>

<p>My sister-in-law told her kids she would pay for Notre Dame, but then she found out how much it costs and had to do some quick back-peddling. :frowning: Your dad wouldn’t be the first parent to be a strong advocate for education, but have no idea that a college education can cost $220k for 4 years. :(</p>

<p>So, talk to your dad about some specific numbers. You need to know specifics before you can make a workable application list for colleges.</p>

<p>PS to everybody: honors programs have been interesting me… are honors programs at lower tier schools comparable to the regular curriculum of more prestigious ones? I know it is usually on a case by case basis, but if anyone has info on that please let me know.</p>

<p>Not sure what you consider “lower tier”…USNews place the schools above 200 as Tier I. </p>

<p>For instance, FSU is Tier I and is ranked around #105. Bama is Tier I and is ranked #79 (tied with American U and Mich State U.)</p>

<p>You may mean honors programs at lower Tier I vs Top 50 Tier I schools. </p>

<p>My kids love the Honors College at Bama. As I told you earlier, there are 4 different honors programs at Bama. The regular honors program (which all honors students belong to) is very LAC-like with small classes limited to 15 students each. </p>

<p>Two of the honors programs are very elite and have competitive admissions (only 40 students selected). These are: Computer-Based Honors Program (research based) and University Fellows Experience. The two other honors programs admit by stats.</p>

<p>[Honors</a> College - Home](<a href=“http://honors.ua.edu/]Honors”>http://honors.ua.edu/)</p>

<p>Hmm here I thought UF would probably help me out a bit… shows how much research i still have to do. I completely agree with that assessment, by the way. </p>

<p>*</p>

<p>UF won’t give you aid except for the small federal aid that you might qualify for based on mom’s income/assets. UF is also hard to get into OOS state, so not a safety for an OOS student.</p>

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<p>Thank you happymom, for both the link and the advice! I’ve checked out the thread a bit and it seems very informative.</p>

<p>@mom2collegekids: I will talk to my parents about the numbers. Pretty much what I know is that 55k/year seems too high for us. I mean, it may not bankrupt us but way too much, especially considering I have a younger sister who will also be going to college two years after me. It isn’t that we CAN’T do that, but more of an it probably isn’t worth all that extra money when I can get merit aid or even full rides at some not-so-shabby colleges. UAlabama seems very interesting to me, but I am having trouble placing their engineering program comparatively with other schools, as I noted in our PM, if anyone else has an opinion on UAlabama or their honorsengineering please do!</p>

<p>For some real numbers, i’m going to guess based on impressions i’ve gotten until I do a real sit-down-and-talk with my parents. I’m thinking we can manage up to ~30k per year, if it were a very good college with a good name (I base this off of, when talking about CUBoulder, my mother said it’s too expensive, at 30k/year OOS, for what it is, being a bit under my academic level and not super prestigious). 10-20k/year total is much more manageable, with a good school that has a name. Under that would, of course, be great.</p>

<p>It’s more about real value, than our limitations financially. I’m not sure a bit better name on my undergraduate degree is worth thousands and thousands of dollars more, especially considering I will be moving to grad or med school. Especially if, as it seems, the teaching matters more on size and student than the school</p>