Help With My College List? Upcoming Senior

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I should start by saying that I live in Illinois and am not afraid to travel far away for college, but my parents are concerned with the cost of flying if I end up wanting to go far away. So if I do choose a school far away, I would hope that they give me enough aid and scholarships so that the cost of transportation would even out across my more local college options.</p>

<p>I'm interested in studying business, but I'm not sure what my focus will be yet. Possibly management or accounting, but I'm open minded to other things. I'm looking for an all-around good business school so that when I find my major, it won't be the one major at that school that sucks.</p>

<p>Here are places that I am already for sure applying:
UIUC
Indiana
Minnesota
Ohio State
U Miami (Florida)
USC (California)</p>

<p>---I'm also applying to Mizzou for journalism, just in case I end up having a mid-year revelation that I want to study journalism.</p>

<p>I don't believe that any of those are academic reaches, I am definitely qualified to get into all of them. That's the problem though. I feel like i should have a few more "top" schools on my list, as I feel like I could get into some.</p>

<p>So here is where you all come in: I'm looking for a top school (reach school?) that has a solid business program and gives good financial aid. Location is negligible, but the cost of flying/transportation has to be considered in total cost. My family isn't poor, but my dad did lose one of his two jobs in the last year. Our income has decreased, but I don't think it is at the point where colleges will pity us. Actually I have no idea how they will treat us. But the bottom line is that my parents don't want to go into debt for college. They need money for retirement.</p>

<p>Other things I'm looking for in a school besides aid:
-Big campus, not all that important, but I like the idea of lots of people and big social environment. But this isn't that important. I could do fine at a small school too.
-Warmth, hopefully further south than Illinois, but again, I don't care that much.
-Decent dorms if possible
-An application that won't destroy my life with tons of essays (again, not that important if the school is really what I'm looking for)
-Competitive athletics, good sports to watch and big pride in our team
-If the school isn't a top school, then it should have a great honors program.
-SAT and SAT 2's not required, I'm not taking them end of story</p>

<p>Here are my stats:
32 ACT
4.4/5 Weighted GPA -- All A's junior year
3.8/4 Unweighted
No class rank
APs: Psych, Macro, Eng Lit, AB Calc (all being taken this year)
I go to a competitive public school north of Chicago
I'm a white male, oh well.</p>

<p>ECs:
-Editor-in-Chief of school newspaper. Big job, big commitment, easy to talk about in essays.
-4 year volleyball player, captain. It's my other big commitment.
-Peer Group leader, seniors leading freshmen in small groups throughout the year
-Spanish NHS - board member soph and junior year
-NHS, for seniors only at my school
-Snowflake, I led small groups for a day at the anti-drug program at a middle school.
-Volunteered at a middle school's summer school this summer. Probably 30-ish hours.
-I work at a burger place in town, heavy hours in summer, maybe 10 per week during school year</p>

<p>I could be forgetting things but those are at least the most important ones.</p>

<p>So guys, please help me out on my list. Thank you so much in advance.</p>

2

<p>If you like the colleges you have listed, there is absolutely no reason you’d need to apply to reach colleges. That being said, if you take the ‘reach’ part out of it, this list:</p>

<p>Other things I’m looking for in a school besides aid:
-Big campus, not all that important, but I like the idea of lots of people and big social environment. But this isn’t that important. I could do fine at a small school too.
-Warmth, hopefully further south than Illinois, but again, I don’t care that much.
-Decent dorms if possible
-An application that won’t destroy my life with tons of essays (again, not that important if the school is really what I’m looking for)
-Competitive athletics, good sports to watch and big pride in our team
-If the school isn’t a top school, then it should have a great honors program.
-SAT and SAT 2’s not required, I’m not taking them end of story</p>

<p>Made me think of ASU. You can use the ACT instead of the SAT, the application is fairly simple, the business school is one of the better schools, it’s a large campus, with decent dorms (Or at least, Palo Verde East was a decent dorm building. I stayed for a few days during a political symposium there, and the room was okay, not too small, had a nice big window and bathroom en suite.), It’s very much warmer than where you live now, and the social scene is pretty big. And if you feel like taking it one step further, the ASU Barrett Honor’s program allows for more intensive courses at one of the best Honor’s programs in the nation with smaller classes and more faculty one on one if you want it. The honor’s program isn’t much of a hassle to apply to either. School spirit is rampant, and people love watching the big games, and it’s not that hard to get into. ASU also has an excellent journalism school- The Walter Cronkite School. (RIP) </p>

<p>It’s not that expensive either, even for OOS. </p>

<p><a href=“http://asunews.asu.edu/20090812_ASUbestcolleges[/url]”>http://asunews.asu.edu/20090812_ASUbestcolleges&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://wpcarey.asu.edu/undergraduate/index.cfm[/url]”>http://wpcarey.asu.edu/undergraduate/index.cfm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://honors.asu.edu/w-How_to_Apply-220.aspx[/url]”>http://honors.asu.edu/w-How_to_Apply-220.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://cronkite.asu.edu/[/url]”>http://cronkite.asu.edu/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I think it fits all your requirements quite nicely, actually. :)</p>

<p>If you insist on a business school reach, try UPenn’s Wharton.</p>

3

<p>thank you for the info on ASU! I will definitely consider it.</p>

<p>As for Wharton, I wasn’t looking for THAT kind of reach… I appreciate a competitive atmosphere, but when things get too cutthroat, I draw the line.</p>

4

<p>With your stats you should try Knox College. It’s actually a best value college without scholarship.</p>

5

<p>Actually I have looked into Knox before, some of my friends’ siblings go there. I decided it was a little too liberal-artsy for me. Plus I don’t think they have a business program.</p>

<p>If anyone else wants to help, I would really appreciate if you could read the part of my OP about the things I’m looking for in a college, as well as the part where I say that I know I want to study business… that would make for more helpful suggestions.</p>

<p>Thanks all!</p>

6

<p>malcolm x seems like a realistic school for u jax</p>

7

<p>U Florida, Texas A&M, and U Iowa come to mind. I second ASU.</p>

8

<p>Any chance you will be a NMF? Try this thread as well: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

9

<p>I also like the ASU idea, and although I am sure you have considered them what about Michigan and Wisconsin? I also really want to put Purdue in there, but I think you have probably already thrown that out and have chosen IU instead. Best of luck!</p>