<p>There are just too many options these days when it comes to college</p>
<p>I'm a white female from so cal and looking at both private and oos pubic schools
Here are my stats
Sat1 1950 planning to retake in June
SatII us history I'm aiming at at least 700, lit. 640
Act 29
GPA w 4.1 un 3.8
Rank 60/575
AP bio(3) haven't taken these yet apush(4/5) eng Lang(4/5) physics b(3?)
Ec
Jv soccer 9&10 captain
Concert choir 10 president won award for most valuable member
Drama 9 10 11 12 stage manager/production manager
Advanced Production choir 11 12 secretary
CSF 11 12
Tutor 10 11 12
Kiwins 11 12
Volunteer at city of hope cancer center
Church volunteer
Lots of community service</p>
<p>I want to major in biology/ biological sciences
I'm so confused on this process</p>
<p>*There are just too many options these days when it comes to college
*</p>
<p>Well…that depends…</p>
<p>How much will your parents pay each year? If you don’t know, ask them. Private colleges cost about $50k per year. Out-of-state (oos) publics can cost $35k-50k per year. If they say, “don’t worry about that now,” ask them directly, “can you pay $50k per year for a school?”. </p>
<p>Your family’s budget and your final test scores will likely decide where you should apply.</p>
<p>Most schools do not give much financial aid. OOS publics hardly give any need-based aid to out of state students.</p>
<p>If you plan on majoring in bio…does that mean that you’ll be pre-med? If not, what is your career goal?</p>
<p>If you can increase you test scores, some schools will give you merit scholarships. However, you need to find out how much your family will pay otherwise a merit scholarship may not be enough to help pay for your school costs.</p>
<p>Retake both the SAT and ACT. Use practice books to study for those tests. </p>
<p>Also, you need to apply to a couple of financial safety schools. Those are schools that you know “for sure” that you will have ALL costs covered and you know that you’ll get accepted to. Knowing “for sure” that all costs are covered means that you know for sure that you can pay for all costs with **assured **grants/scholarships, small federal student loans, and/or family funds.</p>
<p>However, if your family says that they will pay $50k+ for wherever you want to go, then fine! :)</p>
<p>Some to possibly check into are Boston University, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Penn State, Pittsburgh, UCSD, UCSB, UCD, Maryland, Whitman (WA), Willamette (OR), Occidental, Ct. College, Lawrence (WI), St. Olaf (MN) and St. Mary’s College (MD). Best of luck!</p>
<p>Thanks guys. My family is comfortable at about 35k but it really depends on the school</p>
<p>As for the premed question. I’m still in debate. I know I want to go into the health sciences but I’m not sure if i want to be a md. I was thinking of going to genetics possibly but I’m not sure.</p>
<p>I also would like to consider east coast schools. I’m not that familiar with that many schools over there because I’m a socal girl. If anyone could enlighten me it would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>Here are three good search engines that you can use to help find colleges and universities that meet your criteria for price and majors, and where you are likely to be admitted based on your grades and exam scores. Each of them takes into account somewhat different factors, and reports somewhat different information about the institutions listed, so it is worth your while to run all three of them.</p>
<p>My family is comfortable at about 35k but it really depends on the school</p>
<p>Just a gut feeling, but often when families say that they’re comfortable with such an amount, then they really don’t qualify for any financial aid. </p>
<p>So, protect yourself by making sure that you apply to a few schools that you know will be affordable…such as UCs and some schools that will give you good sized merit scholarships. </p>
<p>Otherwise, you may end up with a handful of acceptances from schools that all expect your family to pay $55k per year.</p>
<p>I know I wont qualify for any finacial aid. My parent make too much money. My sister got zero dollars from fasfa. Im not a big fan of UC’s but I will apply to them just to be safe. </p>
<p>I just feel like the only schools that i know of are the ivies (which I obviously wont get into), and the small private schools surrounding the Los Angeles are.</p>
<p>He was accepted to 5 schools. He liked all five for different reasons. He said (and I believe him) he would be happy at any of them.</p>
<p>He dropped RPI and Rose-Hulman from his list based on financial aid awards being undoable.</p>
<p>That left Alfred, U Buffalo, and Lehigh. The financial bottom lines were similar enough. He wrestled with that decision before settling on Lehigh. He felt Lehigh had a stronger program (he is going into engineering).</p>