<p>So I'm a minority from Pennsylvania. I'm in a magnet program in an inner city high school and I was wondering what colleges I should apply to.</p>
<p>-SAT-1560 M-500(all by hand, it doesn't matter but..) CR-540 W-520 Essay-8
My SAT scores WILL go up and I pray that I break 1700.</p>
<p>-GPA 3.3 (God I know, that SHALL go up though)
-My final grades from 11th Grade
AP American History -B
AP Physics -C (oh god x.x)
English 3 Adv -B
Precalculus Honors -B
Health/Gym -C/C
Art 3 -B
Orchestra -A
Mostly B averages, but yeah I completely screwed up junior year.</p>
<p>-Extra currics:
Marching Band-4 years
String Ensemble-4 years
Orchestra-4 years
American Red Cross-4 years
Chinese Knot Club-2 years</p>
<p>-Next Years Roster:
AP Calculus BC
AP Art History
Anatomy
English 3 Adv
Social Science Adv
Orchestra
Web Design 1</p>
<p>-And I plan on taking a language(most likely spanish, I want to be fluent) as part of a Dual Enrollment Program at a community college.</p>
<p>-So here are my college choices :D
Temple U
Arcadia U
Virginia Commonwealth U
U Mass Amherst
U Delaware
Penn State U (Main)</p>
<p>I want to know if there's anything else that's POSSIBLY in my reach. For all it's worth, I plan on working extremely hard senior year and I'd like to get good AP scores because those didn't really go too well :/</p>
<p>I agree with Erin’s Dad. If you are hoping for financial aid, you need to apply to Pennsylvania state schools and private schools, unless you know for a fact that the out of state public school is offering aid to outsiders. You are a good candidate and plenty of good schools are within your reach. You did not say much about why you like the schools on your list and what you hope to major in. That information would help people to make suggestions. It seems as if you are interested in universities and not liberal arts colleges, correct? What about University of Pittsburgh? Northeastern? University of Rochester?</p>
<p>Why did you do the SAT math section without a calculator? That makes it much harder to finish on time, and definitely can hurt your score! Anyways, if you want a little guidance on finding colleges that are a good fit for you (based on your stats/preferences) try out this cc tool. It’s a good place to get started, and the link’s below:
[College</a> Search - College Confidential](<a href=“http://www.collegeconfidential.com/college_search/]College”>http://www.collegeconfidential.com/college_search/)</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Retake the SAT using a calculator and after studying.</p></li>
<li><p>Look closely at public and private schools --including community colleges – in Pennsylvania, particularly those in and near your hometown. Your most affordable and reasonable college choice may be to live at home and commute to community college, get outstanding grades, and then transfer to an in-state public, particularly if the in state publics off scholarships to top transfer students.</p></li>
<li><p>Out of state publics are not reasonable for you. Only 2 promise to meet full demonstrated financial need of students and those are UNC, UVA, both of which your stats are too low for. Most public universities can’t even meet the full financial need of their in state students, which also is a reason why I suggest that starting at a community college may be a good option for you. You might even qualify for merit aid at a community college. The best you might get at even in-state public 4-year colleges might be large loans with a little scholarship money.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>While there are thousands of colleges that would be happy to admit you, your problem will be paying for college, so that’s why I’m making the suggestions that I’m making. </p>
<p>While thinking about my suggestions, do keep in mind that finances are a major consideration for most students – even students who are well off. That’s why most students in this country attend public colleges within 250 miles of their homes.</p>
<p>Your academic stats are the main admission factors for all all colleges in the country. Except for the very top colleges – places like Harvard that can pick and choose from an overabundance of high stat applicants – most colleges use gpa, scores (and for publics, state of residence) as virtually their only admission factors.</p>
<p>Yeah, I forgot my calculator at home that day
I am studying and it’ll definitely be brought up. Hopefully I will break 1700.
I have tons of family in Virgina, so after a year, Im considering switching residency (if it works that way, I’m not too sure) so that I can pay in state tuition. And I’m also with this program called Edifi which is geared towards making my college tuition as low as it could possibly be, so hopefully tuition won’t be a huge problem.</p>
<p>Oh, and ummm.
I really want a school with a good music program (I don’t plan on majoring, just orchestra/band)
And i plan on majoring in urban/community planning, but I don’t want to apply to a program because I hear you have a better chance of getting in if you apply undecided.
Oh and thanks everyone for your comments :)</p>
<p>You can’t switch residency that easily. It’s virtually impossible to switch residency in order to go to college in another state and pay in-state tuiton. Except for, I think, one of the Dakotas – which obviously is hard up to attract students and residents – to get in state residency for the kind of situation you want, you’d have to live in the other state for a year and support yourself – i.e. working full time, and not be listed as a dependent on your parents’ tax returns. They also may require you to be a certain age, perhaps 24, the age in which students are considered independent of their parents when it comes to college’s financial aid.</p>
<p>I suggest that you look at colleges in your city and in the rest of Penn., and see which ones have urban planning programs and music majors or extensive ECs in music.</p>
<p>Realize, however, that most college students change their college majors at least twice, and many end up majoring in something completely different than what they originally had planned, so keep an open mind.</p>
<p>I wasn’t familiar with the Edifi program, so I just looked it up. It seems like a program in which you pay for help with filling out financial aid forms, prep for SATs, and college apps.</p>
<p>Usually such programs are not worth the money. You can find out all of that information either on-line (for instance College Board has free SAT prep on-line), through sites like fastweb.com, and through CC’s boards, which have extensive information that has helped many students – including first generation and low income ones – find colleges that they could afford.</p>
<p>Most college scholarships are offered through the colleges themselves, you can find out about colleges’ financial aid by looking at that section of their sites. It’s also very worth it to spend $15 to fully access the U.S. News college site, which provides very detailed admission and financial aid info including letting you know what percentage of students with demonstrated need get scholarships, and how much of their need is met, and whether that’s met with grants (you don’t have to pay that back) or loans (which you have to pay back).</p>
<p>If you are low income or first generation, you also may qualify for free programs like Upward Bound, a college prep program that many colleges offer. It includes help applying to colleges and help getting financial aid. Check to see if any of the colleges in your area have that program. I think that Lincoln U., Indiana U of Pennsylvania, Temple, and Penn State have those programs. If there’s one in your area, call them and beg to be admitted to it.</p>
<p>If you can’t get into such a program, see if anyone involved in such a program will meet with you or e-mail you and give you advice about college. They probably know of opportunities --including affordable colleges – that would help you.</p>
<p>Thank you, Northstar mom. I was clearly uninformed about how tuition works. I’m not low income or first generation, so I don’t think I would qualify for the upward bound program. And I’ll let my dad know about your thoughts on Edifi because now that I think of it, it could probably save him a few bucks.</p>
<p>Do ask your dad exactly how much he feels he can pay each year for your college education. That information will help you as you look for a college. As I mentioned before, finances are important to most people applying to college – even if other students don’t mention that to you. Finances are why most people go to a public college within a few hours of their home.</p>
<p>Even families that consider themselves comfortably off may have difficulty paying what colleges expect them to pay. Not many people can write $35 k-$50 k checks each year to pay for college expenses, and most colleges aren’t able to meet students’ financial need.</p>
<p>Probably at least half of the colleges in your state are within your reach. The question will be which ones you can afford and have what you are looking for.</p>
