I need help. I have no idea where I want to be for the next 4 years...need advice!

College Search & Selection
1

<p>All of my friends are getting their college decision. Deadlines for Regular Decisions are quickly approaching. And despite all of this, I still have no clue where I want to go to college.</p>

<p>I don't know how people seem to have had their perfect #1 college picked out from the moment they were born. Considering I moved to the US in '99, I can't really get any advice from the parents. The thing is, I just don't know what I want! Well, I won't go that far, it's just that I don't know if what I want now is what I'll want when I've spent a few years at my college of choice. </p>

<p>I guess I want the college experience. I want to go somewhere where you can find yourself housed in a dorm and can meet a cool group of people. Size? I don't know. I don't want to go to High School part II, but I'm not sure if I want to go into a gigantic school with tens of thousands of kids like Penn State. I guess what I'm looking for is a school where you don't exactly see the same faces every single day, but somewhere that you're not completely lost in an ocean of people with classes of 500 people. I'd prefer somewhere where my professors can remember my name, but again, I don't want to feel like I'm going through a tiny high school again. I don't mind being very close to a city, but I would like at least a bit of a campus type of environment. </p>

<p>Anyway, I'm starting to rabmle, but this is what I'm asking basically: I'm just not exposed to the colleges and universities out there to make a good decision. I'm so indecisive that I have a college list of like 22 schools, just so I make sure I get a balance of everything. I'm not even sure I'll get accepted to a lot of them. I'll ask this: Let me post my credentials and maybe someone out there can help me find a few match schools that I haven't looked at. Good schools...preferably not gigantic. I really don't know anything about small liberal arts colleges. I'm open to anywhere in the Northeast, the Mid-West, and hell, why not the south.
I've already applied to/Planning to apply to:
Boston College
University of Pittsburgh
University of Illinois
University of Wisconsin - Madison
Northeastern University
University of Michigan
University of Connecticut
Vanderbilt
Emory
Boston University
College of William & Mary
George Washington University
Washington Uni in St. Louis
Penn State
University of Richmond
Cornell??</p>

<p>SAT: 2140 (CR 740 Math 690 Writing 710)
SAT II: US History 800 Math II 630
GPA: UW: 3.8 W: 3.97
AP: Euro History 5 US History 5 Psychology 5 Currently Taking: AP Lang, AP Bio, AP Calc AB
Extracurricular: Not so strong. I run track and cross country, am treasurer of my German club, have some minor community service experience, and I'm a member of a peer mentoring program where I'm assigned to a group of freshmen. I have done Model UN for a few years as well. This really wasn't my strong point, I only got involved in ECs around Junior Year. I can speak German, English, and Russian, if that does anything, and I'm an Immigrant from Ukraine. </p>

<p>Anyway, Sorry if this is badly written. I'm having a huge stress-out session about college. I need recommendations of colleges to look at. I've been going throughout my college process basically looking at the brand-name of schools, checking those stupid "Top 200 colleges in the nation" rankings and applying to what sounds nice. I have a huge lapse in knowledge concerning smaller schools. So please, take a loot at my stuff and tell me what some decent matches or reaches or safeties or whatever are! Huge thanks in advance to anyone who reads over all this!</p>

<p>Edit: Should mention that I'm a New Jersey resident. Don't really know what I want to go into college for, simply because I'm certain it will change. Science...history...humanities...just not business. Deffnitely not business.</p>

2

<p>A few questions for you:</p>

<p>What is your state of residence?
Do you have a budget or will you require financial aid?
Do you have any idea what you might want to study?</p>

<p>Your stats are solid so you will have some options. I think a few of the schools on your list , Vanderbilt, Washington U and Boston College, are at best reaches.</p>

3

<p>State of Residence is New Jersey. I know I have 50,000$ secured to pay tuition, but I may need additional financial aid if this is not enough. I have no problems with loans. As for what I’d like to study…I’m pulled towards biology, but again, everyone changes their major. I’m not looking for an incredibly hardcore tech school, but I would certainly appreciate a stronger science department. However, I really want to stress that I may not want this in the future. Perhaps a major in Psychology, English, History, Politics, etc. I’m very undecided. </p>

<p>I am well aware that some of my schools are big reaches. I don’t mind criticism, so by all means please tell me where my weaknesses are and if I need to eliminate schools from my search. What kind of reach schools should I be going for? Again, thanks a bunch.</p>

4

<p>Hi,</p>

<p>The whole college thing can be so overwhelming! </p>

<p>Can you visit any of these colleges so you can get a better feel for them? Your decision will be much easier if you can walk the campus, talk to students, even sit in on a class if possible.</p>

5

<p>Yep, I know. I’m planning to visit all of my colleges after I apply…big time road trip. It’s too late to visit all of them now, unfortunately. I still want to get a good range of different schools so I can find what I like and don’t like when the time comes and choose from there.</p>

6

<p>You have an excellent range of schools, all you can do is apply and visit, and some college, if not more will strike a chord.</p>

7

<p>Do you mean $50,000 per year or all together?</p>

<p>You have a lot of OOS publics, and they are unlikely to give you much aid.</p>

<p>A college search needs to start with what your family can afford, so you need to run calculators to see whether you qualify for need based aid. And if your EFC turns out to be more than your family can spend, you need to look at schools offering merit aid. </p>

<p>Then, when you figure the finances out, get a Fiske guide and start reading about colleges. Hurry, it’s late!</p>

8

<p>I mean all together. I’m planning to fill out financial aid forms very soon. However, the finances can be taken care of after applying…loans loans loans…the problem for me is finding out where the heck I want to apply before January rolls around. I’ve read the Fiske guide, it’s…decent…but I’d prefer if someone could take a look at my stats and tell me where a good medium-smaller school for me would be. Obviously I’ve got a bunch of state schools, but I don’t really know much about private universities and liberal arts schools.</p>

9

<p>Your list looks like a good first pass. It just needs some trimming and tweaking. If you do the following, you’ll have 10 schools spanning a wide range of selectivity, size, location and style.</p>

<p>Keep These
Cornell
Boston College
University of Connecticut
(and add Rutgers/TCNJ as an admissions and financial safety)</p>

<p>Drop This
Washington Uni in St. Louis (too selective)</p>

<p>Pick One from Each Set
Northeastern University
George Washington University
Boston University</p>

<p>University of Pittsburgh
Penn State</p>

<p>University of Michigan
University of Illinois
University of Wisconsin - Madison</p>

<p>Vanderbilt
Emory
College of William & Mary
University of Richmond</p>

<p>Add Two of These Smaller Schools
Brandeis
Colgate
Wake Forest
University of Rochester</p>

10

<p>Wow. Thank you very much for the suggestions, this is exactly the type of post I’m looking for :)</p>

<p>Uggh…It’s painful for me to trim down the college list. I’ll definitely get rid of Washington in St. Louis. If anyone else has more schools, let me know.</p>

11

<p>many of the OOS publics may not be affordable since they don’t give need-based aid to cover their high OOS costs.</p>

<p>I would drop ALL OOS publics unless you’re confident that you will get a huge merit scholarship from that school.</p>

<p>It’s too bad that you didn’t ask this question earlier because some schools would have given you big merit if you had applied before Dec 1st. :(</p>

<p>You need to identify schools that will either be generous with merit for your stats or will give you financial aid (depending on how much you’ll qualify for).</p>

<p>Do you have a green card? What is your likely EFC? </p>

<p>Maybe some here can post some possible schools that would still give you merit scholarships for your stats.</p>

12

<p>Well, I applied to Illinois , UConn and Wisconsin Early Action, still waiting to hear back. I applied to Pitt earlier on and got accepted…think I’ll have a shot with them for some merit based aid? I send all my apps for them in early Nov.</p>

13

<p>The financial side of choosing a college is huge, especially when you only have enough savings to cover about one year at a private school. You need to look at colleges that give generous merit aid, and have the resources to provide financial aid grants (free $) rather than loans. Honestly, crippling yourself and/or your family with nearly $150,000 of debt for a bachelor’s degree is a really bad idea.</p>

<p>Despite what you tend to read here on CC, there are hundreds and hundreds of colleges and universities where you can get a top notch education. Many of these schools are seeking students with a high GPA and strong test scores, and will give them significant merit aid, up to full tuition. To find some of these schools, I suggest you do a couple of things. Here on CC, in the financial aid forum, there is a thread on schools that grant generous merit aid. There is also a website called Colleges That Change Lives ([Colleges</a> That Change Lives | Changing Lives, One Student at a Time](<a href=“http://www.ctcl.org/]Colleges”>http://www.ctcl.org/)) that you might find useful. There are about 40 different colleges included. Most of them are well respected, and many offer merit aid.</p>

<p>Just for an example, my son graduated high school in 2005 with similar stats to yours. He applied to 10 different colleges and universities, and was accepted at all of them. Unfortunately, he was not offered significant merit aid at the top schools, and our family did not qualify for financial aid. On the Colleges That Change Lives website, he had found a few schools that appealed to him. One of them offered him a 2/3 tuition scholarship. He went there and was quite happy with his choice. He graduated in 2009 with a triple major, and not one penny of debt. That gave him the freedom to decide what he wanted to do next. He could go to graduate school, work, travel, join the Peace Corps, etc. His friends with loans had far fewer options, and were facing finding employment in the current recession.</p>

<p>Is there a school guidance or college counselor who can advise you? Or perhaps you have friends whose parents have already been through the college selection process with older siblings? You have a limited amount of time, and a lot of decisions to make. I hope this has been of some help.</p>

14

<p>Ok, based on my experience, I definitely recommend keeping Emory as it is an amazing school. I this may not apply to all, but of all of the people I have talked to and from the college visit that I made there, they say that the campus is amazing, and the academics rank it 20th in the nation. great student life as well. It is not too big that nobody knows you but not too small that you know everybody and their cousin! :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: What’s your favorite subject?</p>

15

<p>Lots of loans are a very bad idea. And you would need patents with excellent credit to cosign if you want large loans. If you’re like most, you’ll end up borrowing for grad school where the kind of aid you can get as an undergrad often is not available (funded PhD programs are the exception). Student loans can seriously compromise your adult life.</p>

<p>Figure out the money while there is still time to focus on colleges that can best fit your needs. Deciding later is a disaster for many because they end up with few real options.</p>

16

<p>You’re getting good advice about costs, but we really don’t have enough to go on. What’s your EFC? You can use an online EFC calculator to estimate. Then take the number to your parents and discuss how much of that they can actually cover.</p>

<p>You say you have $50K in college savings and “have no problems with loans”. The average debt at graduation from selective schools typically runs about $20K, so let’s use that as your loan ceiling. Conservatively, you can count on another $10K from your own summer and campus earnings. This gives you a budget of about $80K (before aid or more help from parents). This will almost cover 4 years at an in-state public (Rutgers, TCNJ) - so your safety base should be covered if you apply to one of these. It will cover 2 years at many OOS public universities (maybe with change back); but as mom2collegekids pointed out, these schools usually are not too good with aid for non-residents (unless you have really stellar qualifications). It will cover about 1.5 years as a full pay student at many selective private schools, which vary in generosity with need-based aid and may not award merit aid at all.</p>

<p>With all this in mind, I’d still work from your origninal list (it’s late), but make these changes to my suggestions above:</p>

<ol>
<li> Don’t add any more OOS publics </li>
<li> From the schools I listed above (working off your original list), choose some with merit aid in mind (especially if an EFC calculator tells you you will not qualify for need-based). Use this link to help: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/696637-merit-aid-percentage-common-data-set-6.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/696637-merit-aid-percentage-common-data-set-6.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
<li>Add one or two not-too-selective LACs that have lower sticker prices and generous merit aid (again, especially if an EFC calculator tells you you will not qualify for need-based). Example: Centre College in KY. Good school, good bargain. Use this link to help find others:
[Best</a> Values in Private Colleges, 2010-11](<a href=“Kiplinger | Personal Finance News, Investing Advice, Business Forecasts”>Kiplinger | Personal Finance News, Investing Advice, Business Forecasts)</li>
</ol>

<p>The goal is not to cover your kitchen table with fat envelopes. Admission to a safety plus 2 or 3 good, reasonably affordable alternatives will be enough to keep you busy in April. You should be able to get that by plugging away at your existing list.</p>

17

<p>[Alfred</a> University : Financial Aid : Undergraduate Freshmen Scholarships](<a href=“http://www.alfred.edu/finaid/freshmen/scholarships.cfm]Alfred”>http://www.alfred.edu/finaid/freshmen/scholarships.cfm)</p>

<p>Alfred University (NY) With a GPA of over 3.7, & SAT over 1250, you could be eligible for a Merit Award of $14,000/year in the College of Liberal Arts. You might also be eligible for their Honors Program. C.O.L.A. runs about $37,000/year. </p>

<p>2200 Undergrads, Established in 1836, Division III Athletics, Small Classes, know your professors, charming village of Alfred, NY. No Greek Life. 50% Male, 50% Female. </p>

<p>College of Liberal Arts
School of Art & Design
School of Business
School of Engineering </p>

<p>Application Deadline is March 1st, Rolling Admissions, Common Application </p>

<p>USNWR’s Great Schools Great Prices
Fiske Guide 2011 Best Value
Princeton Review’s Best 373
Fiske Guide 2011
USNWR’s Best Regional University-North </p>

<p>Best of luck to you!</p>

18

<p>Loans are NOT the answer for affording your schools. VERY bad idea. At most, you should graduate with a TOTAL of $30k in loans. That’s TOTAL…not every year.</p>

<p>How much do you think you’ll be earning when you graduate? Newish grads do not earn enough to pay back big loans.</p>

<p>UWisc and UIUC are not going to give you merit to make their costs affordable. I don’t know what UConn does for merit. </p>

<p>You need to find out what your EFC is. And, keep in mind, that those OOS publics, EFC is rather meaningless - they will expect you to pay their OOS costs.</p>

19

<p>Folks…</p>

<p>Can any of you suggest schools that have Jan 1st or later deadlines for big merit scholarships? Any with assured big merit scholarships?</p>

20

<p>I agree with this sentiment from an earlier post:</p>

<p>Keep These
Cornell
Boston College
University of Connecticut
(and add Rutgers/TCNJ as an admissions and financial safety)</p>

<p>Drop This
Washington Uni in St. Louis (too selective)</p>

<p>Pick One from Each Set
Northeastern University
George Washington University
Boston University</p>

<p>University of Pittsburgh
Penn State</p>

<p>University of Michigan
University of Wisconsin - Madison</p>

<p>Vanderbilt
Emory
College of William & Mary
University of Richmond</p>

<p>Add Two of These Smaller Schools
Brandeis
Colgate
Wake Forest
University of Rochester</p>