Help for a desperate high school senior?

College Search & Selection
1

Hello! Thank you for clicking on my thread!

I am having the all-too-common existential crisis that always accompanies senior year: where the heck am I going to college and what am I going to do?

I have varied interests, but am not a perfect student, so big-ticket schools are out.

About me:

TESTS/STATS
2060 SAT, not planning on retaking.
5 AP English Language in Junior Year, planning on taking AP Physics, AP Music Theory, AP Lit, and AP Psych exam this year.
In the top 33% of my class for class rank, 3.55 GPA on a 4.0 scale.
My senior year schedule is AP Music Theory, Choir, AP Psychology, Economics, AP Lit, AP Physics 1, Theatre, and GT Engineering.

I also intern at a local children’s choir, and am heavily involved in a theatre company outside of school (that takes up most of my time.) I got honorable mention in a poetry contest last year, and am involved in my school’s broadcasting club.

I am so stuck as to where to apply to college; everywhere I’ve looked is either way too expensive, too hard to get into, or too easy to get into! Any suggestions would be massively appreciated; thank you in advance!

2

We need more info. What is ‘too expensive?’ What can you afford? What are your selection criteria? Meaning what kind of school do you want to attend - size, location, weather, culture, etc…? What do you plan to study? Are there any ‘must have’ or ‘would never do?’ (single sex? religious? frats? big sports? to name just a few…)

What schools have you looked at already and what did you like or not like about them?

3

Also, what is your home state?

4

What state do you live in? Local public university might be a good fit for your stats (depending on state), and they’re usually the most affordable. Otherwise, you could aim for lower tier privates that might offer merit, though with a 3.5 you’ve have to aim “lower” so to speak in order to be competitive. But that depends on your exact financial situation.

5

My son had similar stats to yours and received nice merit scholarship offers from Willamette, Guilford, Eckerd, and New College of Florida. Whitman gave him a modest amount, which met our EFC. Occidental met our EFC with need-based aid (no loans), but our EFC was high. My son also got into Tulane, but without any money. Other colleges that accepted him were UCSD and UC Davis (out-of-state costs were also too high for our liking) and Pitzer (didn’t come close to meeting our EFC; didn’t even offer subsidized Stafford loans). He was also wait-listed at Reed and UWashington-Seattle. Berkeley, UNC-Chapel Hill, and Claremont-McKenna rejected him.

He had outstanding extracurricular activities.

Your financial circumstances will play an enormous role in the process, because your stats might earn you admission to some elite colleges but they are not strong enough for merit awards (see reference to Tulane, above). Furthermore, some of the merit awards will not be large enough to make those other colleges affordable.

Do you prefer a particular region or setting? Would you rather be at a large or small college?

The good news is that you are academically competitive for the overwhelming majority of colleges. The bad news is that, outside of your own state’s public colleges, you might not be competitive for a full financial aid package everywhere.

If finances aren’t a big concern, then you have literally thousands of options. Forget the topmost “name-brand” colleges. Figure out your safety choice(s): they must be schools where you are almost certain to be admitted, which will be affordable, and where you would be willing to go. Sometimes, it’s good to look at some non-academic criteria when selecting match and reach colleges. Almost every four-year college can offer you a decent education. It is perfectly valid to narrow down your list based on interests in sports (participatory or spectator), local cultural scene, weather, travel time and logistics, etc.

If you give us a little more to work with, we can offer more suggestions. As my first paragraph shows, you can get into some great colleges with your stats.