<p>Im extremely stressed out due to the fact that I officially hate my high school guidance counselor. She in my opinion knows nothing. Its not like she has so many students to deal with that Im just a tiny dot in the masses. I go to a private school there are only 130+ seniors. Now stepping away from my rant... I need help making my list of colleges because my counselor hasnt helped me, yet needs me to make a list. Unlike most students on this board Im not an uber smart prodigy type. Im like dead average... Much to my families dismay I want to major in something that isnt very practical.. International Relations. Im a low socioeconomic background Hispanic in California. I go to a private catholic school which Im starting to doubt will help me get into college anymore lol. My G.P.A is a 3.4 and like my GPA my test scores are also low. My horrible SAT score is 1360 and a 21 on my ACT. Im scheduled to take my sat II subject tests in Spanish and us history in October. Im only take 2 AP's this year euro history and English. Ive taken to AP Spanish test and received a 4. I need help with a college list. I need 3 safeties, 4 targets, and 3 reaches. I dont know of any schools I can get into with a good IR program. I wish I could get into those amazing D.C. schools. The only safety I have so far is San Francisco State which I chose due to: a) it has my major B) it has a lot of foreign language options. For my other 2 safeties Im basically lost. My targets are hopefully university of Washington, Seattle university, American University of Paris, and University of Toronto. My reaches are easy to chose since who cant think of hard schools to get into? Well I have American University, George Mason, and UCLA. I really am lost any advice is welcome even criticism, I can handle it. ADD anywhere you want its all welcomed. Im also gay I just though it would add that since I dont want to go somewhere I will be like lynched. Sorry for the disorganization Im writing this frantically since I need answers right away. ANYTHING PLEASE!!! I'm open to any college suggestions.</p>
<p>Here we go:</p>
<p>your ACT is bad and GPA could use work but here is a list Iwould do in your position:</p>
<p>3 safeties
-San Francisco State
-Kansas State University
-Johnson and Wales</p>
<p>4 targets
-Arizona(solid in every major)
-Indiana(most beautiful campus and great career services)(this is were i might go, amazing college)
-Colorado State
-UC Santa Cruz</p>
<p>3 reaches
-University of Washington
-George Mason
-University of Denver (great connections)</p>
<p>You have no chance at UCLA. You can also consider Baylor(reach)(college on the rise, predicted to be top 50 by 2015), UNLV(target), Arizona State(possbile safety).</p>
<p>indybur1, indiana as in ?</p>
<p>You aren't so bad. Your GPA and SAT are solid enough to get into a lot of places. So relax first of all. Since you need aid, I'm not sure out of state public universities will work. Lots of them have high tuitions for out of state students, and obviously would rather give their aid to in-state people. Maybe it would work out, though. Many liberal arts colleges give a lot of aid, want minorities, and have a liberal social atmosphere. Maybe you should look at some of them- Muhlenburg, Bard, Pitzer, for example.</p>
<p>I looked into the University of Denver and it seems pretty well connected like you said. The fact that our current secretary of state is a graduate is impressive. Can you guys tell me anything else about it.</p>
<p>Indiana as in Bloomington silly. Kelley School of Business.</p>
<p>University of Denver- the secretary of interior Gale Norton is also from there as well as the founder of Hard Rock Cafe-- Peter Morton. The college is a church affiliated school. Over 81% of grads are offered employment which is amazing, this is a better percentage than Cornell graduates. In addition to this, it is NCAA division one sports and on a quarter grading system which is the only negative i see. Hope this helps.</p>
<p>Indybur1 gives a good list of schools here, but I need to suggest that you consider that University of Denver, while good, gives very little financial aid and is quite expensive. The only problem with UC Santa Cruz is that, while the tuition is cheap for you as a California resident--and the school is in an area that is very accepting of gays and lesbians--the cost of housing here (I live near Santa Cruz) is extremely high. So make sure you get university housing lined up right away if you plan to come here, because off-campus housing is almost impossible to get. This is still a place you should consider strongly--because of its proximity, low cost, and because you have a pretty good chance to get in here.</p>
<p>I think you would do well at the Arizona schools indybur1 mentioned (which are cheaper), or at one of the liberal arts schools that OneMom mentioned. You need to consider financial aid available as about as important as the school you be attending.</p>
<p>As far as Indiana--I agree it's an excellent and beautiful school--and my only son is there as a freshman right now. But the out-of-state tuition is $19K, along with the housing and meals and other things running around $11K means you need to afford $30K a year. The good news is that you might be able to get $7K of this from the scholarships they offer out-of-state students (apply early--like right now--to get these)--but still keep in mind that you will need loans and financial aid to cover the rest.</p>
<p>As far as Seattle University--too tough to get into. American University is too expensive because it is in Washington, D.C. (a very expensive city)--although their International Relations major is great.</p>
<p>The last couple of choices is (1)to attend a Cal State school or (2) to to a community college and then transfer to a UC campus after two years. This last choice would allow you to keep costs low by living at home during the first two years and not paying much (community colleges are pretty cheap) and then transfer to the four-year UC (like UC Santa Cruz) during the last two years.</p>
<p>Good luck to you.</p>
<p>mm, calcruzer .. your son's is in the business school at Indiana? </p>
<p>how's the uni? is the biz sch hard to get in? cause im gonna put its biz school as safety..</p>
<p>mbfr07:</p>
<p>UCLA: Reach</p>