<p>3.5 G.P.A. (unweighted)
Honors and AP classes
1700 on the SAT (second time, will not be retaking because I am applying to colleges in August)
4 EC's
I plan to major in International Relations (or a similar field)</p>
<p>I would like to narrow down my list of colleges to about 8. </p>
<p>My list........</p>
<p>Indiana University (will be applying to)
University of Cinicinnati (will be applying to)</p>
<p>The others......</p>
<p>American University
Catholic University of America
Goucher College (test-optional)
Mount Holyoke College (test-optional)
Smith College (test-optional)
Connecticut College (test-optional)
Simmons College
Boston University
Emmanuel College
Arcadia University
Wheaton College (test-optional)</p>
<p>You need to be certain that your list includes at least one rock-solid safety that
a) you know for certain will admit you because of your GPA and test scores (many public universities post this information right on their websites);
b) you can pay for without any financial aid other than federally determined (FAFSA) aid and/or guaranteed merit-based aid that you know for certain you will qualify for based on your GPA and test scores;
c) offers your major (or if a community college, offers the first two years of your major and a formal articulation agreement for that major that will guarantee transfer into at least one 4-year institution after you complete an associates degree);
and
d) you will be happy to attend if all else goes wrong in the application process.</p>
<p>This rock-solid safety is the single most important institution on your list. Find it, and then build your list upward.</p>
<p>If you don’t know how much your family can afford for your education, ask them. Find out how they feel about you taking student loans, and how much money they expect you to make during the summer vacations and/or school year. When you know that, run the EFC calculators at [EFC</a> Calculator: How Much Money for College Will You Be Expected to Contribute?](<a href=“http://apps.collegeboard.com/fincalc/efc_welcome.jsp]EFC”>http://apps.collegeboard.com/fincalc/efc_welcome.jsp) and read up on student loans and other financial aid at [FinAid</a>! Financial Aid, College Scholarships and Student Loans](<a href=“http://www.finaid.org%5DFinAid”>http://www.finaid.org) Remember that your EFC should be considered to be the minimum amount that your family will be expected to pay. Most places will expect them to pay more.</p>
<p>University of Cincinnati is my safety. My major has a 97% acceptance rate, I get in-state tuition, and worse case senario I can commute. So that is taken care of. Indiana University is also a safety for me as well (in-state tuition, they offer my major, and I will be happy there.)</p>
<p>Now I just need help narrowing down my long list of other options…</p>
<p>What criteria do you want us to use to narrow your list? You can look at rankings, but there may be something about the schools that would narrow it down for you. You need to think about what’s important to you in a school that might help differentiate the schools. Maybe it’s location, weather, ratio of women to men, cost, or even the beauty of the campus. American is the obvious choice because of its location in DC, but maybe it costs too much for you or it’s too much of a reach now that they know your SAT score.</p>
<p>You should be able to get into IU with your GPA and test scores. If you apply early to IU they usually respond in a couple of weeks so you can hold off on the safety list until you hear back from them.</p>
<p>As far as the test optional schools go, I don’t think that you will find that it will make much of a difference. Your test score is not out of line with your GPA so I would eliminate any school on your list that is on your list only because of it being test optional.</p>
<p>It looks like you are looking for a small school in the Northeast and may be looking for a women’s college. If you can go to IU with instate tuition, it would be hard to justify going to Simmons, Emanuel or Goucher unless you qualify for a financial aid package.</p>
<p>I would look at your list and pick out 3 or 4 that you really like and that would go to even if IU says yes. They can be your reach schools if you want and could be match or safety schools if you really want to leave Indiana for a school in the east.</p>
<p>American University
Catholic University of America
Goucher College (test-optional)
Smith College (test-optional)
Connecticut College (test-optional)
Boston University
Arcadia University </p>
<p>This is a list of 9 total, maybe either Smith, Catholic, or Goucher could come off. American is also test-optional fyi and I think Arcadia is such a great school that many forget about. You will possibly get scholarship money there and they have a great study abroad program.</p>
<p>About you already sending the scores to American, perhaps you can e-mail an admissions rep and ask if they would consider removing them from your file and allowing you to apply test optional.</p>
<p>-Proximity to a major city
-Total cost (our EFC is at the weird figure of $15,000 where we don’t qualify for a lot of aid yet cannot afford to pay $30,000 plus each year of college)
-Internship opportunities
-I hope to go to law school and then practice international law so a good law advising program would be a plus
I would prefer a smaller liberal arts school (my safeties, IU and UC are both HUGE schools, but they are a lot cheaper than the LACs on my list)
-Study abroad program (I would like to spend a whole year abroad)</p>
<p>I don’t understand why you would say take off Smith and leave on places like Mount Holyoke (30 minutes from Smith) and Connecticut College. Smith and Mount Holyoke both have excellent programs in International Relations and Goverment and a lot of internship opportunities and study abroad options, not to mention long lines of impressive alumni in the political sector. </p>
<p>It’s things like this that are really leaving me confused as to where to apply. For example the two colleges mentioned above have great programs and opportunities where as a college like Catholic University of America has a better acceptance rate and the ultimate location for politics though their programs in general seem somewhat lacking. I really dont want to be applying to more than 10 schools but I’m really at a loss as to where to go from here, especially since I hope to have all my applications sent out no later than October.</p>
<p>American University - 76%
Catholic University - 77%
Goucher College - 76%
Mt. Holyoke College - 100%
Smith College - 100%
Connecticut College - 100%
Simmons College - 64%
Boston University - 89%
Emmanuel College - 72%
Arcadia University - 52%
Wheaton College (MA) - 97% </p>
<p>Mt. Holyoke, Smith, Conn & Wheaton would probably meet high % of your need. </p>
<p>Boston University looks OK, but so many applicants can’t afford it, so you could just apply and see what happens! </p>
<p>These are averages that the schools report themselves, no one checks up on them!</p>