High School Student Looking for College Suggestions!

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hey!</p>

<p>Right now I'm high school junior looking for colleges to start applying to in the summer! Don't worry. I've been looking for colleges before but I've just scrapped the majority of my list because of some new criteria I'm considering. Some of the new ones on there are VA Tech, UMBC, UMD, Towson etc. Not really sure of a major yet.</p>

<p>Just as a little bit of a summary of my academics:
I go to a private college-prep school. Its kind of competitive. There have been students in the past who've gone to schools like Vassar, Brown, Cornell, and George Washington. Some people in the classes of 2011 and 2012 have applied to Johns Hopkins, Princeton, Penn State, and Harvard. I know some people who've been accepted into Cornell this year and have gotten nearly full rides to places like Washington College. There are the group of people who don't do so hot though.</p>

<p>My GPA right now is a 3.17 but I've been maintaining between a 3.6 and 3.8 since the beginning of sophomore year. I took mainly Honors classes freshman year and had a little but of a pitfall and earned a 2.6 (why my GPA is so low compared to everything else right now. Stupid. I know). After that I took College-prep classes in sophomore year except for French and I took Honors US Government 2nd semester. I maintained a 3.6. This year I'm in the same boat as I was freshman year except with a 3.8 and sans a honors math class. (Math really isn't my strong point. I'm not really sure why I was places in honors freshman year in the first place but, I have strong writing and language skills). I've already made up my schedule for senior year and I'm taking 3 APs and the rest are honors classes.</p>

<p>As far as ECs go I'm president of Film Club, a member of Amnesty International and French Honor Society and played Softball for 2 years and ran Cross Country for 1. I also took Yearbook sophomore year and I'm required to do a senior project. I'm considering making a literary magazine for it.</p>

<p>I haven't gotten back my scores for SATs yet but my PSAT score translates to a 1900 and I took the French Grand Concours which is a national test that ranks you among other people in the country. (Would that be impressive?) Haven't gotten back scores for that either. Will update when I do.</p>

<p>I'm looking for a college with some diversity and a lot of things to do while having good academics. Anything above $35,000 would be a little steep for me unless I was able to get financial aid, scholarships, or grants. I'm also a 1st gen. college student ( I think. Does my mom taking classes at community college count?), Black, and my mom is a single parent. My mom also makes $19,000 a year because she was laid-off of her job due to injury but, if she goes back to work between now and then she'll make around $40,000.</p>

<p>Do colleges look at if you've improved over the years? Or will freshman year loom over me? Should I apply to higher tier college than my GPA would suggest?
Thanks!</p>

<p>P.S.: If I left anything out that would help you pick things out just ask! :)</p>

2

<p>How can you afford $35K per year on a $40K salary? If your family has significant assets that will impact aid. Give us the full picture so we know whether to suggest merit or need based aid colleges.</p>

3

<p>I just gave my mom’s side of the financial situation. I couldn’t ask my dad right away because he lives in another state at the moment. I mentioned some need-based ones (single parent, 1st gen., and minority student) as well as being someone who comes from a family with a lower-income background. Loans are also a part of the equations and the $35K schools are reachy. The one’s I’m really considering are around $20K and I’m looking at In-state costs for MD and NC since my mom will be making a big move to NC during my freshman year of college. In-state college costs in MD are around $6,000 to $10,000. Less than what my parents pay for high school now.</p>

<p>I’ve also taken my PSAT sophomore and junior year and each of my scores translate into the 1700 to 1900 range on the 2400 scale SAT. I still don’t have result for the SAT I took on March 10 but I feel like I’ve done just as well if not better if that will help me with any merit aid.</p>

<p>Thanks for your reply!</p>

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<p>I should have also mentioned that HBCU’s are not ranked highly on my list. I would rather avoid them all together.</p>

5

<p>Just to follow up on the income thread from Waverly, does that mean your father has a lot of income to pay for college? </p>

<p>Your mother moving to NC may NOT allow you to have in-state status for college. You will have to check each college you are considering for that.</p>

6

<p>My dad has a decent income along with money that he has saved up in anticipation for this. I’m also the only one that my mother is supporting and the only person my father will be supporting in college for my 2 years of college if that helps with anything. I realized that I forgot to mention that I will be getting some sponsorship. Not a lot. Maybe 1K max. I’m also assuming that my mom will get her job back soon (she’s been looking for a while.)</p>

7

<p>Try the “net price calculators” at each college’s web site, but be aware that more unusual parental income and asset situations may result in less accurate estimates. Colleges are likely to assume a contribution from a non-custodial parent when calculating financial aid.</p>

8

<p>Thanks for the tip! That’s something I’ll definitely use once I start narrowing down some choices!</p>

9

<p>Some things I should add:</p>

<p>I got my SATS back!: 630 in Critical Reading, 470 in Math :(, and 600 in Writing with 60 in multiple choice and an 8 on my essay. That totals a 1700. I’m going to suck it up and retake them on the May 5th day around APs and take Subject Tests in June. </p>

<p>I found out that I was nominated for the Princeton Book Award by my school too. I don’t know how much that affects admission or merit based awards…</p>

10

<p>Not getting much traffic on this… any tips on how to get more posts?</p>

11

<p>Do you have any idea what you might want to study? Do you have any preference on city/suburban/rural locations? Size of student body? Then we might be able to be more helpful.</p>

<p>PS Congrats on the upward trend grade-wise - keep up the good work. I think colleges will look on that favorably. You might want to do some targeted math SAT prep, though.</p>

12

<p>After thinking about it for a while, I think I’d want to do either Psychology or Pediatrics. Political Science was in the back of my mine too but I don’t know what I would do with that. Physical Therapy/ Athletic Training is an option too.</p>

<p>I was looking more at schools with a city/suburban location just so there’d be more sights a sounds and I really want a student body that is at least above the 5,000-10,000 range.</p>

<p>And thank you! Do you think it will allow me to apply to colleges that are expecting a higher GPA than I have? Math is definitely something I have to work on. I can’t get into tutoring right now but I’ve been doing the SAT book, looking at Khanacademy for examples, and asking teachers.</p>