Help me be realistic here...

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I am currently a junior and pretty much clueless as to where I should set my sights for college. I have no interest in pursuing an especially outstanding school, as I am not an especially outstanding student. Still, I am very much looking forward to college and don't want to sell myself short.</p>

<p>One thing that I feel deserves to be taken into consideration is the fact that I have moved twenty-two times, lived in twelve states (from the midwest to the west coast, deep south to the northeast), and attended sixteen schools, all the while managing to excel academically. I plan on making a point of this in my essay. Do you think they would find that significant?</p>

<p>Academically, in every class I have taken, I maintained an A. Courses listed below.
-- 8th: --
Earth Science for high school credit
-- 9th: --
Eng 9 Adv
Biology
Geometry
Span 1
Journalism
-- 10th: --
Eng 10 Adv
Algebra 2 Adv
World History Adv
Chemistry Adv
Spanish 2
--11th (presently)--
Global Studies 2 Adv
English 11
Astronomy/Nutrition
Spanish 3
Trigonomety
Studio Art
--12th (projected--
AP USH
AP Biology
Precalculus
Gov’t & Economics
Spanish 4
Eng 12</p>

<p>*I recognize that the courses I have taken junior year are lacking in AP's and advanced, but I hope that the school I apply to will see some initiative in my senior year schedule... </p>

<p>As a sophomore I took the PSAT, and scored around a 200. I am taking it again next month and then taking the SAT in the spring.</p>

<p>Also, this year I am involved in:
2 Clubs (KEY Club and Youth in Gov't)
NHS
youth group
hospital volunteering (4-5 hours/week)</p>

<p>So, this is what I am offering. What do you think my options are? How important is it to admissions, my being "well rounded" (having lived in such a variety of places, albeit all in the United States)? And one quick question- should I include writing for personal reasons, as in journal writing, if it is a hobby I have practiced roughly 5 hours weekly for four years?
Any advice appreciated, thanks!</p>

2

<p>Bard
Middlebury
Beloit
Barnard
Bennington
Brown
Carnegie Mellon
Columbia
Creighton
Denison
Eckerd
Emerson
Fla St
Grinnell
Hamilton
Hobart
U Iowa
John’s Hopkins
Kenyon
U of Michigan
SUNY New Paltz
NC State
Northwestern
Oberlin
U Oregon
U Pitt
Redlands
San Fran St
Sarah Lawrence
Susquehanna
Sweet Briar
Temple
UVA
Wheaton (MA)
Wittenberg</p>

3

<p>Thanks, but those schools seem somewhat random, from a very broad spectrum… what makes you suggest those?</p>

4

<p>What are you interested in? Big school or small school? East coast or west coast? Hot or cold? etc, etc. You’ve lived in 22 places so you should know where you would be comfortable. And I think that would be an excellent essay topic.</p>

5

<p>^ I don’t know where all those came from.</p>

<p>OP, what is your GPA? What is your ranking in HS? What is your home state? Do you need financial aid?</p>

6

<p>The schools were listed in a thread on creating writing programs and your interest in writing is about the only guide you gave us to go on. I don’t know anything else about you so a random list from a broad spectrum seems to make sense.</p>

7

<p>I second what Secret Asian Man says. Where are you living now? That will matter if you are looking for an in-state school. I also agree that the subject of your essay sounds wonderful. Your PSAT score is very promising and you have done well to maintain straight A’s with all those moves. I believe there are many good colleges out there who will be able to put the facts together well enough to overlook your curriculum which is, admittedly, light.</p>

8

<p>I am currently living in New York and will finish the last of high school here. While I know it’s more difficult and expensive to go to an out-of-state school, I would rather not go to an in-state university.</p>

<ul>
<li>big school (I don’t mind anonymity and I like the resources/opportunites)</li>
<li>real campus (so not smack dab in the middle of a metropolis, like NYU is)</li>
<li>student housing available</li>
<li>sticking to the southern coastal states east or west (i.e. California, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia)</li>
<li>I do need financial aid, but have yet to look into that.</li>
</ul>

<p>I’m considering majoring in psychology and minoring in creative writing.
That, or pursuing journalism. I am not interested in math or the heavily math-realated sciences like physics and chemistry. I haven’t got my heart set on any particular path yet, but I have the general idea to go on.</p>

<p>As for my GPA and ranking, I’m just not sure. An A average (95) unweighted would a 3.8? My school weights all the advanced courses from freshman year through the end of junior year when determing class ranking, so I think that should put me in the top 10%, having taken a mix of regular and advanced as an A student.</p>

<p>I know my course load is light, but I’m hoping that they don’t see it as laziness so much as catching up to speed after a disjointed, all-over-the-map (literally) education.</p>

<p>Hope this helped you help me!</p>

9

<p>Yes, you should mention your writing in the essays, even if most of it has been personal. I agree that your record is pretty darned good. How about looking at good sized liberal arts colleges such as Oberlin, Vassar, Ohio Wesleyan, Goucher, Gettysburg, Hood, Skidmore, and maybe Boston College. On the west coast, Pitzer and Occidental may be a fit.</p>

10

<p>Also in So. Cal- Pomona, Claremont McKenna, USC (it’s nice and big), UCLA</p>

11

<p>Here’s the problem: in dozens of lines you talked about what you’ve done in terms of how colleges might evaluate you, but nary a word about what you want in college. And here’s the surprising (to most people) fact: most colleges in this country accept the majority if not most of their applicants. The ones that are super-selective are perhaps 100 or so out of 2,000+ colleges. So the answer is that you can get into a huge number of places, the burden is for you to figure out what you want and then find out what colleges offer it.</p>

<p>I strongly suggest taking a step back here; rather than collecting names of colleges (each of which will have strength that makes it attractive), give yourself a grounding in the admission process including how to select colleges that are a fit for you. Spend a week reading thru a good book about college admissions, such as “Admission Matters” by Springer & Franck. Take a look at the table of contents on Amazon and I think you’ll see the book is going to go a long way to answering your question(s). Or ask your friends about books they have used and found helpful.</p>

<p>And in your search be sure to pay attention to costs; you didn’t mention in your post whether you’ll need financial aid, but this can be a big differentiator since the aid packages can differ significantly between colleges.</p>

12

<p>Sammimot -</p>

<p>Except for the “- sticking to the southern coastal states east or west (i.e. California, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia)” bit, Cornell could work for you. Check out the offerings in the College of Human Ecology, the College of Ag. and Life Sciences, and the College of Industrial and Labor Relations. As a NYS resident, you could take advantage of the in-state tuition rates there.</p>

<p>You also should sit your parent(s) down and run the financial aid calculators at [FinAid</a>! Financial Aid, College Scholarships and Student Loans](<a href=“http://www.finaid.org%5DFinAid”>http://www.finaid.org) and the College Board website. Then talk with them about just exactly how much money they have for your education. Can you meet your family EFC or not? If you can’t, then you need to research places that will offer you the financial aid you need, or that you can afford without anything more than federally determined (FAFSA) financial aid.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

13

<p>Without knowing you well - UNCW (university of North Carolina at Wilmington) looks like a fit. Good academics (and a Great writing program) at a med size residential school near the beach.</p>

14

<p>Since you have unusual circumstances, it is more important than ever that you develop a list of Reach, Match and Safety schools. You can get an initial feel by seeing if you are inrange as far as gpa at test scores go. Those are all published online at collegeboard.com and in good guides like the Fiske Guide (read it.) However, people outside of these are admitted as well, and in your case I would say don’t be afraid to reach as long as you have decent match and safety.</p>

<p>For now, just get Fiske and read about the types of colleges and see what clicks for YOU. Later, try to make your long list. then your short list.</p>

<p>It’s only a good essay topic as long as it is a good essay. I’m sure it has been done before, so make it personal, insightful and well written. Sounds like you can do that.</p>

15

<p>If you do need FA then you need to look into the SUNYs. Using one of the posts above as an example, you will get no FA at all from UCLA. At least have an in-state school as a financial safety. SUNY New Paltz is in a pretty area and a good school (though I don’t know about their writing program - they are more known for education).</p>

16

<p>You mentioned that you want to go out of state. You’ve probably already thought of this, but you may qualify as being a resident at any of the states you’ve lived in over the past few years, even if you’ve moved away. You’ll have to check with each school, but I think you’re considered a resident in some states if you’ve lived there at least one year over the past five years.</p>

17

<p>Poway, That is not true. If that were the case people would be switching residency at will. It is true that states have different requirements and it is worth checking out.</p>

18

<p>I’m seconding the advice for looking at the SUNYs even if you know you want to go out of state - they are excellent deals for NYS students.</p>

<p>I also don’t know why someone suggested Cornell since you explicitly stated you’re not looking for a top school. Boston College, Pomona, Claremont McKenna, USC, and UCLA are also highly competitive schools and UCLA makes no sense to suggest since you’re OOS you’re not likely to get any financial aid. USC does at least sound like it fits your criteria.</p>

<p>If you want a big school in the southern coastal states, look at </p>

<p>VA: University of Virginia, George Mason University, Old Dominion University, University of Mary Washington, University of Richmond, Virginia Commonwealth University, James Madison
NC: University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (challenging to get into OOS and the financial aid may be slim, but worth a look)
SC: University of South Carolina (less challenging, may be more welcoming to OOS), Clemson, Furman,
GA: University of Georgia, Emory (maybe - it is a top school but you could likely get in)
FL: University of Florida and other universities in the Florida system such as Florida State, Central Florida, South Florida, etc.
AL: University of Alabama-Tuscaloosa, Auburn University
TX: UT-Austin and other schools in the Texas system like Texas A&M, Southern Methodist University (might be a little small for your needs), Baylor, Rice, Texas Tech
AZ: University of Arizona, Arizona State
CA: the UC system (try some of the less popular campuses - not necessarily UCLA or UC-Berkeley. Look at Davis, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Irvine, Santa Cruz and Merced, too) and the Cal State system, Loma Linda University, Azusa Pacific, Loyola Marymount, Pepperdine, USD, </p>

<ul>
<li>sticking to the southern coastal states east or west (i.e. California, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia)</li>
<li>I do need financial aid, but have yet to look into that.</li>
</ul>

19

<p>Not sure why someone would suggest University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill to an oos student who said “I have no interest in pursuing an especially outstanding school, as I am not an especially outstanding student”. UNC-CH is one of the hardest state schools in the country to get into oos. Not sure about the other recs but that one was off. You might look into UNC-Wilmington or UNC-Asheville.</p>