Help me create a balanced list and decide where to apply!!!

College Search & Selection
1

Hi all,
I’m back. I have been putting together a list of colleges that I like, have heard good things about, or people that I know have gone to. I’m not really set on a major or minor so I’m mostly putting it together based on things I like. I think I like bigger schools where when I tell someone they don’t go “huh?” I obviously am not shooting for top schools, but would like to go somewhere that reflects well on me.

Bio:
-Citizenship: US
-State of residence: MN
-Class: Middle to Upper
-Race: White
-Gender: Female

School:
-Type (Public/private & size): Public/about 2500 students
-Graduates (How many go to Ivy’s/top 20):Unknown
-AP’s Offered: 10

Academic Profile:
-Unweighted GPA: 3.64
-Weighted GPA:3.93
-AP’s:4 taken, 4 will be taken next year
-ACT:31
-Rank:Top 25%
-Course Rigor:Mostly AP, advanced, or CIS (college in school)

EC (In order of importance/commitment):
-DECA (VP) (9,10,11,12)
-Varsity Dance Team(8,9,10,11,12)
-Speech Team(11,12)
-Stagemanager of musicals and plays(10,11,12)
-Studio Dance(9,10,11,12
-Leo’s (volunteering club)(9,10,11,12)
Work:
-Coldstone Creamery (shift lead)(10,11,12)
-Babysitting(9,10,11,12)

Intended Major:? Business? Journalism??
Intended Minor:??

2

Have you talked to your parents about what is affordable?

3

Yeah, they are willing to pay a good portion of it, but the final descion will probably come down to overall cost w/ scholarships .

4

@ucbalumnus

5

Size of student body and name recognition are not always connected.
To get helpful responses, you might want to give more info on your preferences:
Size of student body?
Research University or LAC?
Region of country?
Urban/Rural/Suburban?
Is Greek life important, or do you want done on campus?
Campus culture?

6

You may want to have a discussion to find out what their contribution limit is, so that you can craft an application list around their contribution limit plus a small amount of student loans and work earnings that you can contribute. Otherwise, April can be unpleasant if most of your admission offers are to schools which are too expensive.

While having this discussion with your parents, use a computer to go to the net price calculators of several colleges (e.g. MN publics, WI publics, private schools that you may consider) to see what financial aid and net price may look like at each.

7

I was asking for help choosing a college, not for help paying for it. Thanks for the concern… @ucbalumnus

8

Choosing colleges now that end up being too expensive means wasted effort and money on futile applications.

9

Have the money talk with your parents, even if you don’t post about it on the internet. Middle to upper class can be an uncomfortable place to be – the financial aid formulas can say your family can afford a huge chunk of their income and many parents balk at that.

Run the College Board EFC Estimator with your parents and talk about where they draw the line versus what the formula says they can afford. I promise it will be enlightening for all of you.

The Estimator returns a federal methodology number for FAFSA schools and an institutional methodology number for CSS/Profile schools. If you cannot afford anything in either range you need a school with a low price tag (such as an in-state public) or a school known for giving big merit scholarships.

10

Thanks, my parents are going to help me decide where is in price range not you :slight_smile: but if you have recommendations of where I could for sure get into school, where I probably could, and where I maybe could would be a lot more help ful

11

You could get into a lot of state flagship schools, plus some LAC’s outside the top 10. Look at colleges in USNWR, it has a lot of other info besides the number in front of the college.

12

“I was asking for help choosing a college, not for help paying for it.”

Choosing a college without considering costs is like deciding which house to purchase without bothering to check whether or not it is for sale.

13

@DadTwoGirls obviously

14

I guess we could do a search on all the schools with business and journalism where a 31 is in the mid-50%, but you’re capable of running a college search engine yourself, right? For something more personalized, we’d need to know more of the answers to post 4, and yes, your budget.

Once upon a time the advice was to ignore the price tags and it would all work out with financial aid. It’s a lot more complicated than that these days.

15

@dumbbutsmart , “middle to upper” class means different things to different people, but if your parents are looking at an EFC of $50, $60K, or more annually after taxes, and they are not willing or able to pay that for undergrad (which is most people), I completely agree with @ucbalumnus, @DadTwoGirls, and the other posters that it is pointless to be asking for school suggestions that would be financially unrealistic. If they are willing to pay that amount (or whatever your EFC is), say so and it is likely that people will suggest schools accordingly. These people have been around the block and are trying to help you.

16

@AroundHere yeah I pretty much want you to be a search engine with real stories instead of supposed statistics “my son got in _______ with similar stats” ya know?

17

Anecdotal stories of someone else getting in (or not) may not be that helpful since:

(a) a college’s selectivity may change year to year
(b) a college may have different selectivity by major
© the particular student may have been judged by the college to be particularly good or bad on the subjective criteria, which can mislead if you just look at his/her stats.

18

@dumbbutsmart, it wastes everyone’s time out here if you don’t know what is affordable. Each college has a net price calculator on their website. Start by having your parents run them for UMN-TC and UW-Madison (where you have reciprocity, so you would pay in-state tuition). See what they think about those results.

There is no point in people listing a bunch of reach/high match schools if you aren’t eligible for need based aid, and your parents won’t pay a quarter of a million dollars for you to attend. If they want you to hunt for merit aid, the list changes a lot – your stats need to be on the high end and the school needs to offer that type of aid. Or if you are eligible for need based aid, the list shifts again – only a small number of schools give very good need based aid.

Unfortunately, cost is a critical driver for probably 95% of students in making their college list. We see students every year with really inappropriate lists given their financial situation. And some of them end up with no affordable options in springbof senuor year. Posters asking you questions about this aren’t trying to tell you what to spend – but they are trying to help you with the hard realities that drive most college searches.

19

Cross off the UC’s in California: “huh?”

  1. They would be OOS with NO aid for OOS residents since they are funded by the taxpayers of California:
    $60K per year with no scholarships=$240K (quarter of a million after travel, health fees and incidentals). You won’t receive a dime from the state.
  2. Your UW GPA and ACTs would not be competitive because OOS students need to have higher stats than instate residents.
  3. Priority for admission is for residents.

No one can tell you here that you are similar to someone else and will get in to similar places because it doesn’t work that way.
Your
budget,
-demographics,
-state of residence,
-LOR’s,
-essays,
-AP course selections,
-foreign language
-EC’s
-intended major,
and stats
impacts your admission chances.
You don’t appear to be a National Merit Winner, URM, recruited athlete, legacy, or large donor, which also affects and impacts admission. College adcoms are looking to create a good class of accepted students each year. They might need a tuba player for band one year. A volleyball player the next year. They might need an artist to create a mural.

What they accept one year, may not be what they accept the following year.

Go on Amazon or Barnes and Noble and order a college reference book like: Fiske and see what colleges are in this country. Ask your parents for your estimated budget. Smart kids do that first.

20

You can try to look at the colleges and universities that match your preferences and in which you will get with your ACT score etc. somewhere like this source - https://search.university/search?actc=4&aos=business%2Cjournalism&dt=5&it=1%2C2&sap=on-campus&st=undergraduate, and than read student’s comments on the colleges you’ll choose on the Niche https://www.niche.com/colleges/rankings/