It’s early days yet. Build a solid list of schools, apply, see where you get in, and then agonize over which school to attend. As others have said, your mind may change quite a bit between this summer and next spring.
Also understand that choosing a college is more than just picking the one you “love” most or the one with the most prestige. Cost, unfortunately, is often a big factor in that choice. If you and your mom can’t afford a school, you just can’t attend.
Run the NPC for any and all schools you consider. If the NPC says you need to pay some unaffordable amount, you may want to reconsider applying.
If I’d had to choose, I’d just retake the ACT. Focus on raising the ACT Reading and Math sections. 32 is usually the threshold for significant merit awards so you are very close, but obviously higher is better.
By the way, I don’t think you realize how lucky you are to be in a state with a very good in-state option that meets full need like UNC. In many other states, your only college option would be a community college that you can commute too.
I agree that you should run the NPCs for all of the schools you’re interested in, then I would contact the Financial Aid offices at those schools to make sure you’re aware of all the scholarships that are available to you , after you’ve discussed it with your mother of course . I would do it promptly in case you have to retake some of your tests to qualify for greater awards.
Yes! If you’re in a college you like, you’ll be happier and general more involved. If your miserable at a prestigious school, you may not feel motivated to work hard!
A Harvard prof just wrote a book that said that success does not produce happiness, that it is the other way around. The professor also said that his research confirmed that of a Wharton prof. So with that daughter turned down both Harvard and Wharton for Stanford. I am sure that in the end happiness wins out. Don’t waste your life delaying happiness and believing that doing just one more thing you don’t want to do will do the trick eventually.
Folks…before you continue posting about choosing a favorite school for happiness, you need to realize that this modest-income student will not likely be able to afford Clemson. She’s OOS. Even with merit, her single mom would likely have to pay $20k-30k per year to sent her. Her mom doesn’t have that kind of money.
Instead, we either need to encourage her to find OTHER affordable schools that may be like Clemson.
I believe that until she and her mother run the NPC and actually get the information from the financial aid department at Clemson and UNC Chapel Hill that she needs to make an informed decision, she will not be comfortable with " giving up her dream" if she needs to actually give it up for financial reasons . I also believe that she needs to develop a longer list of options if UNC and Clemson are her only 2 choices. I think that it’s important to gather her info soon in order to have enough time to investigate other affordable options in time to apply and qualify for merit aid.I know in my family, there is one school in particular that is a stretch financially. We have discussed this within our family and have made the decision to allow my child to apply . He is mature enough to understand financially what the bottom line needs to be in order for him to attend that school. I know that this goes against what most posters on CC would do, but for my family this is what we decided to do. Sometimes info needs to be seen in black and white for someone to feel like they did everything they could to reach their goal before they make peace with themselves and feel good about a decision.
No. But there was a huge push from others for her to go to Harvard and ALL of the other cross admits at her school went there. So she did have to buck the trend and go for what was in her heart.
@myyalieboy, of course, her family almost certainly had the resources for her to go with her heart and the cost difference between S and H was likely nil for her.
And of course, the difference between S and H isn’t the difference between UNC and Clemson.
In other words, while happiness leads to success is a good message, that example isn’t too relevant to the OP.