I’m looking for some good match schools with these stats. I don’t want very small LACs, and I also want schools that offer decent financial aid or aren’t too expensive.
Graduating in 2016
GPA: 3.9 weighted/3.75 uw
Class Rank: Top 20% (pretty competitive HS)
ACT: 28
Preferred major: geology/geosciences
EC: President of German Club for 2 years and very active in the club. Organize members to do volunteering in the community every year and have also won the highest award at the BYU foreign language competition 4 years in a row. German 2, 3, and 4 student of the year. 4 years varsity soccer. NHS member. Captain for my club soccer team. Over 100 volunteer hours.
Classes: APUSH, AP Calc AB, AP Physics ABC, AP World History, AP Micro econ, AP macro econ, AP Psychology, and several honors classes.
How much can you and your family afford? Home State? Preference in region?
I live in Colorado, but I don’t really have a regional preference. Looking at hopefully under 30k a year, but could be stretched a bit.
You live in Colorado and want to major in geology? Frankly you’d be hard pressed to find a better school than CU Boulder for the major. Is it a super safety for you? Absolutely. Is it one of the best geology universities in the world? Absolutely.
Colorado School of Mines is also a phenomenal option. PM me if you want more information on either university’s geology program.
Yes I know that CU Boulder is great for geology and that is my #1 school right now and where I will likely attend, but I also don’t want the only school I apply to be a super safety if that makes any sense.
And I’ve considered mines, but they only have a geological engineering degree if I’m correct which might be a little intense for me but I’m definitely considering it.
Here’s the reality. The only schools better than CU Boulder for geology which are not liberal arts colleges are super selective universities such as Stanford, Princeton, and Brown. Even then it’s debatable whether you’d get a superior education in the geosciences. It is hard for me to overemphasize what an incredible advantage CU students have over virtually any other school in the country. The average geology student cannot just take random trips to national parks. The average geology student cannot just stroll over to a mountain to see the effects of igneous petrology. The average geology student cannot also study mining and petroleum extraction by driving an hour or so.
I’ve written over 90 pages on the geomorphic history of your region. Literally, you can study almost any topic by driving at most five hours or so. For a fieldwork intensive major like geology/ geophysics that is a monumental advantage.
Chrismartin18, you’re right. I only know a former student from my university who is in the geology masters program at CSM so I assumed there was an undergraduate option as well.