<p>...universities with good secondary education programs that would give me a solid future to build off of if I choose to go into that field. I would preferably not want to go too far away from home (St. Louis), but it won't make or break me.</p>
<p>I'm also interested in just high school teaching in general. I'm not too sure what I'll want to do with my life (I'm just a sophmore), but according to my PLAN test, I like to work with people and ideas, which I definitely agree with. Some career options in catagory that were medical, law, among others, but education interests me the most out of things they listed. I know it depends on the state and the school, but what kind of degrees and training do you need? What are some general things to know? Thanks in advance for any info.</p>
<p>It is good that you are starting to think about this now.</p>
<p>You can get good ideas about places to study secondary education by talking to your teachers. Ask them where they went to college, and what were the best things about their teacher training programs. Ask if what they learned in class, and in their student teacher experiences really proved to be helpful when they got their own classes to teach. </p>
<p>You also need to talk with your parents (or whoever else is helping you pay for college) about how much money is available for your education. Will you need to work while you are in college? Will you need to take out student loans? To help figure out if you might be eligible for need-based financial aid, visit [FinAid</a>! Financial Aid, College Scholarships and Student Loans](<a href=“http://www.finaid.org%5DFinAid”>http://www.finaid.org) and run some of the financial aid calculators.</p>
<p>For education majors, I always advise to go to your own state public. No need to go for name recognition, etc… or pay any more than you have to for your degree.</p>
<p>Absolutely true. Do not take out loans to go to a private or to an out-of-state public to become a teacher. Not necessary and the loans will be a huge burden after graduation.</p>
<p>However, if your stats are high enough that privates or OOS publics would offer you merit (or non-loan aid) to make them cost-effective then great! :)</p>
<p>Fortunately, money isn’t a huge issue for me, as my family is well off, and my father’s work incentive from Washington U in St. Louis makes it so that they pay for $20,000 off of tuition if you don’t go there. While I haven’t taken any standardized test yet, I think that I’ll be able to get good enough grades to get something to help out. But, you’re all right, teaching isn’t the profession you want to be going in to with a debt to pay, so finances will be big in consideration.</p>
<p>As far as subjects, I’m not a math or science person, so it would probably be either English or history, I’m not too sure.</p>
<p>I did not take the PSAT last fall, was out of town if you recall from the last thread, but I’ll take it this year. I took the PLAN though, got in the 24-28 projected range. I’d be happy with those real ACT scores, but I’ve heard that it usually lower than what most people end up with. My sister got in that range, and she ended up with at composite 31, so I guess that’s a good sign.</p>
<p>I don’t know if I gave you this tip before…</p>
<p>Take the SAT next May or June. Pay the extra for the detailed score report and use that afterwards to work on any weak areas so that you’ll do better on the PSAT next fall.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice, I remember now. I’m just wondering why I should take the SAT instead of the ACT. I know it’s usually affiliated with eastern and western schools instead of midwestern ones.</p>
<p>Also, what are just some good education programs out of state in the midwest, since I’ll likely be able to afford it? Thanks.</p>
<p>Its good to take both as they are very different tests that tend to cater to different people. My SAT was a 2180 but my ACT was only a 28, they’re different beasts, and almost all colleges will accept either one indiscriminantly. Until you know a little bit more about what specifically you want to teach and what type of school would appeal to you (outside of location relatively close to St. Louis), its hard for us to try and suggest stuff to you. Do you want a large school / small school , public / private , urban campus / rurual campus / suburban campus , residential campus / commuter campus , warm location / indescriminant location , big party atmosphere / nerdy-academic atmosphere, etc. etc. Clearly all this stuff will change as you go through the rest of your high school life, but, for the time being that is the kind of information that would be helpful.</p>
<p>You should take both the SAT and the ACT because some kids do substantially better on one than the other. It can make a huge difference. A student might score in the 98 or 99th percentile on one test, yet only score in the 90th percentile on the other. </p>
<p>That can make a difference in acceptances, scholarships, honors program acceptances, etc.</p>
<p>Frankly, probably every state flagship has a strong College of Education, so you should probably just choose a campus that you like best. What other things are important to you? Weather? nice dorms? clubs? Greek systems? Sports teams to cheer for? </p>
<p>Do you have time to visit some campuses? If not, why not go to some university websites and look at the webpages of their College of Education?</p>
<p>To answer your questions, I’ll start out by saying what I want right now, but it will probably change, like you have said. As the thread title implies, I’ll want to go to a large (over 15,000), public university that isn’t too huge (35,000+). I’m not too sure on what kind of town I’ll want, although I know I won’t like anything smaller than a traditional college town. I am Jewish, so a decent Jewish population will be important for where I go. While I would prefer warm weather, it won’t really factor into my decision at all right now. You know already that I said proximity to home will be important.</p>
<p>I think this enough info to start with a search. Thanks for SAT and ACT info too.</p>
<p>I’m going to second the University of Iowa, which, at least at the graduate level, has prestige coming from everywhere in regards to their creative writing program. I’ve heard that its not in the same tier at the undergraduate level, and that even the graduate school is overrated, but its a relatively nearby mid/large public that may be of interest to you.</p>
<p>I’m thinking that MDMom is saying that since you’re close to an airport, you can consider distances that might be 2-3 hours by plane, but might be 6-8+ hours by car. (But, maybe I’m misunderstanding her post.)</p>
<p>I am not convinced any of the big publics will be worth the extra cost for you compared to UMo or Washington/STL, unless you are anxious to try another state or region.</p>