Help making my short(long)list

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I'm going into my senior year and the pressure to work on my college list is getting to me and I've decided I really need to start taking it seriously. That said, I thought I would ask some of you guys for help concerning which colleges I should be looking at, visiting, and eventually applying to.</p>

<p>My stats:</p>

<p>3.74 GPA
Rank: Hovering right on the border of top 10% and top 25%
30 ACT with a 7 on the writing (I got the same score twice... taking it again)</p>

<p>As I'm from an extremely small school (my graduating class has 42 people in it), we aren't offered AP courses. I have however taken a rudimentary at best honors english and got a 3 on the AP english/lit exam.</p>

<p>EC:
NHS (11/12)
Spanish Club (9/10/11/12)
FCA Leader (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) (11/12)
Varsity Soccer Team since my sophomore year and dressed JV and Varsity my Freshman year. (I don't plan to pursue sports, however.)
Active on my church praise and worship band
I've done some missionary work both locally and a week long work in Philadelphia.
Student Tutor
Newspaper Editor and yearbook staff member (11)</p>

<p>Work Experience:
I currently work at a local online retail business that deals mostly with webstores. My job involves managing inventory levels, pricing, product details, shipping, occasional computer work, and product photography.</p>

<p>So far, I've taken the hardest classes possible at my school, which I'm not sure is saying much compared to the rigorous courses at some schools. The highest math course I'll be taking is Advanced Math (essentially pre-calc) and although I had the option to take both Advanced Math and Calculus simultaneously, I've opted to take Computer Science instead of Calculus. Taking both math courses at once is not recommended by the school. The idea was sort of a collaboration between another student and I.</p>

<p>I'm currently looking at a potential major in electrical engineering, computer engineering, or computer science. I live near Toledo Ohio and I would like to stay within the general area. Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania are definitely in my scope. Eastern parts of New York may work as well.</p>

<p>Cost is important, as my parents are unable to provide a great deal of aid. It's quite likely that my choice will come down to whoever offers the best financial aid.</p>

<p>A music scene is important, but it's likely that any decent sized school will fit my needs seeing as I'm not looking to major in music. I currently play electric bass and double bass and would like to potentially become involved in orchestra, which is something not available to me currently.</p>

<p>I've been looking at the following so far:</p>

<p>Case Western (possibly a stretch???)
Ohio State University
Univ of Illinois in Urbana-Champagne
Ohio Wesleyan
Carnegie Mellon (probably a stretch...)
University of Michigan (Out of state tuition is astronomical, but I'm not sure if there is any aid offered to ohio residents as well.) </p>

<p>Hopefully you guys can help me add a few more schools to my list. A lot of those choices may seem a bit optimistic given my situation. Feel free to point that out. Reality checks don't hurt that badly.</p>

<p>Let me know if you need more information. I feel that I've provided a decent amount, but I may have missed something important.</p>

2

<p>I think you would probably get into Case actually, Michigan and Carnegie are your biggest reaches in my opinion. Ohio Wesleyan is almost a safety based on your act and gpa and Ohio state is a solid match. </p>

<p>I don’t know about your money situation but I think Michigan and Illinois will be very expensive since you are out of state… Case gives good aid from what I hear as does Wesleyan.</p>

<p>I am from Ohio too and my daughter will be a senior. She will be applying to College of Wooster, Ohio Wesleyan, Wittenberg, OSU and OU, St. Lawrence and about 4 more that she has to decide on out of a list of about 10 left!! She changes her mind a lot :slight_smile: She has a 28 act and 4.0 GPA with honors and 3 AP classes - we feel very positive about OSU so you should too! It is a great school. :)</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

3

<p>Ahh, thank you. That’s quite comforting to hear. You’re probably right about Ill and Michigan. My brother is currently attending UChicago with a near full ride, but… that’s a private school that offers a lot of need based aid and his stats ate mine for breakfast. Unfortunately, that school doesn’t offer much in the way of engineering. If I think I could get into Northwestern, that might be worth a shot because of financial aid. </p>

<p>Does anyone have any colleges in mind that I’m not looking at so far? I’d probably be looking at another safety, a match, and perhaps 2 or 3 more reaches. It would be nice to have that large of a list, anyway.</p>

4

<p>I got a PM and got tipped off about RIT and a few others. Ended up adding both RIT and University of Rochester to my list. U Rochester is definitely a reach, but I need more of those anyhow. I’m still looking for a few more matches and reaches. Maybe another safety would be beneficial as well.</p>

5

<p>You said that you want to stay in region…but Alabama might be the cheapest place you could attend.</p>

<p>Scholarship money is guaranteed with your stats. You would also get an additional $2500 for engineering. Total cost of attendance will probably be less than $20,000 per year and you might receive need based aid in addition to the merit aid.</p>

<p>[Out-of-State</a> Scholarships - Undergraduate Scholarships - The University of Alabama](<a href=“http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out_of_state.html]Out-of-State”>http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out_of_state.html)</p>

6

<p>Alabama is a bit further than I was planning on going, but that did prompt me to look into out of state scholarships a bit more. Thanks for the tip. :)</p>