Help me pick some good schools!

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Ok, so I've been talking with some people in the "Chances" forums, and apparently all the schools I've been planning on applying to are "safeties" for my stats. Based on said stats, what do you guys think would be good schools for me?</p>

<p>Class: 2008
Sex: Female
Location: California
Class Rank: 31 out of about 800 (top 5% easily)</p>

<p>Classes/Grades:
9th grade
Choir: A/A
Algebra I: B/B
SS&C 1-2: A/A
Health/Geography: A/A
English 1-2 Acc: A/A
Golf: A/A</p>

<p>10th Grade
Geometry: A/B
English 3-4 ACC: A/A
SS&C 3-4: A/A
Choir: A/A
Modern World History: A/A
Spanish 1-2: A/A
Golf: A (dropped 2nd semester because I didn't have enough time for it with all my extracurriculars)</p>

<p>11th Grade
0 Period Choir: A/A
SS&C 5-6 Honors: B/B
English 5-6 Honors: A/A
APUSH: C/C (2 on the test)
Choir: A/A
Spanish 3-4: A/A
Algebra 2: C/C
Golf: A (Again, dropped second semester for EC's)</p>

<p>12th grade (planned courses):
Bible as Literature
Government/Economics International Negotiations
Intro to Philosophy/Ethics
Choir
Hopefully I'll make 0 period choir again (it's the top choir at my school made up of only 18-20 people so needless to say you have to audition for it)
Teacher's Aide
I chose a lighter course-load this year so I can really focus on my EC's and because I may not be taking a whole lot of courses but they're really good/interesting courses.</p>

<p>I've attended a few summer leadership programs, such as the National Young Leaders' Conference and a LeadAmerica Conference on Forensic Science. I participate in a lot of extracurriculars and I have about 93 hours of Community Service...it's likely that I'll have about 130 by graduation.</p>

<p>I scored a 1670 on the SAT I with an 8 on the essay (My math score really killed me, as I knew it would, math is definitely not my strong point). I scored 470 on the Math section, 580 on Critical Reading and 620 on Writing.</p>

<p>I also took Literature, Math II and Chemistry subject tests and scored 470 on Math (again, math is nowhere near my strong point), 540 on Literature and 450 on Chemistry.</p>

<p>For the volunteer work that I have logged: I was a teacher's aide in summer school, which got me 73 hours. I was also a teacher's aide during the regular school year but did not receive credit and chose instead to receive community service hours, which got me 20 hours. However, I also have several hours I have not logged including singing for the Most Inspiring Student Dinner Awards in my city and doing various performances (with a group) for small children.</p>

<p>As for EC's:
-I was a member of the Women's Varsity golf team for 3 years
-I have been singing for school for the past 9 years and with my church for 3 years. I am involved in the top choir at my school and we have traveled to San Francisco State for a festival and to Jamestown with other choirs from my District for the celebration of the 400th anniversary of Jamestown.
-I have been involved in musical theatre for 7 years
-I am a Co-Chair for the club at my school called GirlsTalk, a club for girls (obviously) to discuss various issues from current events to safe weight loss/gain to pregnancy..pretty much everything under the sun.
-I have been on the Cultural Assembly Committee for 2 years
-I participated in the Invisible Children Club this year (Invisible Children is an organization helping to resolve the issue of child soldiers in Northern Uganda)</p>

<p>That's all the EC's that come to mind.</p>

<p>Oh. I've also received several academic and other awards, including:
-Medal of Merit Nomination (English)
-3 Science Awards of varying levels (Meteor, Comet, Nova)..there are 6 possible awards that can be earned
-Most Dedicated Player (golf team)
-Junior Varsity and Varsity golf letters
-Choir letter
-Outstanding English Student
-Outstanding Modern World History Student</p>

<p>I'm hoping to be a High School science teacher, so obviously I need schools with good teaching programs. What do you guys think? Thanks for the help!!</p>

2

<p>A couple schools that come to mind -</p>

<p>University of the Pacific, Lewis and Clark, University of Portland, University of Puget Sound...</p>

<p>I think you should look into Lewis & Clark...it seems like your kind of place.</p>

3

<p>I'll take a look. I've actually been to University of the Pacific before, we attended the Global Forum there my sophomore year (it was part of my MWH class, it wasn't an actual Global Forum :))</p>

4

<p>have you considered retaking your SATs? your scores would really hold you back from a lot of good schools.</p>

5

<p>I don't really see the point...I don't think any of my scores would really improve much.</p>

6

<p>i agree with pkswmr, your class rank is great and your ecs are very good as well, but its your test scores that hold you back. have you considered taking the ACT? you seem to be interested in science so the science section on the ACT could raise your score. i have some schools in mind, but where in the country are you interested in attending?</p>

7

<p>I'd prefer west coast or Colorado (because my parents are moving there after I graduate). </p>

<p>That's a really good point, I'll have to look in to the ACT.</p>

8

<p>why don't you think your scores will improve? if you study a lot and take the test seriously, your score should go up...</p>

9

<p>I just don't honestly know how much I would improve. Math has always been my weak spot, so the low score there wasn't that much of a surprise to me. I do take it seriously, though. I always have.</p>

10

<p>Your GPA is high, but your SAT scores don't reflect your grades. Azusa Pacific, Biola, Chapman, Regis University, Seattle University, Loyola Marymount are schools are in line with your SAT scores and interest in teaching. They will also look favorably on your EC's which may balance your low SATs. Chapman, Loyola Marymount, and Seattle have the highest SAT scores of the bunch. Your SAT-R score fits into the middle range for all the schools and your SAT-M is below the 25th percentile, although closer for Azusa Pacific and Biola.</p>

11

<p>Honestly, as high school education isn't a very competitive field, I wouldn't say that it matters where you go. High school teachers are in such a high demand, where you go to school just isn't important. </p>

<p>That said, go where you'll be happy. Even if it's a safety.</p>

12

<p>Here is a list of top national universities sorted by the proportion of bachelors graduates in education. IPEDS 2004</p>

<p>university, SAT 75th percentile, total bachelors graduates, number of bachelors graduates in education, proportion of bachelors graduates in education</p>

<p>INDIANA UNIVERSITY-BLOOMINGTON 1220 6172 1006 0.163
BAYLOR UNIVERSITY 1290 2296 309 0.135
BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY 1320 6829 789 0.116
MIAMI UNIVERSITY-OXFORD 1320 3784 437 0.115
UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE 1280 3392 391 0.115
UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA 1320 5769 613 0.106
CLEMSON UNIVERSITY 1300 3020 306 0.101
BOSTON COLLEGE 1410 2223 195 0.088
AUBURN UNIVERSITY MAIN CAMPUS 1210 3917 328 0.084
IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY 1230 4523 363 0.080
PURDUE UNIVERSITY-MAIN CAMPUS 1260 6242 487 0.078
PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY-MAIN CAMPUS 1290 9134 600 0.066
UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-COLUMBIA 1280 4086 247 0.060
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND-COLLEGE PARK 1370 5959 357 0.060
TUFTS UNIVERSITY 1470 1336 73 0.055
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA 1240 4015 201 0.050
OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY-MAIN CAMPUS 1280 8288 380 0.046
VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY 1440 1514 67 0.044
SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY 1320 2798 108 0.039
SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY-MAIN CAMPUS 1320 1614 62 0.038
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY 1240 7783 287 0.037
YESHIVA UNIVERSITY 1350 575 21 0.037
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA-TWIN CITIES 1280 6049 219 0.036
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 1410 6763 241 0.036
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON 1390 6336 203 0.032
UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT 1270 3673 107 0.029
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 1360 8574 247 0.029
BOSTON UNIVERSITY 1390 3991 107 0.027
UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI 1350 2155 52 0.024
THE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE 1240 4035 91 0.023
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN-ANN ARBOR 1390 5923 122 0.021
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY 1410 4492 90 0.020
RUTGERS UNIVERSITY-NEW BRUNSWICK 1310 5734 110 0.019
MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY 1280 1549 28 0.018
WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY 1410 1000 18 0.018</p>

13

<p>not sure if they have education as a major but excellent Christian colleges are Grove City (PA), Wheaton (in Illinois)</p>

14

<p>Wow, thanks so much for all your help you guys! I signed up to take the ACT on September 15th and hopefully that will turn out better than the SAT. :)</p>

15

<p>If you want excellent Christian Colleges, then Biola and Wheaton are by far the two dominant forces.</p>

16

<p>One of my bestestest (lol) friends is headed off to Biola this fall. :) They're a bit expensive for my tastes though.</p>

17

<p>Concordia Irvine is a good teaching school - not sure about the sciences but you could check it out.</p>