Hi! I am currently a junior in high school and living in NJ. I am starting to check out colleges, but I’m kinda lost and hoping someone can put me in my place. I am a good student with a 3.8 gpa, take nearly all honors/ap classes, and I am also in a medical program that collaborates with our nearby rwj hospital (where freshman and sophomore year we received tours and presentations by different specialties, and junior and senior year we get to shadow different doctors…once in a lifetime opportunity i know). I also participate in many activities: marching band, indoor drumline, track & field, photography club, cadet at my local rescue squad, and a lot more volunteering.
Regarding college, I’m not too sure where I stand and what I can get into. I haven’t taken the SAT/ACT yet, so I’m not exactly sure where I lay with that at the moment. But i’m really interested in becoming a (forensic?) pathologist. Something along those lines…I don’t want to be directly with a patient but some sort of researching. But I’ve been looking at colleges all the way from Hopkins to University of South Florida, i’m all over the spectrum.
Now that i just rambled a lot, I hope someone can help me figure out what my best options are for the future and give me some suggestions. Thank you in advance !
A college list with both USF and Hopkins is not necessarily a bad thing – every list must have safety, match, and reach schools. You should be sure to have at least one in-state public university or community college as a definitely-affordable financial safety school as well. You and your parents need to figure out your college budget and understand financial aid.
By the end of 11th, you need your basic ACT or SAT score and a list of colleges. But, you have all year to figure this out.
Take a practice ACT and SAT, and pick the one you like to prepare for and get it done. One side effect of taking the PSAT/SAT/ACT is that the college junk mail will start coming. Keep an eye open for college fairs to visit and talk to representatives of multiple colleges in one place. The Princeton Review 380-ish best colleges (the exact number changes a bit each year) is also a great way to get an overview of multiple schools at once.
You want up to 5 safety/match schools where the acceptance rate is 50% or higher and your test score and GPA are in the mid-50% of accepted students or better, and up to 5 match/reach schools with lower acceptance rates or where your test scores and GPA are closer to the borderline.
All the schools on the list should either be schools that are affordable or that are likely to give you the financial aid you need to make them affordable. I could write a novel about how financial aid works, but for now, just have a discussion with your parents about what they can afford and what amounts of loans your family is comfortable taking.
My parents and I aren’t concerned about the money aspect of college, they believe that money shouldn’t stop me from going wherever I wish (especially if it’s a good school).
Do you have any ideas of what school would be best for me ?
You can believe whatever you want about whether money should stop you, but unless you have 250,000 in the bank, you need to think about money. Those rose colored glasses are probably the most dangerous part of the college search.
Try this quiz to help you figure out what you want, or at least how to ask better questions.
http://www.schoolbuff.com/qualities.asp