I will be a senior this year, and I’m hoping to apply to some LACs, maybe a few medium sized universities, and some large universities.
I would like to major in education if I go to a college that offers it; if not, maybe psychology then a masters in teaching.
Other, less important factors that I’d prefer in a college are an urban or suburban location, and a school with a lot of clubs, sports, greek life, etc.
I would like to go to a top ranked school, but my grades/scores aren’t great. 3.7 UW, 1370 SAT, but I might retake it. I’m a decent essay writer, but I’m not expecting great letters of recommendation.
Where in the country would you like to be? If you have a strong state university program I’d look into those as good “large” universities. If not, Penn State is sorta the poster child for the traditional college experience at a large school and has good programs. If you’d prefer a private university, I’d look at Syracuse.
U of Richmond, Tulane, and Wake Forest all fit those criteria and have education programs. Michigan State also - tons of school spirit and it’s one of the top research centers in the field of education. Vanderbilt for a super-reach. 'Bama for $20K/year in automatic merit, with your stats.
Due to not being liked by your teachers or due to being the more quiet type and thinking you aren’t noticed?
If the former, you’re more likely to make it into a public in state college as they don’t care so much about “other” details as most private schools.
If the latter, don’t underestimate yourself. We teachers notice even if you aren’t the more extroverted type.
For majoring in education, the school name doesn’t matter very much - if at all. Public, private, secular, religious, large, small - we have teachers from many different places. Our school hires from all sorts of schools, but most of them are relatively local to our area (regional anyway). Those names are more “known” so stand out. If you have an area you want to live in, consider going to a college relatively near there so your student teaching can be in the area. If you do a good job as a student teacher it stands out and makes it easier to get hired.
Are finances a concern? If so, I’d try to keep student debt a minimum.
What state or region are you hoping to live in? That will make it easier for folks to make suggestions where you could get decent merit aid. Have you run a free EFC calculator to see if your EFC is affordable? If it is, good need based colleges come into play too. You could also run some NPCs of various colleges to see where you stand. All of that info is helpful for you as you start to seriously look to apply. Most students have to be concerned with finances, so looking carefully is very beneficial.
If you go into education, you need to realize that where you go is where you will teach. Every state has different requirements for state licensing.
Public schools typically don’t fund OOS students.
Where you go will give you a boost to where you will teach, but it’s not absolute. We have teachers who went to colleges in several different states. They do, however, have to get their certificate for PA to teach here. There are reciprocity agreements with most states just as there are with engineers and other professions:
Thanks!
I don’t have much of a preference as to where I live or teach in, aside from the fact that I don’t want to be in a rural area. I ran a free efc calculator, and my efc should be affordable.
Then too, look to see where your stats put you in the top half to top quartile to have better odds of acceptance.
Definitely note that many schools offer options to major in what you want to teach and add on education afterward as Union does. Union also is a good match school for your SAT score…
With education, you don’t want to go out of state. The cost of debt would be far too much to make the teaching salary worthwhile. You want to go in-state and get your certification first, then if you choose to work in a different state, your license will transfer most of the time. You need to keep the debt to a minimum, otherwise the salary won’t be worth the debt.
@coolguy40 It could help to remember we don’t know the OP’s state and not all states end up with the least expensive education for their residents compared to what some private schools can do. My state (PA) is a prime example. It’s very common for private and some OOS public colleges to match and sometimes beat the in-state cost for students with decent scores.
