<p>I'll be applying to colleges after this summer, yet I still have no clue where I want to go, let alone which major to pick (well, I've actually narrowed them down to "business" and "pharmacy"). I live in Texas and would like to go a college that's either in Texas (although the only schools I would go to in Texas are UT Austin and TAMU) or on the East Coast. Can you please recommend some schools I should consider applying to (and label if it is a reach, match, or safety school) based on my mini-resume:</p>
<p>-ranked in top 2% of class of about 800
-SAT score: 2170, but plan to retake and aim for 2200+
-PSAT: 224
-AP: I've gotten 4's on the Wd. History and Spanish, and will have taken 4 more by the time I apply to colleges
-Extracurricular: Key Club (Treasurer), NHS, Math Honor Society, and academic UIL competitions
-Volunteer work: volunteer at public library, various community service projects through Key Club</p>
<p>I believe the Ivies are a bit out of my range because I'm not even in the top 1%, and I don't have any "special" or "unique" extracurricular activities. I think colleges like Duke and Rice are more like my reach schools. My safety is probably UT Austin. What do you think?</p>
<p>[College</a> MatchMaker - Type of School](<a href=“College Search - BigFuture | College Board”>College Search - BigFuture | College Board)</p>
<p>You can search for majors, part of the country, cost, etc.</p>
<p>The Ivies are reaches for everyone. If there is one that you are particularly interested in, go ahead and apply. But don’t get too excited about it. If you are a girl, take a look at the better women’s colleges as reaches/high matches and the second tier as matches. For a full list, see [The</a> Women’s College Coalition](<a href=“http://www.womenscolleges.org/]The”>http://www.womenscolleges.org/)</p>
<p>How much money do you need? Have you run the financial aid calculators at [College</a> Calculators - savings calculators - college costs, loans](<a href=“College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools”>Calculate Your Cost – BigFuture | College Board) or had the “money talk” with your parents/whoever it is who is helping you pay for your education? For ideas on finding good merit aid (and you certainly are in the range with your test scores) take a look at <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</a></p>
<p>Wishing you all the best.</p>
<p>Go visit a few schools and see what feels right.</p>
<p>Will your parents pay $50k+ to go to college?</p>
<p>If not, would you qualify for financial aid? IF you think you might not qualify for financial aid, and you need money for college, then you need to include some schools that will give you big assured merit.</p>
<p>UT-Austin no longer give National Merit scholarships, so it may not be your financial safety unless your parents will pay for it.</p>
<p>My parent definitely can’t send me to a $50k+ school, unless I get significant aid from the school…but I think I do qualify for financial aid because my family’s income is pretty low. Can you be a bit more specific and give me certain colleges to look into?</p>
<p>Did you look through the links above? There are some very good schools that give scholarships for good records.</p>
<p>Depending upon your family’s income, you may qualify for questbridge. Check it out at: [QuestBridge</a> Home Page](<a href=“http://www.questbridge.org%5DQuestBridge”>http://www.questbridge.org) to see if you should apply.
Good luck!</p>