Help finding college matches and reaches?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi I'm new here so forgive me if I have bad posting etiquette or something, LOL.</p>

<p>My stats:
GPA: 3.58 Unweighted
[Low I know. I'm doing well this semester though, like a 4.67 weighted, so I'm hoping that will bring it up a little]
SAT: 2080 [2140 with composite scoring.]
CR: 800
Math: 700
Writing: 580, 640</p>

<p>I might have a few other things going for me; I go to a magnet school, my mom lives away from the family, Dad earns minimum wage, neither speak English or went to school etc.</p>

<p>I'm also considering sending in a visual arts portfolio, as that is a passion of mine. For now, I plan on going into something biology related though.</p>

<p>Some recent pieces:
<a href="http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/9615/editedgruh.jpg%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/9615/editedgruh.jpg&lt;/a>
<a href="http://img803.imageshack.us/img803/3037/img0683bb.jpg%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://img803.imageshack.us/img803/3037/img0683bb.jpg&lt;/a>
Would I be a more competitive art major or science major?</p>

<p>Long post, I know, but I would really appreciate any help! Thanks (:</p>

2

<p>a safety for you if you go biology: UAB [Welcome[/url</a>]</p>

<p>rolling admissions , easy app no essays until you apply for an honors college
ranked 34th for biological sciences</p>

<p>has a 5th year track for biology allows for bs and masters in 5 years</p>

<p>receives more research funding than all other alabama schools combined!! </p>

<p>5th for diversity and 11th for happiest students</p>

<p>incredible honors program (sci’tech) research from freshman year if accepted to sci/tech 2 years of phd will be paid for. if accepted you will be doing research freshman year!</p>

<p><a href=“Error 404 | Not Found”>Error 404 | Not Found](<a href=“http://www.uab.edu%5DWelcome%5B/url”>http://www.uab.edu)</a></p>

<p>urban campus about 11K undergrads</p>

<p>automatic merit</p>

<p>oos costs: Fall 2011 First-Year Freshmen Estimated
First-Year Freshman Out-of-State
Tuition and Fees* $14,256
Books and Supplies** $1000
Meal Plan $450 - $3,894
Total $15,706 - $19,150
Residence Hall (Blazer/Camp Hall)*** $5,200
Grand Total $20,906 - $24,350</p>

<p>also has full rides for national merit, achievement and hispanic scholars they have the following oos merit awards</p>

<p>Blazer Elite Scholarship
$15,000/yr
Based on academic achievement (28-36 ACT and at least 3.0 GPA)
Blazer Gold Scholarship
$10000/yr
Based on academic achievement (26-27 ACT and at least 3.0 GPA)
Blazer Pride Scholarship
$5,000/yr
Based on academic achievement (24-25 ACT and at least 3.0 GPA)
Students receiving UAB merit-based scholarships are required to live on campus for their first year of enrollment. </p>

<p>the teacher student ratio is excellent at 17:1… </p>

<p>some uab facts:
.Since 2000, UAB has produced seven Fulbright Scholars, six Phi Kappa Phi Fellows, eight Goldwater Scholars, five National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Fellows, six Truman Scholars, one Marshall Scholar, and one Rhodes Scholar.</p>

<p>In the 2010 Princeton Review College Rankings, UAB is listed as one of the Best Southeastern Colleges and among the top 15 percent of colleges and universities in the U.S.</p>

<p>The 2009 Academic Ranking of World Universities places UAB within the top 200 universities in the world and top 100 in the nation.</p>

<p>UAB’s biomedical engineering program is the only one of its kind in the state.</p>

<p>The rec center is incredible and brand new:</p>

<p>__
The freshman dorms are suite style and new, the upperclass dorms are full apartments! living room, bedrooms full bath, full kitchen etc.</p>

<p>Birmingham has an airport</p>

3

<p>What are your selection criteria other than price?</p>

<p>urban/rural/suburban
size
part of the country/geography/distance from home
culture-rah-rah, preppy, intellectual, artsy, quirky, granola, hip
career goals if any?</p>

<p>There are hundreds of good schools - what matters to you besides bio and art?</p>

4

<p>A lot of colleges really like students like you. After all, you’re most likely self-motivated and you have the hook of being the first-generation in your family to go to college. As far as picking a school goes, it is a little bit hard for me to make recommendations because you were a bit vague. Do you want to attend a school in a particular place? Is there a type of school which you really aspire to go to? But, you are a pretty compelling applicant.</p>

5

<p>a correction… on another thread it was brought to my attention that the bio ranking was grad school…my apologies. however it is still a great school for anything science related or health related…it is a tier 1 university.</p>

6

<p>Need the answer to mmom’s questions to recommend schools, but in any case I do recommend including your portfolio with your app. Those two images are great and I think it can help your app.</p>

7

<p>Location doesn’t matter to me.
Culturally, I think I would prefer a more liberal slant, since I was born and raised in San Francisco. Similarly, I would prefer a school with a lot of diversity.
Urban/Suburban over rural.
Career goal: Unknown, but I’m considering optometry.
Thank you for the help! (:</p>

8

<p>Bump! (: I added more specifics up there^</p>