<p>Basically I've asked alot of people here for help. I have to say I'm very thankful for those who have helped. It's allowed me to understand the college process better. I've made a list of 40 schools that somewhat fit the things I'm looking for. (There were probably 100+ schools people mentioned to me.) Now I have to narrow that down. Below are my preferences. You can help by maybe telling me something about the school that I don't know or telling me where I could find out more info about the school. As always any advice recommendations welcomed. Ultimately I want to have the final list with some safeties, matches, and reaches. I ask for your help once again. </p>
<p>My preferences:
-A school thats urban, could be surburban if the school is good academically speaking. I'd probably prefer it'd be out in the East coast (Northeast, Middle East, and Florida). I have some exceptions out in the west coast as well such as California or Arizona. Also if UW-Madison has a real good math department and business/economics department I don't mind going there.
-Public or Private. If it's private I'm hoping it can aid me financially. Some of these schools are in the $30K level and that's expensive if I'm not getting any help. If anything I can tell you right off the bat that both my parents overall make $40K-45K a year. I know public schools tend to be cheaper, especially the state schools.
-Definitely 4-year college/university.
-Middle size school. I don't want to have trouble reaching the professor. Mid-sized allows me to meet new people and hopefully to have some one-on-one time with the professors.
-Co-Ed housing. Or at very least some kind of housing available.
-Has to be a NCAA Division I school.
-Not interested in the greek life scene. If it's there I don't care though.
-Univeristy has to be wired for internet access of some sort.
-Not looking for anything religious.</p>
<p>Most importantly:
Has to offer Statistics and Economics for majors. A big plus would be having a good business/economics department and math department. The more majors offered in Business the better. The majors and classes offered are what's important to me. And a good computer/tec department helps as well to learn how to use/make data bases and the likes of it. I figure it's going to be important for something like business and math.</p>
<p>To me the most important thing is the type of education I'll be receiving at the school. I can even make exceptions for schools out in the south east if they offered the other things mentioned.</p>
<p>Keep in mind these stats:
SAT: 530m,530cr,510w (1570)
AVG: ~92</p>
<p>American Interntl C
Appalachian SU
Arizona SU
Bowling Green SU
Cal Poly SU San Luis
Canisius C
Catawba C
Central CT SU
Central Michigan U
Chicago SU
CUNY Baruch C
Florida Intrntl U
Florida SU
Indiana SU
La Salle U
Miami U Oxford
Michigan SU
New York U
Ohio SU Columbus
Ohio U
Old Dominion U
Penn State U Park
Rutgers New Brunswk
San Diego SU
San Fran SU
SUNY Albany
Texas A&M U
U Akron
U Calif Riverside
U Calif Santa Barb
U Connecticut
U Florida
U Iowa
U Miami
U South Car
U Vermont
U Wis Madison
Virginia Tech
Wright SU
Youngstown SU</p>
<p>You can check on the NCAA Div 1 status online. About Texas A&M, it's very conservative, housing the George W. Bush library. It's also very hard to get in if you're out of state due to the Texas law requiring that TX public schools accept all in-state applicants in the top 10% of their class. I know that there's some kind of automatic admission for people who have above a certain SAT (it used to be 1300+ I believe.) College Station is not a big town. It's a good-sized college town. It's about 1hr. 1/2 from Houston and I think about the same distance from Austin. I don't believe that the financial aid is very good as far as I know.</p>
<p>Of those I'm familiar with the following would be real reaches if you're SAT doesn't go up: U of Miami, U of Florida, Va. Tech, Penn State, & NYU. Those that I think you'd have a good shot at are:App. St., Canisuis,Catawba, Mich St., Lasalle, Ohio , ODU, Rutgers, SUNY Albany, & Vermont...can't speak to the others.</p>
<p>I actually knew as I checked them that they would be reaches but I wasn't sure by how much. See I went to Collegeboard.com to look at these schools. Here's what they had to say. Actually looking back I'm not sure how NYU got on there considering my SAT scores. </p>
<p>I've heard that some people often get by with SAT scores that are lower than what's usually accepted at the school. SATs aren't the end all number to applying, at least that's what I've been told and trust me it's taken a while to get that into my head. I've had alot of friends in college tell me that and they shared their experiences with me about applying. That's why I figured I'd put those schools down. I'm really hoping for much higher SAT scores come October.</p>
<p>This is the Middle 50% of First-Year Students Percent Who Submitted Scores:</p>
<p>University of Florida
SAT Reasoning Verbal: 570 - 670 76%
SAT Reasoning Math: 590 - 690 76% </p>
<p>University of Miami
SAT Reasoning Verbal: 570 - 670 77%
SAT Reasoning Math: 590 - 680 77% </p>
<p>Virginia Tech
SAT Reasoning Verbal: 540 - 630 97%
SAT Reasoning Math: 560 - 660 97% </p>
<p>Penn State University Park
SAT Reasoning Verbal: 530 - 630 96%
SAT Reasoning Math: 560 - 660 96% </p>
<p>New York University
SAT Reasoning Verbal: 610 - 700 94%
SAT Reasoning Math: 610 - 710 94</p>
<p>With that said, I'll remove NYU and just put to the side the other schools. So that leaves me with 34 schools and 4 big reaches. BTW is it possible that you could elaborate on how hard it would be for me to get into those reaches you mentioned? Anything you might know about these schools helps. Alot of them are 'names' I've heard of and when I looked them up they just seemed to offer what I wanted.</p>
<p>For larger schools such as those you're looking at most will look initially at only 3 things: GPA, Class rank, SAT (or ACT).....difficult to determine which schools weigh which of the 3 factors most heavily in any given year. Another thing to keep in mind is that athletes and majors which are accepted by perfromance (perfroming arts, art) tend to bring the average down. With that said you may not have much of a chance if your SAT's are even at their 25th percentile. 1200 SAt's may give you a shot at Penn State & Va. Tech...NYU, Uof F, and Miami would still be a reach. My advice is to do everything you can to raise your SAT score...I don't care what others say....with applying students GPA's so similiar SAT scores are used more heavily than any school will admit. Smaller schools are more likely to take into account the whole student (extra curriculars, etc.).</p>
<p>What do you mean by "mid-sized"? Many of the schools on your list have 20,000 plus students, some have 30,000 plus. That's not "mid-sized" in my mind. If you want "midsized" you might want to take the following HUGE universities off of your list:</p>
<p>Arizona SU
Florida SU
Indiana SU
Michigan SU
Ohio SU Columbus
Penn State U Park
Rutgers New Brunswk
San Diego SU
Texas A&M
U Florida<br>
U Wis Madison</p>
<p>By the way, you are wrong in saying "public schools tend to be cheaper." That's true instate but not always out of state. For example, the cost of attending the University of California schools on your list tops $39,000 a year. There is also limited financial aid for out of state students, mostly in the form of loans. </p>
<p>Also keep in mind that for state schools, the minimum range of SAT scores usually reflect the school's mission to serve instate students. Out of state students usually need to be towards the HIGHER end of the scale. </p>
<p>Since you mentioned U of California Santa Barbara and U of California Riverside, your test scores are low for out of state. I'd recommend you read about the admissions minimum formula (UC GPA plus SAT I plus SAT II) at <a href="http://www.ucop.edu/pathways%5B/url%5D">www.ucop.edu/pathways</a>. The UC's would be real reaches for you out of state with your current test scores. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo would also be a reach, and SDSU would be reachy.</p>
<p>I agree strongly with CSdad: for public schools test scores are critical, especially if you are applying out of state. Private schools, especially smaller private schools like Catawba, are more inclined to weigh other factors heavily, such as your recommendations, essay, EC's, and personal characteristics. Again, I'd also recommend you check out the list of schools that either don't require SATs or make them optional at <a href="http://www.fairtest.org%5B/url%5D">www.fairtest.org</a></p>
<p>Although I know size is a factor I put it at the bottom of the list when it comes to the quality of programs they offer for what I'm looking at. In other words I knew a bit about the size of those schools when adding them to my list but schools like Arizona State and Florida State were ranked among the Top 25 in Baseball teams. (<a href="http://www.ncaasports.com/baseball/mens/polls?&_1:col_1=1%5B/url%5D">http://www.ncaasports.com/baseball/mens/polls?&_1:col_1=1</a>)
Also you've helped me eliminate 4 more schools. The UC schools. I was wondering though if you would add San Fran SU in there too because I didn't see you mention it and I believe it's also a UC school. So far my list is down to 30, 29 if you take San Fran SU out as well, with 5 big reaches.</p>
<p>Also I've noted the schools you told me that are huge in case at the end that's what it comes down to eliminate some schools.</p>
<p>I managed to actually get what I wanted just earlier today at the FairTest site. You gave me the link the other day and the site was a bit weird to navigate but I found the page I think I was looking for: <a href="http://fairtest.org/optstate.html%5B/url%5D">http://fairtest.org/optstate.html</a> . I'll be using it. And also I wasn't aware about public schools looking critically at SATs. Just one of the other differences between Public and Private schools I guess. You've been real helpful.</p>
<p>Also would you know anything about the programs for any of these schools? Anything that might stand out in your mind about a school here or there?</p>
<p>I looked through the schools and from the ones that I have listed here are the ones that are on that site.</p>
<p>San Diego SU - 3,11
San Fran SU - 3,11
U Iowa - 3
U South Car - 11
Youngstown SU - 1,2,3</p>
<p>Key:
1 = SAT I/ACT used only for placement and/or academic advising
2 = SAT I/ACT required only from out-of-state applicants
3 = SAT I/ACT used only when minimum GPA and/or class rank is not met
11= Admission/Eligibility Index calculated with 3.5 GPA or lower and SAT I total score of 400.</p>
<p>Now I know you said that San Diego SU is reachy but it's interesting to know they fall into that list on the site you gave me. However I'm a bit confused on what 11 means. Also I looked at San Diego SU through Collegeboard and here's what I found on their SAT scores:</p>
<p>Middle 50% of First-Year Students Percent Who Submitted Scores
SAT Reasoning Verbal: 480 - 580 97%
SAT Reasoning Math: 490 - 600 97% </p>
<p>I see they have 95% In-State, 5% Out-State. Is SDSU like UC where they give preference to In-State students even if they have lower SAT scores than Out-State students? Just wondering about SDSU I guess.</p>
<p>why do u wanna go to San Luis Obispo!!!!!!!! AHHH I went there(not to the college but passed thru) AND THERES NOTHING TO DO!!!! I went on a cali adventure program...and I saw it i was like COOL a college then I looked around...and im like boooooo theres nothing its the middle of nowhere</p>
<p>Balmes, California actually has a two pronged system of public schools. The University of California system is the flagship system of research universities. UC Santa Barbara and UC Riverside are UC's. The California state university system is a different system. It has more campuses, and focuses more on undergraduate education. The curriculum is more focused on career prep as well. SFCU, SDSU, and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo are all part of the california state system. San Francisco State is a decent school, but be aware that it is primarily a commuter campus, not a residential campus. I think only 5% of students live on campus. (This is common with many of the cal state schools). The advantages of the cal states: they are significantly cheaper than the UC's, especially for out of state students. Some can be relatively easy for out of state students to get into.</p>
<p>However, the top cal states (SDSU and Cal Poly) can be just as hard to get into as some of the mid-range UC's. One downside of many cal state schools, in particular SDSU and Cal Poly, is that many of their programs/majros are impacted. That means it can be difficult to get into certain majors, and difficult to graduate in 4 years. When schools are impacted, preference goes to California residents.</p>
<p>You may want to check out the cal state website - there are actually something like 23 cal state schools, and one may appeal. The website is <a href="http://www.calstate.edu%5B/url%5D">www.calstate.edu</a> You might particularly like Chico State, Long Beach state, Fullerton State, and Humboldt State, but there are many others to consdier as well. The same website has information on overall requirements and which programs are impacted at the various campuses.</p>
<p>Balmes, Just wanted to add that you can PM me if you'd like to discuss some of this privately. I do have some insights into some of the schools on your list but don't check this board every day. I do, however, read my PMs every day.</p>
<p>Thanks. I'll be sure to do that. As you can see there's alot I'm looking at here. Your help will be very much appreciated and I'm thankful for what you've provided so far.</p>
<p>Got a kid we had go to Penn. St. stats today. 93 avg., 1180 SAT, ton of EC's and some college earned credits, 19 of 156 class rank and he initially did not get accepted. Got accepted into one of their other branch campuses, went to visit & hated it. Got main campus to take him by agreeing to attend summer school there before school started in the fall...he is out-of-state. So as you can see he fell right about at their 50th % in SAT and he still had a heck of a time getting in.</p>
<p>Sounds like a hard task. I'm definitely putting Penn State down as a reach though and I'll be studying for better results this upcoming SAT.</p>
<p>I was meaning to ask you about these colleges you mentioned earlier that you said were good matches:</p>
<p>"Those that I think you'd have a good shot at are:App. St., Canisuis,Catawba, Mich St., Lasalle, Ohio , ODU, Rutgers, SUNY Albany, & Vermont...can't speak to the others."</p>
<p>Is there anything you can tell me about these schools? What are there Economics/Statistics programs like? I'm currently looking at the sport teams but it's a bit harder to do with the list I have, but if there's anything you might know about their baseball team that'll help. And what's the campus like, students, outer area, etc?</p>
<p>Some of this depends on what level of baseball player you are. Ask your High School coach what level, if any he thinks you could play at in college. If you are a senior you should already have an idea if you are a Division I player., very few are. Catawba is a D III not so sure about the rest, their web sites would tell. I don't know anything about their Econ/ stats programs. As far as quaility of life.....I'd rate Ohio U., Catawba, Vermont, Mich. St. above the rest of the list.</p>
<p>Actually there is a little confusion here I think. I do play baseball but I'm not actually interesting in going to a Div I school to play baseball. I'm actually interested because I would like to offer my services to the coaching staff. My goals and intention are to someday be in the major leagues as a GM or one of the executive making decisions. Getting to work with a Division I team in my mind looks really good on your resume. Helps me gain experience which I'll need if I want to accomplish my dream. That's why I've asked about those Div I schools. Also thanks for the insight on Catawba I actually didn't realize it until now. The majority of these schools though I think are Div I. And the comments on those schools as far as quality of life really helps. My school actually has this partnership with UVM so I get to apply there for free and they offer a great deal of money in financial aid and to top it off almost everyone in my school gets in there. There might be a trip there this winter so I might go and attend to see what it's like.</p>
<p>I know this is a weird question but is there anything negative you can tell me about any of the schools left on the list. Anything that sounds like it might not be for me?</p>
<p>So far I've taken off the list:
Texas A&M U
U Calif Riverside
U Calif Santa Barb
Cal Poly SU San Luis
San Diego SU
Central CT SU
(Might add San Fran SU soon)</p>
<p>The rest are still there, including the reaches: Virginia Tech, Penn State U Park, U Florida, U Miami, and New York U. Although I might eventually eliminate the reaches but I want to keep them on the side to look at them carefully later on and hear what other opinions on what might chances are.</p>