Hello, I need some help narrowing down my college list. I am trying to get it down to 1-2 safeties, 2-5 matches; 1-2 reaches.
I live in Ohio. I have ~3.9 UW GPA, and a 30 composite ACT. I am in FBLA and Business Club, and I do Quiz Team. I have taken a few dual enrollment courses, but no AP classes. My senior year schedule should be: AP Macro & Micro; Political Science; Physics; Pre-Calculus; Dual-Enrollment Composition 1&2; Dual-Enrollment Government. I will need some financial aid to pay for college.
I plan to major in Aerospace Engineering. I have narrowed down the list of colleges to which I meet the application requirements. I also kept some schools off of the list because of binding early decision, or only allowing one early application. Here are the colleges I have in my ‘long’ list: Auburn; Case Western; Embry-Riddle; Florida Institute of Technology; Georgia Tech; Illinois Tech; Rutgers; Texas A&M; Alabama; Alabama-Huntsville; Central Florida; Cincinnati; Florida; Kansas; Maryland; Oklahoma; Virginia; Virginia Tech; Wichita State; Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Iowa State; North Carolina State; Oklahoma State; Penn State; Purdue.
I would prefer to go out-of-state, but I am not opposed to staying in state. I qualify for full tuition at Alabama-Huntsville. If you could help me narrow down my list I would be most fortunate.
I have thought about Ohio State but I don’t meet their application requirements because I won’t take any fine arts classes in high school.
I took off UIUC because I visited their campus this summer and I did not enjoy it there.
I have OU and Oklahoma State on the long list since they offer the major and I meet the application requirements. I don’t think I would apply there primarily based on location. So I will remove those from the list.
Re-check Ohio State…I STRONGLY doubt that a lack of a fine arts course would keep you from being accepted. It just doesn’t work that way. They might PREFER that u take a F.A. course, but it’s not a deal-breaker.
If you give us some details on what it is you are looking for, we can help to narrow down your list.
Sample criteria:
Size; small, medium, large
Culture; sports, geek, serious, party, outdoorsy, niche, conservative, progressive/activist
Net cost constraint; how much can you afford?
Location preference
I’m going through this process now too. I would say if you haven’t invested in prepping for ACT in the past, try to and retake it, 32 opens a lot more $. If you have, don’t worry about taking it again, 30 is a solid number with opportunities.
OU and Oklahoma State are simply much weaker schools for aerospace engineering than most of the other options the OP is considering. Also Stillwater vs Columbus? It’s an easy choice.
Why are you applying to so many public schools when you’re out of state? The benefit to those schools is the in-state tuition. If you’re going to pay full fair, you might as well consider private schools as well.
Do you have a major you are interested in? What are you looking for in a school? You need to consider what you want before you list a bunch of state schools (some of which aren’t very good) to apply to.
West Virginia is another school where your ACT and grades would get you considerable scholarship money.
Be aware that costs and possible financial aid vary greatly from college to college. Some of these state schools will give you significant financial aid, while others won’t give you a dime. If finances are a concern, comparing the net prices (sticker price minus financial aid) will do much of the narrowing for you.
That was my second ACT test. My first test I got a 26 composite, and I just used the red ACT prep book to get to 30.
I knocked a few private schools off the list, like Boston University, because they have a binding early decision; others because they only allow me to apply early to that one school.
I have a large number of out-of-state publics because they have my major and I meet the admissions requirements. That is really what the list is, and I took out some schools like MIT that I hardly have a chance at being accepted into. It is my goal to narrow down this list significantly.
I am not a fan of schools with large campuses, but it that is in no way a deal-breaker. I enjoy the east coast the most, and I would rather not live in the middle of Nebraska for four years. I would prefer the New England area, and only WPI is in that New England.
I am waiting on an e-mail from Ohio State about the fine arts courses. West Virginia also requires a fine art credit to be considered for admission. I think comparing is net prices is a good idea.
Do you realize that you can apply to BU and other schools Regular Decision? If the one thing that keeps you from applying to Ohio State is a fine arts class then maybe you can squeeze on in or take one online. Does Miami Univ Ohio have your major? That’s a smaller school/campus.
Good point, I misread BU’s early decision page. I thought that you have to apply early decision in order to receive any aid, when it fact it was just merit aid. I think that opens up another option.
I suppose I am too fixated on applying early action everywhere, and need to open up to the idea of applying regular decision.
Miami University has mechanical, and I have already decided that I want to do aerospace; I wouldn’t have the same passion without the aerospace part.
My school counselor suggested that I take fine arts classes, but I would really rather not. But as I keep researching I keep finding out that it really limits my options. I may just need to suck it up and take the art classes.
If you need aid or merit and came afford to be full pay. Then take Georgia Tech off your list. They hardly give any merit to OOS applications. And the only aid you will receive is pell.