Help choosing a major and college?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Firstly, I'd like to introduce myself (I just joined this website after lurking for a few months). If this is the wrong place for this thread, or if it's unrealistic to ask for help on this please tell me. My name is Giorgio and I'm an American-Peruvian living overseas. I go to a DoDDS high school in Italy and am a junior in high school. I've been having extreme difficulty choosing an intended major and consequently, a handful of colleges to apply to. I've been looking around on College Board and using the College Search function but haven't really had a lot of luck. I was hoping maybe you friendly people could assist me in my endeavors. I understand that I don't have to pick a major until like the second year of college but I'd like to have a good idea. </p>

<p>I really enjoy science, math, animation, and music. I've been playing piano for 8 years and currently take lessons from an Italian teacher who does not speak English. I also enjoy languages. I took two years of Spanish and I'm currently taking Italian. I actually just attended the second (actually first; it was cancelled last year due to sequestration) DoDDS Europe Language Institute in Germany. We took a total of 5 hrs of classes in Russian, French, and Chinese and also had a night of 10 minute mini-sessions in like 15 languages from all over the world. It was a culturally rich and invigorating experience. I was thinking about Aeronautical/Aerospace Engineering but I'm not sure. I also saw something on the internet about a job involving both animation and aeronautics so maybe something along those lines?</p>

<p>I'll give a few details about my high school career. :) </p>

<p>I moved in March of my freshman year so I got placed in regular classes at my current school.</p>

<p>First 9th grade school
8 Classes, 4 Honors, 4.0 unweighted GPA (I don't know what the weighted GPA would be for that school.)
I was in Algebra II, and Earth and Space Science. I also took Spanish III. I took Spanish I my eighth grade year and skipped Spanish II.
No ECs, I had transportation issues.</p>

<p>Second school
7 Classes, 0 Honors (Got knocked down because they do some year-long project here in honors classes.), 3.92 GPA (I got a B+ in Physics because I didn't know what I was doing. I wasn't in Physics at my old school and it was the closest thing they had.)
No ECs</p>

<p>Sophomore Year
7 Classes, 2 Honors, 4.0 unweighted GPA
I took Pre-Calc and Geometry at the same time. I was also in Biology. I took Italian I and it was ridiculously easy so to avoid going into Italian II this year I took the exams for II and III to skip those levels.
I was a part of the Academic Team at my school last year. It was basically like being on Jeopardy except the material was stuff we learned in school. I attended the Academic Bowl, which was the competition between all of the DoDDS-Europe Schools in Germany. I also took part in Jazz Band as the pianist and really enjoyed that. </p>

<p>Junior Year
7 Classes, 3 APs, 3.92 unweighted GPA so far, 4.357 weighted so far.
I'm taking AP Calculus AB, AP Physics C, and AP English Language and Composition. I've been doing pretty well in AP Calc and AP Lang. I feel like I got a 4 or 5 on the Calc Exam and a 3 or 4 on the Lang one. Physics is a different story. I don't feel I'll get a good score on either exam, but, I really enjoy the class and I think I was really committed to it. It's very interesting to me and I don't think I'd object to doing physics in college. My physics class was kind of a wild ride however. We switched from Physics B to C mid-year and we've switched textbooks twice. I think if our class had been more stable and if we had a teacher who actually was interested I'd have done better. He's an amazing calculus teacher just not physics too much. I'm also in a computer animation class this year which I love. It's awesome. We're currently working on our final projects and I'm modeling a sci-fi helicopter that looks like it came out of AVATAR. I really enjoy that class. I'm in Italian IV.
I am in Italian Club this year as the treasurer. I'm also still in Jazz Band. </p>

<p>I started off junior year with a part-time job that I got over the summer. I only worked there until October because I didn't enjoy staying up until 2 AM every night doing homework. I got off of work at 8 PM at least 3 times and week and worked 16 hours on the weekends. It wasn't working out, so I had to leave. It was a great experience however working in retail and I learned a lot. I've done some volunteer work for the Italian club such as fundraising by bagging for customers at our local grocery store. I just got inducted into the NHS. </p>

<p>Senior Year
I'll be taking 7 classes next year. I'm currently signed up for AP Literature, AP Calculus BC, AP Chemistry, AP Italian, AP Music Theory, and AP Art History. I'm going to drop AP Art History and I might be dropping AP Lit for regular Lit. I'm not sure. I'm fully aware of the coursework that I'll have next year. I will be participating in Jazz Band and Italian Club next year for sure. I'll also be taking a semester of Health and a semester of Drawing but those don't really matter, I just need the Health credit and drawing is for fun. I'm also hoping to go to the Language Institute next year again. </p>

<p>I took the SAT in December and got a 1760 composite score. I got 540 in reading, 640 in math, and 580 in writing. I don't really feel like this portrays my abilities too well so I'll be retaking it first thing next year. I also want to take the ACT and math SAT subject test next year. </p>

<p>Looks like I'm in for an extremely busy senior year!</p>

<p>If it helps, I'm a resident of Tennessee. I really hate Tennessee though. The climate and the culture bother me. I can say so because I was born in Tennessee and lived there for 4 years. I really enjoy cold climates and snow. I was looking at colleges in the north US and in Canada. U Toronto, McGill, BU, and Syracuse really stand out to me. As for scholarships I've been looking around and will apply to a local scholarship that a non-profit hosts. </p>

<p>I'm really just asking for help searching for a major and college. If you guys could recommend any to me based on my info that'd be awesome. </p>

<p>Thanks! </p>

2

<p>Since you’re unsure about your major, I’d recommend looking into an LAC (liberal arts college). I don’t know what you know about them, but these kinds of schools give students time to explore before they have to pick a major (even if you indicate one thing on your application, it’s much easier to switch majors in an LAC than in most universities). If you can bring your SAT score up to about 1900, I’d recommend you look at Oberlin and Kenyon. </p>

<p>For universities, I would recommended BU (as you’ve indicated) and U Minnesota (Twin Cities). Again, if you bring your SAT scores up and over 1900, you could probably try Northeastern and NYU (only if you can afford it. This school is notoriously expensive). </p>

<p>Also, could you please tell us a bit about your financial situation? Doesn’t have to be a ton of info, but let us know if you need financial aid or if costs don’t matter. Good luck!</p>

3

<p>Thanks for your reply! I’m not so sure about LAC because I believe I could probably manage to get my SAT scores up. I’m planning on studying a bit over the summer to take the SAT early next school year. As for my financial situation, I think I will probably need a bit of financial aid. My father sometimes scoffs at the colleges/universities I show him even though I know how much he makes. I’m not sure if we can or can’t afford the schools or if he’s not wanting to pay lol. But, I can tell you that we probably can’t afford something like Northeastern without getting some hefty scholarships and aid. </p>

4

<p>I second violet’s suggestion about LACs. It’s a great opportunity to explore diverse interests in the beginning of your college career. I think the list of schools violet mentioned is also a good list (I really want to go to one of the schools on that list, assuming I get in ;D ), but it’s not complete. Other LACs, or colleges that have liberal arts requirements like U Minnesota, would be a good choice. The cost for these colleges often range between 30-60k per year, but they often offer good aid if you need it and decent merit scholarships as well. Here is a news article discussing a few other benefits of attending a LAC: <a href=“5 Reasons to Attend a Liberal Arts College - CBS News”>http://www.cbsnews.com/news/5-reasons-to-attend-a-liberal-arts-college/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Also, here is a link the the consortium of liberal arts colleges: <a href=“http://www.liberalarts.org/members”>http://www.liberalarts.org/members&lt;/a&gt;
I would check out that site to see which colleges meet your criteria for a college; click on each college and their individual website is listed I believe. Criteria you may want to consider include: location& weather, student/faculty ratio, internship opportunities, a music school (Oberlin would be an excellent choice if you wanted this. You can get a degree from the regular college and one from the music college in 5 years I believe…), urban/rural location, etc.</p>

5

<p>@Kitten23‌ Thanks for your input. I’ll be looking into LACs now. :smiley: One thing that caught my eye in your post was that you said I could get a degree from the regular college and one from the music college. You mean two separate degrees right? One in something and the other in music? That really excites me lol, I was looking at the Boston Conservatory but I decided not to because of how hard it is to sustain a job in the music industry unless you’re someone like Valentina Lisitsa or something. And I’m not worried about time, I actually enjoy going to school and 4-6 years wouldn’t bother me. </p>

<p>EDIT: Wow that emoticon is really obnoxious. Anyway, I’m on Oberlin’s website right now and I’m practically drooling. This double degree is really enticing. </p>

6

<p>Yes, I’m pretty sure it’s 2 separate degrees. The oberlin music conservatory is actually very highly regarded as well. Here’s the website for Oberlin’s music college: <a href=“http://new.oberlin.edu/conservatory/”>http://new.oberlin.edu/conservatory/&lt;/a&gt; if you click on degrees& majors, the last one listed is the double degree program description.</p>

<p>Be aware that it’s rather difficult to get into the music college, and an audition is required. Check it out, though. It’s worth a shot.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

7

<p>Yes, I’ll definitely be looking at this. And yeah I know about the audition. I’m actually working on audition pieces right now because I told my teacher I wanted to apply to BoCo and never told her I decided not to. Glad I kept working on them! I’m going to need to work extra hard over the summer though. Thank you! </p>

8

<p>Haha, I read the edit on your post :slight_smile: I think that program would suit you well. You mentioned in the original post that you liked music, and the rest of your post screamed LAC. Oberlin seemed like a perfect fit. I wish you luck! </p>

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<p>Thanks!</p>

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<p>Silverturtle and Xiggi have SAT prep tips pinned to the top of this forum.
<a href=“SAT Preparation - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>You should probably figure out if you want to study engineering or not since a) you often have to be admitted to the major and b) you need to start relevant classes freshman year.</p>

<p>The money issue is a big one. You are basically saying you will need to pay OOS tuition or private school rates. Most of the available money comes from the colleges themselves through a) need based aid or b) merit aid. Have you even determined what your EFC is yet? You and your parents should be running some Net Price Calculators on a couple of schools. It isn’t the total cost of the college that matters, it is the COST TO YOUR FAMILY. Do not be naïve and think that your parents paycheck is available for your use. Find out if you have a college fund and the amount your family will pay from current income. Then you yourself can borrow up to 27k over 4 years. You need to learn how aid works. Go read some posts at the top of the financial aid pages. Also read the posts on the automatic scholarships given for grades/scores, you may qualify for some but not the best ones at that SAT. What is your M+CR score?</p>

<p>Oberlin is hard to get into. Look at Lawrence University. They are especially good at physics and they have a conservatory too I think. Univ of Rochester has a conservatory, but I don’t know that you’d have access to it. (Sorry don’t know that much about music programs.) St Olaf is strong in math and also has a lot of music programs.</p>

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<p>Thank! And I know that I should be deciding quickly. I’m weighing the pros and cons of engineering but I’m leaning towards any science/math major. And no I have not determined my EFC yet. I will be doing that. And I didn’t believe I’d be able to use their paycheck. I don’t want to put them on the streets. I do know however that I might be able to get some aid from my father’s GI bill. I think he used up a bit of it but I think there is still some aid left. I’ll be reading some of those financial aid pages. I’m not sure what M+CR is. Thanks for those suggestions!</p>

12

<p>Math + Critical Reading portion of the SAT are the key numbers used for most of the automatic scholarships. Yours is 1180 eq to ACT 25 or 26.</p>

<p>EFC is the very minimum you will have to pay. It really only determines if you are Pell eligible so I really shouldn’t have mentioned it–it does give a benchmark of how serious the money situation will be and it sounds like it is going to be very serious and you’d better start building it into your search parameters. All schools will ask your family to at least pay the family portion before they give need based aid. For merit aid you have to target colleges where you are in the top 25 or even 10% and your SAT is not all that strong. Bringingg up the SAT could mean a huge difference for you with admission and also merit aid from the school itself. (Outside scholarships are often just for a year and not enough money.) There are good test optional schools but you will have to check if they want scores for merit money. BU and Syracuse are very expensive. I don’t think Canadian schools will give you funds. </p>

<p>I think you are a very interesting candidate as far as your background. As far as the languages go that is fantastic. The Quiz stuff is good, I don’t know if the music will be important or how really good you are, you have to be really good.</p>

<p>For engineering, you might look at Rose Hulman Institute of Technology, your stats would work there and. They may like your diversity and it is well reputed. But you’d do better with the automatic merit aid schools, at least put some applications in for safety schools, it is no skin off your nose to have an affordable offer. But some are just out of reach, others (like full tuition at Howard a HBCU, you may get if you apply early), see they are paying you for your high scores. Look on pg 20 for the latest updates:
<a href=“Automatic Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-p1.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Also there are threads for getting instate tuition for scores and gpa. </p>

<p>Have your parent sit down with or without you and run the NPC for those colleges you like that don’t meet need like Syracuse, Northeastern, BU and just for kicks, UT. Try it at some ‘meets full need colleges’ you might get in, like St. Olaf, Oberlin.
<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2013/09/18/colleges-that-claim-to-meet-full-financial-need-2014”>http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2013/09/18/colleges-that-claim-to-meet-full-financial-need-2014&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Wow you gave a lot of info. Thanks! I actually just completed the Net Price Calculator for Oberlin with my father and the “Estimated Net Amount Due to Oberlin College” came out to just under $10,000. I understand that this can fluctuate but my father said that it was a feasible cost. It was calculated with my current SAT scores so if I get higher scores I might get some more aid. I’ll also be applying to some outside scholarships which might help. </p>

14

<p>Good job you got right on that. That’s pretty good news and quite low cost, you qualify for a lot of need based aid then, that all the family income both parents? So it can be as cheap for you to go to an expensive high ranked private than a tuition free school where you pay room and board. (But first you have to get in.) But in addition to the 10k family payment there must be student loans too? Usually if you are getting that much aid you will be asked to pay student loan 5,500 to total 27k by graduation (except at super aid schools like Ivies and a few more.) Don’t ignore that is a cost, not free money. Don’t expect it to go up with scores for high ranked meets needs schools --this is not merit money, this is based on FINANCIAL NEED. This is just an estimate, you will have to submit the FAFSA and CSS Profile to get the actual amounts. I don’t know what you mean by fluctuate, but tuition does rise a couple percent each year. It will only fluctuate if income does. Where, if you get merit, that is fixed as long as you meet any gpa requirement. </p>

<p>Schools that claim to meet full need.
<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2013/09/18/colleges-that-claim-to-meet-full-financial-need-2014”>http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2013/09/18/colleges-that-claim-to-meet-full-financial-need-2014&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Yeah only one of my parents work. It was actually a relief to see that price to be honest. Oh and by fluctuate I meant the cost of tuition would go up by the time I actually attend. Assuming I can get in of course. And yes there is a federal loan aspect in it. To my knowledge that’s the $6500 part correct? And I know I’ll end up paying interest on those loans too. This is the actual report I got. </p>

<p><a href=“https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4308355/Screen%20Shot%202014-05-11%20at%2012.40.01.png”>https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4308355/Screen%20Shot%202014-05-11%20at%2012.40.01.png&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Yeah, these are all a bit fuzzy numbers but as you see you may get a massive amount of need based aid. It should be only 5,500 the first year loan. The room is too low the meals too high but combined sound about right. Fixed costs are tuition room and board. the rest are somewhat controllable. Buy used or rent books. But your transportation cost maybe too low unless you get it free through parent. You can try to work summer. You can see if you can get a little 10 to 15 hr/week job at school. If you can get outside grants to reduce your loan that would be worth writing a lot of essays for. See? But unless you have health care that meets the school standards for local coverage you will have to purchase the school plan which may be 1 to 2k extra. Otherwise you’re covered. I’m signing off for awhile, someone else can give you input or you can message me. A friend of my daughter’s went there, she’s living in Haiti at the moment.</p>

<p>Remember to run the numbers at other schools. Most don’t meet need, so the ones that do are very competitive. But you can still get your need met if they really like you, it’s called preferential packaging, you just won’t know till you apply and get in and get a package. Run a school that doesn’t meet need so you are aware of what a ‘gap’ looks like.</p>

17

<p>""I’m a resident of Tennessee. “”</p>

<p>How are you a resident of Tenn?</p>

<p>How much will your parents pay each year? ask them.</p>

<p>You may want to apply to some test-optional schools.</p>

18

<p>Have you looked at University of Rochester? They have a great music program</p>

19

<p>The problem with most LACs is that they do not have engineering (natively, as opposed to 3+2 programs that are rarely completed by transfer to the non-LAC “2” school to finish an engineering major), which you stated interest in. A few LACs do have engineering, but that may limit the selection. Harvey Mudd is the best known LAC with engineering, but it is super-selective.</p>

<p>In terms of physics, note that it is not that popular a major, so some LACs have very small physics departments with limited and infrequent offerings of advanced physics courses. Some of the stronger ones for physics include Harvey Mudd, Oberlin, and Reed.</p>

<p>Some other small schools that are not considered LACs are engineering-focused, like the “mines” schools in Colorado, New Mexico, and South Dakota (the latter two of which are relatively inexpensive). But their offerings may be too limiting if you think that there is a good chance of switching to a non-engineering or geology major. Other small engineering focused schools include Worchester, Rose-Hulman, and Stevens.</p>

20

<p>I’m a big proponent of LACs - I’m an alumna of one - but you don’t need to go to an LAC to explore different majors. Any college with a good general liberal arts education - which includes many comprehensive universities and research universities - will allow students the flexibility to change majors and most colleges give students until the end of their sophomore year to declare a major (although, realistically, most students will need to have taken some major classes before then to graduate in 4 years). For example, Columbia is not a liberal arts college but students have a lot of major flexibility here - unless they want to major in the sciences, which is pretty standard across colleges.</p>

<p>If OP’s parent(s) are military, it’s very possible for OP to be a TN resident. Military members maintain a Home of Record and they and their children can be considered residents of that state for tuition purposes, even if they live abroad. I’m assuming that OP’s parents are military (DoDDS stands for Department of Defense Dependents School).</p>

<p>Ithaca College, in upstate NY (same town as Cornell) may be very appealing to you - it’s a small liberal arts college that has a variety of majors not normally found at small LACs, including “music in combination with an outside field” (basically a double major in music and something else) and a variety of communication majors that include study of digital media (which may serve your interest in animation). Their art department does have classes on computer art and animation. In addition, they seem to have a pretty thriving music scene on campus - they have a school of music there.</p>

<p>I also suggest Lawrence University - a WI liberal arts college that also has a music conservatory. It’s less selective than Oberlin but still a great college (students are self-selecting, it appears). </p>

<p>Other places that may be matches for you with your current SAT scores are DePauw (IN), Marquette (also Midwest, can’t remember which state), Duquesne (Pittsburgh), Clarkson (upstate NY), Goucher (Baltimore), Providence College, Siena College (upstate NY), Ursinus College (PA), and Syracuse (which you already like).</p>

<p>Also, if your family can afford it - you’re unlikely to get much aid from publics, but there’s a chance that you might and some publics are affordable to OOS students. Minnesota has already been recommended. I also recommend some SUNY colleges - they are pretty affordable even to OOS. For music and animation/art, you may be interested in SUNY Purchase, which has a traditional liberal arts college plus music and art schools and an arty feel. Other SUNYs that might appeal are New Paltz (small-to-medium size/feel) and Binghamton.</p>

<p>If you’re interested in looking outside the Northeast, check out Berry College (in GA) and Oglethorpe University (also in GA).</p>