<p>MiamiDAP: the name Denison came up on the other thread, that's why I put it on the list of possible schools. </p>
<p>MarinMom: Could you clarify what ELC is ? and how to apply for the Regents Scholarship? My friend told me that as I'm in the top 1 % of my class (my school got rid of class rankings) that I'm guaranteed a spot at an UC... is this true? </p>
<p>Thanks to all the great advice. Right now, I'm also looking into International Relations, which is a major I haven't even considered before. I''m working on persuading my parents that a political science/ IR major isn't "worthless" and that there are plenty of job opportunities for those who attend liberal arts schools as well. I'm not quite sure that it's working though!</p>
<p>athenegoddess, if you are interested in business and politics, then CMC is your kind of place (browse their website and you'll see). Their women's athletics teams call themselves Athenas ;) A CMC degree could open all sorts of opportunities for employment. Also take a look at American University in DC, it could be a great safety school for you.</p>
<p>If you want to do sciences or theoretical math or engineering or music/art, American is not a good choice. (This is why, in fact, they fall down the USNWR rankings.) But they are top 10 for international relations (ahead of three of the Ivies, according to Foreign Policy Magazine), strong in international business (with 1/3 of the faculty being from abroad), strong in public policy/communications. And there are internships, paid and unpaid, galore - it is not unusual for a first-year to have an internship during term time, nor unusual for a student to have one all four years. And it isn't unusual for a student to do a joint degree in international business/international service, and they also have a degree program in Business, Language and Culture.</p>
<p>Okay, I know we're being all PC and everything and I know the CC mantra is that fit is more important than prestige, but since I'd wager 100 bucks that fewer than 5 kids have ever turned down Stanford or Northwestern or U chicago for American I think you're all on drugs.</p>
<p>To the OP- you have outstanding stats. The most recent study on the subject concluded that the boost to a low income kid of attending one of the top schools was significantly higher than for a higher income kid. Moreover, you are unsure of your major and are clearly good at lots of different things. I think it would be a waste of your very significant potential (intellectual, earning, social capital, etc.) to be aiming at an Accounting or International Business major if your stats suggest you could be studying Econ or Poli Sci at one of the top schools in the country.</p>
<p>My suggestion is that focus on finding a range of schools with tolerable weather, where you are likely to get significant financial aid (either merit or need depending on whether the school is likely to meet 100% of need) and where students end up getting jobs and getting into top grad programs regardless of what they major in. If you end up deciding to become an actuary or a CPA then I've just given you bad advice (the only two business disciplines where it actually matters what you major in) but if decide to do virtually anything else on the planet you will be happy with your decision.</p>
<p>If you were my kid I'd be urging you to check out Rice, Emory, Vanderbilt, Rhodes for climate and range of academic offerings; Brandeis, Tufts, JHU for Poli sci/government; and Chicago, Cornell and Dartmouth for Econ despite their very cold winters and overall terrible climate (for you- it's heaven for other people.) You can add some of the Stanford/Harvard/Yale's in there recognizing that they are reaches for everyone (but fantastic in all the areas you are interested in, and you can't get an undergrad business degree from them). I would also include Bryn Mawr and Wellesley for their exceptionally rigorous academics and fantastic track record launching powerful women into the stratosphere.</p>
<p>Unless you have known since you were 6 what you want to major in, do not pick a school on the basis of the strength of one department. You will then need to join the hordes of kids who transfer when you discover your true passion in ethnomusicology or urban planning, neither of which is a strength in your original school.</p>
<p>^ thanks. May I ask, why would you think that an accounting/ international business major a waste? You have a completely different mindset from my parents, and I'm curious as to why. </p>
<p>haha ethnomusicology ? I didn't even know that major existed!</p>
<p>ELC - eligibility in the local context. UC designates the top 4% of seniors at each high school as ELC. Each high school submits a list of its top students to UC, and UC makes the determination. I don't know if all CA high schools participate or if it is limited just to public hs. We got a release form to sign from my son's hs just a couple of weeks ago, so if you didn't, you should ask your GC about the ELC selection process at your hs. Son's hs doesn't rank either (just by decile), but it still participates. ELC students are guaranteed admission to UC.</p>
<p>Even if your hs doesn't participate in this, you still don't need to be worried about admission to UC. Your stats are more than good enough for most if not all campuses. As for UC scholarships, including Regents, your name is automatically submitted to the scholarship pool when you apply. If you qualify for a particular scholarship the campus will let you know. UCD and UCSB each sent a letter saying that D had been selected to receive Regents Scholarship, but UCB invited her to apply. There are also scholarships based on major or other factors, and D was invited to apply for a couple of electrical engineering scholarships. </p>
<p>You can read up on UC admissions at University</a> of California Systemwide Home. Don't just take my word for all this, as UC admissions seems to change slightly every year, so I may be giving you out-of-date info. Also, I'm not up on UC financial aid/scholarships, since D didn't end up going to a UC.</p>
<p>Why not intn'l bus or accounting? Because those are vocationally oriented majors. There are two ways to approach a college education:
1. Vocational training - pick a career, train for that career.
2. Expand your horizons - get a good liberal arts education and concentrate on an area of learning that really gets you excited. </p>
<p>The top colleges in the US have traditionally focused on the second objective. Many of us are a product of a good liberal arts education, and so we tend to prefer that approach (as do many recruiters). The important thing that your parents may not understand, since they didn't grow up here, is that either approach is equally valid here. The vocational approach works for someone like my son, who knew back in first grade that he wanted to be an engineer. For someone like you, who has a lot of interests and isn't really ready to specialize, it can be very limiting.</p>
<p>How to convince your parents that you won't end up flipping burgers if you don't major in accounting? Perhaps show them what companies recruit econ or poli sci majors at a college that doesn't have a business degree?</p>
<p>I still don't get it. All accredited business schools REQUIRE a broader liberal arts education that most of the liberal arts schools. And those that have junior year entry (including Berkeley, by the way) have HIGHER grade requirements in liberal arts courses than the liberal arts majors have. </p>
<p>Many of us are, in fact, products of liberal arts education - 20-30 years ago, when business education didn't look anything like it does now.</p>
<p>Mini- business education doesn't look anything like it looked like thirty years ago but at the end of the day, it is hard to compare the intellectual rigor of a Philosophy class at Columbia to one in Consumer Behavior downtown at Baruch. Both will get you the same number of credits towards an undergrad degree, but employers would have to dig hard with a business major at Baruch (a highly rated program, by the way) to see if the grad had critical thinking, analytical, and writing skills. Employers work less hard with the philosophy major at Columbia. Both kids may be equally smart, and the Baruch kid may have more direction and focus- but the vocational training in an undergrad business program is heavy on content and light on intellectual skills.</p>
<p>An econ degree from a top school will give a student the ability to read the charts and graphs in a publication from the World Bank and understand the correlation between high interest rates and hunger in Somalia.... even if the student had never taken a course in "international business". The content of much of the curriculum in an undergrad business program is very dependent on the flavor of the month.... I interview many adult professionals who loaded up on courses in their undergrad programs back in 1999 and 2000 on subjects like "e-commerce" and "media convergence". They now concede that for the same tuition dollars they could have studied primate anthropology or Russian Literature.... and would know as much about e-commerce and media convergence as the so-called experts did 10 years ago.</p>
<p>Flip through a textbook on "strategy" or "organizational design". A person with good reading skills could master the content in a week or two. So the broader liberal arts requirements of these programs are great... but they can't solve the problem of the vocationally oriented "lots of stuff to memorize but not so much stuff to learn" core business curriculum. Again- actuaries and CPA's get a pass.</p>