<p>I am currently a junior in high school and I am from NY. All of my older friends are applying to college right now, but I want to ensure that the process for me goes as smoothly as possible.</p>
<p>As of right now, I have a few schools in mind (Bowdoin, Boston College or University, Lehigh, Northwestern, Franklin and Marshall, and maybe Cornell or Carnegie Mellon). However, I feel like these schools are way out of my reach. </p>
<p>I have about a 93.5 unweighted average, but I am in 3 AP classes this year and an honors course. I consider myself a rather intelligent person when it comes to humanities, but math and science are definitely not my strong points. I am in regular math and science classes, but next year I'm either taking AP Statistics or AP Calculus AB, and AP Environmental Science. I am currently president of my school's recycling club, an editor for the school newspaper, a part of the literary magazine, and an avid member of my school's Model UN team. My school is pretty competitive in Model UN and we are nationally ranked. However, when it comes to SATs, while I'm really hoping to break 2000, I'm not too confident about my math score. </p>
<p>I want to go to a school with an intellectual atmosphere, but I still want to have the typical "ra ra" scene, is what I'll call it. Some of the schools I named I think are a good balance, but again, I'm not so sure about my chances. Also, money is an issue for my family- so even if I did get into those schools, I would need financial aid. My fear with some small schools is that I'll end up feeling trapped, but my fear with bigger schools that I could get into easily is that I won't be surrounded by people who challenge me intellectually. </p>
<p>If anyone has suggestions, or just some insight on my situation, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!</p>
<p>From what I’ve learned so far, and what I’m currently learning by working on my applications is that it’s ok to apply to those reach schools like Bowdoin, Northwestern, etc. but you have to make sure you have a safety school to fall back on. If finances are an issue, run the net price calculator on each of the schools website and it will tell you the net price that you have to pay. I recently started doing this last night and helped me lean to certain schools over the others. </p>
<p>As for looking at colleges I don’t what you mean by feeling trapped, but what you described about what you want in a college is similar to what I want. I’m mainly applying to small LACs because they seem to be more focused on academics than pre-professional (intellectual). They also tend to have really great sports teams and from what I read the rivalries are quite competitive which I assume would give you that “ra-ra” feel that you want.</p>
<p>Colgate, Connecticut college, and Colby college might interest you and they’re a little less selective than Bowdoin, Northwestern and Cornell. If you go beyond the northeast UMich might be great; it’s academics are wonderful and I know Gerald Ford played football there so it might be “ra ra.” </p>
<p>If I were in your situation I would figure out how much you have for college from your parents, what area are you looking at (how far away from home do you want to be), and study hard for the SATs/ACT and continue to do your best in school. If you do all that you may have a decent chance at some of the schools that seem out of reach to you now. Also, I would recommend trying to figure out what you want to do as far as do you want to do business/humanities/science things. You don’t have to have a specific major, but some schools are stronger in certain areas over others.</p>
<p>You need financial safeties and private schools where you are in the top 10-15% to get good merit aid. </p>
<p>Do not equate big U’s with students who will not challenge you intellectually. That’s ridiculous!!</p>
<p>You need to do a more thorough college search and not be swayed by where your older friends are applying. Make sure you apply to safety and match schools you would actually agree to attend as well as some on your reach “wish”. You should apply to some SUNYs.</p>
<p>You need to post your SAT or ACT scores when you have them for us to help you extend your list.</p>
<p>Apply to some SUNY’s. For an intellectual school that’s not too small, you have Geneseo. Then pick another SUNY where you’re sure to get in.
Will you need financial aid? Or if your parents can’t afford their EFC, will you need merit aid (exclusively or in addition to need-based aid?) Have you taken the SAT?
Intellectual colleges include Swarthmore, Reed, Carleton, UChicago, Grinnell. If you’re a girl, Wellesley, Smith, Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Mount Holyoke. Not sure they’re within range for you though (not enough information.) More accessible, you have Beloit for example.
You may also want to compromise on sports by picking a college located in or near a city with a big professional team (“intellectual” colleges rarely have huge stadiums, tailgate parties, and football-as-god vibes. Not to mean students aren’t athletic, but rather, they play Div III or club sports or intramurals.) An example of this would be Macalester (Twins/Twin Cities), Lewis and Clark (professional basketball and soccer, Portland), etc.</p>
<p>Thanks for the help, everyone. I’d just like to clarify that when I said “ra ra,” while school spirit was a part of it, I meant a nightlife/party scene as well. I’m realizing now that it was a bit ambiguous! Also, I’m sorry if I sounded like I was insulting big schools. I just meant that I was skeptical of going to universities like Syracuse, Buffalo, University of Delaware, etc. But I obviously still have a lot more research to do.</p>
<p>Once I take my SATs, probably in March, I will post again. Thanks again!</p>
<p>“Also, money is an issue for my family- so even if I did get into those schools, I would need financial aid.”</p>
<p>Sit down with your parents, and run the Net Price Calculator at the website of each of the colleges and universities currently on your list. If your parents don’t own a small business, and don’t own any property other than your family home, it is likely that the NPCs will give decent estimates of need-based aid. On the other hand, if your parents have complicated finances, the NPCs won’t be reliable.</p>
<p>As a general rule of thumb, colleges and universities will expect your family to pay at least the equivalent of a third of your parents’ pre-tax income each year. Many will expect more than that. Horrifying, right? That is because they expect that your family will pay for your education from a combination of savings (past income), current income, and loans (future income). If your parents can’t cover the amount of money that the NPCs show will be expected, you need to look for some safeties that will be cheaper than that either because of guaranteed merit aid, or because they are just plain cheaper in the first place (like a community college or a public university that you can commute to).</p>
<p>To learn more about how financial aid works, go to the Financial Aid Forum, and read some of the stickied threads at the top of that forum.</p>
<p>Figuring out the potential cost/expenses with your parents NOW is huge. Run some net prices on each colleges websites. Those numbers will likely effect your decision making as much as your SAT numbers will.</p>