<p>I'm looking for the best and most realistic university I can find with my current stats. So far I'm applying to various schools in Texas, but I would greatly appreciate some input for schools outside of the region that I am less familiar with.</p>
<p>Extra Curricular Activities:
Vice President of a Tutoring Club
Parlimentarian of Culture Club
Student Council member
Masterminds (trivia club) member
National Honor Society</p>
<p>AP Scores
Number of AP's taken by the end of graduation: 11
Awarded AP Scholar with Distinction
U.S History: 4
Spanish: 5
Computer Science: 3
Physics B: 4
English III: 4
Psychology: 4</p>
<p>Ranking 45/145
UWgpa: 3.45
Wgpa: 3.8
(I attend a top 20 ranked school so it is very competitive)</p>
<p>There are two schools of thought to students like yourself. One - You go to the most elite and challenging school to which you can gain acceptance. Maybe you do great, but in many cases, some students find that being around peer students who are so very smart that it can be at times disheartening and difficult to stay the course. Two - You go to a mid-range school where you can thrive and would have a chance to be the one who sets the curve, but the downside is obvious in terms of being in an elite school</p>
<p>The other part to this is that you would likely qualify for more merit aid based on your ACT at a mid-range school.</p>
<p>I don’t know which one is you - do you? Some people like to be the big fish in a little pond </p>
<p>Based on your GPA and ACT scores I can think of some schools, like Oklahoma State University, University of Tulsa, Drury University and others that are great schools, but obviously aren’t on the same scale of eliteness as a Rice, SMU, or UTAustin. I think you could get accepted, however, to SMU, TCU, and probably UTAustin if that is what you want…Just make sure it is a good fit for you academically. Just because a campus is fun and exciting doesn’t mean it is the right fit for someone academically which is where the rubber hits the road on a day to day basis.</p>
<p>So my questions are
Are you interested in ‘reach’ type schools or schools where you would likely be in the top 25-30 percent of ACT scores?
How far are you willing to travel? East Coast? Midwest? West Coast?
How much can your parents afford in terms of Out of State Tuition?
What would you like to study?</p>
<p>Based on those, I think the people of this forum will have lots of suggestions.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I’m interested in attending the most elite and most challenging school that I can get accepted into. You could say that I want to attend ‘reach’ type schools, but mainly I just want to get into the best one possible my stats can realistically get me into.</p></li>
<li><p>I’m willing to travel abroad to any college as long as the atmosphere is nice. (city, weather, size etc…)</p></li>
<li><p>Based on the fact that my parents are divorced and I live with my mom who is currently attending college herself, I think I will be able to get a good amount of financial aid. Therefore, out of state tuition won’t be a big problem.</p></li>
<li><p>So far I’ve been the most interested in either studying business and getting an mba, or going into the computer science field.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Most top (and next tier schools, for that matter) require the CSS Profile to apply for need based financial aid. They take not only your mom’s income and assets in to account, but also your dad’s (and if he or your mom has remarried, also the new spouse’s) income and assets into account.</p>
<p>Most OOS public universities are not great with need based aid for non-residents.</p>
<p>Well that’s going to make things a little more difficult. But, i’d still like to consider all of my options. So any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>Vanderbilt (reach)
University of Chicago (reach)
University of Tulsa (probably a good fit)
St. Louis University (probably a good fit)
Drake University (a little less elite)
Hendrix College (Less elite but extremely well respected)</p>
<p>Oh - and I think you might qualify for a good scholarship at Oklahoma State University based on your ACT score. Still, OOS schools are never going to be as good a deal as the private ones when you leave the state of Texas.</p>
<p>The sticky on merit scholarships was very helpful. Thanks all for the suggestions. So far nearly all of the suggestions have been for schools that are close to 100+ in ranking. Is it unrealistic to try to find a school around 60-?</p>
<p>Also have
Sat subject scores
740 physics
790 spanish
710 Math 2</p>