<p>Redbricks, I sent you a PM. Any of the schools we have listed could be a possibility for you. It depends on which of your criteria is the most important, and which aspects of your current school drive you the nuttiest! One of these schools is a little more "religious", one is more Greek, one is more sports oriented, another likes community service and has an urban edge. Dartmouth has a more eclectic and national student body than the less selective schools, but still many of the kids come from the same general background.</p>
<p>I understand your concerns about feeling like the nerd at the big state school. I didn't feel that way though. There are over 15,000 students at State so it certainly has plenty of people whose focus is not on academics. I think you'd be surprised, though, how many actually do care about academics. I found that there were enough people there that you can find those with similar interests and focus. All of my close friends from State now have master's degrees in various fields and three of us have Ph.D.'s from various other institutions in different fields. (one is pursuing an M.D./Ph.D right now) I know people who are now medical doctors, lawyers, accountants, engineers, etc. These people have good jobs and were serious about achieving.</p>
<p>I am certainly not trying to push State on you here (okay, so maybe I'm a little loyal...but it's just because I had an amazing college experience) but if you are interested don't discount it without looking into it a little more. Talk to people in the honor's program and also in the departments you are thinking about. You may be surprised what they have to offer. One of the other benefits is scholarship money. I have no idea what sort of stats you have, but with over a 30 on the ACT I was able to get enough money to receive a refund each semester. (Pair the State ACT scholarship with the Mississippi Eminent Scholars Grant--I hope this program is still running. It basically gives any MS resident with a 29 or above on the ACT $2500 a year if they attend an in state school. You get this independent of income. MTAG (Mississippi Tuition Assistance Grant) is also good for this. Again, I hope it still exists. With MTAG any MS high school student who doesn't qualify for need based financial aid gets $500 a year for attending a school in state for their first two years and then $1000 a year for their second two years. </p>
<p>Just to show I'm unbiased, though, I had a friend who attended Davidson and loved it. I've also known people with good experiences at Emory, Rhodes, Birmingham-Southern, Samford, Furman (in South Carolina), and Millsaps so I feel pretty comfortable sending you to those to look. The most important thing is doing the right thing for you. Wherever you choose will be home for four years so make sure that's the feeling you get when you visit!</p>
<p>Point taken. I will be sure to look well into State. I made a 31 ACT sophomore year and plan to retake this year, which runs right into my next problem: If I can go to State/Ole Miss relatively cheap (and assuming I would like it at one of them) is it worth the major extra $ to go to some of the other universities listed...Davidson, Emory, Rice...assuming I find one of those I would like? My parents are willing to help but it seems so selfish to me to go out of state and make them pay so much when I could go to State for so little (comparatively). Sorry to keep pestering ya'll :(.</p>
<p>DD has a friend who just finished his first semester at MSU and is quite happy. He is in the direct entry vet program, and I can assure there are no slouches in that group! </p>
<p>There is no answer we can give you to the money question - that requires many long talks with your parents, solid in depth visits/ assessments of the schools, and actually going through the process to see how much it will cost.
Even before you start, it is unlikely that you will get enough FA/merit to bring the out of pocket cost down to what MSU will be, or Alabama, or possibly even Ga. Get your ACT up about 3 points, and apply early enough, and some of the Southern state schools will almost pay you to attend, as Teach describes. Honors colleges at these schools can be very good. In fact, <duh, slaps="" head=""> you need to at least learn about the Honors College at Ole Miss, it may be just what you want (just sort of ignore those cocktail dresses).
You can get merit aid to some of the smaller school to bring the cost down to something reasonable, especially if your parents are paying private school tuition now - not free, but not 40K per year either, again that is a family decision that you should truly begin discussing now.
Good luck, you sound like a wise, caring daughter - you will have some good choices in 07.</duh,></p>